upper ten thousand pl (plural only)
(dated) The ten thousand people, more or less, who are highest in position or wealth; the upper class; the aristocracy.
Those families, you know, are our upper crust-not upper ten thousand. James Fenimore Cooper
At present there is no distinction among the upper ten thousand of the city. Nathaniel Parker Willis
And I honor the man who is willing to sink Half his present repute for the freedom to think, And, when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, Will risk t'other half for the freedom to speak, Caring naught for what vengeance the mob has in store, Let that mob be the upper ten thousand or lower. James Russell Lowell