For whom does "upwards of" mean "less than, but approaching" ? Is it a regionalism?
Solution 1:
I've always used "upwards of" to mean "at most, but close to". For example, if somebody said "the entrees at this restaurant cost upwards of $100", I would expect most entrees to be below $100, with a few at or maybe just slightly above $100. I was born and raised in Vancouver, BC.
Only today (at age 30) did somebody say to me "doesn't 'upwards' mean 'more than'?" which led me to this question.
My fiancé grew up around Atlanta, GA and uses 'upwards' in generally the same way as me.