Definition of upon in English English dictionary
- Being above and in contact with another
Place the book upon the table.
- Being the target of an action
He was set upon by the agitated dogs.
- Incidental to a specified point in time or order of action; usually combined with here-, there- or where-
The clock struck noon, whereupon the students proceeded to lunch.
- At a prescribed point in time
The contract was rendered void upon his death.
- Being directly supported by another
She balanced upon one foot.
- {e} on, atop
- You use upon between two occurrences of the same noun in order to say that there are large numbers of the thing mentioned. Row upon row of women surged forwards
- {p} on, not under, with respect to, near to
- If an event is upon you, it is just about to happen. The long-threatened storm was upon us
- On; used in all the senses of that word, with which it is interchangeable
- upon In addition to the uses shown below, upon is used in phrasal verbs such as `come upon' and `look upon', and after some other verbs such as `decide' and `depend'
- If one thing is upon another, it is on it. He set the tray upon the table He bent forward and laid a kiss softly upon her forehead = on
- You use upon when mentioning an event that is followed immediately by another event. The door on the left, upon entering the church, leads to the Crypt of St Issac Upon conclusion of these studies, the patient was told that she had a severe problem. = on
- {p} on
- epi
- up
- upon his speed
- At speed; moving rapidly
In case any one, riding a horse that was upon his speed, should let a bowl drop out of his hand, that bowl being fallen to the ground would continue its motion and follow the horses steps, without tarrying behind him.
- upon his speed
- Rapidly; swiftly
Riding on the speed down a steep Hill.
- upon't
- Upon it
- upon my word
- on my word, as I live and breath, oh my
- upon my word!
- i promise, trust me
- upon compulsion
- while under force, with coercion
- upon expiration of the ultimatum
- when the ultimatum is null and void, when the time that has been pre-determined passes
- upon my arrival
- when I came here, when I arrived
- upon my honor
- upon my word, I promise
- upon my life
- I swear, I promise
- upon my soul !
- My goodness!, Upon my word!
- Berwick-upon-Tweed
- A town in Northumberland, England
- Kingston upon Hull
- A city in Yorkshire, England, also known as Hull
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- A city in the county of Tyne and Wear in the Northeast England
- act upon
- To act on the basis of information received or deduced
The policeman decided to act on the basis of his informants phone call.
- bear upon
- To be relevant to
That ruling bears upon our application.
- bear upon
- To influence, have an effect upon
- bearing upon
- Present participle of bear upon
- bears upon
- Third-person singular simple present indicative form of bear upon
- born upon
- Simple past tense and past participle of bear upon
- bring upon
- To (either knowingly or unwittingly) cause to befall
- bringing upon
- Present participle of bring upon
- brings upon
- Third-person singular simple present indicative form of bring upon
- brought upon
- Past participle of bring upon
- build upon
- to form by combining materials or parts on top of a surface or foundation
- builds upon
- Third-person singular simple present indicative form of build upon
- butterfly upon a wheel
- An innocent person (usually a female) crushed by life's adversities
- come upon
- To befall; to affect; to happen to
I pray no harm will come upon you.
- come upon
- To come across; to encounter; to stumble upon; to discover or find, especially by chance or accident
Kala sometimes talked with the older females about her young hopeful, but none of them could understand how a child could be so slow and backward in learning to care for itself. Why, it could not even find food alone, and more than twelve moons had passed since Kala had come upon it.
- dwell upon
- A slightly more formal form of dwell on
- fall back upon
- To fall back on
- fall upon
- To fall on; to experience; to suffer
With the rise of the Internet, some media fell upon hard times.
- falling back upon
- Present participle of fall back upon
- falls back upon
- Third-person singular simple present indicative form of fall back upon
- fell back upon
- Simple past tense and past participle of fall back upon
- frown upon
- To disapprove (of)
Baiting fish is not illegal in this state, but strongly frowned upon.
- hit upon
- To think of; to invent; to realize
- hit upon
- To address
He hit upon all major concerns during the presentation.
- hits upon
- Third-person singular simple present indicative form of hit upon
- hitting upon
- Present participle of hit upon
- keep one's head upon one's shoulders
- Alternative form of keep one's head
- lie upon
- To importune; to urge; to solicit
The judge in the parable granted the widow's suit merely because she lay upon him, and was troublesome to him.
- lie upon
- To lie on
She was lying upon the bed.
- lie upon
- To be incumbent upon; to be up to (someone); to be obligatory upon
It lies upon the prosecution to prove that the defendant is guilty.
- look down upon
- Alternative form of look down on
The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon every one else; they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real.
- look upon
- To consider or regard something in a specific manner
Some people look upon lexicography as their lifes work.
- look upon
- To gaze at something; to look on
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!.
- once upon a time
- The traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- prevail upon
- To convince; to persuade
Perhaps I can prevail upon him to change his mind.
- put upon
- Imposed on, taken advantage of, used, taken for granted, or unappreciated
His toe hurt, he was heavy, he lacked his old explosiveness, he felt put upon by everyone.
- put-upon
- Alternative form of put upon
- reckon upon
- To plan upon; to expect
I did not reckon upon him being armed.
- reckon upon
- To count upon or depend upon
I reckoned upon the adequacy of my pension.
- reckoned upon
- Simple past tense and past participle of reckon upon
- reckoning upon
- Present participle of reckon upon
- reckons upon
- Third-person singular simple present indicative form of reckon upon
- reflect upon
- to reflect on
- seize upon
- To take possession of or claim (an idea, person, event, etc.) as one's own; to assimilate, absorb, annex, co-opt
After the controversy of her public statement, she has been the darling of right-wing groups who have seized upon her as the poster child of their cause.
- seize upon
- To take up, embrace, enact, or turn eagerly to (a plan, idea, ideology, cause, practice, method, etc.); to grasp, understand, and accept quickly; to adopt wholeheartedly or vigorously
The committee seized upon the new plan at once.
- seize upon
- To grasp or take hold of (an object) suddenly, forcibly, or tightly
The child seized upon the cat's tail as soon as it was within reach.
- settle upon
- To decide something over other options
- shed light upon
- Illuminate to the understanding; make intelligible; clarify or explain (something unknown)
This mystery has vexed us all hitherto; perhaps you will be able to shed light upon the matter, Inspector.
- stumble upon
- To meet somebody by chance
- stumble upon
- To discover or find something by accident
- take upon
- To take charge of an item of business, or an obligation, as a personal initiative
He took it upon himself to check the reports.
- wait upon hand and foot
- Alternative form of wait on hand and foot
- fall upon
- find unexpectedly; "the archeologists chanced upon an old tomb"; "she struck a goldmine"; "The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake
- fall upon
- assault, attack; meet with, experience (hard times, etc.); come across, run into
- dwell upon
- harp on, linger over an idea, keep the attention directed on; be obsessed with
- burst upon the scene
- (deyim) Appear suddenly somewhere; to enter or arrive suddenly some place
1. The police suddenly burst upon the scene.
2. They burst upon the scene and took control.
- expand upon
- Add detail to a report about something; to say more about something
Would you please expand upon that last remark? Would you care to enlarge upon your remarks?.
- fall upon
- literary to eagerly start eating or using something: She fell on the food as if she hadn’t eaten for days
- fly upon
- Fly at, fly on, spring upon violently, attack with fury
- trample upon
- Trample on/upon/over: treat with contempt
