upper hand

noun

1. the dominating or controlling position; advantage:

   to have the upper hand in the fight.

upper hand

noun

1. the upper hand
   the upper hand 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.

Example Sentences

Its stock price began to swing wildly, depending on who had the upper hand at a given moment.

From Washington Post

We must now apply this hard-earned wisdom to give our authorities the firm upper hand to protect our democracy from those who would attack it.

From Time

True, Republicans don’t have a clear upper hand in the polls or fundraising game, but that might not tell as much about what will happen as the actual results from November.

From FiveThirtyEight

Whichever buildings sort out their discounts first might have the upper hand.

From Fortune

The Giants have the upper hand for now, thanks to a sweep of Washington, but they have the toughest-looking slate in their division the rest of the way.

From Washington Post

Sure, the Red Coats had the upper hand in terms of transportation, supplies and training.

From The Daily Beast

They and their allies seem to have the upper hand in Missouri.

From The Daily Beast

This gives her again the upper hand, as she is seeking to fix a market price across all digital servicing for her work.

From The Daily Beast

Liberals here now have a chance to gain the upper hand in terms of messaging, just in time for midterm elections.

From The Daily Beast

I fear Toronto has the upper hand on exceptional commercial projects, but what saves Montreal is its street and cultural life.

From The Daily Beast

Gerent will either have to bow to the storm and fight, or else he will get the upper hand and quiet things again.

From Project Gutenberg

He sat up and kissed Kate's letter, and Love began to get the upper hand of Liquor a little.

From Project Gutenberg

And to make all worse, she took the upper hand with him, which (as John well knew) was not the true relation of the sexes.

From Project Gutenberg

Their self-respect soon regained the upper hand, and they blushed at their own weakness.

From Project Gutenberg

We all know that if they got the upper hand they would be far more cruel and more tyrannous than the whites have been.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• advantage
• dominance
• leverage
• superiority
• supremacy