upset

Etymology

From Middle English upset (“the act of setting up; establishment”), from Middle English upsetten, corresponding to up- + set. Cognate with Middle Low German upset (“setup; arrangement”).

adj

1. (of a person) Angry, distressed, or unhappy.
   He was upset when she refused his friendship.
   My children often get upset with their classmates.
2. (of a stomach or gastrointestinal tract, referred to as stomach) Feeling unwell, nauseated, or ready to vomit.
   His stomach was upset, so he didn't want to move.

noun

1. (uncountable) Disturbance or disruption.
   My late arrival caused the professor considerable upset.
2. (countable, sports, politics) An unexpected victory of a competitor or candidate that was not favored to win.
   But it is probably the biggest upset for the away side since Ronnie Radford smashed a famous goal as Hereford defeated Newcastle 2-1 in 1972. January 8, 2011, Paul Fletcher, “Stevenage 3 - 1 Newcastle”, in BBC
   Sanders’s win in Michigan was one of the greatest upsets in modern political history. March 9, 2016, Harry Enten, “What The Stunning Bernie Sanders Win In Michigan Means”, in FiveThirtyEight
3. (automobile insurance) An overturn.
   "collision and upset": impact with another object or an overturn for whatever reason.
4. An upset stomach.
   "Bob, let's cancel the babysitter. With this upset stomach, I can't go out tonight. "Try Pepto-Bismol. Hospital tests prove it relieves upsets. And it's great for indigestion or nausea, too!" 1958 May 12, advertisement, Life, volume 44, number 19, page 110 http://books.google.com/books?id=vFMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA110&dq=pepto
5. (mathematics) An upper set; a subset (X,≤) of a partially ordered set with the property that, if x is in U and x≤y, then y is in U.
6. (aviation) The dangerous situation where the flight attitude or airspeed of an aircraft is outside the designed bounds of operation, possibly resulting in loss of control.
   The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the unfavorable interaction of severe vertical air drafts and large longitudinal control displacements resulting in a longitudinal upset from which a successful recovery was not made. 1 June 1965, Civil Aeronautics Board, “Synopsis”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Northwest Airlines, Inc., Boeing 720B, N724US, Near Miami, Florida, February 12, 1963, retrieved 2022-11-25, page 1

verb

1. (transitive) To make (a person) angry, distressed, or unhappy.
   I’m sure the bad news will upset him, but he needs to know.
2. (transitive) To disturb, disrupt or adversely alter (something).
   Introducing a foreign species can upset the ecological balance.
   The fatty meat upset his stomach.
3. (transitive) To tip or overturn (something).
   1924, W. D. Ross translator, Aristitle, Metaphysics, Book 1, Part 9, The Classical Library, Nashotah, Wisconsin, 2001. But this argument, which first Anaxagoras and later Eudoxus and certain others used, is very easily upset; for it is not difficult to collect many insuperable objections to such a view.
4. (transitive) To defeat unexpectedly.
   Truman upset Dewey in the 1948 US presidential election.
5. (intransitive) To be upset or knocked over.
   The carriage upset when the horse bolted.
6. (obsolete) To set up; to put upright.
   R. of Brunne with sail on mast upset
7. To thicken and shorten, as a heated piece of iron, by hammering on the end.
8. To shorten (a tire) in the process of resetting, originally by cutting it and hammering on the ends.