ups

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of up.

   After years of ups and downs, the company finally found steady growth.

   The market's recent ups encouraged a wave of new investors.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the countable uses of up: the good turns and bright stretches of a life or a market. The directional sense cannot be counted, so it has no plural. Its natural home is the fixed pairing ups and downs, where it is followed by its opposite. Used alone, as in a market's recent ups, it reads as a deliberate echo of that pairing.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of up.

   The coach ups the difficulty of each drill as the season goes on.

   He ups the ante every time we sit down to play cards.

   Note

   Most often met as the colloquial verb of increase: a seller ups the price, a player ups the ante. In that use it takes a direct object. The older intransitive uses meaning rise or climb now feel archaic or poetic. The lively intransitive survivor is up and, for acting suddenly, as in she ups and leaves, where the verb means little more than abruptly.

   Without a word of warning, he ups and quits the band.

   Every winter the landlord ups the rent a little more.

3. 3
   adjectivecolloquialSingaporenot before a noun

   Alternative spelling of upz ("outstanding").

   The crowd agreed the headliner's set was completely ups.

   Everyone said the graphics on the new game looked ups.

   Note

   Singapore colloquial praise for a person or performance that stands out through effort or ability. It is spelled here with an s in place of the z of upz. It works only after a verb, as in the set was ups or she is really ups, and not before a noun. Degrees are formed with more and most: more ups, most ups.

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