heigh
intj/heɪ/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English heigh, hey, hay, hei, heh, probably of imitative origin. Compare hey, eh.
1
An exclamation designed to call attention, give encouragement, etc.
- Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- [T]he farmer and his family were following the last loads of furniture, when a neighbour named John Marshall came up - "Well, Georgey," said he, "and soa you're leaving t'ould hoose at last?" - "Heigh, Johnny, my lad, I'm forced tull it; for that damned Boggart torments us soa, we can neither rest neet nor day for't."1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 307:
- Derived terms
- heigh-day, heigh-ho