▪ I. † high, hiȝ, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 hyᵹe, 3 huȝe, huiȝe, huie, hiȝe, Orm. hiȝ.
[OE. hyᵹe = OS. hugi (MLG. hoge, höge, MDu. hoge, hoghe, höghe, Du. heug), OHG. hugi, hugu (MHG. hüge), ON. hygr (Sw. håg, Da. hu), Goth. hugs:—OTeut. *hugi-z thought, understanding, mind; an important word in the older Teut. langs., but early obs. in ME.; also lost in mod.G.
To the Teutonic root hug- belong also hight n.2 and v.2, hightle v., hightly, ho v.3 to care, hoe n.3 care, how, howe v. and n. care, with many words in the cognate langs.]
Thought, intention, determination, purpose.
| a 1000 Seafarer 96 (Cod. Exon. 82 b) Ne mæᵹ him þonne..mid hyᵹe þencan. a 1000 Cædmon's Daniel 117 Næs him bliðe hiᵹe. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 119 Þat he haue milce of us and gife us hiȝe and mihte, to forleten and bireusen and beten ure sinnes. c 1200 Ormin 2777 Aȝȝ..soþfasst hiȝ & hope onn himm. c 1205 Lay. 2337 Mid soðfasten huiȝe. Ibid. 3033 Cordoille..nom hire leaf fulne huie, þat heo liȝen nolden. Ibid. 4910 Mid soðfeste huȝe. |
▪ II. high, a. and n.2 (
haɪ)
Compared
higher,
highest,
q.v. Forms: α. 1
héah (
héa-,
héaᵹ-),
héh, 2
heah, (
hah-,
hach-,
haȝ-), 2–3
heh, 2–4
heih, 2–5
heȝ, 3
hæh,
hæȝ-,
hæhȝ-,
Orm. heȝh, 3–4
heiȝ, 3–5
hey,
hei, 4
heyȝ,
heiȝh,
heeȝ,
heij, 4–5
hegh,
-e,
heygh,
heye, 4–6
heigh,
Sc. heych,
he,
hee, 5–
Sc. heich, (6
hech). β. 3–5
hyȝ,
hiȝ, 4
hih,
hi,
hij, 4–5
hyh,
hieȝ, 4–6
hygh,
hy,
hye,
hie, 5–
high (5
hyhe,
yȝe, 5–6
hyghe,
highe, 6
hiegh,
Sc. 6
hiech,
hyech, 6–
hich, 8–
hie).
[Com. Teut.: OE. héah, héa-, héaᵹ- = OFris. hâch, hâg (WFries. haeg, heag, heeg), ODu. hôh (MDu. hooch, hog-e, Du. hoog), OS. hôh (MLG. hoch, hog-e, ho, LG. hoog), OHG. hôh (MHG., mod.G. hoch), ON. há-r (earlier hǫ́-r from *hauhar), (Sw. hög, Da. h{obar}i), Goth. hauh-s:—OTeut. *hauho-z:—pre-Teut. *koukos: cf. Lith. kaukas swelling, boil, kaukaras height, hill. OE. héah, héh, regularly gave ME. hēgh, heygh (heːx), whence later
hee (still in
Sc.); but in 14th c. this was narrowed to
hiȝ,
high (
hiːx), whence
hie,
hy:
cf. the parallel phonetic history of
die v.,
eye. As with these words, Chaucer used both
heigh (
hey) riming with
seigh saw, and
hy,
hye riming with
Emelye, etc. The final guttural began to be lost in the 14th c., as shown by the spellings
he,
hee,
hey,
hi,
hii,
hy(e;
mod.Eng. retains the late
ME. spelling
high, with the pronunciation (
haɪ).]
A. adj. (Opposed, in most senses, to
low.)
I. Literal senses.
1. a. Of great or considerable upward extent or magnitude; extending far upward; ‘long upwards’ (J.); lofty, tall.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter ciii[i]. 18 Muntas heæ. c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xii. [xiv.] (1890) 194 On bodie heah. 971 Blickl. Hom. 27 Upon swiþe hea dune. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 166 Uppan ðam scylfe þæs heaᵹan temples. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 93 Areran..anne stepel swa hehne. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 174 Þe heye hulle. a 1300 Cursor M. 11666 Scho bihild a tre was hei [v.rr. hey, hy, hegh]. c 1300 Havelok 1071 He was strong man and hey. 1382 Wyclif Matt. iv. 8 A ful heeȝ hill. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 463 Ther saugh he hertes with hir hornes hye [v.rr. highe, hihe, hyȝe, hee]. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 208 Halles full hyȝe, and houses full noble. a 1400–50 Alexander 700 To þe hight of þe hye dyke. Ibid. 4863 He clynterand torres. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 300 In heich haddyr Wallace and thai can twyn. 1483 Cath. Angl. 180/1 Heghe, sublimus. 1535 Coverdale Deut. ii. 10 Stronge people and hye of stature. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 8 The trees so straight and hy. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 150 Clad in Black Gowns..with high round Caps flat at top. 1821 Shelley Epipsychid. 396 The walls are high, the gates are strong. |
b. Rising considerably from a surface.
high relief: see
relief.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 96 Gif þæs dolᵹes ofras synd to hea. 1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids 216 Worked in high-relief. 1859 Jephson Brittany viii. 122 The relief is not so high or bold. |
c. Of clothes: high-necked.
| 1827 [see canezou]. 1857 Mrs. Gaskell Let. 13 & 14 Sept. (1966) 471 My grey carmelite, & black moiré, high, & next to no collars. 1875 L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) x. 102, I had a chemisette to make my gown high, and no ornaments. 1937 J. Laver Taste & Fashion xiii. 185 In the early [eighteen-] sixties, it is interesting to note, there was less décolletage in good families in France than in England. The high dress was worn at dinner parties even of a formal kind. 1957 M. B. Picken Fashion Dict. 230/2 Boat-shaped neck⁓line..high in front and back, wide at sides. |
d. Typogr. (See
quots.)
| 1683–4 J. Moxon Mech. Exerc. Printing (1962) 37 Head sticks..are Quadrat high, straight, and of an equal thickness all the length. 1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 59 High spaces, spaces specially cast nearly type-high. 1904 Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 287/2 High, a term applied to type or blocks which stand out in front of the rest of the type in the forme; e.g. new type stands higher than worn type. 1963 Kenneison & Spilman Dict. Printing 92 High quads (or spaces), spaces cast to the height of the shoulder of type. |
2. Having a (specified) upward dimension or extent.
| a 1000 in Shrine (Cokayne) 88 Gyldenu onlicnes twelf elna heah. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 225 Þritti fedme heah. c 1340 Cursor M. 1419 (Trin.) An ellen hyȝe þei wore. 1547 Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 181 A rych herse..of nyne stories heigh. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 35 Sevin, or viii. cubites hich. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen IV, iii. ii. 34 When hee was a Crack, not thus high. 1633 T. James Voy. 43 The snow was..halfe legge high. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. vi, The common size of the natives is somewhat under six inches high. 1858 Hogg Veg. Kingd. 747 The Cabbage Palm..is..a lofty tree 170 to 200 feet high. |
3. a. Situated far above the ground or some base; far up; having a lofty position. Formerly with names of countries, and still of districts, denoting the upper (or inland) part, as
High Asia,
High Furness (
cf. High Dutch,
High German).
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 170 Seðe ᵹebiᵹde þone heaᵹan heofenlican biᵹels. a 1225 Ancr. R. 166 Þe heouene is swuðe heih. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3204 Hey Paraydise, þat blisful place. c 1400 Mandeville Pref. (Roxb.) 3 Egipte þe hie and þe lawe. 1450–70 Golagros & Gaw. 252 Al thai that ar wrocht vndir the hie hevin. 1535 Coverdale Tobit iii. 10 At this voyce wente Sara in to an hye chamber of hir house. 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 75 Their Sconces lying so high, that they had a great command of us. 1776 R. Chandler Trav. Greece (1825) II. 2 The sharp end is very often high in the air. 1789 Burns ‘Willie brew'd’, The moon.. That's blinkin' in the lift sae hie. 1836 A. & J. Taylor Rhymes Nursery, The Star i, Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky. 1859 Tennyson Guinevere 25 [He] Climb'd to the high top of the garden-wall. 1869 W. W. Hunter (title) A Comparative Dictionary of the Non-Aryan Languages of India and High Asia. |
b. Situated at a specified distance above some level; (so far) up.
| 1662 J. Strype in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 178 A very handsome [Chamber], and one pair of stairs high. 1722 De Foe Plague (1884) 72 She lay in the Garret four Story high. 1839 R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 5 The limit of atmospheric air, supposed to be forty-five miles high. |
4. a. Of physical actions: Extending to or from a height; performed at a height.
spec. in
Athletics, as
high hurdles,
high jump, etc. (
Cf. sense 17 i.)
With noun of action, and akin to the
adv., the stages of development being
to leap high,
high leaping,
a high leap.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 43 Now, in as low an ebb as the foot of the Ladder, and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the Gallowes. 1601 ― All's Well ii. iii. 299 Which should sustaine the bound and high curuet Of Marses fierie steed. 1625 Bacon Ess., Dispatch (Arb.) 243 It is not the large Stride, or High Lift, that makes the Speed. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) II. 381 You might well expect the fate of Icarus, for your high-soaring. 1891 H. S. Constable Horses, Sport & War 20 High action will cause splints, speedy-cuts, and other unsoundnesses. 1895 High hurdle, jump [see jump n.1 1 b]. 1897 Ranjitsinhji Cricket iv. 156 It..enables the batsman to make a forcing-stroke along the ground instead of a risky high-drive. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 50/2 High jumping may be..a gift. Ibid. 51/2 High kicking is very useful during the off-season. 1924 C. W. Mason Chinese Confessions xliv. 326 The high-jump and hurdles were my specialities. 1955 Athletics (‘Know the Game’ Series) 15 High jumping: Western roll; straddle; Eastern cut-off. 1964 M. Watman Encycl. Athletics 83/1 Britain possessed two world class high hurdlers in the 1930s. |
b. Of a vowel-sound: Produced with the tongue or some part of it in a high or raised position. Hence in numerous adjectival
Combs., as
high-back,
high-central,
high-front,
high-mid,
high-mixed,
high-narrow,
high-rising.
| 1876 Sweet Handbk. Phonetics 11 The vertical movements of the tongue produce various degrees of ‘height’, or distance from the palate..From among the infinite degrees of height three are selected, ‘high’, ‘mid’, and ‘low’. (i) is a high, (æ) a low vowel, while (e) as in ‘say’ is a mid vowel. 1888 ― Hist. Eng. Sounds i. 2 So we have altogether nine positions [of the tongue]: high-back..high-mixed..high-front [etc.]. 1924 H. E. Palmer Gram. Spoken Eng. i. 13 High-Rising. Nucleus-tone. 1934 J. J. Hogan Outl. Eng. Philol. 15, u: high-back rounded, as in wolf. Ibid. 16, oi: mid-back rounded + high-front. 1934 Webster I. xxviii/2 In English a high-central vowel is not usual. 1951 Z. S. Harris Methods in Struct. Ling. 57 High-rising [intonation] for impatient question. 1961 R. B. Long Sentence & its Parts xix. 422 (heading) High-back /u/. 1962 Amer. Speech XXXVII. 169 This dipthong may be described as beginning at a somewhat retracted low-front position and terminating at an open, slightly rounded, high-central position. 1964 Jakobson & Halle in D. Abercrombie Daniel Jones 98 The ‘high-narrow’ vowels are particularly short. 1964 Language XL. 100 The sounds..are high-mid. 1965 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics Fall 65 In each case the checked high-front, high-back..and mid-back vowels are paired with phonically similar free vowels. 1966 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xlvi. 32 Long, unrounded, high-mid front vowel. |
c. high breast wheel (see
quots.).
| 1880 Encycl. Brit. XII. 522/2 Overshot and High Breast Wheels. Ibid. 523/2 With greater variation of head-water level, a pitch-back or high breast wheel is better. 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. s.v. Breast wheel, When the water flows in at a point above the horizontal line, the wheel is termed high breast, and when at a point below, low breast. |
II. Figurative senses.
5. a. Of exalted rank, station, dignity, position, or estimation. (Of persons or their attributes; also, with emphatic force, in
high God,
high heaven.) Freq. in
high life,
high society.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter lxxxviii. 28 [lxxxix. 27] Ic..settu hine heane fore cyningum eorðan. Ibid. xcviii[i]. 2 Dryhten in Sion micel and heh ofer alle folc. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 19 He wes..heh ouer heouene and ouer eorða. c 1200 Ormin 17393 Þatt heȝhe maȝȝstre Nicodem. c 1205 Lay. 21972 And þus þer cleopede Howel hæhes cunnes. a 1300 Cursor M. 7945 (Cott.) Of he drightin stod þe nan au. c 1340 Ibid. 17300 (Trin.) Ouer þo iewes..As her prince an hy man. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1465 Now er we heghe, now er we lawe. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 199 Grete richessis and heiȝe statis. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon Prol. 3 Princes and lordes of hie estate. 15.. in Dunbar's Poems (1893) 328 Befoir that hich grand Roy. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxvii. (1887) 153 In any either hie or low kinde of life. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. ii. 121 Man, proud man, Drest in a little briefe authoritie..Plaies such phantastique tricks before high heauen, As makes the Angels weepe. 1613 Middleton Triumphs Truth Wks. (Bullen) VII. 260 Like one of high blood that hath married base. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 54. 344 Sir Francis Walsingham was..high in the Queen's Favour. 1727 De Foe Protest. Monast. 6 He had..always liv'd in what we call high Life. 1759 Townley (title) High Life Below Stairs. 1801 M. Edgeworth Belinda I. ix. 277 He had merely considered her ladyship as an object of amusement, and an introduction to high life. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Cranford viii. 140 One would not have Lady Glenmire think we were quite ignorant of the etiquettes of high life in Cranford. 1859 Tennyson Guinevere 560 Hereafter..We two may meet before high God. 1892 C. M. Yonge That Stick I. x. 106 Utterly inexperienced as she was, even in domestic, not to say high life. 1895 Douglas in Bookman Oct. 22/2 The high position France had attained in 1684. 1920 D. Parker (title) High society. 1955 ‘E. C. R. Lorac’ Ask Policeman iii. 28 Perhaps wealthy Australians were sent back to high-life schools in England in her day. 1971 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird xi. 155 The police..would spoil the leisurely high-society image. Dirty little men running over the Begum's nice holiday island. |
b. the Most High: the Supreme Being; God.
| 1611 Bible Ps. lxxiii. 11 How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? [1382 Wyclif in heiȝte; 1388 an heiȝe; 1535 Coverd. the most hyest]. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 906 A despite don against the most High. 1755 Man No. 28. 6 Revelation represents the Most-High to us as the most beneficent fountain of joy. |
6. a. Of exalted quality, character, or style; of lofty, elevated, or superior kind; high-class. (Hence frequently in titles: see 20.) Freq. in
high art,
high comedy,
high culture.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. lvi. 433 Buton ðone hean foreðonc and ða ᵹesceadwisnesse ðara godena monna. Ibid. lxiii. 459 Sio hea lar is betere maneᵹum monnum to helanne. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 17 Þa ȝet he ȝef us ane heȝe ȝefe. c 1230 Hali Meid. 13 Iþe heȝe blisse of heuene. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 16 Þei clepen it hey riȝt-wisnenesse. 1485 Caxton St. Wenefr. 1 A man of hye merite. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxviii. 3 Of high renoun, riches and royaltie. 1569 J. Rogers Gl. Godly Loue 183 Surely it is an highe and pure love. 1715–20 Pope Iliad ii. 404 Where now are all your high resolves at last? 1757 Foote Author i. Wks. 1799 I. 135 His peculiarities require infinite labour and high finishing. 1802 Wordsw. Sonn., ‘O Friend! I know not,’ Plain living and high thinking are no more. 1808 Scott Marm. iii. xiii, High minds, of native pride and force, Most deeply feel thy pangs, Remorse! 1817 Shelley Hymn Intell. Beauty v, Hopes of high talk with the departed dead. 1817 B. R. Haydon Autobiogr. (1926) I. xvii. 266, I had, by my public devotion to High Art, a claim on all the nobility and opulent in the kingdom. 1848 Geo. Eliot Let. 11 Feb. (1954) I. 247, I cannot recognize the truth of all that is said about the necessity of religious fervour to high art. 1849 ― Let. 20 Sept. (1954) I. 308 She is a person of high culture according to the ordinary notions of what feminine culture should be. 1856 ― in Westm. Rev. IX. 3 High culture demands more complete harmony with its moral sympathies in humor than in wit. 1856 Kingsley Plays & Purit. 31 They railed in their ignorance..at high art and all art. 1870 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports §460 The account given is not in unison with our notions of high play. 1883 ‘V. Lee’ in P. Gunn Vernon Lee (1964) vii. 88 A long pseudo-medieval ballad... It felt so completely high art. 1895 G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) I. 106 After the exasperatingly bad acting one constantly sees at the theatres where high comedy and ‘drama’ prevail, it is a relief to see even simple work creditably done. 1906 E. Garnett in Defoe Capt. Singleton p. viii, Rembrandt's choice of beggars..for his favourite subjects seemed a low and reprehensible taste in ‘high art’. 1919 G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House p. viii, The only part of our society in which there was leisure for high culture. 1963 Observer 12 May 28/3 Miss Murdoch is one of the sharpest writers of high comedy at present active in the theatre. 1964 Hall & Whannel Popular Arts i. ii. 55 These popular arts..were not objects of contemplation like the works of high art, but communal artifacts. 1966 D. Jenkins Educated Society ii. 50 High culture..tries to be creative in relation to the future and responsible in relation to the past. |
b. Of great consequence; important, weighty, grave, serious.
| c 1200 Ormin Ded. 66 Heh wikenn alls itt semeþþ. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1051 A heȝe ernde and a hasty me hade fro þo wonez. c 1500 Three Kings' Sons 81 Wise ynough to conduyte an hy matier. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. ii. 5 A high and capitall errour. 1685–6 Earl Sunderland 13 Feb. in Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. (1871) I. 320 note, Making a composition..for the high Misdemeanour they have been guilty of. 1699 Bentley Phal. 213 The accusation is a very high one. 1730 in Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 249 Of very high consequence to the whole kingdom. 1815 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. iv, When tidings of high weight were borne To that lone island's shore. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 126 On pain of his high displeasure. 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. vii. 81 Accused of high crimes and misdemeanours against the state. |
c. Advanced, abstruse, difficult to comprehend (now only in particular collocations);
† difficult to perform, arduous (
obs.).
| 1382 Wyclif Prov. xxiv. 7 Ful heeȝ to the fool is wisdam. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. i. xiii. in Ashm. (1652) 132 When they such hygh thyngs don take in hond. Whych they in noe wyse understonde. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) D ij, So high sentences, as he wrot. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. i. (Arb.) 32 Neuer passe farre forward in hie and hard sciences. 1611 Bible Ps. cxxxix. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderfull for me: it is high, I cannot attaine vnto it. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 602 Speculations high or deep. Mod. A branch of High Mathematics. |
d. Having a highly developed or complex organization;
spec. Biol., phylogenetically advanced or developed; often in the comparative degree, as
the higher apes,
the higher plants.
| [1807 W. Wood Zoography I. p. xii, If we ascend to a higher class of beings, and contemplate the extensive range of the animal creation.] 1848 J. Lindley Introd. Bot. (ed. 4) xvi. 323 Plants have no circulation of their fluids analogous to that of blood in the higher animals. 1867 H. Spencer Princ. Biol. §364 Every type that is best adapted to its conditions, which on the average means every higher type, has a rate of multiplication that insures a tendency to predominate. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 168/1 As man is the highest animal. 1902 Ibid. XXVI. 366/1 The first is an amyloïn of a ‘high’, the second an amyloïn of a ‘low’ type. Ibid. XXVIII. 343/1 The gorilla and the chimpanzee, the highest members of the apes. Ibid., The embryonic stages of higher forms. 1936 E. G. Boulenger Apes & Monkeys 15 The apes and higher monkeys are quite as much reliant for their various needs upon the ground as among the tree-boughs. 1954 H. I. Featherly Taxon. Terminol. Higher Plants 157 In the evolution of the higher plants, the greatest number of changes has come about in the reproductive organs. 1964 E. Becker in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 114 Separation anxiety of the helpless higher-primate infant is the pivot for his early learning. 1966 R. & D. Morris Men & Apes vi. 165 This is the point at which we pass from the lower primates (the prosimians) to the higher primates (the anthropoids), and consider the evolution of monkeys, apes and man. |
7. Chief, principal, main; special. (In
OE. usually in combination, as
héahburh chief town,
héahsynn capital sin, etc.: see 19.) Now only in particular collocations: see
high road, etc.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 10428 For þair hei fest sake. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 341 He was not clepid..hiȝ disciple of Crist. c 1400 Destr. Troy 8738 Full solenly besyde the high aulter. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxii. 84 We wryte..the hyghe festes wyth rede lettres of coloure of purpre. c 1553 Chancelour Bk. Emp. Russia in Hakluyt (1886) III. 40 A place..where the hie market is holden on Saint Nicholas day. 1622 Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 88 There is no difference touching repairs of the High streams and the high⁓ways in my opinion. 1667 Primatt City & C. Build. 72 Houses which front high and Principal Streets. |
8. a. Rich in flavour or quality; luxurious. (Of food or drink (
obs.), or of feeding.)
| c 1384 in Wyclif's Wks. (1880) 157 To drynke heiȝe wynes. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 10 Like a Horse Full of high Feeding. 1616 in J. Russell Haigs vi. (1881) 138 It was over high meat for my weak stomach to digest. 1626 Bacon Sylva §48 Almonds that are not of so high a taste as Flesh. 1723 Swift Stella at Wood-park 21 Prouder than the devil With feeding high and treatment civil. 1732 Law Serious C. vi. (ed. 2) 83 High eating and drinking, fine cloaths and fine houses. 1883 F. M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs 2 Patient under blows and abstemious under high-feeding. |
b. Of the condition of an animal or of soil: resulting from over-feeding or from too great an application of manure. Also of a crop: produced by an over-manured soil.
| 1834 W. Youatt Cattle xvi. 553 This occurs particularly in young cows after their first calving, and when they are in a somewhat too high condition. 1886 C. Scott Sheep Farming 116 Hill ewes are never in too high condition; the danger is all the other way. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 361/1 It is better not to grow barley after roots fed off by sheep, as this rotation leaves the land..in too ‘high’ a condition... By taking barley as a second corn crop, the latter following roots fed off, or a ‘high’ crop, [etc.]. |
9. a. Of meat,
esp. game: Tending towards decomposition; slightly tainted; usually as a desirable condition.
| c 1807 Jane Austen Watsons (1954) 344 As the partridges were pretty high, D{supr} Richards would have them sent away to the other end of the Table. 1816 Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 258 The first place to ascertain if they [partridges] are beginning to be high, is the inside of their bills. 1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy II. 112 The fish is rather high. 1879 F. T. Pollok Sport Brit. Burmah I. 168 Alligators and crocodiles..prefer their food very high. |
| fig. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 161 A jest or a proverb (if a little high he liked them none the worse). |
b. Of tobacco: moist.
U.S.| 1850 Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents, Agric. 1849 322 Tobacco should not be too moist, or ‘high’ as it is termed, when put in the stalk-bulks. 1865 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. V. 669 Care must be taken that the tobacco does not imbibe too much moisture, or get too high in case before it is bulked. |
10. a. Of qualities, conditions, and actions, physical or other: Of great amount, degree, force, or value; great, intense, extreme; strong, forcible, violent.
high explosive: see
explosive n. 2.
Often in reference to a vertical graduated scale on which the magnitude or intensity of some action records itself by upward extension, or is marked by the position of lines, etc.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 976 Þe wenches..folȝed..Trynande ay a hyȝe trot þat torne neuer dorsten. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 940 Now looketh is nat that an heigh folye. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 84 When ryches is he, Then comys poverte. 1534 More On the Passion Introd. Wks. 1272/1 What state..hath not high cause to tremble and quake? 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Ardentissimus color..a very high or glisteryng redde colour. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 22 Where they are in high request. 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 433 Till the high Feauor seeth your blood to froth. 1608 D. T. Ess. Pol. & Mor. 69 To sel their liues at as high a rate as possibly they can. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 5 Wee had the winde high and large. 1674 Martiniere Voy. N. Countries 61 Even their Crowes are white, to as high a degree as our Swans. 1691 Locke Lower. Interest Wks. 1727 II. 72 The Exchange is High. 1693 Wood Life (O.H.S.) III. 438 Earl of Westmorland also died, as 'tis reported, with high drinking. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 418 ¶8 Flowers with richer Scents and higher Colours. 1714 Fr. Bk. of Rates 3 When any high Duties were imposed upon the French Trade in England. 1722 De Foe Plague (1884) 118 The Plague was so high, as that there dy'd 4000 a Week. 1789 M. Madan Persius (1795) 44 note, Who think it a high joke. 1804 W. Tennant Ind. Recreat. (ed. 2) I. 65 Rent in Calcutta still continues high. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 350 note, The temperature in London was as high as 93°. 5. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy i. 9 Who..had got the horse into a good high trot. 1897 Allbutt Syst. Med. II. 958 An essential constituent of several of the high explosives. |
† b. Of the voice: Raised, elevated, loud.
Obs.| c 1205 [see higher A. 1 β. a 1225 [see highest A. 1 β]. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2780 God sente an steuene, briȝt and heȝ; ‘Moyses, moyses, do of ðin s[h]on’. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1165 Hunterez with hyȝe horne hasted hem after. c 1400 Rowland & O. 835 And vp he keste ane heghe cry. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 92 b, With hygh & clamorous wordes or speche. 1565 in Liturg. Serv. Q. Eliz. (Parker Soc.) 521 After the Psalm the prayer following shall be said by the minister alone, with a high voice. 1646 F. Hawkins Youth's Behav. i. (1663) 15 Shew no sign of choler, nor speak to him with too high an accent. 1776 Trial of Nundoc. 77/1 Nor did he read it in so high a voice, that I should hear it. |
c. Geog. Of latitude: Denoted by a high number; at a great distance from the equator.
| 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. v. 182 Very high latitudes not far from the polar circle. 1788 Wesley Wks. (1872) VI. 282 Many other provinces in America, even as high as Newfoundland and Nova-Scotia. 1823 Scoresby Whale Fishery 31 This kind of fog, peculiar to high latitudes. 1857 Ld. Dufferin (title) Letters from High Latitudes. |
† d. With defining words, denoting the proportion of precious metal to alloy:
= fine a. 2 b.
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho iii. 85 The golde being 24 Carots high, & the siluer 12 ounces fine. |
e. High-priced, expensive, costly, dear. Of money: lent out at a high rate of interest; dear.
| 1727 Swift To Earl of Oxford Wks. 1755 III. ii. 47, I suppose now stocks are high. 1823 Byron Age of Bronze xiv, But bread was high, the farmer paid his way. 1889 A. C. Gunter That Frenchman xvii, This palace alone is worth a fortune, situated..in the fashionable quarter of St. Petersburg, where land is very high. 1899 Daily News 31 Mar. 3/5 New York... Higher money. |
f. Played for large stakes.
| 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xiii, You are playing a high game, look you play it fairly. 1889 Law Rep. Weekly Notes 21/2 A notice cautioning members against high play. |
g. Naut. Near the wind: designating a vessel or its head when pointing close to the wind, as in the command
no higher.
| a 1865 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. (1867), No Higher! 1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict., No higher! |
h. In card-playing:
ace high (
king high, etc.): having the ace (king, etc.) as highest card: said of the hand or suit, also
occas. of the person.
Cf. ace 4.
| 1887 S. Cumberland Queen's Highway 276 Had I a ‘flush’ with ‘king high’ some one would be sure to rake in the shekels with ‘ace high’. 1964 N. Squire Bidding at Bridge xxi. 172 You may rely upon two defensive tricks when your partner opens the bidding. These may not be in the actual suit he mentions, because it might, for example, be Knave high. 1973 D. Westheimer Going Public v. 79 Margo drew the low hand, a nine-high nothing. ‘Poker never was my game,’ he said cheerfully. |
11. a. Of time or a season: Well advanced; fully come, complete. (In
high noon,
high day, the notion that the sun is high in the heavens is often present.)
| c 1275 Passion Our Lord 657 in O.E. Misc. 56 At þon heye vndarne..þer hi were to-gadere. a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 151 Biþat hit was middai hiȝ Floriz was þe brigge niȝ. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2066, I seiȝ hire nouȝt seþ hieȝ midniȝt. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 105 At heiȝ prime perkyn lette þe plouȝ stonde. 1393 Ibid. C. xix. 139 Til plenitudo temporis hih tyme a-prochede. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxxxii. 322 Tyle it was past hye none. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 41 We will dyne fyrst..it is noone hy. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. i. vii. (1588) 36 It was..high time to make a contrary law. 1611 Bible Rom. xiii. 11 Now it is high time to awake out of sleepe. 1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scint. i. Regenerat. i, It was high-spring, and all the way Primrosed, and hung with shade. 1693 G. Pooley in Phil. Trans. XVII. 673 Sometimes the Courses, Seams or Rakes..are perpendicular, which they call the High time of the Day, or Twelve a Clock. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 42. 273 It is high Time for every Englishman to exert himself in Behalf of his Country. 1828 J. R. Best Italy as it is 228 The high bathing season of Leghorn. 1860 Miss Mulock Domestic Stories (1862) 100 It was high summer, too, on the earth. |
b. spec. Of a period of time: fully developed, at its peak.
| 1930 Baedeker Northern Italy (ed. 15) 622 The fine Palazzo Larderel.., formerly Palazzo Giacomini, in the High Renaissance style, by Giovanni Antonio Dosio (1558–80). 1934 Burlington Mag. Jan. 14/1 The usual technique of the high renaissance outside Venice. 1944 Ibid. Jan. 13/2 He was sufficiently adaptable to learn..some later developments of the High Renaissance. 1956 K. Clark Nude ix. 341 The root of high-renaissance taste. 1961 Webster (s.v. high adj. 1 b), The high middle ages. 1962 Listener 18 Oct. 601/1 This happened during the mid-sixteenth century, in the aftermath of the High Renaissance. 1964 C. S. Lewis Discarded Image vii. 182 Hence a modern finds those [chronicles] of the Dark Ages suspiciously epic and those of the High Middle Ages suspiciously romantic. 1965 K. Charlton Educ. Renaissance Eng. ii. 21 Such was the education of the High Middle Ages. 1972 Country Life 23 Mar. 696/3 The high Victorian Gothic style. |
12. ‘Far advanced into antiquity’ (J.); of early date, ancient. In
phr. high antiquity is blended the notion of ascending ‘up the stream of time’.
| 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 28 Of no higher times, then when they first began. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. xxii. 330 The nominal observation of the several dayes of the week..is very high, and as old as the ancient Egyptians. 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry (1775) I. 3 Poems of high antiquity. 1793 J. Hely tr. O'Flaherty's Ogygia Addr. 6 Too high a date. 1875 Scrivener Lect. Text N. Test. 17 A genuine semblance of high antiquity. |
13. Of or in reference to musical sounds: Produced or characterized by relatively rapid vibrations; acute in pitch; shrill.
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 90 Now highe notes and now lowe, As by the gamme a man may knowe. 1573–80 Baret Alv. H 369 An Heigh, or shrill sound, extentus sonus. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 166 Songs which are made for the high key. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. ii. 93 Raise your Treble or smallest string as high as conveniently it will bear without breaking. 1705 S. Sewall Diary 28 Dec. (1879) II. 151, I..went into a Key much too high. 1875 Blaserna Theory Sound iv, Every ear..distinguishes a high note from a low one..The low notes are characterised by the small number, the high notes by the large number of their vibrations per second. |
14. a. Showing pride, self-exaltation, resentment, or the like; haughty, pretentious, arrogant, overbearing; wrathful, angry. Of words, actions, feelings, etc.: hence (now only
dial.) of persons. In
high words now often blended with sense 10 b.
| c 1205 Lay. 1503 Heȝe word he spekeð Þæt alle heo wullet quellen Quic þat heo findeð. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 442 Þoru som heye herte þer wax a lute stryf Bytuene þe Erl of Aungeo, & þe emperesse hys wyf. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 116 His hert, that wes stout and he, Consalit hym allane to byde. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione i. i. 2 High wordes makiþ not a man holy & riȝtwise. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxxxi. 313 A man of hye mynde, right cruell, and full of yuell condycions. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxvii. 31 Quhen scho growis heich, I draw on dreich, To vesy and behald the end. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vi. §166 The Soldiery..grew very high, and would obey no Orders..but of their own making. 1648 Milton Tenure Kings (1650) 13 No Prince not drunk with high mind would arrogate so unreasonably above human condition. 1660–1 Pepys Diary 20 Mar., Indeed the Bishops are so high, that very few do love them. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 231 ¶2 [She] had from her Infancy discovered so imperious a Temper (usually called a High Spirit) that [etc.]. 1781 Cowper Truth 93 High in demand, though lowly in pretence. 1806 R. Cumberland Mem. (1807) II. 156 The wild woman..was at high words with the witches. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 404 Many who talked in high language about sacrificing their lives and fortunes for their country. |
† b. Zealous, eager, ‘keen’.
Obs.| 1662 J. Bargrave Pope Alex. VII (1867) 10 He is high for the House of Austria, and would be flayed alive for the King of Spain. 1692 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 611 The house of lords were high on the lord Huntington and Marlboroughs commitment. 1704 [see High-Churchman]. 1706–9 M. Tindall Rights of Christ. Ch. iv. 144 Our first Reformers were as Low for Church, as they were High for Religion. |
15. a. Extreme in opinion (
esp. religious or political); carrying an opinion or doctrine to an extreme.
| 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 14 To prove, against the Socinians and the high atheists of the day..that there is a hell, a place of torment. 1829 I. Taylor Enthus. iv. (1867) 77 A..plunge from the pinnacle of high belief, into the bottomless gulf of universal scepticism. 1885 H. O. Wakeman Hist. Relig. Enq. xi. 119 As men grasped high Sacramental doctrine more and more. a 1890 Church Oxford Movem. xvi. (1891) 295 It was a high Anglican sermon. Mod. A high Calvinist, a high Ritualist, a high Tory. |
b. spec. = High Church, A.
| 1706–9 M. Tindall Rights of Christ. Ch. iv. 145 'Tis no wonder the Highfliers treat 'em [16th c. Reformers] so, since in all their Notions concerning the Power of Clergy, they are too High for the Reformation. 1710 Addison Tatler No. 220 ¶3 The present Constitution of our Church, as divided into High and Low. a 1734 North Exam. ii. v. §49 (1740) 345 Conformable Loyal Gentlemen, whom we will cry down for High Men, that is Adherents to Popery. 1827 Wordsw. Sacheverel 9 High and Low, Watch-words of Party, on all tongues are rife; As if a Church..must owe To opposites and fierce extremes her life. |
16. a. Emotionally exalted; elated, merry, hilarious: chiefly in
phr. high spirits,
high (old) time.
| 1738 Swift Pol. Conversat. 26 You would not have one be always on the high Grin. 1768 J. Byron Narr. Patagonia, Acc. Wager (1778) 48 The men were in high spirits from the prospect they had of getting off in the long-boat. 1782 F. Burney Diary 12 Aug., Daddy Crisp..as usual, high in glee and kindness at the meeting. 1833 C. A. Davis Lett. J. Downing (1834) 177 Just after breakfast yesterday, I and the gineral had a high time [i.e. a heated argument] together. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 435 When his health was good and his spirits high, he was a scoffer. 1858 Spirit of Times 30 Jan. 345/1 Our friends..are having a real ‘high old time’ generally, just now, in trotting on the ice. 1869 B. Harte Luck of Roaring Camp (1871) 226 These are high old times, ain't they? 1870 D. J. Kirwan Palace & Hovel xxxi. 470 That's a werry 'igh old game is the Canteen; sort of priveet like. 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxiii. 451 Santa Fe De San Francisco—so the old Spaniards named it—is a high old city. 1897 M. Pemberton in Windsor Mag. Jan. 269/1 I've had a high old time hunting up six dozen of '53. 1899 R. Whiteing No. 5 John St. iii. xxi. 215 ‘Ah, they was 'igh old times!’ is his final word. 1941 E. Bowen Look at Roses 255 Those two will be having a high old time, with the cat away. 1955 J. Potts Death of Stray Cat ii. 11 You probably had a high old time chasing blondes. 1962 N. Marsh Hand in Glove vii. 235 We picked him up..having a high old time with the boxer bitch. |
b. Excited with drink, intoxicated. Phr.
high as a kite: very drunk.
slang.| 1627 May Lucan x. 496 He's high with wine. 1639 Massinger Unnat. Combat iii. ii, When we are at the banquet, And high in our cups. 1846 J. Taylor Upper Canada 106, I met three gentlemen..and they were all high. 1892 Nation (N.Y.) 28 July 66/3, I was told that Governor and legislators would get high on whiskey illegally sold on the evening of the very day when they had passed a stringent amendment to the [Maine] law. 1939 Amer. Speech XIV. 90/2 High as a kite, completely drunk. a 1966 M. Allingham Cargo of Eagles (1968) iv. 54 He..gave them a champagne lunch in a marquee..and held a sale. By then everyone was as high as a kite. |
c. Under the influence of, stimulated by, a drug or drugs. Freq.
const. on.
| 1932 Evening Sun (Baltimore) 9 Dec. 31/4 High, under the influence of a narcotic. 1940 Amer. Speech XV. 337/1 To be high, to be contented from the drug. 1951 N.Y. Times 13 June 24/5 We would go out together and get high. I used to sleep with him whenever we got high. 1951 San Diego Even. Tribune 28 June a 1/4 He'd been ‘getting high’ on heroin week-end after week-end. 1957 C. MacInnes City of Spades i. x. 72 Hamilton's acquaintances..rocking high with charge. 1961 Spectator 17 Nov. 712 The momentary kick when the drug is taken, when you're ‘high’. 1969 New Scientist 29 May 455/1 It is far safer to drive a car when high on marihuana than when drunk. 1970 ‘D. Shannon’ Unexpected Death (1971) i. 9 He an his pal Roderick Drover had had some boyish fun last week sniping at an innocent driver—probably while high on something. |
d. Highly interested in, keen
on.
slang.| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §274/5 Enthusiastic about..high on. 1966 L. Deighton Billion-Dollar Brain xxii. 240 It's about Signe... She's high on you, you know. 1972 Guardian 30 Oct. 2/5 ‘I am not high on the Thieu brand of Government,’ he [sc. McGovern] said, noting that 40,000 people had been executed..by it. |
III. 17. Phrases.
a. high and dry: said of a vessel cast or drawn up on the shore out of the water; hence
fig. out of the current of events or progress, ‘stranded’ (sometimes with allusion to senses 5, 14, or 15, and to
dry a. sense 17). Also used in sense ‘safe’.
high-and-dry church, a nickname for the old High Church party, as distinguished from that which originated with the 19th c. Oxford movement.
| 1822 R. G. Wallace 15 Yrs. Ind. 48 Another surf sent Ensign George True high and dry on the beach. 1838 Dickens Let. 26 July (1965) I. 421, I no sooner get myself up, high and dry, to attack him [sc. Oliver Twist] manfully than up come the waves of each month's work. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 359 Dry dock..for laying up ships of war out of commission, or ships ‘in ordinary’, high and dry. 1853 Bunsen Let. in Life & Wks. Kingsley (1901) II. 112 You know of the persecution of the Evangelicals, and High and dry against Maurice. 1857 Trollope Barchester T. 39 (Hoppe) That party which is now scandalously called the high-and-dry church. 1864 J. H. Newman Apol. 282 Principles..which went beyond that particular defence which high-and-dry men thought perfection. 1881 E. W. Hamilton Diary 18 June (1972) I. 146 Meanwhile, Dr. Flood's successor had been appointed, and Dr. Flood was left high and dry without preferment owing to an undoubted breach of faith on the part of Duckworth. 1891 Spectator 10 Oct. 487 The high-and-dry aristocrats who looked on him as a tradesman. 1927 J. Galsworthy Castles in Spain 169 A true work of art remains beautiful and living, though an ebb tide of fashion may leave it for the moment high and dry on the beach. 1941 W. S. Maugham Writer's Notebk. (1949) 305 The river has flowed on and left him high and dry on the bank. The writer has his little hour..but an hour is soon past. 1960 Times 30 Aug. 11/6 Cella's back-heel, so deceptive, so utterly unexpected, left Rossano high and dry. |
b. with († in, through) a high hand: with imperious or absolute exercise of power; imperiously. So
to take the high hand, etc.
| 1382 Wyclif Num. xxxiii. 3 Therfor thei goon forth..in an hiȝ hoond [1535 Coverdale, thorow an hye hande; 1611 with an high hand]. 1596 Bp. W. Barlow Three Serm. ii. 92 Much more will hee scourge them that sinne with an hie hand. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 7 Carrying..all a kinde of high hand over their wiues. 1676 Allen Address Nonconf. 171 In truth he had with a high hand forbidden it. 1808 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. IV. 96 An army that, to be successful and carry things with a high hand, ought to be able to move. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iv. ii, The dominant party carrying it with a high hand. 1883 Stevenson Silverado Sq. 71, I took the high hand in despair, said there must be no more talk of T. coming back. |
c. on the high horse: see
horse.
d. high and low: (people) of all conditions.
| c 1200 Moral Ode 164 in Trin. Coll. Hom., Þar sullen efninges ben to þe heie and to þe loȝe. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 1252 Curtesye, That preised was of lowe & hye. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xlviii[i]. 2 Hye & lowe, riche & poore, one with another. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 117 He wooes both high and low, both rich and poor, both yong and old. 1781 Cowper Hope 312 That all might mark—knight, menial, high, and low. 1894 Gladstone Horace Odes iii. i. 15 One lot for high and low to draw. |
† e. in high and low: in all parts; in all points or respects; wholly, entirely.
Obs.| a 1300 Cursor M. 27098 Alle þis werld on lagh and hei Es nackind forwit cristis ei. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 816 And we wol reuled been at his deuys In heigh and lough. 1428 Surtees Misc. (1888) 5 In hegh and lawe he submyt hym to y⊇ grace and awarde of y⊇ Mayr and Counsell. |
f. high and mighty,
high-and-mighty: (
a) formerly used as an epithet of dignity; (
b)
colloq. imperious, arrogant; affecting airs of superiority; also used
absol. Hence
high-and-mightiness: the quality of being ‘high and mighty’; also as a title of dignity or a mock title; also
erron. for
high mightiness: see
mightiness.
| 1400 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 3 Right heigh and myghty Prynce, my goode and gracious Lorde. 1419 Ibid. 65 Most hy and moste myȝty Prynce. 1423 in 15th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. viii. 33 Ane he and mychty lord, George of Dunbare, Erl of the March. 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 229 Right high and mightie prince, right puyssaunt and noble kyng. 1559 Bk. Com. Prayer, Prayer Queen. O Lord our heuenly father, high and mighty, King of Kynges. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 83 Book-learned Physitians, against which they bring in their high and mighty word Experience. 1694 tr. Milton's Lett. State 1 Apr. an. 1656, Most High and Mighty Lords, our dearest Friends. 1804 M. Wilmot Let. 24 Apr. in Russ. Jrnls. (1934) i. 94 The High and Mighty then go into..another little room well heated. 1825 J. W. Croker Diary Nov. in C. Papers (1884), Lord Grey, in his high and mighty way, was proceeding to make light of all this. 1852 C. M. Yonge Two Guardians xiii. 246 That touch of Edmund's, which had shown her how he regarded her ‘high-and-mightiness’, had made her..ashamed. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes I. 229 Some of those bankers are as high and mighty as the oldest families. 1876 Fam. Herald 30 Dec. 129/2, I feel certain his serene high-and-mightiness has never ridden in a hay-waggon in his life. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 13 June 2/2 This high-and-mightiness is not calculated to endear the Under-Secretary to the Press in general. 1905 G. B. Shaw in Grand Mag. Feb. 116 Our high and mighties didn't exactly see the point. 1924 J. Galsworthy White Monkey ii. ii, Mr. Mont's a gent..no high-and-mighty about him. |
g. high priori: a burlesque alteration of
a priori, connoting lofty or unfounded assumption.
| 1742 Pope Dunc. iv. 471 We nobly take the high Priori Road. 1851 Mill Logic iii. (ed. 3) I. 209, I am unable to see why we should be..constrained to travel the ‘high priori road’ by the arbitrary fiat of logicians. |
h. on the high ropes (
colloq.): in an elated, disdainful or enraged mood.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v. Rope, Upon the High-ropes, Cock-a-hoop. 1707 Hearne Collect. 24 Feb. (O.H.S.) I. 336 Hei! day! What in the High-Rope! a high-Flyer & a Tantivi! 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. xviii, He was upon the High-Rope and began to rail at them like mad. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii. Wks. (Globe) 653/2 All upon the high rope! His uncle a colonel! 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxi, I went there the night before last, but she was quite on the high ropes about something. |
i. to be for the high jump: see
jump n.1 7 and
high a. 4 a.
j. high, wide, and handsome (and similar phrases), in a carefree manner, in good style (see also
quot. 1971).
orig. U.S.| 1907 S. E. White Arizona Nights 35 Tim could talk high, wide, and handsome when he set out to. 1932 ‘Spindrift’ Yankee Slang 21 High, wide and handsome, in good or great style. Common shout at a rodeo: ‘Ride him, Cowboy, high, wide and handsome.’ 1939 Wodehouse Uncle Fred in Springtime iii. 50 He has a nasty way of lugging Pongo out into the open and..proceeding to step high, wide and plentiful. 1958 L. van der Post Lost World of Kalahari (1961) vii. 155 The day was riding high, wide and handsome into the deeps of the incredible blue sky. 1971 J. Wainwright Last Buccaneer ii. 234 The cops 'll be high, wide and helpless. They won't know what in hell's hit 'em. |
18. on high (rarely
upon high,
of high) [
orig. an high, also reduced to
a-high:
cf. alow,
aloud,
afar,
anear; when the full form was retained,
an was at length changed to
on: see
an prep.].
a. In or to a height, above, aloft;
spec. up to or in heaven.
| c 1200 Vices & Virtues 95 Ðe faste hope hafð hire stede up an heih. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 111 Ure helende þe was þis dai heued on hegh. a 1300 Cursor M. 708 All thinges..On hei, on lau, on land, on see. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 121 Hire to disporte vp on the bank an [v.r. on] heigh. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxliii. (1482) 284 There hyr heedes were set vpon high. 1535 Coverdale Isa. xl. 25 Lift vp youre eyes an hie, and considre. 1611 Bible Ps. cxiii. 5 The Lord our God, who dwelleth on high. 1687 Dryden Song St. Cecilia's Day 61 The trumpet shall be heard on high, The dead shall live, the living die. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales II. 305 From boats below, and roofs on high. 1870 L'Estrange Miss Mitford I. 131 That heart-breathed sigh Which for thy life ascends on high. |
† b. With a ‘high’ or raised voice; loudly; aloud. (Also
of high.)
Obs.| c 1290 Beket 1288 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 143 An bi-gan to telle is tale on heiȝ [MS. Harl. 2277 anheȝ]. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 139 Whan þis was set & stabled, & pes cried on hii. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 40 He herde..iangle, and borde of highe. 1519 Interl. 4 Elem. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 23 If we call any thing on high, The taverner will answer. 1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 313 Some of the prisoners have been heard to shout on high. |
† c. fig. To an intense or high degree.
† d. ? Openly, publicly.
Obs.| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 124 Til ich, wratth, waxe an hyh and walke with hem bothe. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 744 Suche on he was alle his leuyng. |
e. from on high (rarely
from high): from a high place or position;
spec. from heaven.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2327 Þe Amyral þat was so riche, ys falle doun fram an heȝ. 1526 Tindale John iii. 31 He that commeth from an hye is aboue all. 1531 ― Exp. 1 John (1537) 6 He which euer crepeth..can not fall from an hygh. 1611 Bible Luke i. 78 The dayspring from on high hath visited us. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 681 Their Flock's Father (forc'd from high to leap) Swims down the Stream. 1742 Gray Eton Coll. viii, Ambition this shall tempt to rise, Then whirl the wretch from high. 1819 Heber Hymn ‘From Greenland's icy mountains’ iii, We, whose souls are lighted With wisdom from on high. |
IV. Combinations and special collocations.
19. In
OE. héah was very often combined with a
subst. (
= Skr. karmadhāraya compounds), instead of standing in grammatical concord with it; several of these combinations or compounds came into
ME., where they were often written
divisim, and were thus recognizable only by the uninflected form of the
adj.; when adjective inflexions were lost, there was nothing to distinguish these from the ordinary use of the
adj. before a
n. Among these may be mentioned the following:
a. in
lit. sense ‘lofty’, as
héah-beorᵹ high mountain;
héah-clif high cliff;
héah-déor high deer, stag;
héah-flód high flood, high tide, deluge;
héah-lond highland;
héah-sǽ high or deep
sea;
héah-setl (
settle) high seat, throne, seat of honour;
héah-weofod high altar (
weved): the last three passing into
b. High in degree, rank, or dignity, excellent, main, chief, as
héah-burh chief town;
héah-cræft excellent art or skill;
héah-freols high festival;
héah-mæsse high
mass;
héah-nama great or exalted name;
héah-strǽt high street;
héah-synn mortal sin, cardinal sin;
héah-t{iacu}d high tide.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. i, Þær is Creca heah burᵹ and heora cynestol. a 950 Durham Ritual (Surtees) 5 Gisæᵹi folce minvm hehsynna hiara. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xix. 13 Se groefa..ᵹebrohte bute ðone hælend & sætt fore ðæm heh-sedle. a 1000 Cædmon's Dan. 699 To þære heah-byriᵹ þæt hie Babilone abrecan mihton. c 1000 Ecgberht's Confess. Pref. in Thorpe Ags. Laws II. 132 (Bosw.) Bebeorh ðe wið ða eahta heahsynna. a 1100 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1086 Swa swiðe he lufode þa hea deor swilce he wære heora fæder. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 91 In his heorðliche heȝ settle. c 1200 Ormin 4172 Itt iss aȝȝ heh messedaȝȝ. |
c. esp. in names of offices and dignities, with sense ‘chief, principal, highest, head, arch-’, sometimes passing into the absolute sense, ‘of high rank or dignity, exalted, lofty’:
e.g. héah-biscop high bishop, archbishop, pontiff;
héah-boda (
ME. hehbode) archangel;
héah-cyning high king, chief king;
héah-diacon archdeacon;
héah-ealdor chief elder or ruler;
héah-ealdormann chief alderman or ruler;
héah-engel (
ME. heh-engel) archangel;
héahfæder (
ME. hehfader) high father, great father, patriarch;
héah-ᵹeréfa high
reeve;
héah-god high God, the Most High;
héah-lǽce high leech, eminent physician;
héah-sacerd chief priest;
héah-þeᵹen high thane, chief minister; etc.
| Beowulf (Z.) 1039 Þæt wæs hilde-setl heah cyninges. 971 Blickl. Hom. 25 Mid heahfaderum & apostolum. Ibid. 147 Micahel se heahengel se wæs ealra engla ealderman. c 1000 Laws of Wihtræd Pref. (Schmid), Birhtwald Bretone heah-biscop. c 1000 Laws of æthelstan Pref. (ibid.), Mid ᵹeþeahte Wulfhelmes mines heh-bisceopes. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) lvi[i]. 2 Heonan ic cleopiᵹe to heah Gode. c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 310/27 Se heah engel gabriel. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 219 Angeli (boden) arch-angeli (hahboden). Ibid. 239 Þer he sit..mid his apostlen mid þe haȝefaderen. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 125 Ure drihten sende his heȝ engel gabriel to..zacharie. c 1200 Ormin 17107 Þatt kinedom þatt Godd Hehfaderr rixleþþ inne. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 1873 Hiȝ dekne ich wile make þe. 1549 Latimer 2nd Serm. bef. Edw. VI, To Rdr. (Arb.) 46 The office of the high bishoppe. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. Ep. to Giles (Arb.) 24 Sente thether by the hieghe Byshoppe. 1890 J. Healy Insula Sanctorum 559 It was to this lonely but sweet retreat that Ireland's last High-king retired to die. |
20. On the analogy of the preceding (19 c), frequently used with later official titles, implying the supreme officer or dignitary, or the officer who fulfils the function to the prince or state.
(Usually written as two words, but sometimes hyphened)
e.g. High Admiral,
Bailiff,
Chamberlain,
Chancellor,
Commissioner,
Constable,
Justice,
Marshall,
Master,
Mightiness,
Reeve,
Sheriff,
Steward,
Treasurer, etc. See these words.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 4617 Stiward..Sal þou be made, and hei iustis. Ibid. 5008 Þar vs tok þe hei baili. Ibid. 10341 Ioseph..þat of egypti was hei stiward. 13.. K. Alis. 270 Oo madame, he seide, Olympyas, Heiȝe maister in Egipte j was. 1526 Tindale Acts xxiii. 19 The hye captayne toke hym by the hond and went a parte with hym out of the waye. 1583 N. Riding Rec. (1894) 254 From the Quenes majestie or from her Lord Hye Admyrall. 1589 Hay any Work 27 The offices of our L. high Chancellor, high Treasurer, and high Steward of Englande. 1662 Wood Life 10 Nov. (O.H.S.) I. 461 To be high-sherriff of Oxfordshire. 1747 Gentl. Mag. 510/1 Whereby his majesty's pacifick dispositions had been made manifest to their High Mightinesses. 1805 N. Nicholls Corr. w. Gray (1843) 33 The contest for the high stewardship at Cambridge, between Lord Hardwick and Lord Sandwich. 1824 Watt Bibl. Brit. II. 4 C iv b, Townley, James..High Master of the Merchant-Taylor's School. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 497 The hands of the high chamberlain, William of Croi, Lord of Chievres. |
21. a. In other collocations with specialized sense:
high camp, ‘camp’ (
camp n.5) of a sophisticated kind (in
quot. 1963 used adjectivally); also (with hyphen)
attrib.; so
high campery;
high Change, the time of greatest activity on 'Change, or the Exchange itself at such a time (
cf. 11);
high command (see
command n. 7 b);
high commission (see
commission n.1 7);
high commissioner (see
commissioner 1 c);
high contrast Photogr. (see
quot. 1940); also (with hyphen)
attrib.;
high country N.Z., hilly country that is difficult of access;
freq. attrib.;
Canada [
tr. Canad. F.
haut pays], the hinterland, the forests of N. and North-west Canada; hence
high countryman;
high cross, a cross set on a pedestal in a market-place or in the centre of a town or village;
high dilutionist Homœopathy, an advocate of extreme dilution of medicine;
high farming, the extensive use of fertilizers in land cultivation;
high finance, finance concerned with large sums of money;
high forest, a forest composed wholly or chiefly of trees raised from seed; also, in more general use, a forest of lofty trees (
cf. G.
hochwald); also
attrib.;
high-fusing a. (see
quot. 1940);
† high game, a form of cheating at cards;
high go (
colloq.), a bout of merriment, a frolic, a ‘spree’;
high grinding = high milling (
milling vbl. n. 1 a);
† high-head, a high head-dress, such as those fashionable in England in the 18th c.;
high hook colloq. or
slang, the angler of a party who hooks the largest fish;
high-key Photogr. (see
quots.);
high kick Dancing, a kick in the air,
esp. one executed simultaneously by a row of female dancers and repeated by raising each leg in turn; also (with
high used adverbially)
high-kick v.,
high-kicking vbl. n. and ppl. a.; so
high-kicker;
† high-law (
Thieves' Cant), highway robbery; hence
† high-lawyer, a highwayman;
high lead Forestry (see
quot. 1957); also (with hyphen)
attrib., as
high-lead logging;
high life, a West African dance; also (with hyphen)
attrib.;
high line, (
a)
Fishing (
N. Amer. colloq. or
slang), the person who, or the boat which, has the best haul during a specified time;
occas. a good catch; also
attrib.; so
high liner; (
b)
Forestry, an overhead cable attached to a spar tree in logging; so
high-line logging;
high-lining vbl. n.;
high-low bed (see
quot. 1964);
† high Mall, the time of greatest resort in the Mall (
cf. 11);
high mass (see
mass n.1 3 a,
high a. 19 b);
high milling (see
milling vbl. n. 1 a);
high place, in Scripture, a place of worship or sacrifice (usually idolatrous) on a hill or high ground; the altar and other appointments for such worship; also, in
pl., the upper echelon of any organization;
high polymer, a polymer with a high molecular weight; also (with hyphen)
attrib.;
high-rise a., of a building, tall, multi-storey; also
transf.; as
n., a tall building; also
occas. hi-rise;
high sign colloq., a surreptitious sign indicating that all is well or that the coast is clear; so
high-sign v.;
high spot (
freq. in
pl.)
slang, the outstanding part or feature of something;
to hit the high spots, to go to excess or extremes; to rise to a very high level; to include or touch on the most important points or places;
cf. high light 2;
high step, (
a) a military step in which the feet and knees are raised high; also (with hyphen)
attrib.; (
b) in
pl., a step-ladder;
high stool, a tall stool;
high table, a table raised above the rest at a public dinner;
spec. in colleges, the table at which the president and fellows sit;
high tea, a tea at which meat is served;
high-tensile, used
attrib. of steel or other metals possessing great tensile strength;
high wine, wine containing a high percentage of alcohol;
high wire, a high tight-rope;
high yaller, yellow, a half-caste of light yellow complexion; also as
adj. phr.;
high-yield, -yielding, designating something that furnishes or produces a large or valuable, etc., product or return.
| 1954 *High camp [see camp a. (and n.5)]. 1963 Punch 5 June 830/1 Gerda Charles..makes her young, with-it, high camp. 1964 New Statesman 6 Mar. 373/2 The..show starts depressingly, and the aura of high camp threatens to asphyxiate. 1968 Listener 27 June 843/2 The melodramatic trappings might have had a certain aesthetic high-camp value. |
| 1967 Spectator 1 Dec. 690/3 Witness in this exhibition the *high campery of the Coldstream Guards in 1821. |
| 1711 Addison Spect. No. 69 ¶1, I look upon *High-Change to be a great Council, in which all considerable Nations have their Representatives. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 45 (Hoppe) The Old Clothes Exchange, like other places known by the name..has its daily season of ‘high Change’. |
| 1940 A. L. M. Sowerby Dict. Photogr. (ed. 15) 157 A negative is said to have *high contrast if tones but slightly different in the original subject show marked differences in the negative. 1961 G. Millerson Technique Telev. Production iii. 47 Subject contrast must be kept down, by preventing high-contrast surfaces appearing in the same shot. 1967 Karch & Buber Offset Processes iii. 64 High-contrast photography may be used. |
| 1874 A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences xv. 212 Squatters whose runs include *high country. 1903 S. E. White Forest 278 The base-line..was the only evidence of man we saw in the high country. 1930 L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. i. 8 The severe snow storms..used up several years' profits of high country runholders. 1942 G. Campbell Thorn-Apple Tree 152 Some time again we winter in the high country, maybe. 1947 D. McEldowney in D. M. Davin N.Z. Short Stories (1953) 379 The grass was sharp and scanty on the unfertilised high country soil. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Apr. 364/1 The merino..bred..for sale to high-country runs [in Canterbury]. 1972 P. Newton Sheep Thief xiv. 110 He was full of questions about the country and it was obvious that his one ambition was to become a high country musterer. |
| 1922 C. G. Turner Happy Wanderer 51 The *high-countryman may drink his cheque. |
| 1596 *Hie crosse [see cross n. 7 b]. 1609 in Digby Myst. (1882) p. xix, The pentice at y⊇ highe crosse. 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3336/3 A great Bonfire at the High-Cross. |
| 1847 Brit. Jrnl. Homœopathy V. 154 We can no more reject the conclusions of the *high dilutionists than we can despise those of their opponents. 1892 High dilutionist [see dilutionist]. |
| 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. I. 215 To apply the *high farming of Europe to any American lands. 1894 G. B. Shaw in Fortn. Rev. LXI. 480 High farming cannot increase the natural rent of an acre. 1931 C. S. Orwin (title) High farming. 1966 Listener 1 Sept. 307/2 By 1939 British agriculture..had ceased to rely on the high farming we had developed in our own land. |
| 1905 McClure's Mag. XXV. 48 In other words, we could eat our cake and have it, too—which is one secret of *high finance. 1934 L. Mumford in W. Frank Amer. & Alfred Steglitz ii. 50 Advertising, insurance, and high finance, the divine trinity that rules the world of industry. 1936 Discovery Sept. 280/2 It is not big guns nor even high finance that ultimately rules the world. |
| 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 398/2 In..Germany..care is always taken that in *high forest there is a good stock of self-sown trees before the old crop is entirely removed. 1927 Forestry I. i. 24 The three main forestry systems, High Forest, Coppice-with-Standards, and Coppice. 1938 C. P. Ackers Pract. Brit. Forestry 9 High forest may be subdivided into..clear felling..and..the selective system. 1953 Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol. i. 151 High Forest Systems, crops normally of seedling origin, either natural or artificial or a combination of both. Rotation usually long. 1955 Jrnl. Ecol. XLIII. 572 It will be referred to in this paper simply as ‘High Forest’, the adjective ‘high’ being used in a double sense to indicate that both the trees themselves are lofty and in the more specialized sense of the forester, to indicate that they have grown uninterrupted by coppicing or pollarding. 1959 Times 2 June 12/6 Growing conifers as high forest. |
| 1911 G. H. Wilson Man. Dental Prosthetics viii. 313 The *high fusing porcelains are practically insoluble. 1940 J. Osborne Dental Mechanics xxii. 412 Porcelains used in dentistry may be divided into two types according to their fusing temperatures: (1) High fusing, those whose fusing temperature is above the melting point of gold. (2) Low fusing, those whose fusing point is below 1065° C. 1956 J. N. Anderson Appl. Dent. Mat. xxiv. 330 For high-fusing porcelains, the furnace may be pre⁓heated. |
| 1674 Cotton Compl. Gamester in Singer Hist. Cards (1816) 343 One most egregious piece of roguery..playing the *high-game at putt. |
| 1825 New Monthly Mag. XVI. 355 Our volatile *high-go's were troublesome enough to every body. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxvii. 92 The last night they..were getting into a high-go, when the captain called us off. |
| 1875 Miller May 55/1 (title) The Hungarian system of *high grinding. Ibid., In such mills..the whole of the high-grinding system was carried out. a 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 457/2 High grinding, a process of gradual reduction of the wheat by a succession of partial crushings, alternating with sifting and sorting the product. 1945 J. F. Lockwood Flour Milling xvii. 283 The wheat could either be rapidly and roughly reduced to flour by setting the two stones very close together, a process called low grinding, or the reduction could be made slowly and carefully with the stones further apart; this was called high grinding. |
| 1698 Farquhar Love and Bottle i. Wks. (Rtldg.) 488/1 She wore..a silk manteau and *high-head. 1791 Wesley Wks. (1872) VIII. 307 Give no ticket to any that wear calashes, high-heads, or enormous bonnets. |
| 1848 in D.A.E., *High hook, the one who catches the largest or the greatest quantity of fish. 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 259/2 F. was high hook with a five and a half pounder. |
| 1918 Photo-Miniature XV. Mar. (Gloss.), *High-key, a style of photographic print (portrait or landscape) consisting entirely of light tones, differing little from each other in depth. 1919 Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. Alm. 250 Photographs consisting almost entirely of light tones are said to be high-key. |
| 1898 G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) III. 336 The four beauteous ladies who, though apparently competent dancers, persist in punctuating their evolutions with graceless *high kicks. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands vii. 89 He came out on ther John's arm, 'igh kickin', 'n' singin' fit t' split. 1914 R. Brooke Let. 3 Sept. (1968) 613 The play was too foolish for words... Not a high-kick or a wriggle or a ragtime song in the whole thing! 1933 P. Godfrey Back-stage xv. 194 Their white-washed legs..are doing energetic high-kicks and splits. Ibid. xviii. 224 They tap-dance, high-kick, turn cartwheels, and do the splits. 1962 A. Huxley Island xiii. 223 ‘What sort of dancing does he teach?’ Mrs Narayan tried to describe it. No leaps, no high kicks, no running. 1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 92 He had high-kicked the boss at the..store for a fiver and had won by an ankle. |
| 1896 W. Stevens Let. 31 July (1967) 9 A plain little horse though a *high-kicker. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. iv. 103 There's somethin' of a sea to-night... She is a high-kicker. 1897 G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) III. 12 Cancanist high-kickers. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 359 Skirt⁓dancers and highkickers. |
| 1895 *High-kicking [see split n.1 4 b]. 1901 Daily Chron. 11 Dec. 6/5 Several dancers of the high-kicking and other schools. |
| 1591 Greene Disc. Coosnage (1859) 33 There be also other Lawes, as *High-Law, Sacking-Law, Figging Law, Cheting Lawe. |
| Ibid. 41 *High Lawiers, Versers, Nips, Conny-catchers. |
| 1967 E. Chambers Photolitho-offset xi. 158 For high-key work, such as pencil sketches where delicate *high-light detail has to be retained in offset printing, the Sears method of making a continuous tone negative..is used. |
| 1925 A. Philip Crimson West 144 He yawned sleepily. ‘Got to fix a {oqq}spar-tree{cqq} for a {oqq}*high-lead{cqq} to-morrow, so I better hit the hay.’ 1939 Beaulieu & Barton Appl. Lumber Sci. (ed. 2) 35 The High-Lead is the most common method of yarding by steam. 1951 W. F. Heald Scenic Guide to Oregon 17 Modern ‘high lead’ and ‘skidder’ logging whisks tree sections. 1957 N.Z. Timber Jrnl. Aug. 59/1 High lead, extraction of timber by means of overhead cable attached to a high spar at hauler end. This gives the front end of logs sufficient lift to clear obstructions during haul. |
| 1955 Times 23 Aug. 10/6 ‘*High lifes’, marches, songs in the vernacular of dubious propriety. 1959 A. Abbs Ashanti Boy vi. 212 He has a big collection of high-life records. 1959 Guardian 22 Dec. 5/2 Man, I've got a..West African band... They play high life. 1963 Listener 14 Mar. 456/1 A Ghanaian band was playing ‘highlife’ music for dancing. Ibid., Highlife is as distinctively New African as the Kwela music played and danced to in Johannesburg at the other end of the continent. |
| 1856 C. Nordhoff Whaling & Fishing xviii. 354 Several had at different times been ‘*high line’ from Harwich. 1864 Harper's Mag. Feb. 367/2 Captain Aleck was determined to fish for ‘high line’. 1885 J. S. Kingsley Stand. Nat. Hist. III. 196 The emulation to be ‘high⁓line’ for the day and for the season is extreme. Ibid., In a single day a high-line fisherman has caught from ten to fifteen barrels. 1890 Grip (Toronto) 5 Apr. 233/2 Always ‘high line’, he was always ‘filled up’ with the split mackerel of the North Bay. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 66 High line, on the Grand Banks a particularly good catch, also applied to the most successful fishing boat or clipper of the season. 1931 Amer. Speech VII. 49 The man who..attaches the ‘high line’ is called a ‘skyrigger’. Ibid., A ‘high line’, which is of one-inch steel, extends, often one-half mile, to either end of the ‘set’. 1965 Brit. Columbia Digest Sept.–Oct. 19/1 Mobile spar trees, which are monstrous self-propelled cranes whose thick booms bear a multiplicity of sheaves and cables, are used in modern high-line logging to replace the spar trees used until recently as the focal point for the complicated system of cables and pulley-blocks. |
| 1893 in Funk's Stand. Dict., *High⁓liner. 1914 W. D. Steele Storm 56 On the grounds he was a great ‘killer’, an unmerciful ‘driver’, and for three years running now the ‘high liner’ of the Old Harbor fleet. 1916 F. W. Wallace Shack Locker 65, I ain't a highliner this season, but we've got one thing to brag about when it comes to fishin'. 1965 Brit. Columbia Digest Sept.–Oct. 20/1 But many [high-riggers] just disappeared, as did the giant trees they had topped, limbed and rigged for high-lining. |
| 1964 G. D. Cherescavich Textbk. Nursing Assistants vii. 52 *High-low bed, an electrically or manually operated bed which can be raised to the height of the regular hospital bed and lowered to the height of the home bed. 1967 Nursing Times 18 Aug. 1088/2 There are many types of variable height beds (sometimes called high-low beds). |
| 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode iii. iii, ‘Tis now but *high Mall, madam. 1743 Fielding Wedding-Day iii. i. Wks. 1882 X. 368, I have seen him walking at high Mall. |
| 1388 Wyclif Num. xxii. 41 Balaach ledde Balaam to the *hiȝe placis [1382 hye thingis] of Baal. 1611 Bible Lev. xxvi. 30, I will destroy your high places, and cut downe your images. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. iv. §3 Naioth in Ramah, where was a high place whither the people came to sacrifice. 1918 L. Strachey Eminent Victorians 245 There were rumours of debaucheries in high places. 1922 G. M. Trevelyan Brit. Hist. 19th Cent. iii. 54 Evangelicalism brought rectitude, unselfishness and humanity into high places. 1931 F. W. Crofts Myst. in Channel xviii. 227 Persons in high places made comments. 1931 Economist 10 Oct. 656/1 Any talk at this moment in ‘high places’ of the abandonment of the gold standard would be quite likely to result in a stampede. 1938 Archit. Rev. LXXXIII. p. lvi, It is to be hoped that the contents..have percolated through to the authorities and those in ‘high places’ whose responsibility it is to plan ahead for the future of road transport in this country. 1971 G. Household Doom's Caravan ii. 54 ‘It was her mother's correspondence which I feared might be of interest to enemy agents.’ ‘That has already been taken care of in high places.’ |
| 1946 Nature 27 July 122/1 The most important new dielectrics are usually of the *high-polymer type. Ibid. 19 Oct. 553/1 (heading) Effect of environment on the reactivity of high polymers. 1968 Greenwood & Banks Synthetic High Polymers i. 3 A high polymer is simply a chemical substance which is made up of giant molecules. |
| 1954 Archit. Rev. CXVI. 414/2 In general form—podium and *high-rise accommodation—this scheme follows the general pattern of current thought. 1958 Listener 20 Nov. 827/1 A point block of government offices is now going up at Wellington..and other high-rise slabs for offices and flats. 1961 Observer 7 Jan. 17/4 When one high-rise building is surrounded by many similar structures, height alone loses this special distinction. 1965 in Amer. Speech (1967) XLII. 159 Roosevelt Grier: the high-rise football star of the L.A. Rams. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. i. 41/4 (Advt.), The convenience and prestige of a luxury high-rise. 1967 Time 20 Oct. 60 She likes the high-rise boots because ‘they give my legs a sleek stocking look’. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 45 (Advt.), Adult hi-rise building. Ibid. 17 Feb. 12 Block-heeled pump with high-rise vamp. |
| 1903 R. L. McCardell Conversat. Chorus Girl 111 When who should peek-a-boo in but my friend!.. I gave him the *high sign, but he passed me up. 1928 Sunday Dispatch 29 July 2 He gave the pawnbroker the high-sign. 1946 Wodehouse Joy in Morning xxv. 229 As soon as he is in a melting mood, you give me the high sign, and I carry on from there. 1957 Amer. Ballads & Folk Songs 135 She was pleadin' with him, her eyes all teary and dim, As I high-signed the barkeep for mine. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File xii. 72 He gave us the high sign with thumb touching forefinger. 1962 K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed xxv. 185, I high-signed him to follow. |
| 1910 W. M. Raine B. O'Connor 12 Here comes your train a-foggin'—also and likewise hittin' the *high spots. 1926 Spectator 11 Sept. 373/1 Chicago was the ‘high-spot’ of the trip. 1927 Daily Express 15 Sept. 9/5 The ‘high spot’ of the production—cinematic equivalent to the chariot-racing scenes in ‘Ben-Hur’. 1928 Sunday Dispatch 22 July 23/4 It looks as though the standard of racing is going to hit the high spots. 1936 Economist 29 Feb. 483/1 The ‘high-spot’ was the 20 per cent. dividend (against 10 per cent.) announced by Associated Portland Cement. 1936 ‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles iv. 48 Two years of hitting the high spots must have educated you to something. 1961 J. Carter ABC for Book-Collectors 111 ‘High spot’ collecting is a sort of dictated eclecticism. 1964 Publishers' Weekly 28 Sept. 59 (heading), Religious books. Some Fall highspots, September through December. |
| 1889 Infantry Drill i. i. 32 The *High Step. 1894 Mrs. Alexander Choice of Evils II. viii. 199 He was exceedingly busy with hammer and nails, and the ‘high steps’, putting up fresh curtains. 1969 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 10 Jan. 32/1 The music [of the Celts] is the wail of the bagpipe, played to the jig and the fling and the high-step whirl. |
| 1825 H. Wilson Mem. III. 76 The Duchess of Beaufort..appears never so happy nor so comfortable as when he is perched upon a *high stool by her side. 1837 Dickens Pickw. l. 538 A high stool, four chairs, a table, and an old eight-day clock. 1892 C. M. Yonge That Stick I. xiii. 139 Whatever promise there may have been..must have been nipped upon the top of a high stool. 1935 G. Greene England made Me i. 1 For half an hour she had sat on the same high stool, half turned from the counter. 1961 Guardian 14 Nov. 10/3 He sat on a high stool [at a bar]. |
| 13.. K. Alis. 1084 Forth goth Alisaundre..Ryght to theo *heygh table. [1431 cited from Oxford in Rogers Agric. & Pr. III. 550/3.] 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 237 The Dean then went up to the Steps at the High-Table. 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge I. 116 A dais in parquet-work for the high table. a 1898 Mod. He dines at the High Table. |
| 1831 F. A. Kemble Rec. Girlhood 14 June (1878) III. 49 We did not return home till near nine, and so, instead of dinner, all sat down to *high tea. 1856 E. G. K. Browne Tractar. Movem. (1861) 337 At one of the ‘High Teas’ of S. Barnabas. 1884 Girl's Own Paper May 427/2 For people who are not in the habit of giving dinner-parties..high tea is a capital institution. 1922 W. S. Maugham Chinese Screen xlix. 193 He thought of the high tea to which he sat down when he came home from school.., a slice of cold meat, a great deal of bread and butter and plenty of milk in his tea. 1957 London Mag. Nov. 53 We ate high-tea made of fresh salmon, or mushrooms we'd risen at dawn to gather. |
| 1923 Man. Seamanship (H.M.S.O.) II. 263 All material contributing to the longitudinal strength [of a ship's hull] is of *high tensile steel. 1932 Discovery May 146/2 High tensile irons, corrosion-resisting irons, and growth-resisting irons are now made in large quantities. 1937 Archit. Rev. LXXXI. 268 (caption) Right, a welded tubular bus frame seat, utilizing the strength of high-tensile alloy tube. |
| c 1384 *Heiȝe wynes [see high a. 8]. 1542 Boorde Dyetary (1870) x. 254 Hyghe wynes, as malmyse, maye be kepte longe. 1871 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. VIII. 143 The necessity would still exist for converting..corn into beef and pork and highwines. a 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 458/1 High wines, crude alcohol of higher proof than singlings. 1958 J. Carew Black Midas vi. 112 They drank highwine and bush rum from half-pint tumblers. |
| 1961 Webster, *High wire. 1962 Listener 10 May 822/3 The bulk of the poems go all out for intellectual sophistication... He is not at his ease on the intellectual high wire. 1962 Observer 23 Sept. 26/5 A clown picking dust off his suit on the high wire. |
| 1923 J. Dos Passos Streets of Night 133 Ought to see them *high yallers down there if you're stuck on girls. 1929 Variety 17 Apr. 51/3 She looks like a genuine high-yaller (that being her make-up in buxom mammy fashion). 1929 T. Wolfe Look Homeward, Angel (1930) ii. xxii. 318 There's a High Yaller in here... You can have that if you want it. 1937 Wyndham Lewis Blasting & Bombardiering iv. viii. 241 At present I should be living in a villa just outside Paris with a Japanese cook and a Zulu butler, with three highyaller kids getting ready to go to Eton. 1947 ‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board iii. 61 [He] had played and danced with various mulatto and ‘high yaller’ girls back home in Nashville. 1951 M. Kennedy Lucy Carmichael i. iii. 25 She isn't exactly black... She's high yellow. 1969 ‘J. Morris’ Fever Grass xviii. 158 The big high yellow nodded at him with impersonal cordiality. |
| 1957 *High yield [see low-yield adj. s.v. low a. 23]. 1958 Times 12 Sept. 10/1 A high yield nuclear device was successfully exploded. 1959 Britannica Bk. of Year 546/1 Another new term was high-yield explosion, an atomic explosion powerful enough to produce various widely felt and easily registered phenomena. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. 66/3 He was no ‘high-yield’ merchant, but he would compare his profits..with any..breeder. 1970 Daily Tel. 16 Feb. 17 (Advt.), The aim of High-Yield Units is to give the highest return consistent with reasonable security of capital. |
| 1946 Nature 12 Oct. 522/1 *High-yielding herds. 1956 Ibid. 3 Mar. 416/1 The cocoa trade has accepted the very high-yielding Upper Amazon selections..as conforming to its quality requirements. |
b. With agent-noun, denoting one who does (what is expressed) ‘high’ (see
high adv.): as
high-attainer,
high-bidder (see
bidder 4 and
highest A. 2),
high-feeder,
high-jumper;
high-liver, (
a) one who lives luxuriously; (
b) one who professes a higher spiritual life than the ordinary;
high-ranker, a person of high rank;
high-riser, a type of child's small-wheeled, highly-manœuvrable bicycle with exaggeratedly raised handlebars;
cf. chopper 7 b. Also
high-blower, etc.
| 1654 Trapp Comm. Job iv. 13 So do the Enthusiasts, and *high-attainers. |
| 1897 Allbutt Syst. Med. II. 860 When the patient has been a *high feeder. |
| 1896 Westm. Gaz. 8 Apr. 8/1 A man became a mile-runner, a *high-jumper, a five-mile bicycle racer. |
| 1881 J. W. Buel Border Outlaws 166 All the band were known to be *high livers during their periods of plenty. 1883 Century Mag. XXVII. 211 None of our family have ever been high-livers. 1888 Forum (U.S.) Aug. 692 Among these high-livers and faith-curers. |
| 1953 P. C. Berg Dict. New Words 93/1 *High-ranker, a person of high rank, esp. in one of the Services. 1958 W. J. H. Sprott Human Groups ix. 147 When he played against a gang high-ranker, he was seldom ‘on form’. 1973 J. Wainwright Pride of Pigs 18 High-rankers and C.I.D. wallahs bobbing in and out. |
| 1955 Pop. Sci. Aug. 110 Those bizarre-looking bikes with elevated saddles and exaggeratedly high handlebars are what the trade calls ‘*high risers’. 1971 Time 14 June 60 Demand rose to new heights in the mid-1960s with the introduction of high-risers—those small-wheeled children's bikes with elongated ‘banana’ seats, tall ‘ape-hanger’ handlebars, and moderate {pstlg}30–{pstlg}50 price tags. 1978 High-riser [see chopper 7 b]. |
22. a. With nouns, forming
attrib. phrases; unlimited in number: as
high-action,
high-caste,
high-class,
high-level,
high-pressure,
high-temperature, etc.;
high-altitude, occurring, working, or carried out at high altitudes;
high-angle Gunnery, denoting the fire from guns, mortars, etc., at a high angle of elevation; hence
high-angle gun, etc.; also
transf., as of a camera;
high-board, of or relating to diving from a high diving-board;
high-duty, (
a) subject to heavy customs duty; (
b) designed to perform heavy tasks;
= heavy-duty (
heavy a.
1 24 b);
high-fashion (see
fashion n. 9 c);
high-fibre, containing a high proportion of dietary fibre;
high-flash, denoting oil whose vapour ignites only at a relatively high temperature;
high-flux, denoting (
a) a high density of magnetic flux; (
b) a large number of elementary particles per second;
high-humidity Forestry, of the treatment of timber by exposing it to high humidity for a specified purpose;
high-level, situated, built, etc., in, or carried out from, a high position; denoting talks, a meeting, etc., of an exalted status or grade; in the field of
Computers, applied to a programming language that is largely independent of any particular kind of computer and bears some resemblance to an existing language (as English) or symbolism;
high-lift, of something that is raised high or that lifts something up high;
high-pass Electr., denoting a filter that attenuates components with a frequency less that some cut-off frequency and passes components of higher frequency;
high-sea(s), operating or carried out on the high seas;
High Sea Fleet = G.
Hochsee Flotte;
high-velocity, of high speed;
spec. denoting a gun capable of discharging a projectile with great force and speed; also denoting the projectile so fired;
high-warp, denoting a manner of weaving or tapestry in which the warp is vertical.
| 1958 Listener 13 Nov. 779/1 The manufacture of *high-accuracy gyroscopes. 1963 B. Fozard Instrumentation Nuclear Reactors ix. 105 (heading) High-accuracy rate⁓meters. |
| 1925 E. F. Norton Fight for Everest, 1924 86 [They] were both suffering from very bad *high-altitude throat. Ibid. 106 This hateful duty of high-altitude cooking. 1955 E. Hillary High Adventure 58 We signed on ten Sherpas to act as high-altitude porters. 1966 Electronics 3 Oct. 181 Also in the national space lineup is project ‘621’, aimed at developing recoverable high-altitude sounding rockets. |
| 1956 Nature 21 Jan. 121/1 *High-amplitude effects in reflexion amplifiers. |
| 1879 Man. Artill. Exerc. i. v. 23 *High-angle fire from howitzers and mortars. 1890 G. S. Clarke Fortification xiv. 205 Large numbers of high-angle guns which would prove most formidable to ships. 1915 Pearson's Mag. XXXIX. 66 High-angle trajectory. 1928 C. F. S. Gamble N. Sea Air Station ix. 122 The addition of some motor-cars equipped with machine-guns on ‘high-angle mountings’. 1956 Nature 17 Mar. 502/2 (caption) High-angle photographs from a carbonized coking coal. 1963 Listener 28 Mar. 569/2 The mere novelty (for television drama) of the high-angle viewpoint gave the shot a sly edge. |
| 1936 Southern Counties' Amat. Swimming Assoc. Handbk. 12 The positions in National championships are..C. D. Tomalin..*Highboard diving..1st. 1959 Times 22 Sept. 3/3 Phelps is the European and national highboard title⁓holder. |
| 1937 Discovery May 156/1 *High carbon (hyper⁓eutectoid) steel. 1958 Aspects of Translation 84 The melting of the high-carbon cast iron. |
| 1862 Beveridge Hist. India vi. ii. II. 587 The *high-caste Brahmins. |
| 1864 A. M{supc}Kay Hist. Kilmarnock (1880) 168 Facilities for securing a *high-class education. |
| 1909 Proc. R. Soc. A. LXXXII. 232 A small, adjustable, open, *high-conductivity, self-induction spiral. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 415/2 High conductivity copper, metal of high purity, having an electrical conductivity not much below that of the international standard. |
| 1931 G. B. Ford Building Height, Bulk & Form Title-p., Uneconomic types of buildings on *high-cost land. 1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 259 German farmers were high-cost producers. |
| 1703 Art & Myst. Vintners 69 There are *high-Countrey Wines. |
| 1949 Nature 17 Sept. 485/2 (heading) *High-current betatron conditions. |
| 1952 Ann. Reg. 1951 401 *High-density..central city areas. 1960 Times 28 Sept. 21/7 New plastics such as high-density polyethylene. 1962 Listener 15 Nov. 806/2 The high density life of the town. 1964 M. A. Johnson in Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. II. 33 The possibility of high-density turbidity currents in the ocean. 1973 Times 14 Aug. 2/5 Housewives doing their washing yesterday stopped the pumping of high density foam into the damaged Liberian tanker. |
| 1920 Ham's Yearbk. i. Customs 173 In the case of *high-duty goods..the issuing officer will send an advice..to the Inspector-General of Waterguard. 1923 R. T. Kent Kent's Mech. Engin. Handbk. (ed. 10) ix. 692 (heading) Table 44.—Direct-connected, electrically-driven, two-stage compressors,..Sea level high duty. Air pressure of 100–115 lb. 1937 Times 13 Apr. p. xxii/2 A high-duty lubricant has been introduced to deal with high tooth pressures now usual in rear axle mechanism. |
| 1947 Nature CLIX. 51 The production of still stronger high-duty irons. 1962 Simpson & Richards Junction Transistors ix. 202 A *high-efficiency hole injector. |
| 1938 Nature 29 Oct. 781/1 Excitation..is..due..to the production of numbers of fairly *high-energy electrons. 1958 Listener 27 Nov. 871/1 Hoyle and Gold are convinced that the radio waves in these regions are emanating from high-energy particles moving in extensive magnetic fields. 1972 Physics Bull. Apr. 215/1 Bubble chambers are amongst the most widely used instruments in high energy physics for the detection of the tracks of ionizing particles. |
| 1946 Nature 7 Sept. 350/1 A *high-fat diet. |
| 1937 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 1 May 907/1, I have used diets with a *high-fibre content such as bran [in cases of constipation]. 1973 D. P. Burkitt in Proc. Nutrition Soc. XXXII. 148 Now that a low-fibre diet is known to be the cause of the disease, a high-fibre diet is becoming the standard treatment. 1981 N. Bawden Walking Naked i. 22 Drinking freshly squeezed orange juice and eating high fibre cereal. |
| 1943 Rep. Progress Physics IX. 184 Thermionic emission under the Schottky *high-field condition. 1968 C. G. Kuper Introd. Theory Superconductivity vii. 130 Most of the Type II superconducting materials used for high-field magnets are rather ‘dirty’ metallurgically, and probably do contain normal inclusions. |
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 14 Feb. 4/3 A fourth *high-flash oil. 1904 Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 278/2 High flash point, oil whose vapour is only ignited at a high temperature. |
| 1949 Wireless World Apr. 137/1 A *high-flux version (Type R22) of the single diaphragm T2 is now available with a density of 17,500 gauss in the 13/4 in diameter gap. 1955 Bull. Atomic Sci. Mar. 93/2 A high-flux heavy water reactor primarily intended to investigate radiation damage in reactor building materials. 1971 New Scientist 3 June 579/1 The Franco-German high-flux reactor in Grenoble. |
| 1936 Nature 11 July 87/1 The apparatus was designed to detect the presence of destructive insects in timber, and consists of a sound-proof chest, a sensitive microphone and a *high-gain amplifier. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics v. 176 (caption) High-gain communications antenna. |
| 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2140/4 White Stockings..*high-heel Shooes. |
| 1925 H. L. Henderson in Bull. N.Y. State College Forestry XXV. xvi. 65 Another method is to use the *high humidity treatment... This process will balance up the moisture percentages in less than 24 hours. 1957 N.Z. Timber Jrnl. Aug. 59/1 High humidity treatment, temporarily raising the humidity of the circulating air in a kiln when drying wood requiring special treatment. |
| 1893 Outing (U.S.) XXII, The following fall..Harding was third in the *high-hurdle race. |
| 1949 Wireless World Apr. 136/1 There seems to be a trend towards the use of *high-impedance windings in high-fidelity pickups. |
| 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 315/2 His store..makes little attempt to attract a *high-income clientele. |
| 1937 Discovery Feb. 45/1 For production of the screen image a *high intensity automatic arc is being used. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics iii. 68 High-intensity solar ultraviolet radiation. |
| 1960 Encounter XV. iv. 10 The average rate of profit..need not be lower in a *high-investment than a high-consumption economy. |
| 1876 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. XXXII. 185 The altitude of *high-level drift on the western slopes of the Pennine chain. a 1890 W. B. Scott Autobiog. Notes (1892) I. 197 The *High-Level Bridge..over the Tyne. 1936 Discovery May 132/2 The high-level gravels in which Harrison discovered those eoliths that gave proof of the oldest human culture in this island. 1943 Aeronaut. Engin. Rev. Apr. 59/3 The removal of objections against high-level daylight raids..[is] specified. 1951 Ann. Reg. 1950 45 It was the will that was lacking, and high-level meetings would not alter that. 1951 Sci. Amer. Sept. 42/1 Some, though they have obtained degrees, can hardly be classed as capable of high-level mental work. 1959 Daily Tel. 8 July 10/3 The proposed policy of continual high-level talks with Russia, extending over the next few years, has its opponents. 1964 Jrnl. Assoc. Computing Machinery XI. 21 Emphasis has been placed on simplicity and intuitiveness while maintaining so far as possible the inherent power of a high-level programming language. 1964 K. L. Pike in D. Abercrombie Daniel Jones 425 High-level phonological units. 1965 N. Chromsky Aspects of Theory of Syntax iv. 153 Deviation from selectional rules involving high-level features is apparently more serious than deviation from sectional rules involving lower-level features. 1969 H. Perkin Key Profession v. 209 A long-term high-level demand for university places. 1972 Computer Jrnl. XV. 195/1 The main purpose of a high-level language is to make programs and programming more intelligible to human beings. |
| 1921 Discovery Apr. 96/2 *High-lift wings are, of course, those that give the highest lift-drift ratio. 1933 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 79 The Hall high-lift wing is an application of the same principle... Similar results are obtained, namely, a large increase in maximum lift and a shift backwards of the centre of pressure. 1958 Times Rev. Industry June 20/1 A new, high-lift boom machine. |
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 208/1 *High-nitrogen foods. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 15 Mar. 113/1, 3 cwt per acre of the high-nitrogen compound in the seedbed should not affect it. |
| 1932 Chem. Abstr. XXVI. 3097 Changes in design of cracking units to enable them to produce *high-octane gasoline. 1958 Times 6 Nov. 7/5 All high compression engines respond to high-octane, highly anti-knock fuel. 1972 M. Gilbert Body of Girl iv. 43 Filling the tank of an old Bentley with high-octane petrol. |
| 1938 S. Chase Tyranny of Words i. 6 We..allow our language forms or symbolic machinery to fashion a demonology of absolutes and *high-order abstractions. 1968 Fox & Mayers Computing Methods for Scientists & Engineers vii. 134 Economization was effected just by removing successive high-order terms. |
| 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 8 Mar. 48/2 (Advt.), The best *high-output combine in the world. 1963 Listener 14 Mar. 466/2 A living-room fire with a high-output back boiler. |
| 1925 Post Office Electr. Engin. Jrnl. XVII. 311 Tests on *high pass filters of three sections. 1946 Nature 13 July 47/1 Figures 1, 2 and 3..were taken with a high-pass filter in the circuit which attenuated the low-frequency response of the micropone. |
| 1940 War Illustr. 19 Jan. 620 (caption) The introduction into the Fleet Air Arm of *high-performance monoplanes like the Blackburn ‘Skua’. 1966 T. Wisdom High-Performance Driving ii. 17 You need more skill for high-performance road-driving than you do for competitive motoring. |
| 1930 Wireless World 21 May 538 (heading) *High permeability alloys. 1963 B. Fozard Instrumentation Nucl. Reactors viii. 102 In general a tube must be placed..at least four inches away from another trochotron, a strong magnet, or a high-permeability screen. |
| 1875 J. C. Cox Ch. Derbysh. I. 195 The *high-pitch roof of the nave. |
| 1944 Mod. Lang. Notes Dec. 515 *High-potency capsule. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics xiii. 526 High-potency drugs such as the phenothiazines..could be incorporated. |
| 1934 Webster, *High-potential. 1954 Essays in Criticism IV. 313 The value of high-potential person-to-person situations. 1962 Simpson & Richards Junction Transistors iv. 68 A particle such as an electron can pass through a high-potential barrier if the barrier is sufficiently thin. |
| 1892 A. Conan Doyle Adv. Sherlock Holmes i. 2 A crack in one of his own *high-power lenses. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 28 May 2/1 Modern high-power guns. 1901 Kynoch Jrnl. June–July 108/2 Modern high-power smokeless propellants. 1934 Discovery Dec. 341/2 Here the microscope is set up vertically for high-power work. 1971 Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) iii. vii. 21 High-power modulation, modulation of the carrier of a radio transmitter. |
| 1946 Nature 19 Oct. 537/2 For *high-precision measurements, as for observing wind-tunnel forces, the current is limited to 5 milliamp. 1960 Times 18 Nov. 4/6 The first essential..is a network of high-precision stations. |
| 1824 R. Stuart Hist. Steam Engine 67 To supersede the *high-pressure engines. 1846 Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 14 The high-pressure power of modern education. 1872 F. W. Robinson Wrayford's Ward III. 207 A high-class, high-priced, high-pressure seminary. 1891 Daily News 9 Feb. 2/7 About the middle of last week a large high-pressure system spread over the United Kingdom from the southward. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 15 Oct. 1/1 The high-pressure life which he led in London. 1928 D. Brunt Meteorol. iv. 30 These high and low-pressure systems. 1933 Archit. Rev. LXXIV. 183/2 To launch a high-pressure salesmanship offensive. 1936 Discovery Feb. 38/2 Steam undergoes expansion in both high-pressure and low-pressure cylinders. 1940 Topeka Jrnl. 4 May 2 Photographers..hipressuring portrait sales. 1941 Sat. Even. Post 8 Feb. 54, I did not attempt to high-pressure the man too much. 1946 Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues viii. 128 He began to high-pressure us with a Chamber-of-Commerce spiel. 1958 J. Cannan And be a Villain vii. 165, I get so confused by high-pressure salesmen. 1962 ‘A. Garve’ Prisoner's Friend ii. 105 She didn't want to. Laurence high-pressured her into it. 1972 Mod. Law Rev. XXXV. i. 24 It is surely desirable to prevent abuses in marketing, particularly fraud, high pressure techniques, and the deliberate sale of defective goods. |
| 1956 C. W. Mills Power Elite xii. 282 *High-prestige organizations to which the elite usually belong. 1959 V. Packard Status Seekers (1960) vi. 84 A few old high-prestige neighbourhoods manage..to maintain their status. |
| 1906 Daily Chron. 27 Sept. 3/6 The benefits of the *high-price policy which they choose to pursue. |
| 1944 Mod. Lang. Notes Dec. 515 *High-protein foods. 1964 ‘D. Shannon’ Root of all Evil (1966) v. 66 Sure, she gives me the high-protein diet, and I'm still learning to drink coffee without sugar. |
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 123 We are *high proofe melancholly. |
| 1936 Metals Handbk. 925 (heading) Electrical properties of *high-purity annealed aluminium wire. |
| 1910 Westm. Gaz. 21 Apr. 12/1 Until plenty of *high-quality beet is procurable. 1913 V. B. Lewes Oil Fuel 180 High-quality coal-gas. 1939 W. S. Churchill Into Battle (1941) 85 High-quality war materials. 1948 Wireless World Jan. 2/1 Most high-quality radio receiver units will provide an output of well over 4 volts. |
| 1880 Warren Book-plates iii. 21 The prominent or *high relief portions. |
| 1884 *High resistance [see resistance 6]. 1962 Simpson & Richards Junction Transistors xi. 259 When feeding a high-resistance load from a relatively low-resistance source..the potentiometer should be connected as a voltage divider. |
| 1946 Nature 19 Oct. 550/2 Using the *high-resolution system of the R.C.A. type E.M.U. microscope as a diffraction camera, we have attempted to find some feature of the diffraction by oxides of this type. 1970 G. K. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. 217 High-resolution optical spectroscopy. |
| 1951 S. A. Stouffer in Parsons & Shils Toward General Theory Action iv. v. 494 In a *high-risk cheating situation. 1963 Economist 14 Dec. 1175/2 All the ‘high-risk’ mothers. 1969 Times 3 Apr. 28/6 Many companies..had cancelled policies in high-risk areas such as the ghettoes. |
| 1907 Daily Chron. 9 Oct. 4/6 The German *high-sea fleet. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Sept. 673/3 A lack of familiarity with the naval idiom can alone account..for calling..the fleet under Cornwallis ‘the high seas fleet’. 1961 A. J. Marder From Dreadnought to Scapa Flow I. ix. 243 While the High Seas Fleet had concentrated.., the British Fleet was in a very different condition. |
| 1949 Wireless World Mar. 16a (Advt.), *High stability capacitors. 1963 B. Fozard Instrumentation Nucl. Reactors ix. 108 High-stability, close-tolerance components are required in the measuring circuits. |
| 1959 V. Packard Status Seekers (1960) ix. 129 Some women said it made them ‘feel good’ just to go into a *high-status store. 1965 Language XLI. 295 An honored or high-status person. |
| 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 416/1 *High-strength brass. 1961 Times 13 Dec. 21/6 High-strength..paper bags. 1969 Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 111/3 Aimed at providing a high-speed, high-strength route for ‘jumbo’ freight cars. |
| 1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 11 Apr. 10/5 Harry Gillis..was killed and ten bricklayers narrowly escaped death today when Gillis came in contact with a 30,000 volt *high tension wire. 1970 New Yorker 10 Oct. 64/1 The denizens of the ocean, some of whom learned to produce high-tension electricity long before man. |
| 1936 Metals Handbk. 439 The curves marked ‘*High Test’ and ‘Nickel’ Irons in Fig. 21 were stressed to 10,000 psi. 1955 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanetary Soc. XIV. 159 Developments throughout the world have resulted in the production of hydrogen peroxide up to 90 per cent. strength, known as high-test peroxide or H.T.P. 1958 A. D. Merriman Dict. Metallurgy 126/1 High-test cast iron, cast iron possessing a tensile strength not less than some arbitrary value, varying with different authorities. 1959 Chambers's 20th Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1378/2 High-test, (of petrol) boiling at comparatively low temperature and so of high performance. |
| 1923 Bull. Sch. Orient. & Afr. Stud. III. i. 125 This significant tone of the future of all *high tone verbs need not be specially marked in broad transcriptions. 1964 J. Carnochan in D. Abercrombie Daniel Jones 403 All these examples have a high-tone initial syllable. 1965 Language XLI. 347 A toneless base..to which I would add..three affixes (the high-tone superfix, the suffix -a, and the mid-tone super fix) to produce the noun. |
| 1692 Let. in Select. fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 488 This was then thought consistent enough with the *high-tory loyalty. |
| 1893 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 5 May 624/1 The phosphorescent glow of the novel high-frequency, high-voltage, *high-vacuum lamps. 1927 Nature 8 Oct. 510/1 We have made a further study of the phenomena exhibited by these high-vacuum tubes, with especial reference to the spectra of the discharge. 1971 Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) ii. ii. 8 High-vacuum diode. |
| 1963 Rep. Comm. Decimal Curr. iii. 17 in Parl. Papers 1962–3 (Cmnd. 2145) XI. 1 Because workable cent systems with *high-value major units are available..we preferred cent systems to mil ones. 1966 Listener 1 Sept. 307/2 High value perishable foods such as milk and meat and vegetables. |
| 1892 F. Irwin Fortification (ed. 2) 43 Modern *high-velocity guns. 1898 Engineering Mag. XVI. 112/2 These high-velocity bullets. 1934 Discovery June 155/2 The jet of high-velocity air is about 8 feet across, and an expenditure of energy at the rate of 400 horse-power is necessary to maintain it. 1946 Nature 28 Dec. 932/2 Anomalously short travel-time signifies the approach towards the surface, along the radius concerned, of a high-velocity medium. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics viii. 334 The venturi principle is applied..in the aerodynamic wind tunnel to achieve high-velocity flow. 1964 Crystal & Quirk Syst. Prosodic & Paralinguist. Features Eng. iii. 38 Turbulent flow, with projection of high-velocity jet into pharynx. |
| 1956 J. M. Mogey Family & Neighbourhood 5 Before 1920 Oxford had not been a *high-wage town. 1964 S. M. Miller in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 294 The high-wage..occupations. |
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. II. 1103/1 *High-warp loom, a tapestry loom in which the warp-frame is vertical and the weaver works standing. 1904 Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 287/2 High warp, tapestry in which the warp takes a vertical position, e.g. Gobelins tapestry. 1934 Archit. Rev. LXXV. caption facing 95 For instance, Burne-Jones drew cartoons for the revival of high-warp tapestry weaving which Morris initiated. |
b. Parasynthetic combs., unlimited in number: as
high-angled,
high-arched,
high-backed,
high-bodiced,
high-boned,
high-browed,
high-complexioned,
high-couraged,
high-crowned,
high-fated,
high-flavoured,
high-foreheaded,
high-horned,
high-lineaged,
high-motived,
high-notioned,
high-pooped,
high-priced,
high-principled,
high-roofed,
high-shouldered,
high-souled,
high-thoughted,
high-towered,
high-vaulted,
high-walled,
high-witted,
high-zoned, etc.;
high-blooded, of high blood, race, or descent;
high-coloured, (
a) of a rich or luxuriant colour; (
b)
fig., exaggerated, forced; as,
a high-coloured description;
high-geared, having high gears; also
transf., fast-moving, active;
high-horsed, mounted on the high horse: see
horse;
high-kilted, wearing the kilt or petticoat high, or tucked up;
fig. indecorous;
high-lived, pertaining to high life, frequenting high society;
high-necked, having a high neck;
spec. of a dress, high in the neck;
high-nosed, having a high or long nose;
fig. having a keen scent;
† high-palmed, bearing the ‘palms’ of the antlers aloft; having lofty antlers;
† high-sighted, having the sight directed aloft, supercilious. Also
high-handed, -hearted, etc.
| 1894 Daily Chron. 18 Aug. 5/1 Japan..has just paid great attention to *high-angled as well as direct fire. |
| 1627 May Lucan x. (T.), *High-arch'd roofs. 1727 Somerville Poems 225 (Jod.) His high-arch'd neck he proudly rears. |
| 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1949/4 A thick short Gelding somewhat *high Back'd. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxix, The high-backed oaken chair. |
| 1899 Daily News 25 Dec. 5/2 A dangerous *high-banked river. |
| 1632 Massinger & Field Fatal Dowry ii. ii, Where heavenly virtue in *high-blooded veins Is lodged. 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 450 A high-blooded greyhound. |
| 1900 Westm. Gaz. 26 Jan. 4/3 The broad-faced, *high-bosomed model is the palpable grandmother of many Rubenses. 1961 Times 25 Apr. 20/7 The white high-bosomed dress of Empire style. |
| 1871 ‘M. Legrand’ Cambr. Freshm. 138 A Quixotic gentleman, of ancient lineage, in whose *high-bridged and defiant nose the Indian saw a resemblance to an eagle's beak. |
| 1664 Pepys Diary 28 Feb., His lady a very *high-carriaged, but comely big woman. |
| 1907 Daily Chron. 30 July 4/4 It was a *high-ceilinged, sombre room. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 9 Feb. Suppl. 3/2 A high-ceilinged, rather sunless sittingroom. |
| 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 52 b, A man maie be *high coloured..and yet not blacke. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 143 Urine high-coloured. 1925 F. M. Ford No More Parades 309 There were two girls who kept a tea-shop in Poperinghe... High coloured. |
| 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xiii. 221 The *high-complection'd Leame. |
| 1599 Massinger, etc. Old Law v. i, Your hat is too *high-crowned. 1868 Queen Victoria Life Highl. 46 Welshwomen in their curious high-crowned..hats. |
| 1748 Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) II. 491 The raspberries were particularly *high-flavoured. |
| a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 28 Of a sweet aspect, but *high-foreheaded. |
| 1899 Daily News 13 Feb. 5/3 Our *high-geared population. 1906 A. Bennett Whom God hath Joined v. 169 Gater's high-geared bicycle. 1924 H. Crane Let. 12 Jan. (1965) 169 Working at high speed as one does in such high geared agencies. |
| 1562 T. Phaer æneid ix. Cc iij, *Hyheaded..like two great okes by Padus banks. |
| 1904 Westm. Gaz. 3 Aug. 2/3 In the shady *high-hedged garden. 1906 Kipling in Tribune 15 Jan. 2/3 A high-hedged road. |
| 1807 J. Barlow Columbiad vi. 224 Gates in their van, on *high-hilled Bemus rose. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad 83 Westward on the high-hilled plains Where for me the world began. |
| 1613 T. Milles tr. Mexia's Treas. Anc. & Mod. Times 714/1 Willing to be dismounted from their *high horsed frenzies. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 6 Feb. 3/2 To..ride off high-horsed on the theory that the battle had to be fought. 1928 Observer 22 Jan. 14/5 The high-horsed fanatics of universal Communism. |
| 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Let. v, Who..had been carried home, in compassion, by some *high-kilted fishwife. a 1830 Scott in A. Cunningham Burns (1847) 184 In one or two passages of the ‘Jolly Beggars’, the Muse has slightly trespassed on decorum, where, in the language of Scottish song, ‘High kilted was she As she gaed owre the lea’. 1840 Hood Kilmansegg, First Step, iv, To dazzle the world with her precious limb,—Nay, to go a little high-kilted. |
| 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. lxxi, All pretensions to high-life or *high-lived company. |
| 1844 Willis Lady Jane i. 539 *High-neck'd gowns. 1870 Bryant Iliad II. xvii. 185 To lead away the high-necked steeds. |
| a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 15 Well-favoured, but *high nosed. 1658 Osborn Adv. Son (1673) 218 Our high-nosed Hypocritical Zealots that pretent to smell ranck Idolatry in all Professions but their own. |
| 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. vii. 108 The goodly Heards of *high-palm'd Harts. |
| 1835 Willis Pencillings II. xxxix. 14 *High-peaked saddle. |
| 1889 O. Wilde in 19th Cent. Jan. 54 The *high-pooped galleys. 1921 W. de la Mare Veil 74 That midnight-stealing, high-pooped galliass, Sleep. |
| 1947 Horizon XVI. 202 Muggleton was *high-pressured and loud. 1961 Times 15 Nov. 19/1 High-pressured modern life. |
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xii. ix, The honesty of this..boy was somewhat high—that is, somewhat *high-priced. 1791–1823 D'Israeli Cur. Lit., Libraries, Rare and high-priced. 1962 B.S.I. News July 19/1 It was no use building a high-priced article for 20–30 years' service if it was to be outmoded by advancing techniques. |
| 1714 Swift Pres. St. Affairs Wks. 1765 III. 293 The political creed of all the *high-principled men I have..met with. |
| a 1633 Austin Medit. (1635) 267 Like our Churches, *highroofed within but with a..low Gate. 1871 Bryant Odyss. v. 54 His high-roofed palace. |
| 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3313/4 A tall thin Man, *high Shoulder'd. 1837 Thackeray Ravenswing vi, The little high-shouldered vulgar thing! |
| 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 26 Jan. 65/3 Force the lacerated trimmings up a delivery chute into a *high-sided trailer. |
| 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 118 Let *high-sighted Tyranny range on. |
| 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. xv. 255 My *high-soul'd..master. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 6 Dec. 5/2 There was no more high-souled, high-minded man than the man who was now Prime Minister. 1930 A. Huxley Let. 14 June (1969) 337 English reviews..have been rather snorty and high-souled about the book. |
| 1596 B. Griffin Fidessa i. (1815) 9 *High-thoughted (like to her) with bountie laden. 1860 Mrs. Browning V. Emanuel entering Florence, High-thoughted souls. |
| a 1631 Drayton Wks. III. 827 (Jod.) Amongst the *high-topt hills. |
| Ibid. I. 24 (Jod.) *High-tow'red Harfleur. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 260 Huge cities and high-towered. |
| 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 109 Some *high-Vic'd City. 1611 Cotgr., Haultmuré, *high-walled. |
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iv. 35 *High witted Tamora. |
| 1777–8 Potter æschylus (1779) II. 321 (Jod.) Hail Queen of Persia's *high-zon'd dames supreme! |
B. n. [Absolute uses of the
adj.]
1. a. A high place or region; a height, eminence.
Obs. exc. Sc. (chiefly in
heighs (hichs) and howes, heights and hollows).
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1152 Hiȝed to þe hyȝe. 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. x. 13 Forsothe he ceside to prophecie, and cam to the heiȝ [1388 an hiȝ place; L. ad excelsum]. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 416 b, There must be a thyrd place..in the highe betwixt heaven and hell I suppose. 1721 Ramsay To Ld. Dalhousie 52 She..scours o'er heighs and hows a' day. a 1822 Sir A. Boswell Sheldon Haughs in Chambers Pop. Hum. Scot. Poems 168 Frae heighs and hows, frae hames and ha's. 1875 W. M{supc}Ilwraith Guide Wigtownshire 24 We enter Kirkcoman parish among heighs and howes. |
b. An area of high barometric pressure. Also
transf.| 1878 Pop. Sci. Monthly July 310 These high and low areas, or ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ as they are technically known, travel. 1901 Yearbk. U.S. Dept. Agric. 1900 332 The hot wave..seemed to join forces with the permanent high over the ocean. 1958 ‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose 290 A high had come along that the Met had not been able to forecast. 1966 New Statesman 27 May 759/1 There are..highs and lows of political intensity: right now, we are approaching a moderate high. |
c. = the ‘High Street’ in Oxford.
| 1853 ‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green 1st Ser. x. 88 He at once sallied forth to ‘do the High’, and display his new purchases. 1912 A. Quiller-Couch in Oxf. Bk. Victorian Verse 860 Yet if at last not less her lover You in your hansom leave the High [etc.]. 1921 C. S. Lewis Let. 10 May (1966) 59 It is still pleasant to see fewer foreign visitors pacing the High with guide books. 1955 Times 11 Aug. 7/6 A proposal..to close Magdalen Bridge,..preventing the High from being used as a motor thoroughfare. |
d. = high gear (
gear n. 7 b).
| 1921 A. F. Hall Handbk. Yosemite Nat. Park 308 You may hear a driver boast that he made such and such a grade on ‘high’, but that is merely an admission of poor judgment. 1931 Kansas City Star 8 Aug., Now [all they talk about is] whether or not they were able to go up Pikes Peak on high. 1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice ix. 89, I went into high. 1970 Globe Mag. (Toronto) 26 Sept. 7/1 Lewis moved into high, knowing, but really knowing that Walter would be in the race. |
e. A record, a high level exceeding that previously attained.
| 1926 Chicago Tribune 23 Jan. ii. 9/1 Wheeling and Lake Erie issues resumed their advance, the common toward a new high at 495/8. 1928 Weekly Dispatch 3 June 7/2 When he buys, they buy; the lot of them can create..a new ‘high’ in any share in which Mr. Durant fancies. 1937 Lit. Digest 20 Mar. 3 (heading) Nazi epithets at U.S. set new high. 1939 [see all-time (all a. 13)]. 1951 W. Stevens Let. 25 June (1967) 720 The whole thing has brought my morale up to an all-time high. 1953, etc. [see low n. 3 c]. 1959 Encounter Sept. 59/1 Beckett's stock has reached a steady high at Langham Place. 1964 R. D. Hopper in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 317 The gross national product has reached an all-time high. 1968 Listener 22 Feb. 228/2 The series manifestly represented a new high in the adaptation of fiction to film. |
f. = High School (
school n.1 1 j).
N. Amer. colloq.| 1928 Boston Even. Transcript 30 Mar. 15/7 I'm hardly more than a schoolboy, not so very long out of Dorchester High. 1930 H. Crane Let. 29 Nov. (1965) 359, I left East High without even a diploma—in my junior year. 1963 H. Garner in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories 2nd Ser. (1968) 49 He had graduated from technical high, and was going to university in the fall. 1968 New Yorker 18 May 56, I started playing drums in junior high. |
g. pl. The higher range of audio-frequencies.
| 1940 in Chambers's Techn. Dict. 415/2. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ii. 46 Such screens have the advantage of being dual purpose: used dead side to the microphone, they will damp down the highs: with the bright side forward, the highs will be emphasized. |
h. A euphoric state induced by the taking of a drug or drugs.
slang. (
Cf. high a. 16 c.)
| 1953 W. Burroughs Junkie (1972) xv. 149 Finally, the peyote came up solid like a ball of hair,..clogging my throat. As horrible a sensation as I ever stood still for. After that, the high came on slow. Peyote high is something like benzedrine high. 1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) i. 6 Dreamy in my high, I floated down..to kick the smaller mark. 1967 Listener 3 Aug. 130/1 It is not easy..to describe the effect of a trip on LSD or a marijuana high. 1967 Spectator 4 Aug. 131/1, I was a drug addict..for two years. I was in an almost permanent state of high. 1969 Times 21 May 7/3 The two cigarettes smoked by each subject were intended to produce a ‘normal social cannabis high’. |
† 2. Height, altitude;
fig. highest pitch, acme.
| c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. ii. 75 Rered more þen an enche of hegh. 1557 Paynel Barclay's Jugurth A ij, Increased to the high of theyr perfection. |
3. a. Cards. The ace or highest trump out. Also, the highest card in cutting for deal.
high-low-jack (and the game):
= all-fours 1. (See
quots.)
| [1674 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester x. 111 This Game I conceive is called All-Fours from Highest, Lowest, Jack and Game, which is the Set as some play it. Ibid. 113 Sometimes you are highest, lowest, Jack, and Game.] 1814 C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 170 All-fours..derives its name from the four chances therein, for each of which a point is scored, namely, high, the best trump out; low, the smallest trump dealt; jack, the knave of trumps; game, the majority of pips reckoned from such of the following cards as the respective players have in their tricks; viz. every ace is counted as 4; king 3; queen 2; knave 1; and ten for 10. 1818 Todd s.v. All-fours, The all-four are high, low, Jack, and the game. 1843 ‘J. Slick’ High Life N.Y. II. 214 Under the table..was a hull squad of playin cards..as if somebody had got beat a playing high-low-jack and the game. 1895 Funk's Stand. Dict., High-low-jack. Same as All-fours. 1898 B. Kirkby Lakeland Words 72 High-low, a card game. High-low, Jack an' t' gam. 1911 R. F. Foster Compl. Hoyle 328 As High, Jack, and Game are always counted by the player holding those points at the end of the play, there can be no question about them: but serious disputes sometimes arise as to who played Low... It is even possible, if there is no other trump or counting card in play, for the Jack to be High, Low, Jack, and the Game. 1963 G. F. Hervey Handbk. Card Games 16 The players then turn up their tricks and score for High, Low, Jack and Game. |
b. Phr.
how is that for high?: an exclamation inviting admiration; in allusion to the card called the high in the game of high-low-jack.
U.S. colloq.| 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 326 The phrase ‘How is that for high?’ borrowed from a low game known as Old Sledge, where the high depends, not on the card itself but on the adversary's hand. Hence the phrase means, What kind of an attempt is that at a great achievement? 1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin xviii. 315 ‘How's that for high, boys?’ concluded the narrator, when he had told his tale. ‘That's on top,’ declared Black Jack; ‘that takes the cake.’ 1922 Joyce Ulysses 122 What about that, Simon?..How's that for high? |
Add:
[A.] [IV.] [22.] [a.] high-end a. Comm., of, pertaining to, or associated with the more expensive section of the market for a particular product; sophisticated.
| 1977 New Yorker 6 June 96/3 It stands to reason that ‘*high end’ means expensive,..but why does ‘promotional’, as well as ‘low end’ mean cheap? 1983 Mini-Micro Syst. Feb. 87/2 There is a persistent industry rumor that IBM's Instruments Division may market a 68000-based desk-top computer as a high-end personal computer. 1989 Financial Weekly 9 Feb. 36/2 Japanese companies have..shifted emphasis to such high-end products as large-screen televisions. |
▸
high beam n. chiefly
N. Amer. and
Austral. the setting at which a vehicle's headlights are undipped and brightest; a beam from a headlight on this setting;
cf. main beam n. at
main adj.2 Special uses 2.
| 1936 Charleroi (Pa.) Mail 30 Dec. 1/1 Lights must be depressed from the *high beam to the lower when passing all vehicles. 1970 R. Thorp & R. Blake Music of their Laughter 131/2, I flipped on the high beams, the two guys in front of me put their hands up to their eyes. 2006 Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 17 Feb. g37 Dip your lights..then immediately switch back to high beam when the other vehicle has passed. |
▸
high dependency adj. orig. and chiefly
Brit. providing or requiring a high level of medical treatment and supervision.
| 1980 Jrnl. Operational Res. Soc. 31 803 Treatment costs..tend to include such items as doctors' time, *high dependency nursing, X-ray and laboratory tests. 1995 Nursing Times 22 Mar. 52/3, I have no recollection of being in the high-dependency unit in the days that followed or of being visited by friends. 2006 Parramatta (Austral.) Advertiser (Nexis) 19 Apr. 20 Patients are all high dependency and require 24-hour specialist nursing care. |
▸
high post n. Basketball an offensive position near the free-throw line on either side of the free-throw lane; the area on the court broadly corresponding to this position;
cf. post n.1 9.
| 1955 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 1 Dec. 37/4 Nagle has been using Shauer in Rand's old *high post position at the free throw line. 1980 Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Standard 6 Mar. b5/4 He plays the high post in our offense. If the other team plays him up, it leaves people open on the baseline. If they let him go, he'll take the open shot. 2004 Sporting News 29 Nov. 53/3 The offense..is designed to bring the center and the forward into the high post, where they can pass and get open jumpers on pick-and-rolls. |
▪ III. high, adv. (
haɪ)
Compared
higher,
highest,
q.v. Forms: 1
héah,
héaᵹe, 2–3
heȝe,
heȝhe,
heie, etc., 3–
hech, etc.: see
high a.
[OE. héah, later héaᵹe, cf. OS. and OHG. hôho, MHG. hôhe, hô; thence early ME. hêȝe, by loss of final -e, hêȝ, blending in form with the adj.] I. 1. a. At or to a great distance or extent upward; in or into a high position; far up; aloft.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxxviii. (Z.) 233 Heaᵹe flyhþ se earn. c 1200 Ormin 6057 Forr ærn maȝȝ fleȝhenn i þe lifft Full heȝhe towarrd heoffne. a 1225 Ancr. R. 130 Ant tauh heo vleon heie. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3380 He, and aaron, and hur ben gon, Heȝ up to a dune. a 1300 Cursor M. 2086 He sittes wit drightin hei o loft. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 494 Wo worþe ȝou wyȝtes..Þat þe toumbes of profetes tildeþ vp heiȝe. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 996 To God a vow I mak beforn..to hyng the heych to morn. 1559 Mirr. Mag., O. Glendour i, The fall of such as clymbe to hye. 1587 Ibid., Bladud xxiii, Fly not so high for feare you fall so lowe. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 1 High on a Throne of Royal State..Satan exalted sat. 1813 Hogg Queen's Wake 175 They seted her hiche on ane purpil swerde. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xv. 100 Their direction changed high up the pass. |
b. Horsemanship. With ‘high action’, lifting the feet far up from the ground.
| 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2164/4 Trots well, but gallops somewhat high. 1701 Ibid. No. 3703/4 Saddle-Nag..trots high. |
2. fig. a. In or to a high position, degree, estimation, amount, price, etc.; to a great extent, greatly; forcibly; strongly.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 352 Heie stod he þet spec of þisse wise! c 1340 Cursor M. 7304 (Trin.) For ȝoure richesse to heȝe ȝe rise. a 1400–50 Alexander 2200 Mast hiȝe ȝe ere hersid and herid of ȝoure strenthe. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. vi. 24 Thocht he war neuer exalted so hie. 1641 French Distill. v. (1651) 113 Rectifie the Spirit as high as you can. 1652 Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) 284 [He] hath bid very high for it. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 146 Both Heav'n and Earth shall high extoll Thy praises. 1691 tr. Emilianne's Frauds Romish Monks 407 Not in a condition to spend as high as others. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 135 The king..drove things too high. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 65 Lewis consented to go as high as twenty five thousand crowns. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xvii. 62 Every..heart beat high with joy at the news. |
† b. Loudly, aloud.
Obs.| a 1225 Ancr. R. 152 A sopare..remð and ȝeieð lude and heie þet he bereð. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 416 The cry raiss hydwisly and hee. a 1400–50 Alexander 948 Scho haldis out hire hede, and heȝe to him callis. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon iv. 121 [This] she sayd soo highe that her children vnderstode it. 1519 Interl. 4 Elem. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 33 What haste hast thou, That thou speakest so high? a 1648 Ld. Herbert Life (1886) 207 You must do me the honour to speak high, for I am deaf. |
c. Richly, luxuriously; to excess.
| 1628 Bp. J. Williams Serm. at Westm. 6 Apr. 8 It is a luscious kind of meate, and feedes very high. 1667 Pepys Diary 29 July, Where it seems people do drink high. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 721 After his return he lived high..without any visible income. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 319 When once he's broken, feed him full and high. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 103 If you feed a young Horse high, he should have Exercise. 1894 Vermont Agric. Rep. XIV. 102 Will a colt do well..if fed high in winter? 1965 T. Capote In Cold Blood (1966) iii. 135 Him and Carol lived too high, kept buying stuff they couldn't nohow afford. 1967 L. J. Braun Cat who ate Danish Modern xv. 137 David lived high, and he gave every thing away. |
3. Geog. In or into a high latitude on the earth's surface; far from the equator.
| 1662 J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 10 They put the Caspian Sea too high, and consequently allow Persia a greater breadth from North to South, than it really hath. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton i. (1840) 11 Having been..as high as the Cape of Good Hope. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. iii. (1856) 30 Our expedition met it as high as Storoë Island, in latitude 71°. |
4. In reference to time:
† a. Far on, late (
obs.).
b. Far back, early.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xc. 112 That yere [Easter] fell so hye that it was nere to thentring of May. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 266 The moneth Ramazan..is their Lent; falling sometime high, sometime low. 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. 26 For we shall not here ascend so high as Prometheus. 1724 A. Collins Gr. Chr. Relig. 208 Not the least ground to date the Samaritan Pentateuch so high as the times of Jeroboam. 1774 [see higher B. 1 γ]. |
5. In reference to musical sounds: At or to a high pitch, shrilly.
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 42 Your true loues coming, That can sing both high and low. Mod. The melody goes very high. I can't sing as high as that. |
† 6. Proudly, haughtily, overbearingly; arrogantly, presumptuously; with lofty ambition or profession; abstrusely (
quot. 1667); with indignation or anger.
Obs.| c 1400 Destr. Troy 1967, I shuld tere out þi tunge..for chateryng so high. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 39 Nor the rich suffred to loke too hye. 1659 Burton's Diary (1828) III. 433 He..did talk very high, how he would have a French cook, and a master of his horse. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 558 Others..reason'd high Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate. 1765 T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. I. i. 105 The other threatened as high. 1844 Wardlaw Lect. Prov. (1869) I. 393 He resents it, as a reflection on his penetration. He takes it short and high. |
II. Phrases.
7. high and low:
† a. Wholly, entirely (
obs.): see
high a. 17 e;
b. up and down, here and there; in every place or part.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 471 He saw The castell tynt, bath hye and law. 1694 Congreve Double Dealer v. viii, Gadsbud, I can't find her high nor low. 1822 J. W. Croker in Diary 11 Jan. (1884) He..missed his snuff-box, and there was..a search high and low. 1895 Academy 12 Oct. 294/2 Although the publishers have searched high and low, they have not [etc.]. |
8. to play high:
a. to play for stakes of a large amount;
b. to play a card of high value.
| 1796 Jane Austen Pride & Prej. viii. 31 Suspecting them to be playing high. 1885 Proctor Whist ii. 33 By playing high second hand you waste a good card. |
9. a. to run high:
lit. said of the sea when there is a strong current with a high tide, or with high waves; hence
fig. of feelings or conditions, manifesting themselves forcibly.
| 1711 Addison Spect. No. 125 ¶1 When the Feuds ran high between the Round-heads and Cavaliers. 1714 Swift Pres. St. Affairs Wks. 1755 II. i. 202 The tide runs high against the court and ministry. 1717 tr. Frezier's Voy. 14 The Sea ran too high to send Boats. 1763 Watson in Phil. Trans. LIII. 11 At times..her fever ran very high. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xviii, The sea runs high, and the boat may be dashed to pieces on the rocks. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 416 The disputes..had repeatedly run so high that bloodshed had seemed to be inevitable. 1893 Earl Dunmore Pamirs II. 28 Party spirit ran high. |
b. to live (or eat) high off (or on) the hog: to live (etc.) in luxury.
orig. U.S.| 1946 Call-Bulletin (San Francisco) 27 May Edit. page, I have to do my shopping in the black market because we can't eat as high off the hog as Roosevelt and Ickes and Joe Davis and all those millionaire friends of the common man. 1946 Time 27 May 22/2 Eatin' on the Hog. In the years of political wars the Organization had grown and resistance diminished. 1956 ‘E. S. Aarons’ Assignment Treason (1967) ii. 27 He lives high off the hog. He needs money. 1966 A. Prior Operators vi. 69 That had been a good year, a year of living high off the hog. 1967 Observer 30 Apr. 11/5 Die..for what? So that the Saigonese and other civilians can live high off the hog? 1967 K. Giles Death in Diamonds iii. 47, I hope these Uppings eat high on the hog. 1969 New Scientist 6 Mar. 511/1 A cod lives quite high on the hog—until he turns up on someone else's menu. |
III. Combinations.
10. a. In syntactic comb. with
pres. or
pa. pple. of any verb which can be qualified in the active or passive by
high or highly;
e.g. to aim high, hence
high-aiming; so
high-aspiring,
high-bended,
high-blazing,
high-blest,
high-blown,
high-braced,
high-built,
high-climbing,
high-dressed,
high-dried (also as
n.),
high-embowed,
high-fed,
high-flushed,
high-gazing,
high-heaped,
high-judging,
high-laced,
high-lying,
high-mounted,
high-mounting,
high-perched,
high-piled,
high-placed,
high-prized,
high-raised,
high-reared,
high-seasoned,
high-seated,
high-soaring,
high-swelling,
high-swollen,
high-throned,
high-thundering,
high-towering,
high-tuned,
high-working, etc.;
† high-cargued,
-carved Naut. (see
cargued,
carved);
high-descended, of lofty or noble descent;
high-finished, of high finish, highly elaborated; highly refined or accomplished;
high-grown, (
a) grown or increased to a height; (
b) overgrown with tall vegetation;
high-keyed Mus., of a high pitch; also
fig.;
high-sniffing colloq., contemptuous, disdainful;
high-strung, strung to a high tension or pitch;
fig. in a high state of vigour or of sensitiveness (now used
esp. in the sense ‘in a state of nervous tension’).
| 1766 Crashaw tr. Marino (T.), They *high-aim'd hopes. |
| 1597–8 Bp. Hall Sat. i. iii. (T.), Some uprear'd, *high-aspiring swain. |
| 1645 Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith vi. (1845) 71 Broken as a too *high-bended bow. |
| 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 145 God *high-blest. |
| 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 361 My *high-blowne Pride At length broke vnder me. |
| 1671 Milton Samson 1069 Haughty, as is his pile *high-built and proud. 1880 Tennyson Revenge ix, Ship after ship..their high-built galleons. |
| 1530 Tindale Doctr. Treat. (1848) 505 Here must a mark be set to those unquiet, busy, and *high-climbing spirits. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 546 The brow of some high-climbing Hill. |
| 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. ii. Magnif. 368 *High-descended Queen. 1779 Potter æschylus (ed. 2) I. 52 (Jod.) No prejudice of high-descended ancestry. |
| 1756 Foote Engl. fr. Paris i. Wks. 1799 I. 98 Two pound of *high-dried Glasgow [snuff]. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. in Tales My Landlord III. x. 265, I have always a chat with Mrs. Glass when I purchase my Scots high-dried. 1858 Geo. Eliot Scenes Clerical Life I. 48 If Mr. Barton had shaken into that little box a small portion of Scotch high-dried, he might have..[etc.]. |
| 1632 Milton Penseroso 157 To..love the *high-embowed roof. |
| 1628 Ford Lover's Mel. ii. ii, Like *high-fed jaeds..In antick trappings. |
| 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 193/2 A *high-finished picture of Pericles. |
| 1605 Shakes. Lear iv. iv. 7 Search euery Acre in the *high-growne field. |
| Ibid. ii. iv. 231 *High-judging Ioue. |
| 1893 Funk's Stand. Dict. I. 848/1 *High-keyed, 1. Mus. high-pitched. 2. Sensitive, spirited; as, a high-keyed woman. 1906 Daily Chron. 18 June 6/3 Mr. P. Wilson Steer has several examples of his familiar high-keyed method, including a not too happy portrait of himself in a grey tweed suit. 1938 Burlington Mag. Feb. 75/2 Painted in thick and high-keyed colours. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling xvi. 181 There was an excitement..that made him nervous and high-keyed. |
| 1851 J. G. Whittier Works (1898) 210 Madam in her *high⁓laced ruff. 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad II. xxxiv. 26 These wore..hob-nailed high-laced walking-shoes. a 1930 D. H. Lawrence Phoenix II (1968) 46 Even then, I lack high-laced boots and one stocking. |
| 1877 Black Green Past. i, On the northern side of this *high-lying park. 1934 Discovery June 166/2 The more high-lying burials..contained ‘reserved slip’ pottery. 1958 Times 19 Dec. 7/1 The difficulty is intonation in high-lying passages. 1969 Daily Tel. 12 Mar. 21/3 High-lying solos in the Mozart finale. |
| 1863 Longfellow Tales Wayside Inn 45 *High-perched upon the back of which there stood The image of a falcon carved in wood. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 16 June 12/2 Each high-perched farmhouse was changed by sunset glamour to a magic castle. 1945 W. S. Churchill Victory (1946) 207 Flags from high-perched windows. |
| 1862 W. C. Bryant Poet. Wks. (1883) II. 312 Clouds, *High-piled. 1932 V. Woolf Common Reader 2nd Ser. 226 Its high-piled metaphors. 1952 C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Aeneid xi. 257 Treading the high-piled embers as we perform your rites. |
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 98 *High plac'd Macbeth. |
| 1725 Pope Odyss. x. 102 Cliffs, *high-pointing to the skies. |
| 1645 Quarles Sol. Recant. xii. 35 His *high priz'd benefits. |
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 290 *High-raised mounts. |
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 242 *High rear'd Bulwarkes. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xxxvii. 53 The high-reared head of Clee. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 422 The swancomb of the gondola, high-reared, forges on. |
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iv. 64 With a power Of *high resolued men. |
| 1684 Otway Atheist iii. i, The *high-season'd Dish. 1752 Berkeley Th. Tar-water Wks. III. 504 High-seasoned food and strong liquors. |
| 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 585 Heav'n's *high-seated top. |
| 1906 Daily Chron. 12 July 3/3 *High-sniffing pretenders..affect to find in Mr. Meredith's poetry naught that is obscure. |
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. iv. 126 Farre *high soaring o're thy praises. |
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiv. xxxii. (1495) 479 The moost *hyghe strowtyng partyes of cragges ben callyd Scopuli. |
| 1748 Thomson Cast. Indol. ii. lviii, *High-strung health. 1863 Country Gentleman 7 May 300/2 When the sire and the dam of a colt possess much spirit and are ‘high strung’. 1868 W. James in North Amer. Rev. CVII. 322 That high-strung attitude of vigilance, suspicion, and suspended judgment. 1872 J. G. Murphy Comm. Lev. x. Introd., High-strung enthusiasm. 1902 A. Bennett Anna of Five Towns xi. 283 You're so sensitive and high-strung. 1946 M. Lowry Let. 15 Sept. (1967) 125 Writers often tend to be high-strung creatures. 1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 125 He could keep a group of high-strung specialists working smoothly together. |
| c 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon ix. 190 Beauty's *high-swelling pride. |
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, ii. ii. 117 Your *high-swolne hates. 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xiii, The water's high-swoln tide. |
| 1875 Longfellow Pandora ii, Commissioned by *high-thundering Zeus. |
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. ii. 32 Ne is there hauke..Whether *high towring, or accoasting low. |
b. With an
adj. = Highly, to a great degree.
(The hyphen shows that
high qualifies the following
adj., not the
n.)
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. i. 15 So full of shapes is fancie, That it alone is high fantasticall. 1663 Boyle Colours (J.), A high-red tincture. 1715–20 Pope Iliad xviii. 433 High-eminent amid the works divine. 1865 Union Rev. III. 266 They use such high-learned words. |
c. Occasionally hyphened to a verb to make the construction clear.
| 1632 Sir T. Hawkins tr. Mathieu's Unhappy Prosp. 240 Shee stirred and high-reared her creast. 1788 Cowper Morn. Dream i, The billows high-lifed the boat. |
▪ IV. † high, v. Obs. Forms: 1
héan, 3
hæhȝen,
hehen, (
Orm.)
heȝhenn, 3–4
hei(en, 3–5
heȝe(n, 4–6
hie,
hegh(e,
hey, etc. (see
high a.), 4–7
high.
[OE. héan, f. héah high a.; cf. also Goth. hauhjan, OHG. hôhjan, hôhen, MHG. hœhen to raise, exalt. See also hain, heyghne.] 1. trans. To make high or higher (
lit. and
fig.); to raise, lift up, elevate, exalt, extol.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. ii. iv. (1890) 106 He ongon hean and miclian [þa cirican]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 25 Swo þat we on alle ure þanke þe heien. Ibid. 57 Heȝen his sete on heuene. c 1200 Ormin 9204 Nu sket shall illc an dale beon All heȝhedd upp and filledd. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4125 He sal heghe himself to be Aboven þe haly trinite. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) i. xviii, Who so hieth himself he shalbe lowed and who so lowyth himself he shalbe hyed. 1494 Fabyan Chron. an. 1465 (1553) 216 b, Syluer that..was hyghed to xl. d. an vunce. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. xi. (1539) 25 High no man for no hate. |
2. intr. To become high or higher (
lit. and
fig.); to rise, mount up, ascend.
| c 1200 Ormin 6017 God man riseþþ aȝȝ uppwarrd..annd heȝheþþ aȝȝ Biforenn Godess ehne. a 1225 Ancr. R. 72 Ase ȝe wulleð þat heo [þouhtes] climben & hien touward heouene. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 295 Now it higheth, now it loweth, Now stant upright, now overthroweth. 1556 Burrough in Hakluyt Voy. (1886) III. 126 It..hyeth two fadome and a halfe water. 1601 Holland Pliny xviii. xviii, The river Nilus higheth apace untill he be risen to his ful heigth. 1633 T. James Voy. 35 The tydes doe high about some 6 Foot. |
▪ V. high, int. Variant of
hey,
hi.
| 1800 Weems Washington ii. (1810) 15 ‘High! why not my son?’ 1830 Galt Lawrie T. vi. iii. (1849) 260 She made no reply, but only a high-madam-ho signification that she recognised me. |
▪ VI. high obs. form of
hie.