upper hand

noun

1. the dominating or controlling position; advantage.

   to have the upper hand in the fight.

upper hand

noun

1. the position of control; advantage (esp in the phrases have or get the upper hand )

Word History and Origins

Origin of upper hand¹

First recorded in 1475–85

Idioms and Phrases

Also, whip hand. A dominating or controlling position, as in Once you let Jeff get the upper hand there'll be no stopping him, or When it comes to checkers, my son-in-law generally has the whip hand. The first term alludes to an ancient game in which each player in turn grasps a stick with one hand, beginning from the bottom, and the last who can put his hand at the top wins. Its figurative use dates from the late 1400s. The variant alludes to the driver who holds the whip in a horse-drawn vehicle; it was being used figuratively by the late 1600s.

Related Words

• advantage 
• dominance 
• leverage 
• superiority 
• supremacy