DCHP-1 Online

Upper Country

• 1 Hist. the vast region north and west of Lake Superior, as known by the fur traders and explorers.

  See also: Northwest (def. 1a)  up-country  

  • 1761  (1901)  Michilimackinac is the place of deposit, and point of departure between the upper countries and the lower.
  • 1789  We still expect a very considerable quantity of Furrs and Peltries from the most distant Posts of the Upper Country, which cannot arrive to admit of the Vessels sailing before the 25th.
  • 1803  (1947)  . . . God knows I'm not very tame especially on arriving from the Upper Country.
  • 1918  McGill, writing in 1785, stated that he estimated the value of the Upper Country trade--in which he included the country from the mouth of the Ohio and on the rivers falling into the Mississippi to as far north as Lake Arabaska?--at £180,000 currency

• 2 Hist. Upper Canada (def. 1), especially that part lying west of York (Toronto).

  See also: Upper Canada (def. 1)  

  • 1797  It [Queenston] may justly be stiled the emporium of the upper country, and bids fair for becoming the most populous town in this province.
  • 1832  (1915)  If I should take it to the Upper Country, I should have to pay a heavy price for its transfer, as where if I settled the family in or near York I should be allowed to retain the furniture as the carriage of it would not be heavy.
  • 1927  Those who settled in Upper Canada were business men and farmers. Their interests were less literary, and it was a little later before books began to be written in the "Upper Country."

• 3 B.C. See quote.

  • 1925  This climber [white clematis] is common throughout the Upper Country. . . .
  • 1925  "The Upper Country" and "The Upper Mainland" have the same meaning.