upper crust

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Noun

upper crust (plural upper crusts)

1. Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see upper, crust The topmost layer of a bread, pastry dish, or other item with a hardened coating.
   • 1871, Louisa May Alcott, Little Men, ch. 20:

     She went to get her tarts . . . but some one had stolen all the fruit out of them by lifting up the upper crust.

2. (idiomatic, usually, with the) The social elite, the highest social class.

   Synonyms: upper class, the quality, the Quality

   • 1894, Mark Twain, "A Little Note to M. Paul Bourget" in Essays on Paul Bourget:

     I judged from your remark about the diligence and industry of the high Parisian upper crust that it would have some point.

   • 2006 June 18, J. F. O. McAllister, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1205329,00.html A New Kind of Elite]," Time:

     Some accents reveal the distinctive bray of the upper crust, but most are generic middle class.

Adjective

upper crust

1. Alternative form of upper-crust

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