upstart

English

Etymology

From Middle English upstarten, upsterten, equivalent to up- ‎ start.

Pronunciation

• (General Australian, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʌp.stɑːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʌp.stɑɹt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

upstart (plural upstarts)

1. One who has suddenly gained wealth, power, or other prominence, but either has not received social acceptance or has become arrogant or presumptuous.
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “VI. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     upstarts […] they call in reproach mushrooms

   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XVIII, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 345:

     [S]he has no fair pretence of family or blood. She was nobody when he married her, barely the daughter of a gentleman; but ever since her being turned into a Churchill she has out-Churchill’d them all in high and mighty claims: but in herself, I assure you, she is an upstart.”

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion‎^[1]:

     But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.

   • 2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in The Guardian‎^[2], archived from the original on 15 November 2016:

     Where the Czech upstart [Lukáš] Rosol, ranked 100 in the world, all but blew [Rafael] Nadal's head off with his blunderbuss in a fifth set of unrivalled intensity on Thursday night, [Julien] Benneteau, a more artful citizen, used a rapier to hurt his vaunted foe before falling just short of a kill. In the end, it was he who staggered from the scene of the fight.

2. The meadow saffron.

Synonyms

• arriviste
• nouveau riche
• parvenu

Translations

newly rich or prominent

• Bulgarian: парвеню́ (bg) n (parvenjú)
• Catalan: nou-ric (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 暴發戶／暴发户 (zh) (bàofāhù)

• Czech: povýšenec m
• Dutch: nieuwkomeling m, parvenu (nl) m
• Finnish: nousukas (fi), uusrikas (fi)
• French: parvenu (fr) m, arriviste (fr) m, nouveau riche (fr) m
• German: Emporkömmling (de) m, Parvenü (de) m, Neureicher (de) m
• Greek: αριβίστας (el) m (arivístas)
• Icelandic: uppskafningur (is) m
• Irish: sotaire m, sárachán m
• Japanese: 成り金 (なりきん, narikin), 成り上がり者 (なりあがりもの, nariagari-mono), 出来星 (ja) (できぼし, dekiboshi)
• Latin: novus homo m
• Maori: hoetere
• Norwegian: oppkomling m
• Portuguese: arrivista (pt) m or f, novo-rico (pt) m, emergente (pt)
• Russian: вы́скочка (ru) m or f (výskočka), нувори́ш (ru) m (nuvoríš), парвеню́ (ru) m (parvenjú), из грязи в князи (ru) (iz grjazi v knjazi)
• Serbo-Croatian: skorojević m, skorojevićka f
• Spanish: advenedizo (es) m, advenediza (es) f, (unscrupulous upstart) arribista (es) m or f, nuevo rico (es) m
• Swedish: uppkomling (sv) c
• Turkish: sonradan görme (tr)

Adjective

upstart (comparative more upstart, superlative most upstart)

1. Acting like a parvenu.
2. Self-important and presumptuous.

Translations

self-important and presumptuous

• Bulgarian: парвенюшки (parvenjuški)
• Dutch: parvenuachtig (nl)
• Finnish: nousukasmainen (fi)
• German: Angeber (de) m
• Italian: arricchito (it), parvenu (it)
• Spanish: advenedizo (es), (unscrupulous upstart) arribista (es)
• Swedish: uppkomling (sv)

Verb

upstart (third-person singular simple present upstarts, present participle upstarting, simple past and past participle upstarted)

1. To rise suddenly, to spring
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Th' Elfe therewith astownd,
     Upstarted lightly from his looser make,
     And his unready weapons gan in hand to take.

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page)”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC:

     the beauteous beast
     Scared by the noise upstarted at our feet

   • 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review‎^[3], volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC:

     "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting—

Anagrams

• start up, start-up, startup