high-low
(ˈhaɪləʊ)
[f. high a. + low a.; in contrast to ‘top’ boots and ‘low’ shoes respectively.]
(Usually pl.) A boot laced or otherwise fastened up in front and reaching up over the ankle.
| 1801 Bloomfield Rural T. (1802) 8, I won the High-lows out and out. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Highlows, a covering for the foot and ancle, too high to be called a shoe, and too low for a boot. 1830 Cobbett Rur. Rides I. 73 From the sole six inches upwards is a high-low. 1851 Ann. Reg. 38 He was lacing up his high-lows in the washhouse. |
| attrib. 1836 Marryat Japhet xxxix, He was dressed in highlow boots, worsted stockings. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. 185 The dandies..have split their waistbands and taken to high-low shoes. |
Hence
ˈhigh-lowed a., wearing high-lows:
cf. high-shod.
| 1839 John Bull 28 July in Spirit Metrop. Conserv. Press (1840) II. 251 The high-lowed ploughboy of Yorkshire. |