upstart

Etymology

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

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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume II, chapter 18:

     [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:

     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:

     Where the Czech upstart Rosol, ranked 100 in the world, all but blew Nadal's head off with his blunderbuss in a fifth set of unrivalled intensity on Thursday night, 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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dr. Prior to this entry?)

Adjective

upstart (comparative more upstart, superlative most upstart)

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

Verb

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

1. to rise suddenly, to spring

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Tennyson to this entry?)

Anagrams

• start up, start-up, startup