Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
UPGRADE
I. noun
Date: 1873
an upward grade or slope, increase , rise , improvement 2b,
II. verb
Date: 1901
transitive verb to raise or improve the grade of: as, to improve (livestock) by use of purebred sires, to advance to a job requiring a higher level of skill especially as part of a training program, to raise the quality of, to raise the classification and usually the price of without improving the quality, to extend the usefulness of (as a device), to assign a less serious status to , intransitive verb to improve or replace especially software or a device for increased usefulness, upgradability or upgradeability noun upgradable or upgradeable adjective