• (GA) IPA: /ˌʌpˈstɛɹz/, /ˈʌpˌstɛɹz/
• (RP) IPA: /ˌʌpˈstɛəz/, /ˈʌpˌstɛəz/

upstairs (comparative further upstairs, superlative furthest upstairs)

1. Located on a higher floor or level of a building.

   They can sleep in the upstairs bedroom.

2. (baseball, informal) Pertaining to a pitched ball that is high, and usually outside the strike zone.

   That fastball was upstairs for a ball.

upstairs (comparative further upstairs, superlative furthest upstairs)

1. Up the stairs; on a higher floor or level.

   I’ll take my shoes and put them away the next time I go upstairs.

   I hate the people who live upstairs, and I especially hate their piano.

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter IV, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], OCLC 13623666 ↗, phase the first (The Maiden), pages 40–41 ↗:

     In a large bedroom upstairs, the window of which was thickly curtained with a great woollen shawl lately discarded by the landlady, Mrs. Rolliver, were gathered on this evening nearly a dozen persons, all seeking vinous bliss; {{...}

   • 2016, [https://web.archive.org/web/20170930001420/https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/lets-learn-english-lesson-5-where-are-you/3168971.html VOA Learning English] (public domain)

     Marsha, let’s go upstairs!

2. (informal) In the brain or mind.

   After Joe did a hula dance on the kitchen table, his friends wondered if he didn’t have a lot going on upstairs.

3. (informal) In heaven, especially with regard to where a deity might be found.

• downstairs

• French: en haut
• German: treppauf, oben, nach oben (where to), herauf
• Italian: di sopra
• Portuguese: em cima
• Russian: наверху́
• Spanish: arriba

upstairs (plural upstairs)

1. An upper storey.