Other forms: upscaled, upscaling
Upscale means aimed at people with money to spend. An upscale restaurant, upscale market, go upscale.
It is American; British English says upmarket for the same idea, and the two are exact equivalents. As a verb it means to increase in scale, and in image processing to upscale is to enlarge, which is now done by software that invents the missing detail. Note downscale and downmarket; and that both words date from the 1960s.
1adjectiveupscaleAimed at people with money to spend.
“They opened an upscale restaurant where a steak costs more than my weekly shopping.”
2verbenlargeTo enlarge, of an image.
“The TV can upscale old films so that they look sharper on a big screen.”
upscale is a quality of market position.
Up plus scale, American from about 1966 as an adjective and 1963 as a verb. British English formed upmarket independently at about the same time.
From up + scale, 1966 (adjective), 1963 (verb).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Word Building