See upper hand in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for upper hand meaning in English (6.1kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "over"
},
"expansion": "over",
"name": "l"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "hond"
},
"expansion": "hond",
"name": "l"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "ofer-"
},
"expansion": "ofer-",
"name": "l"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "hand"
},
"expansion": "hand",
"name": "l"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English over hond, from Old English ofer- + hand (superior control; superior position). Not, as supposed, from a card game or counting-out game.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "the upper hand",
"tags": [
"canonical"
]
},
{
"form": "upper hands",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-",
"2": "s",
"def": "1"
},
"expansion": "the upper hand (usually uncountable, plural upper hands)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1855, Washington Irving, Guests from Gibbet Island",
"text": "There was no refusing him, for he had got the complete upper hand of the community, and the peaceful burghers all stood in awe of him.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 23, in Treasure Island",
"text": "[C]uriosity began to get the upper hand, and I determined I should have one look through the cabin window.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1911, Joseph Conrad, chapter 1, in Under Western Eyes",
"text": "There it was Razumov who had the upper hand, in a composed sense of his own superiority.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2003 February 14, Christine Gorman, “Playing Chicken With Our Antibiotics”, in Time",
"text": "And because they live everywhere and reproduce quickly, bacteria have the upper hand.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2020 August 26, Andrew Mourant, “Reinforced against future flooding”, in Rail, page 61",
"text": "\"We've now protected the line from similar-sized flooding-events and bigger ones,\" he says. That's quite some claim for a line where floods have often had the upper hand in the past 16 years, causing track bed and embankments to be rebuilt.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Advantage or control."
],
"id": "en-upper_hand-en-noun-jhGKo4oC",
"links": [
[
"Advantage",
"advantage"
],
[
"control",
"control"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Advantage or control."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"uncountable",
"usually"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"roman": "al-yadu l-ʕulyā",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "اَلْيَدُ الْعُلْيَا"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "overhånd"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "niskalenkki"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "prendre le dessus"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Überhand"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Oberhand"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "he",
"english": "his hand was the upper",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"roman": "yadó 'al ha'elyoná",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "יָדוֹ עַל הָעֶלְיוֹנָה"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "hafa yfirhöndina"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "mega betur"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "hafa vinninginn"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "hafa undirtökin"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "ceannsmacht"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"note": "verb \"to have the upper hand\"",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "an lámh a bheith in uachtar agat"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "overhånd"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "overhand"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "overhand"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "przewaga"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "preimúščestvo",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "преиму́щество"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "gd",
"lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "làmh an uachdair"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"Cyrillic",
"feminine"
],
"word": "пре̏дно̄ст"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"Roman",
"feminine"
],
"word": "prȅdnōst"
},
{
"_dis1": "91 9",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"common-gender",
"definite"
],
"word": "överhanden"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "13 87",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The place of honour accorded to a social superior when walking together; the right of way in walking"
],
"id": "en-upper_hand-en-noun-v1Ms4fD-",
"links": [
[
"right of way",
"right of way"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete) The place of honour accorded to a social superior when walking together; the right of way in walking"
],
"tags": [
"obsolete",
"uncountable",
"usually"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-upper hand.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/73/En-au-upper_hand.ogg/En-au-upper_hand.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/En-au-upper_hand.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "upper hand"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with audio links",
"English uncountable nouns"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "over"
},
"expansion": "over",
"name": "l"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "hond"
},
"expansion": "hond",
"name": "l"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "ofer-"
},
"expansion": "ofer-",
"name": "l"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "hand"
},
"expansion": "hand",
"name": "l"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English over hond, from Old English ofer- + hand (superior control; superior position). Not, as supposed, from a card game or counting-out game.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "the upper hand",
"tags": [
"canonical"
]
},
{
"form": "upper hands",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-",
"2": "s",
"def": "1"
},
"expansion": "the upper hand (usually uncountable, plural upper hands)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1855, Washington Irving, Guests from Gibbet Island",
"text": "There was no refusing him, for he had got the complete upper hand of the community, and the peaceful burghers all stood in awe of him.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 23, in Treasure Island",
"text": "[C]uriosity began to get the upper hand, and I determined I should have one look through the cabin window.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1911, Joseph Conrad, chapter 1, in Under Western Eyes",
"text": "There it was Razumov who had the upper hand, in a composed sense of his own superiority.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2003 February 14, Christine Gorman, “Playing Chicken With Our Antibiotics”, in Time",
"text": "And because they live everywhere and reproduce quickly, bacteria have the upper hand.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2020 August 26, Andrew Mourant, “Reinforced against future flooding”, in Rail, page 61",
"text": "\"We've now protected the line from similar-sized flooding-events and bigger ones,\" he says. That's quite some claim for a line where floods have often had the upper hand in the past 16 years, causing track bed and embankments to be rebuilt.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Advantage or control."
],
"links": [
[
"Advantage",
"advantage"
],
[
"control",
"control"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Advantage or control."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"uncountable",
"usually"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with obsolete senses"
],
"glosses": [
"The place of honour accorded to a social superior when walking together; the right of way in walking"
],
"links": [
[
"right of way",
"right of way"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete) The place of honour accorded to a social superior when walking together; the right of way in walking"
],
"tags": [
"obsolete",
"uncountable",
"usually"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-upper hand.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/73/En-au-upper_hand.ogg/En-au-upper_hand.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/En-au-upper_hand.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"roman": "al-yadu l-ʕulyā",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "اَلْيَدُ الْعُلْيَا"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "overhånd"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "niskalenkki"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "prendre le dessus"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Überhand"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Oberhand"
},
{
"code": "he",
"english": "his hand was the upper",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"roman": "yadó 'al ha'elyoná",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "יָדוֹ עַל הָעֶלְיוֹנָה"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "hafa yfirhöndina"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "mega betur"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "hafa vinninginn"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "hafa undirtökin"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "ceannsmacht"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"note": "verb \"to have the upper hand\"",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "an lámh a bheith in uachtar agat"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "overhånd"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "overhand"
},
{
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "overhand"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "przewaga"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "preimúščestvo",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"word": "преиму́щество"
},
{
"code": "gd",
"lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "làmh an uachdair"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"Cyrillic",
"feminine"
],
"word": "пре̏дно̄ст"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"Roman",
"feminine"
],
"word": "prȅdnōst"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "(idiomatic) advantage",
"tags": [
"common-gender",
"definite"
],
"word": "överhanden"
}
],
"word": "upper hand"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.