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Synonyms

upper story

Idioms  

  1. The head or brain, as in He's not all there in the upper story. This expression transfers the literal sense of a higher floor in a multistory building to the top portion of the human body. Richard Bentley used it in A Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris (1699), where he compares a man with “brains ... in his head” to a man who has “furniture in his upper story.”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Shortly after midnight, a motorcyclist passing by noticed smoke coming from an upper story and alerted guards.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 11, 2023

After the dam breach, the family piled into a boat to get to safety in the upper story of a neighbor’s three-story home.

From New York Times • Jun. 16, 2023

But even the electrical fire that gutted the upper story and forced closure of the restaurant for two years while repairs were done could not kill Off Vine.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2023

One witness, television reporter Mal Couch, said he saw a gun emerge from an upper story of a warehouse commanding an unobstructed view of the presidential car.

From Washington Times • Nov. 22, 2017

The upper story was plaster and timber with stone reinforcing the comers.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.