I. ˈəpwə(r)d adverb
or up·wards -dz
Etymology: upward from Middle English, from Old English ūpweard, from ūp up + -weard -ward; upwards from Middle English upwardes, from Old English ūpweardes, from ūpweard + -es (adverbially functioning gen. singular ending of nouns) — more at up , -s I
1.
a. : toward a higher position : in a direction from a lower to a higher place
the land gradually rose upward — J.P.Marquand
his hands were groping upward — James Hilton
b. : toward the source of a stream or the interior of a region
an explorer moving upward from a river mouth finds a place at which the stream divides — A.A.Hill
c. : in a higher or the highest relative position
holding out her right hand, palm upwards — Tomorrow
d. : in the upper parts especially of the body : toward the head : above
from the waist upward
sea monster, upward man and downward fish — John Milton
2. archaic : toward the past
3. : toward a higher or better condition, status, or level
forced his way steadily upwards by his mere soldierlike qualities — J.A.Froude
both man and the manlike apes have developed upwards from a common prehistoric ancestral stock — R.W.Murray
the Senate has amended its opinion of him upward — Time
4.
a. : to an indefinitely greater amount, figure, or rank
from $5 upward
each claiming as his own anywhere from 100 head upward — Agnes M. Cleaveland
b. : toward a greater amount or higher number, degree, or rate
higher incomes shot swiftly upward — Oscar Handlin
building costs have proved flexible upward but not downward — T.W.Arnold
5. : toward or into later years
from his youth upward
6. : toward a large city
7. : toward the top (as of a sheet of paper)
this stroke … is written upward — Dwight McEwen
II. preposition
Etymology: Middle English, from upward, adverb
archaic : up along
upward ragged precipices flit to save poor lambkins — John Keats
III. adjective
Etymology: upward (I)
1.
a. : directed toward a higher place : ascending
the drive along that winding upward track — Norman Douglas
a general upward movement of fish
b. : situated in a higher place or position
scaling the upward sky — P.B.Shelley
2. : marked by improvement or progress
the line of upward development which led to the anthropoid — R.W.Murray
3. : upstream
discovered and named the falls … which they had barely missed on the upward journey — American Guide Series: Minnesota
4. : rising to a higher pitch
her words had an upward inflection — Ethel Wilson
5. : marked by an increase : rising
prices … continued their upward movement — N.H.Brown
struggling … against the upward trend of wages — Alzada Comstock
look forward to an unending upward market — K.D.Burke
6. : directed toward the top (as toward the top of a sheet of paper)
an upward stroke — J.R.Gregg
• up·ward·ly adverb
• up·ward·ness noun -es
IV. noun
obsolete : top , crown
extremest upward of thy head — Shakespeare