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.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

upper story

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

One, a clapboard building whose upper story was gutted by fire, appeared on a recent afternoon to still be inhabited, although it was unclear who was inside.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2021

With much of the space still empty, the grand view from an upper story makes workers prepping the floor for incoming equipment appear Lilliputian.

From Seattle Times ● May 19, 2016

The warmth of my breath closed around me, and when she tilted back to scan the upper story of my house, her face was featureless.

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

Related Words

• head
• intellect
• mind