one up

verb, noun — 3 senses

one up

verb

1

Idiomatic To outdo, to perform something slightly better than a competitor's prior effort.

Every year the neighbors try to one-up each other with their holiday lights.

Derived terms: one-upper

one up

noun

1

Especially An advantage over someone.

In phrases like "get one up on someone"

WePay wants to get one-up in the mobile payments race with its new iOS app for small businesses.

2

Video games Alternative Alternative spelling of 1-up (“extra life”).

If you hit that block, you can get a one up.

Related terms: get one up on, go one better, one-upmanship, show off, show up

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.