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one up
1adjective
- having gained an advantage in some way that betokens success, especially over rivals.
- leading an opponent by one point or one scoring unit:
The home team was one up on the visitors.
- one each; tied at a score of one:
The score was one up in the ninth inning.
adverb
- Printing. with only one reproduction of a form per sheet or on a given sheet:
We must print this job one up.
- Journalism. using one more column of space than of type.
one-up
2[ wuhn-uhp ]
verb (used with object)
- to get the better of; succeed in being a point, move, step, etc., ahead of (someone):
They one-upped the competition.
one-up
adjective
- informal.having or having scored an advantage or lead over someone or something
Word History and Origins
Origin of one up1
Origin of one up2
Idioms and Phrases
Having an advantage or lead over someone, as in Sara is one up on Jane because she passed algebra in summer school . This expression comes from sports, where it means to be one point ahead of one's opponents. It was transferred to more general use about 1920.Example Sentences
Will the Kleig lights now shining on Sam move them to one-up him as the first?
With millions of bucks on the line, advertisers aim to one-up each other with the funniest, most memorable spots.
PF: There was a point after Me, Myself and Irene that we seemed to have to one-up ourselves and we didn't want to do that.
Both he and Roubini strutted their stuff in Davos in January, trying to one-up each other with ever-more-dire forecasts.
Well, my wife, you know, seems to think it might put me one-up with the jolly old dad if I did something.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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