All 4 Uses of
upstart
in
Nicholas Nickleby
- …could, upstairs: not a little nettled, however, to observe that Miss Squeers and Master Squeers, and the servant girl, were enjoying the scene from a snug corner; the two former indulging in many edifying remarks about the presumption of poor upstarts, which occasioned a vast deal of laughter, in which even the most miserable of all miserable servant girls joined: while Nicholas, stung to the quick, drew over his head such bedclothes as he had, and sternly resolved that the outstanding…†
Chpt 13
- I see little to choose, between assistant to a brutal pedagogue, and toad-eater to a mean and ignorant upstart, be he member or no member.'†
Chpt 16 *
- 'YOU offended me!' retorted Miss Knag, 'YOU! a chit, a child, an upstart nobody!†
Chpt 18
- Why, how many lies, what mean and abject evasions, what humbled behaviour from upstarts who, but for my money, would spurn me aside as they do their betters every day, would that ten thousand pounds have brought me in!†
Chpt 56
Definition:
-
(upstart) someone who recently acquired power (or acts as though they did), and disrespects others