up line

See also: upline and up-line

English

Alternative forms

• upline, up-line

Noun

up line (plural up lines)

1. A railway line on which trains travel towards a major terminus.
   • 1857 Alan J Day, Verena Hoffman - The Annual Register of World Events

     The down line was cleared about midnight, or nine hours after the accident, but the up line was not in a state to admit of the traffic being resumed until one o'clock on the next day.

   • 1842 Francis Whishaw - The Railways of Great Britain and Ireland Practically Described and Illustrated

     The number of down-trains daily is fifty-one, and up-trains fifty; the ropes, therefore, travel 155.25 miles on the up-line, and 158.35 miles on the down-line, or altogether 313.60 miles daily.

   • 1842, Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal:

     […] the engine, which continued its course till it reached Roade, when it was crossed from the down to the upline, and returned in safety to Wolverton.

2. (marketing, often attributive) A member of a multi-level marketing scheme who has recruited others (their down line) and receives a portion of their earnings.
   • 1998, Charles F. Amick, Network Marketing: How to Play by Your Own Rules and Win, page 48:

     Many uplines convince their distributors to develop an "us vs. them" attitude that is completely unfounded in reality.

   • 2019, Tom “Big Al” Schreiter, How to Build Network Marketing Leaders Volume One

     No one purposely goes into network marketing saying: “I hope my upline sponsor decides to make me a success and not a failure. I hope my upline is in a good mood today.”

See also

• down line

Anagrams

• Lupien, line up, line-up, lineup, lupine, pinule, unpile