# upstage
## English
### Etymology

From up- +‎ stage. The figurative uses “haughty” and “to draw attention away” derive from actors moving to a higher and thus more visible position on a sloped stage.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʌpˈsteɪd͡ʒ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪdʒ

### Noun

upstage (uncountable)
* (theater) The part of a stage that is farthest from the audience or camera.
    Coordinate terms: center stage, downstage, stage left, stage right

### Adverb

upstage (comparative more upstage, superlative most upstage)
* Toward or at the rear of a theatrical stage.
    The actor turned and walked upstage.
* Away from the audience or camera.

### Adjective

upstage (comparative more upstage, superlative most upstage)
* At the rear of a stage.
    The minimalist play used no upstage scenery.
* (figurative, obsolete) Haughty, aloof.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:arrogant
** 1929 December, Betty Boone, “The Price of this Stardom”, in Screenland, page 22:If she hasn't time for this or that, if she refuses to make or keep appointments, if her face does not greet all comers with a sweet and charming smile, then the word is passed around that ‘So-and-So is getting high-hat and up-stage.’

### Verb

upstage (third-person singular simple present upstages, present participle upstaging, simple past and past participle upstaged)
* (figurative, transitive) To draw attention away from others, especially on-stage.
    Synonyms: eclipse, overshadow
    She only wore that dress to upstage everyone.
** 1973, Jerry Vermilye, Cary Grant, New York: Galahad Books, →ISBN, page 56:Although constantly upstaged by Miss Moore's vocal flings, Cary Grant brought the appropriate note of light comedy to his role.
** 1987 August 17, “Peace Moves”, in Newsweek, volume 60, number 7, page 1:Ronald Reagan’s peace plan for Nicaragua, which would have worked to his domestic political advantage even if it had failed, is upstaged by a surprise initiative by five Central American countries.
** 1996, Dave Anderson, The story of the Olympics, New York: W. Morrow, →ISBN, page 10:The romance and spectacle of the Olympics have been upstaged by the reality of the Olympics; both the Summer Games and the Winter Games are now as much big business as they are sport.
* (transitive, theater) To force other actors to face away from the audience by staying upstage.
* (transitive, by extension) To treat snobbishly.
* (medicine, transitive) To restage upward; to restage (a case of a disease, usually a cancer) to a higher stage than that found at last assessment.
    Antonym: downstage
** 1999, “Mismanagement of ovarian cancer by laparoscopy and laparotomy”, in Laparoscopic surgery in gynaecological oncology, Blackwell Science, →ISBN:Almost one-third of patients were upstaged after re-exploration, three-quarters of whom actually had stage III disease.

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ Martin Harrison (1998) “upstage”, in The Language of Theatre, New York: Routledge, →ISBN, pages 296–297:Used as a verb, actors upstage someone if they focus attention on themselves (and away from other performers), generally at a point in the production when that is not artistically desirable […] This usage is derived from the fact that a position upstage on a raked staged was the one which attracted most attention.

### Further reading

* rake (theatre) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* “upstage”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.