uponとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Middle English upon, uppon, uppen, from 古期英語 upon, uppon, uppan (“on, upon, up to, against, after, in addition to”), equivalent to up (“adverb”) +‎ on (“preposition”). Cognate with Icelandic upp á, upp á (“up on, upon”), Swedish på (“up on, upon”), Danish på (“up on, upon”), Norwegian på (“up on, upon”).

発音

• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /əˈpɒn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈpɑn/, /əˈpɔn/
• ハイフネーション: up‧on
• 韻: -ɒn

前置詞

upon

1. Physically above and in contact with.

   Place the book upon the table.

   • 1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:

     Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …

2. Physically directly supported by.

   The crew set sail upon the sea.

   She balanced upon one foot.

3. Being followed by another so as to form a series.

   hours upon hours, years upon years, mile upon mile of desert

   • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act III Scene 1

     No news of them? Why, so: and I know not what's spend in the search: why thou loss upon loss! the thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge: nor no ill luck stirring but what lights on my shoulders; no sighs but of my breathing; no tears but of my shedding.

4. At (a prescribed point in time).

   The contract was rendered void upon his death.

5. On.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter I, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, OCLC 40817384:

     Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.

使用する際の注意点

A somewhat elevated word, upon is common in poetic or legal contexts, but the simpler, more general term on is generally interchangeable, and more common in casual American speech.

同意語

• (all senses): on
• (time): at

形容詞

up on (not generally comparable, comparative more up on, superlative most up on)

1. (idiomatic, colloquial) Well-informed concerning.

   The tour guide was certainly up on his history.

   • 2001 June 24, Christopher John Farley, "The New Video Wizards," Time:

     Says Sigismondi: "I don't watch [MTV]. I'm really not up on what's trendy."

   • 2011 Aug. 25, William Grimes, "Casey Ribicoff, Senator’s Widow and a Style Leader, Dies at 88," New York Times (retrieved 3 Jan 2012):

     “She was up on everything,” said the biographer A. Scott Berg. “Not just the news but every play or film or book.”

アナグラム

• Puno