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Webster 1913 Edition

High

High

,
Verb.
I.
[See
Hie
.]
To hie.
[Obs.]
Men must
high
them apace, and make haste.
Holland.

High

,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Higher
;
sup
erl.
Highest
.]
[OE.
high
,
hegh
,
hey
,
heh
, AS.
heáh
,
h[GREEK]h
; akin to OS.
h[GREEK]h
, OFries.
hag
,
hach
, D.
hoog
, OHG.
h[GREEK]h
, G.
hoch
, Icel.
h[GREEK]r
, Sw.
hög
, Dan.
höi
, Goth.
hauhs
, and to Icel.
haugr
mound, G.
hügel
hill, Lith.
kaukaras
.]
1.
Elevated above any starting point of measurement, as a line, or surface; having altitude; lifted up; raised or extended in the direction of the zenith; lofty; tall;
as, a
high
mountain, tower, tree; the sun is
high
.
(b)
Exalted in social standing or general estimation, or in rank, reputation, office, and the like; dignified;
as, she was welcomed in the
highest
circles
.
(d)
Of great strength, force, importance, and the like; strong; mighty; powerful; violent; sometimes, triumphant; victorious; majestic, etc.;
as, a
high
wind;
high
passions
.
“With rather a high manner.”
Thackeray.
Strong is thy hand, and
high
is thy right hand.
Ps. lxxxix. 13.
Can heavenly minds such
high
resentment show?
Dryden.
(e)
Very abstract; difficult to comprehend or surmount; grand; noble.
Both meet to hear and answer such
high
things.
Shakespeare
(f)
Costly; dear in price; extravagant; as, to hold goods at a high price.
(g)
Arrogant; lofty; boastful; proud; ostentatious; – used in a bad sense.
An
high
look and a proud heart . . . is sin.
Prov. xxi. 4.
His forces, after all the
high
discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.
Clarendon.
3.
Possessing a characteristic quality in a supreme or superior degree;
as,
high
(i. e., intense) heat;
high
(i. e., full or quite) noon;
high
(i. e., rich or spicy) seasoning;
high
(i. e., complete) pleasure;
high
(i. e., deep or vivid) color;
high
(i. e., extensive, thorough) scholarship, etc.
High
time it is this war now ended were.
Spenser.
High
sauces and spices are fetched from the Indies.
Baker.
4.
(Cookery)
Strong-scented; slightly tainted;
as, epicures do not cook game before it is
high
.
5.
(Mus.)
Acute or sharp; – opposed to
grave
or
low
;
as, a
high
note
.
6.
(Phon.)
Made with a high position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate, as ē (ēve), oō (foōd). See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 10, 11.
High admiral
,
the chief admiral.
–
High altar
,
the principal altar in a church.
–
High and dry
,
out of water; out of reach of the current or tide; – said of a vessel, aground or beached.
–
High and mighty
arrogant; overbearing.
[Colloq.]
–
High art
,
art which deals with lofty and dignified subjects and is characterized by an elevated style avoiding all meretricious display.
–
High bailiff
,
the chief bailiff.
–
High Church
, and
Low Church
,
two ecclesiastical parties in the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church. The high-churchmen emphasize the doctrine of the apostolic succession, and hold, in general, to a sacramental presence in the Eucharist, to baptismal regeneration, and to the sole validity of Episcopal ordination. They attach much importance to ceremonies and symbols in worship. Low-churchmen lay less stress on these points, and, in many instances, reject altogether the peculiar tenets of the high-church school. See
Broad Church
.
–
High constable
(Law)
,
a chief of constabulary. See
Constable
,
Noun.
, 2.
–
High commission court
,
a court of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England erected and united to the regal power by Queen Elizabeth in 1559. On account of the abuse of its powers it was abolished in 1641.
–
High day
(Script.)
,
a holy or feast day.
John xix. 31.
–
High festival
(Eccl.)
,
a festival to be observed with full ceremonial.
–
High German
, or
High Dutch
.
See under
German
.
–
High jinks
,
an old Scottish pastime; hence, noisy revelry; wild sport.
[Colloq.]
“All the high jinks of the county, when the lad comes of age.”
F. Harrison.
–
High latitude
(Geog.)
,
one designated by the higher figures; consequently, a latitude remote from the equator.
–
High life
,
life among the aristocracy or the rich.
–
High liver
,
one who indulges in a rich diet.
–
High living
,
a feeding upon rich, pampering food.
–
High Mass
.
(R. C. Ch.)
See under
Mass
.
–
High milling
,
a process of making flour from grain by several successive grindings and intermediate sorting, instead of by a single grinding.
–
High noon
,
the time when the sun is in the meridian.
–
High place
(Script.)
,
an eminence or mound on which sacrifices were offered.
–
High priest
.
See in the Vocabulary.
–
High relief
.
(Fine Arts)
See
Alto-rilievo
.
–
High school
. See under
School
.
High seas
(Law)
,
the open sea; the part of the ocean not in the territorial waters of any particular sovereignty, usually distant three miles or more from the coast line.
Wharton.
–
High steam
,
steam having a high pressure.
–
High steward
,
the chief steward.
–
High tea
,
tea with meats and extra relishes.
–
High tide
,
the greatest flow of the tide; high water.
–
High time
.
(a)
Quite time; full time for the occasion.
(b)
A time of great excitement or enjoyment; a carousal.
[Slang]
–
High treason
,
treason against the sovereign or the state, the highest civil offense. See
Treason
.

Syn. – Tall; lofty; elevated; noble; exalted; supercilious; proud; violent; full; dear. See
Tall
.

High

,
adv.
In a high manner; in a high place; to a great altitude; to a great degree; largely; in a superior manner; eminently; powerfully.
“And reasoned high.”
Milton.
“I can not reach so high.”
Shak.
☞ High is extensively used in the formation of compound words, most of which are of very obvious signification; as, high-aimed, high-arched, high-aspiring, high-bearing, high-boasting, high-browed, high-crested, high-crowned, high-designing, high-engendered, high-feeding, high-flaming, high-flavored, high-gazing, high-heaped, high-heeled, high-priced, high-reared, high-resolved, high-rigged, high-seated, high-shouldered, high-soaring, high-towering, high-voiced, and the like.
High and low
,
everywhere; in all supposable places;
as, I hunted
high and low
.
[Colloq.]

High

,
Noun.
1.
An elevated place; a superior region; a height; the sky; heaven.
2.
People of rank or high station;
as,
high
and low
.
3.
(Card Playing)
The highest card dealt or drawn.
High, low, jack, and the game
,
a game at cards; – also called
all fours
,
old sledge
, and
seven up
.
–
In high and low
,
utterly; completely; in every respect.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
–
On high
,
aloft; above.

–
The Most High
,
the Supreme Being; God.

High

,
Verb.
I.
To rise;
as, the sun
higheth
.
[Obs.]

Webster 1828 Edition

High

HIGH

,
Adj.
hi.
1.
Extending a great distance above the surface of the earth; elevated; lofty; of great altitude; as a high mountain; a high tower.
2.
Rising, or having risen, or being far above the earth; elevated; lofty; as a high flight; the clouds are high in the atmosphere.
3.
Elevated above the horizon; as, how high is the sun? It is an hour high.
4.
Raised above any object.
High o'er their heads a moldering rock is placed.
5.
Exalted in nature or dignity.
The highest faculty of the soul.
6.
Elevated in rank, condition or office. We speak of high and low; of a high office; high rank; high station; a high court.
7.
Possessing or governed by honorable pride; noble; exalted; magnanimous; dignified; as a man of a high mind.
8.
Exalted in excellence or extent.
Solomon lived at ease, nor aimed beyond
Higher design than to enjoy his state.
9.
Difficult; abstruse.
They meet to hear, and answer such high things.
10. Boastful; ostentatious.
His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.
11. Arrogant; proud; lofty; loud.
The governor made himself merry with his high and threatening language.
12. Loud; boisterous; threatening or angry. The parties had very high words.
13. Violent; severe; oppressive.
When there appeareth on either side a high hand, violent persecution. &c.
14. Public; powerful; triumphant; glorious; or under divine protection.
The children of Israel went out of Egypt with a high hand. Ex.14.
15. Noble; illustrious; honorable; as a man of high birth.
16. Expressive of pride and haughtiness; as high looks. Is.10.
17. Powerful; mighty.
Strong is thy hand, high is thy right hand. Ps.89.
18. Possessed of supreme power, dominion or excellence.
Thou, Lord, art high above all the earth. Ps.97.
19. Great; important; solemn; held in veneration.
For that sabbath-day was a high day. John 19.
20. Violent; rushing with velocity; tempestuous; as a high wind.
21. Tumultuous; turbulent; inflamed; violent; as high passions.
22. Full; complete. It is high time to retire.
It is high time to awake from sleep. Rom.13.
23. Raised; accompanied by, or proceeding from great excitement of the feelings; as high pleasure of body or mind.
24. Rich; luxurious; well seasoned; as high fare; high living; high sauces.
25. Strong; vivid; deep; as a high color.
26. Dear; of a great price, or greater price than usual; as, to purchase at a high rate; goods are high.
27. Remote from the equator north or south; as a high latitude.
28. Remote in past time; early in former time; as high antiquity.
29. Extreme; intense; as a high heat.
30. Loud; as a high sound. but more generally,
31. In music, acute; sharp; as a high note; a high voice; opposed to low or grave.
32. Much raised; as high relief [alto relievo.]
33. Far advanced in art or science; as high attainments.
34. Great; capital; committed against the king, sovereign or state; as high treason, distinguished from petty treason, which is committed against a master or other superior.
35. Great; exalted; as a high opinion of one's integrity.
High church and low church, in Great Britain, a distinction introduced after the revolution. The high church were supposed to favor the papists, or at least to support the high claims to prerogative, which were maintained by the Stuarts. The low church entertained more moderate notions, manifested great enmity to popery, and were inclined to circumscribe the royal prerogatives. This distinction is now less marked, but not wholly obliterated.
High day, high noon, the time when the sun is in the meridian.
High Dutch, is the German language, as distinguished from Low Dutch or Belgic, or the cultivated German, as opposed to the vulgar dialects.

HIGH

,
Noun.
An elevated place; superior region; as on high; from on high.
On high, aloud.
1.
Aloft.

Definition 2024

high

high

English

Alternative forms

  • hi (informal)

Adjective

high ‎(comparative higher, superlative highest)

  1. Elevated in position or status; above many things.
    The balloon rose high in the sky.‎
    • Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit
      The Barnacles were a very high family, and a very large family. They were dispersed all over the public offices, and held all sorts of public places.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.
  2. Tall, lofty, at a great distance above the ground (at high altitude).
    • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:
      Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.
  3. Having a specified elevation.
    three feet high
    three Mount Everests high
  4. (figuratively) Noble, especially of motives, intentions, etc.
  5. (slang) Under the psychological effects of a mood-affecting drug, especially marijuana, or (less common) alcohol.
  6. Of a quantity or value, great or large.
    My bank charges me a high interest rate.‎
    • 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist:
      The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.
  7. (poker) Said of the card of highest rank in a straight, flush or straight flush.
    I have KT742 of the same suit. In other words, a K-high flush.
    9-high straight = 98765 unsuited
    Royal Flush = AKQJT suited = A-high straight flush
  8. (acoustics) Of greater frequency, i.e. with more rapid wave oscillations.
    The note was too high for her to sing.‎
  9. (of a language, geographic) Being spoken in an area more mountainous than those where other variants of the language are spoken.
  10. (of a language, figuratively) Being the variant, literary or otherwise, with the greatest prestige, out of a group of related lects.
  11. (of a body of water) With tall waves.
  12. (of meat, especially venison) Strong-scented; slightly tainted/spoiled; beginning to decompose.
    Epicures do not cook game before it is high.
    The tailor liked his meat high.‎
  13. Of great strength, force, importance, etc.; mighty; powerful; sometimes, triumphant; victorious; majestic, etc.
    a high wind; high passions
    • Bible, Psalms lxxxix. 13
      Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
    • Dryden
      Can heavenly minds such high resentment show?
    • Thackeray
      with rather a high manner
  14. Arrogant; lofty; boastful; proud.
    • Bible, Proverbs xxi. 4
      An high look and a proud heart […] is sin.
    • Clarendon
      His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.
  15. Very abstract; difficult to comprehend or surmount.
    • Shakespeare
      to hear and answer such high things
    • Wordsworth
      Plain living and high thinking are no more.
  16. (phonetics) Made with a high position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate.
  17. Possessing a characteristic quality in a supreme or superior degree.
    high (i.e. intense) heat; high (i.e. full or quite) noon; high (i.e. rich or spicy) seasoning; high (i.e. complete) pleasure; high (i.e. deep or vivid) colour; high (i.e. extensive, thorough) scholarship
    • Spenser
      High time it is this war now ended were.
    • Baker
      High sauces and spices are fetched from the Indies.
Antonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

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Related terms

Translations
See also

Adverb

high ‎(comparative higher, superlative highest)

  1. In or to an elevated position.
    How high above land did you fly?
  2. In or at a great value.
    Costs have grown higher this year again.
  3. In a pitch of great frequency.
    I certainly can't sing that high.
Usage notes
  • The adverb high and the adverb highly shouldn't be confused.
    He hung the picture high on the wall.
    As a politician, he isn't esteemed too highly.
Translations

Noun

high ‎(plural highs)

  1. A period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.
    • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic climbs highest to sink Benfica (in The Guardian, 15 May 2013)
      They will have to reflect on a seventh successive defeat in a European final while Chelsea try to make sense of an eccentric season rife with controversy and bad feeling but once again one finishing on an exhilarating high.
    That pill gave me a high for a few hours, before I had a comedown.‎
  2. A drug that gives such a high.
    • 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
      No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.
  3. (informal) A large area of elevated atmospheric pressure; an anticyclone.
  4. The maximum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.
  5. An elevated place; a superior region; a height; the sky; heaven.
  6. (card games) The highest card dealt or drawn.
Translations
See also

Verb

high ‎(third-person singular simple present highs, present participle highing, simple past and past participle highed)

  1. (obsolete) To rise.
    The sun higheth.

Etymology 2

From Middle English hiȝe, huȝe, huiȝe, huie, hige, from Old English hyġe ‎(“thought, mind, heart, disposition, intention, courage, pride”), from Proto-Germanic *hugiz ‎(“mind, sense”), of unknown origin. Cognate with North Frisian huwggje ‎(“mind, sense”), Middle Low German höge, hoge ‎(“thought, meaning, mood, happiness”), Middle High German hüge, huge, hoge ‎(“mind, spirit, memory”), Danish hu ‎(“mind”), Swedish håg ‎(“mind, inclination”), Icelandic hugur ‎(“mind”). Related to Hugh.

Noun

high ‎(plural highs)

  1. (obsolete) Thought; intention; determination; purpose.

Etymology 3

See hie.

Verb

high ‎(third-person singular simple present highs, present participle highing, simple past and past participle highed)

  1. To hie; to hasten.
    • Holland
      Men must high them apace, and make haste.

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: herself · year · dear · #296: high · above · received · read

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowing from English high.

Adjective

high

  1. (slang) happy; in good spirits

Etymology

From Middle English high, heigh, heih, from Old English hēah ‎(“high, tall, lofty, high-class, exalted, sublime, illustrious, important, proud, haughty, deep, right”), from Proto-Germanic *hauhaz ‎(“high”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewk- ‎(“to bend, curve, arch, vault”), a suffixed form of *kew-. Cognate with Scots heich ‎(“high”), Saterland Frisian hooch ‎(“high”), West Frisian heech ‎(“high”), Dutch hoog ‎(“high”), Low German hog ‎(“high”), German hoch ‎(“high”), Swedish hög ‎(“high”), Icelandic hár ‎(“high”), Lithuanian kaukas ‎(“bump, boil, sore”), Russian ку́ча ‎(kúča, “pile, heap, stack, lump”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: hī, IPA(key): /haɪ/
  • Rhymes: -aɪ
  • Homophones: hi, Hi, hie

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