The Collaborative International Dictionary
Upper \Up"per\, a.; comp. of Up. Being further up, literally or figuratively; higher in place, position, rank, dignity, or the like; superior; as, the upper lip; the upper side of a thing; the upper house of a legislature. The upper hand, the superiority; the advantage. See To have the upper hand, under Hand. --Jowett (Thucyd.). Upper Bench (Eng. Hist.), the name of the highest court of common law (formerly King's Bench) during the Commonwealth. Upper case, the top one of a pair of compositor's cases. See the Note under 1st Case, n., 3. Upper covert (Zo["o]l.), one of the coverts situated above the bases of the tail quills. Upper deck (Naut.), the topmost deck of any vessel; the spar deck. Upper leather, the leather for the vamps and quarters of shoes. Upper strake (Naut.), the strake next to the deck, usually of hard wood, and heavier than the other strakes. Upper ten thousand, or (abbreviated) Upper ten, the ten thousand, more or less, who are highest in position or wealth; the upper class; the aristocracy. [Colloq.] Upper topsail (Naut.), the upper half of a double topsail. Upper works (Naut.), all those parts of the hull of a vessel that are properly above water. Upper world.
The atmosphere.
Heaven.
This world; the earth; -- in distinction from the underworld.
Wiktionary
n. (context idiomatic English) advantage or control.
Wikipedia
The Upper Hand is a British television sitcom, produced by Central Independent Television and Columbia Pictures Television (then as Columbia TriStar Central Productions) and broadcast by ITV from 1990 to 1996. The programme was adapted from the American sitcom Who's the Boss?.
As in the former series, an affluent single woman Caroline Weatley, raising her son with the help of her mother Laura West, hires a housekeeper only to have a man called Charlie Burrows apply for the job.
The Upper Hand (Du rififi à Paname) is a 1966 French thriller film starring Jean Gabin, George Raft and Gert Fröbe.
Usage examples of "the upper hand".
That last comment was wicked and cynical, but the nosferatu knew when they had the upper hand.
The human participants knew who had the upper hand too, and quickly acquiesced.
Though on the level of plot morality emerges as more important, since Dorian's lack of it leads to his death, in terms of authorial interest through the whole work neither side gains the upper hand.
There are persons whose existence is little more than a series of zigzags, as now one tendency and now another gets the upper hand.
Acting on Philip's instructions, the Duke knelt at Paul's feet and begged his pardon for having invaded his territories, but it was clear all the same who held the upper hand.