better vs upstage

better

verb
  • To give advantage to; to support; to advance the interest of. 

  • To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel. 

  • Had better. 

  • To improve. 

  • To become better; to improve. 

adj
  • Greater in amount or quantity 

adv
  • Greater or lesser (whichever is seen as more advantageous), in reference to value, distance, time, etc. 

  • Had better. 

noun
  • An entity, usually animate, deemed superior to another; one who has a claim to precedence; a superior. 

upstage

verb
  • To draw attention away from others, especially on-stage. 

  • To force other actors to face away from the audience by staying upstage. 

  • To treat snobbishly. 

  • To restage upward; to restage (a case of a disease, usually a cancer) to a higher stage than that found at last assessment. 

noun
  • The part of a stage that is farthest from the audience or camera. 

adv
  • Toward or at the rear of a theatrical stage. 

  • Away from the audience or camera. 

adj
  • At the rear of a stage. 

How often have the words better and upstage occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )