资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Upper \Up"per\, a.; comp. of {Up}.
   Being further up, literally or figuratively; higher in place,
   position, rank, dignity, or the like; superior; as, the upper
   lip; the upper side of a thing; the upper house of a
   legislature.

   {The upper hand}, the superiority; the advantage. See {To
      have the upper hand}, under {Hand}. --Jowett (Thucyd.).

   {Upper Bench} (Eng. Hist.), the name of the highest court of
      common law (formerly King's Bench) during the
      Commonwealth.

   {Upper case}, the top one of a pair of compositor's cases.
      See the Note under 1st {Case}, n., 3.

   {Upper covert} (Zo["o]l.), one of the coverts situated above
      the bases of the tail quills.

   {Upper deck} (Naut.), the topmost deck of any vessel; the
      spar deck.

   {Upper leather}, the leather for the vamps and quarters of
      shoes.

   {Upper strake} (Naut.), the strake next to the deck, usually
      of hard wood, and heavier than the other strakes.

   {Upper ten thousand}, or (abbreviated) {Upper ten}, the ten
      thousand, more or less, who are highest in position or
      wealth; the upper class; the aristocracy. [Colloq.]

   {Upper topsail} (Naut.), the upper half of a double topsail.
      

   {Upper works} (Naut.), all those parts of the hull of a
      vessel that are properly above water.

   {Upper world}.
   (a) The atmosphere.
   (b) Heaven.
   (c) This world; the earth; -- in distinction from the
       {underworld}.

资料来源 : WordNet®

upper case
     n : one of the large alphabetic characters used as the first
         letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes
         for emphasis; "printers once kept the type for capitals
         and for small letters in separate cases; capitals were
         kept in the upper half of the type case and so became
         known as upper-case letters" [syn: {capital}, {capital
         letter}, {upper-case letter}, {majuscule}] [ant: {small
         letter}]