one up

¹

adjective

1. having gained an advantage in some way that betokens success, especially over rivals.
2. leading an opponent by one point or one scoring unit:

   The home team was one up on the visitors.

3. one each; tied at a score of one:

   The score was one up in the ninth inning.

adverb

1. Printing. with only one reproduction of a form per sheet or on a given sheet:

   We must print this job one up.

2. Journalism. using one more column of space than of type.

one-up

²

[ wuhn-uhp ]

verb (used with object)

, one-upped, one-up·ping.

1. to get the better of; succeed in being a point, move, step, etc., ahead of (someone):

   They one-upped the competition.

one-up

adjective

1. informal.
   having or having scored an advantage or lead over someone or something

Word History and Origins

Origin of one up¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Origin of one up²

First recorded in 1960–65

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?

From The Daily Beast

With millions of bucks on the line, advertisers aim to one-up each other with the funniest, most memorable spots.

From The Daily Beast

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.

From The Daily Beast

Both he and Roubini strutted their stuff in Davos in January, trying to one-up each other with ever-more-dire forecasts.

From The Daily Beast

Well, my wife, you know, seems to think it might put me one-up with the jolly old dad if I did something.

From Project Gutenberg