ONE UP Definition & Meaning

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one up

adjective

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

[ wuhn-uhp ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

verb (used with object)

one-upped, one-upping.

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

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of one up¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Origin of one up²

First recorded in 1960–65

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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.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

"The price is something people are constantly aware about, the jump from the cheapest to the next one up is what I've noticed," he said.

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"Obviously, we're going to go in confident and target that game as the first one up, and I'm sure we will go full noise, but Italy are a brilliant team. They've been improving every single year for a number of years now."

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Indeed a few of the opposition parties remain in favour of the plans in principle - Labour in particular have just run on a manifesto promising to set one up at a UK level.

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One of them was grounded on Thursday after colliding with a civilian drone, and whoever was idiotic enough to illegally send one up during a firefight better hope the internet doesn’t find them before the feds do.

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Setting one up would involve several government departments.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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