▪ I. height, highth, n.
(haɪt, haɪθ)
Forms: α. 1 h{iacu}ehþo, héhþu, héahþu, h{yacu}hð; 3–4 heȝþe, 3–5 heiȝþe, 4–5 heiȝthe, heyȝth(e, (5 hekþe, heyeth, heth, 5–6 heygth, heyth(e), 6–9 heighth, (6 heyghth, heighthe, hyghth, hyethe, 6–7 heith, 6–8 heigth, 9 Glouc. dial. hecth); also 3–4 hihþe, hiȝþe, 7–9 highth (9 W. Som. dial. 'uyth). β. 4–5 heȝt(e, height(e, (heyt), Sc. heycht; 4–5 heght, heyȝte, heyhte, (Sc. hecht); 4–6 heyght, Sc. heicht, 5 heghte, heihte, heyȝte, heyghte, 4– height (5–6 heighte, heyght); also 3–5 hiȝt, (4–5 -te), 3–9 hight, (4 hiht, hithte, hit, 4–5 hyȝt(e, 4–6 Sc. hycht, 4–7 Sc. hicht, 5 highte, hyghte, 5–6 hyght).
[OE. h{iacu}ehþo (also later héahþu) = OLG. *hôhitha (MDu. hogede, hochte, hoochte, Du. hoogte, MLG. hogede, LG. högte), OHG. hôhida (MHG. hoehede), Goth. hauhiþa, f. hauh- high + abstr. ending -iþa: see -th1. From the 13th c. the final -th after -ȝ, -gh varied with t (cf. drought, drouth). In ME. the forms in -t were predominant in the north, and since 1500 have increasingly prevailed in the literary language; though heighth, highth were abundant in southern writers till the 18th c., and are still affected by some. The stem-vowel has generally been ē, ey, ei, though forms in i occur from 13th c., esp. in northern writers, hicht being the typical Sc. form from 14th c.; in Eng. hight is found from 15th c., and was very common in 16th and 17th c.; highth was also very common in 17th c. and was the form used by Milton. The hei- forms come lineally down from OE. (Anglian héhþo); the hi- forms are due in the main to later assimilation to high. Current usage is a compromise, retaining the spelling height (which has been by far the most frequent written form since 1500), with the pronunciation of hight.]
I. The quality of being high.
1. a. Distance or measurement from the base upwards; altitude; stature (of the human body); the elevation of an object above the ground or any recognized level (e.g. the sea).
| α c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 266/190 Fram þe eorþe heo was op i-houe þe heiȝþe of fet þreo. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xviii. (1495) 613 A shrub that neuer growyth passynge the heyeth and quantyte of two cubytes. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 33/2 This people ben .xx. Cubettes of heythe. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 77 The same Trees were..in heighth from the foote to the toppe .xxxiiii. foote of assise. 1570 Dee Math. Pref., Poure in water, handsomly, to the heith of your shorter line. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 76 Stakes or Poles of about a mans highth. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. ii. x, The Medium betwixt an excessive length or heighth and a short or broken quantity. 1809 Roland Fencing 22 It depends on the person's heighth. 1890 Glouc. Gloss., Hecth, height. |
| β a 1300 Cursor M. 1419 Of a nellen heght þai ware. Ibid. 1677 (Gött.) Fiftene [elne] on..heit. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xi. 4 A citee and a towr, whos heiȝt [1388 hiȝnesse] fulli ateyne vnto heuene. a 1400–50 Alexander p. 282 All þe housez of þat Cyte were of one hight. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iv. 169, I know she is about my height. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. 108 So the same Cylinder of 29 inches is raised by a Column of the height of the whole Atmosphære it self. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. ix. (1879) 323 The average height of the tide round the islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is about 3½ feet. |
b. fig. (Often in reference to Eph. iii. 18.)
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 220 b, What is the length, the brede, the heyght & depnes of y⊇ crosse of Chryst. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 413 To attaine The highth and depth of thy Eternal wayes. 1672 Bp. Patrick Dev. Chr. (1676) 258 O the heighth, the depth, the breadth of thy love in Christ Jesus. 1850 Hare Mission Comf. Pref. 9 The progressive unfolding of the truth, in its world-embracing highth and depth and breadth and fulness. |
c. Of type: the distance from the foot to the face, called by printers height to paper.
| 1683–4 J. Moxon Mech. Exerc. Printing (1962) 157 If he finds that the edge of the Liner just touch..as well all the parts of his Proof-Letters as they do upon his old Letters, He concludes his Matrice is Sunk to a true Height against Paper. 1771 P. Luckombe Hist. Printing 243 They [sc. imperfections] are seldom exact to the prior sorts, but differ from them, sometimes in thickness, height to paper, or depth of Body. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 698/2 The height of type varies slightly with different founders, the mean being 29/32 in. 1890 A. Oldfield Pract. Man. Typogr. xxii. 164 Each letter should be of exactly the same height to paper; the height of type being 11-12ths of an inch. 1900 H. Hart Cent. Typogr. 23 Five packets of types of the same face, but cast on a Pica body and Dutch ‘height-to-paper’, were found at the Oxford Press in 1898. |
2. The quality of being comparatively high; great or considerable altitude or elevation.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1380 (Gött.) Cedir [es] a tre of hit [v.rr. heght, heȝt], widuten make. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 22 The sea in certaine chanels is of such heigth and depth, that no anker may come to the bottome therof. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 1 Those bodies..named of their height Meteors. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 107 But the height did not so amate us, as the danger of descending. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 39 The height and the tumult of those tides of Cook's great River. |
3. The elevation of a heavenly body, the pole, etc., above the horizon; = altitude 5.
| 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. ii. (Arb.) 165 The subleuation or height of the pole in that region. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 89 A Table of the sonnes height, for every degree of the signes in the Zodiake. 1726 tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 352 From the Altitudes and Azimuths observed, and the Height of the Pole. |
† 4. The diameter of a bullet; the bore of a gun.
| 1588 E. York Ord. Marshall in Stow's Surv. (1754) II. v. xxxi. 570/1 Some men..brought hither the name of the Height of the Bullet for the Piece. 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 18 b, Bullets for the field being smaller and lower..than the heighths of the peeces by a bore. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 49 How by knowing the weight of one Bullet, to find the weight of another Bullet, the height being given. 1678 Phillips (ed. 4), Caliber, in Gunnery the height of the bore in any peice of Ordnance. |
† 5. a. Geog. = latitude. Obs.
(Cf. the expression high latitude.)
| 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. vi. 35 Cituated betweene the Iles of Samos and Lesbos, about the height of Erithase. 1604 E. G. tr. D'Acosta's Hist. Indies 16 The ignorant suppose this Crosse to be the southerne Pole, for that they see the Navigators take their heigth thereby. 1622 Peacham Compl. Gent. 208 Spain lyeth..in the same height and parallel with the Azores Islands. 1694 Acc. Sev. Late Voy. Introd. (1711) 6 They sailed..until they came to the height of 15 degrees of South Latitude. |
† b. More generally: Position (at sea) in the parallel of, alongside of, and, hence, off some place. (F. à la hauteur de.) Obs.
| 1604 E. G. tr. D'Acosta's Hist. Indies 58 Vasco de Gama, who in the heigth of Mosambique, met with certaine Mariners. 1673 Lond. Gaz. No. 751/4 Growing extreamly leaky at the height of the Isle of Wight, they were forced yesterday to run her on shoar. 1711 Ibid. No. 4911/2 Six..Men of War are cruising off the Hight of Lisbon. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. vii. lxxxvi. 403 The 20th we reached the height of Gotland. |
† 6. High pitch (of the voice or of a musical note).
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 3 Shewing the heigth and lownes of euery note. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. v. 24 Such is his Voice..in sweetness and in height. |
† 7. Exalted rank, estate, or degree. Obs.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 608 God of mycht Preserwyt him till hyer hycht. a 1400–50 Alexander 3584 To put away oure pouerte & pas to ȝoure hiȝtes. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xxxii, Exceeded by the hight of happier men. 1699 Burnet 39 Art. ii. (1700) 46 To be next to God, seems to be the utmost heigth, to which even the Diabolical Pride could aspire. a 1718 Penn Life Wks. 1726 I. 160 Such by crying down all Heighth, raise themselves up higher than ever. |
8. High degree of any quality. Obs. or arch.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 276 Suffered to seeth gently and leisurely to the height or consistence of honey. 1629 Davenant Albovine iii. F iv, It works with hight, like new Mighty wine! as if 'twould split the Caske. 1659 Stanley Hist. Philos. III. iii. 22 Heighth of ambition causeth many men to go astray. 1662 Cokaine Ovid v. ii, I am Become enamour'd on her to that height, That I must marry her or I shall die! 1762 Gentl. Mag. 142 To such a heighth is licentiousness risen. 1770 Gilpin Wye (1789) 84 A gentleman..raised these mines to their greatest height. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 138 The fusion is to be raised to the tempering height. |
9. Haughtiness; hauteur. orig. Sc. Obs. Also sometimes in good sense: Loftiness of mind, magnanimity. arch.
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 965 For my hicht I am hurt, and harmit in haist. 1533 Bellenden Livy iii. (1822) 255 Thay war instruckit with sa prideful counsel, that thay couth nocht dissimill thare hicht. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. viii. 63 This man..of hicht and pryde contemned al creature. 1650 Cromwell Let. 2 Apr. in Carlyle Let. cxxx, A very resolute answer, and full of height. 1653 D. Osborne Lett. vii. (1888) 50 The worst of my faults was a height..that was..the humour of my family. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. Ded. 4 If there by any such thing in the World as a true height and magnanimity of spirit. 1820 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Christ's Hosp. 35 Yrs. Ago, With something of the old Roman height about him. |
II. Semi-concrete senses.
10. A high point or position.
| 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 33 b, It..negligently letteth them fall from a great height. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 92 Into what Pit thou seest From what highth fal'n. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 434 They take their Flight Thro' Plains, and mount the Hills unequal height. 1839 G. Bird Nat. Philos. 78 A mass of water..falling from a given height. 1849 Hare Par. Serm. II. 468 Mounting from strength to strength, from highth, to a higher highth! 1893 Bookman June 85/2 There are critics who reach classical heights and metaphysical depths which he does not attempt. |
11. The highest part of anything; the top, summit.
| α a 1000 Cædmon's Genesis 321 Heoldon englas forð heofonrices hehðe. 1388 Wyclif Dan. xi. 45 He schal sette his tabernacle..on the noble hil and hooli; and he schal com til to the heiȝthe [1382 heeȝ] therof. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 233/2 Heythe (S. heyght, Pynson heighte),..culmen, cacumen, sublimitas, summitas. 1517 R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 30 We went vnto the hyethe and tope of thys..Mounte. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V, 65 b, On the top and heigth of the same was set a great Egle of golde. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 190 He from heav'ns highth All these our motions vain, sees and derides. |
| β c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Jacobus minor 167 And stabliste hym one þe maste heycht Of þe tempil. 1486 Surtees Misc. (1888) 55 On the hight of Ouse brigge. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon cxxxi. 483 And so came to the heyght of the mountayne. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 15 Phœbus mounting the meridian's hight. 1712–14 Pope Rape Lock v. 53 Triumphant Umbriel on a sconce's height Clapp'd his glad wings, and sate to view the fight. 1788 Cowper On Mrs. Montague's Feather-hangings 35 Like sunbeams on the golden height Of some tall temple playing bright. |
| fig. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 510 Her who bore Scipio the highth of Rome. |
12. The highest point, the utmost degree (of something immaterial); extremity; summit; zenith.
| α a 1050 Liber Scintill. i. (1889) 4 Mæᵹ soðes ᵹebedes ys hyhð soðre lufe. c 1491 Chast. Goddes Chyld. 61 He that wyll come to the heyth of contemplacion..euermore he must areyse his herte vpwarde. 1611 B. Jonson Catiline iii. iv, The heighth of wickednesse. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 370 Now was the heighth of the Easterly Monsoon. 1704 in B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1867) II. 164 Carrying the Remainder into Captivity in the heighth of Winter. 1714 Swift Pres. St. Affairs Wks. 1755 II. i. 210 Those who professed the heighth of what is called the church principle. 1726 Leoni tr. Alberti's Archit. Pref. 8 The heigth of Beauty. |
| β 1375 Barbour Bruce ix. 508 In-to the takyn that he was set In to the hicht of cheuelry. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 496 Quhill half the haill day may the hicht haue. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 66 God..grant your Majestie the height of felicity. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 414 The height of the Storm is commonly over when the Corpus Sant is seen aloft. 1718 Freethinker No. 79 ¶3 Ceasing to be the Height of Folly, it became the Height of Wickedness. 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) I. ii. 48 A young lady dressed up to the height of the present fashion. 1841 Macaulay Let. to Napier in Trevelyan Life (1876) II. ix. 130 He was in the height of his popularity. 1923 T. E. Lawrence Lett. (1938) 407 Knewstub..thinks it's the height of John. |
III. Concrete senses. Something that is high.
† 13. The regions above; the heavens. Obs.
| a 900 Cynewulf Elene 1087 Fæder ælmihtiᵹ, wereda wealdenð..haliᵹ of hiehðo. a 1000 Guthlac 796 in Exeter Bk., On eorðan ecan lifes hames in heahþu. a 1000 Christ 414 ibid., Þe in heahþum sie a butan ende ece herenis. a 1050 Liber Scintill. lviii. (1889) 180 Þænne hyhð [celsitudo] heofenlic byð openud. a 1400 Prymer (1891) 23 Wonderful is the lord in heyȝthis. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. xliii. 1 The glory of the heyth, is the fayre and cleare firmament. 1553 Gau Richt Vay 48 He is passit wp to the heicht and led the presoners with hime. 1615 Bedwell Moham. Imp. i. §29 So is God in the height, and in the earth, by Christ his word. |
14. a. A high or lofty rising ground; an eminence. height of land, a watershed or ridge of high land dividing two river basins (N. Amer.).
| 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 52 Thai had..The hicht abovyn thair fayis tane. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 781 Syn lychtyt for to gang Towart a hicht, and led thar hors a quhill. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xii. 13 b, Caused upon a height..towardes the West, a great castle too be builded. 1615 W. Lawson Orch. & Gard. (1626) 5 The wind will blow fatnesse from the heights to the hollowes. 1725 in G. Sheldon Hist. Deerfield (1895) I. 559 They told us they wd travel to the hight of land by black river. 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. i, I stood upon a height about two hundred yards from the shore. 1804 W. Tennant Ind. Recreat. (ed. 2) II. 390 The country was..diversified with heights and swells. 1805–9 J. J. Henry Camp. agst. Quebec (1812) 36 On this lake, we obtained a full view of those hills which were then, and are now, called the ‘Heighth of land’. 1860 H. Y. Hind Narr. Canad. Red River Exped. II. 225 The Vermilion Pass, which was traversed by Dr. Hector presents on the whole the greatest natural facilities for crossing the mountains without the aid of engineering work, as the rise to the height of land is gradual from both sides. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 201/1 In the north it [sc. the watershed] is found in a stretch of country, called the Height of Land, that lies between the White and the Green Mountains, and gives birth to the Connecticut and a number of smaller streams. 1887 C. Ransome Short Hist. Eng. viii. ii. 349 When morning broke, Montcalm..saw the British drawn up on the Heights of Abraham close to Quebec. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 330/2 Beyond the Height-of-Land the Winnipeg and English rivers flow westward to Lake Winnipeg. 1918 H. Bindloss Agatha's Fortune xxv, It was hardly a range of hills, but rather what prospectors call a ‘heighth’ of land. 1930 G. L. Wood Pacific Basin 5 Behind the peninsula of California the height of land is a thousand miles from the sea. |
† b. = eminence 2 a.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 150 Þe ligament of þe þrote is clepid emanence eiþir þe heiȝþe [MS.B. hekþe] of þe epiglote. |
15. Her. (See quot.)
| 1847 Gloss. Heraldry 134 A plume of feathers strictly consists of three..If there be more rows than one they are termed heights. |
IV. Phrases.
16. at (..) height. at the height (arch.), † at height (obs.): at the highest point or degree. (Cf. 12.) Now usually at its height.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xiii. 713 Kyng robert now wes weill at hycht. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 41, I feare our happinesse is at the height. 1684 R. H. School Recreat. 32 Golden Rain, or Streams of Fire, that will when at height, descend in the Air like Rain. 1709 Mrs. D. Manley Secret Mem. (1736) III. 199 Luxury reigns at the height. 1839 Marryat Phant. Ship x, The gale was..at its height. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 397 Her military glory was at the height. |
† 17. in (..) height. Obs. a. in height: on high, aloft.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter vii. 8 And for that in heght [in altum] agayn ga. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 109 Plants Elme Trees..and likewise plants Vines, which shoote up in height upon the bodies of those trees. |
b. in height, (Sc.) into height: aloud; openly; in an open or evident manner.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 487 Him thoucht nocht speidfull for to fair Till assale hym into the hicht. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Machor 1425 Lof god in hicht, & blissis hyme with all ȝour mycht. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. (E.E.T.S.) 243/350 Why I say this..I shall tell you sone in height. |
c. in the height: in the highest degree.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iv. i. 303 Is a not approued in the height a villaine? |
d. in height, in the (its, etc.) height = 16.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. x. 21 Anthony..Leauing the Fight in heighth, flyes after her. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. iv. §11 When Learning was in its height in Greece. 1722 De Foe Plague (1884) 219, I must..speak of the Plague as in its height. |
† 18. on or upon height. Obs. a. On high, aloft (of position or direction).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 13620 ‘Blisce him’, þai said, ‘þat wons on hight’. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 123 Þe tres..spronngen on hiȝþe. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 37 Amang thay Montanis on hicht. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 428 To Tyburne, where they hange on hyght. 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. (1549) 90 The crosse..beyng lifte vp on height. |
b. Aloud.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Petrus 249 He sad on hicht, þat all mycht heyre: ‘pece be till ȝow’. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 926 He..spak thise same wordes al on highte. c 1460 Otterbourne 34 in Percy's Reliq., The Skottes they cryde on hyght. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. vi. 24 And with reprochfull words him thus bespake on hight. |
19. to the height. To the highest or utmost degree; to the extremity; to the utmost. Obs. exc. in literary use.
| [1375 Barbour Bruce v. 183 Syne he drew him to the hicht, To stynt bettir his fais mycht.] 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. i. 3 Let vs Feast him to the hight. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, i. ii. 214 By day and night Hee's Traytor to th' height. 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 136 It is his interest..to improve his ground to the height. 1765 T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. I. 57 Carrying antinomianism to the heighth. 1798 W. Clubbe Omnium 114 His Colonel..Goes to the Serjeant, praises to the height. 1820 Lamb Elia (1823) 8 While he held you in converse, you felt strained to the height in the colloquy. 1871 Tennyson Last Tourn. 658 For once—ev'n to the height—I honour'd him. |
V. 20. Comb., as height-growth, height-increaser; height-board, † (a) ? = height-rule; (b) ‘a stair-builders’ gage for the risers and treads of a stairway’ (Cent. Dict.); † height-rule, a rule for measuring the bores of guns.
| 1672 T. Venn Milit. Discipl. iii. i. xxi. 51 Furnished with all necessary things for his Artillery..viz...Rammers, Spunges, Worms, Tampions, height-board, Auger-bit [etc.]. 1692 Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. ii. iii. 92 A Gunner's Height-Rule of Wood, or Brass. 1889 Nature 12 Dec. 122 Different species have a different mode of height-growth..Scotch pine and beech..make the principal height-growth during the first period of their life. |
▪ II. † height, hight, a. Sc. and north. dial. Obs.
Forms: 4–6 heycht, 4–7 hecht, 5–6 hight, 6 heicht, hicht, hycht.
[app. a variant form of heich high.]
= high: in various senses.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 707 Sum [schippys] wald slyd fra heycht to law. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Jacobus 360 Hyr palace, hecht & square. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 158 A floure, that shalle spryng up fulle hight. 1504 Bury Wills (Camden) 95 To the hyght aughter..xxs. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iii. 291 The words scharp quhilk scho thocht al to hicht. a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 166 He is heychtar then the heavins. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 155 The Scots are divided into Hechtlandmen and Lawlandmen. |
Hence † heightly, heichtlie adv., highly.
| a 1575 Diurn. Occurr. (Bannatyne) 265 Quhairat the lord Seytoun wes heichtlie movit. |
▪ III. height, v. Obs. or arch.
Forms: α. 5–6 heyghte, 6–9 Sc. hicht, 7– height. β. 6 hayth(e, heyth, 7 heighth, 9 arch. highth.
[f. height n.]
1. trans. To make high, heighten; to raise aloft or on high. arch.
| 1515 Barclay Egloges ii. (1570) A vj b/2 Strengthing our bankes and heyghting them agayne, Which were abated with floudes or great rayne. 1530 Palsgr. 577/1 I haythe, I lyfte on heythe, je haulce..Hayth this tester a lytell, haulcez ce ciel vng peu. 1890 L. Lewis Prov. Gennad. 84 A mightier yet Liveth for us and thee—far highthed above. |
2. To raise in amount, degree, quality, or condition; to increase, augment; to elevate, exalt. arch.
| 1528 Roy Rede Me (Arb.) 100 Their farmes are heythed so sore That they are brought vnto beggery. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxiii. 245 Ȝe hicht yair maills; yair pleuchs ȝe dowbil on yame. 1622 Peacham Compl. Gent. ii. 18 Heighthing with skill his Image to the life. 1719 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 439, I am determined, if I get five hundred subscriptions, not to height the price, for all this addition. 1786 Harvest Rig in Chambers Pop. Hum. Scot. Poems (1862) 60 Weel may the shearers now pretend To height their fee! 1825–80 Jamieson s.v., Provisions are said to be hichted, when the price is raised. |
† 3. To bring or come to its height. Obs. rare.
| 1648 Hunting of Fox 14 When..that rebellion [was] ripned, and heighted a while with successe. |
¶ Erroneously for hight v.3, to adorn, confused with this verb.
| 1495 Wynkyn de Worde's ed. Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. v. lxvi. 183 Heeres..ben made to heyghte [MS. Bodl. hiȝte] the hede. 1861–2 ed. T. Adams' Wks. I. 400 When we are heighted [ed. 1630 highted] with his righteousness, and shining with his jewels. ― Ibid. I. 421. |
Hence heighting vbl. n., heightening, increase.
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. clvi. 145 It stondith at no sertente for heyghtyng and lowyng of theyr coynes. |