Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (drugs) amphetamine or a similar form of drug, e.g. Methedrine; often in pl.

1968–70		Current Sl. III–IV (Cumulation Issue) 133: Upper, n. Stimulant.
1969		‘Groupie Gloss.’ on A. Lorber Groupies [album] Ups: opposite effect of downs.
1969		Current Sl. III:3 11: Uppie, n. Stimulant.
1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970) 245: upper An amphetamine pill. uppie An amphetamine pill.
1970		Time 16 Feb. 36: In Hollywood, a boy of eleven [...] has been pushing ‘ups’ (amphetamine and methedrine pills) and ‘downs’ (barbiturates, tranquilizers) since he was nine.
1975		J. Roe The Same Old Grind 10: Whenever she stopped taking her uppers [...] she got too sad.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 286: She was heavily dependent on ‘uppers.’.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 297: Why don’t any of the rest of you fuckers donate your own Ups to keeping this one going.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 96: I was depressed so I drank and popped uppers to kill the depression.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 56: You got any ups, How?
1992		M. Coleman Fatty 142: ‘But one thing I can say is that it proved to me what a load of crap all this talk is about drugs and uppers improving your performance’.
1993		G. Disher Deathdeal [ebook] ‘[U]ppers, downers, some marijuana to sprinkle in my roll-your-own tobacco’.
1998		Guardian Sport 18 Sept. 16: The true inside story [...] the ups, the downs, or in my case the uppers and downers.
1998		M. Baker Bad Guys 32: It didn’t matter if it was ups, downs, psychedelics, I was into it.
2000		Indep. Rev. 19 Feb. 8: Uppers, downers, leapers, acid, coke and flirtations with heroin.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 22: Uppies — Amphetamine.
2010		J. Ellroy Hilliker Curse 30: I smoked weed and scored uppers.
2010		K. Richards Life 258: They’re giving us all these pure ups [...] selling off their coke.
2012		L. Jose ‘Underhooks’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] One of the cut men [...] popped Sammy with some more uppers.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] Denny Malone pops two go-pills [...] He just got up after a midnight-to-eight and needs the uppers to get him going.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 206: ‘You name it, he’d swallowed it. Uppers, downers, opiates, analgesics’.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 411: I had an array of uppers and downers — barbiturates [...] French Blues.

2. (US) a state of optimistic excitement (poss. the result of ingesting amphetamines).

1967		Reynolds & McClure Freewheelin Frank 56: Geezin crystal is an amphetamine trip. It is a good trip because it is a waker — an upper rather than a downer like heroin.
1973		Time 1 Jan. K2: It is certainly a relief to know that State 2 is an upper; but by that time, who cares?
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 97: For an upper, she remembered how she got in the wind to whip her master plan on Red.