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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.

Standing outside the city hospital, Karim El Baridi said his uncle was being treated for broken ribs after leaping out of an upper story for fear his building would collapse.

From Reuters • Sep. 9, 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

You might even consider moving valuables from the ground floor to an upper story of your home.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 3, 2023

One sight during the flood: a handmade, white flag hung from an upper story of a Main Street building bearing the letters SOS.

From Seattle Times • May 27, 2018

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.