height
noun/haɪt/ · /həɪt/
Etymology
From Middle English heighte, heiȝþe, from Old English hēahþu, hēhþo, hīehþu (“height”), Proto-West Germanic *hauhiþu, from Proto-Germanic *hauhiþō (compare *hauhaz). Equivalent to high + -t (abstract nominal suffix). The regular pronunciation is now obsolete /heɪt/ (as with other words in -eight); the modern form developed early on, at first as a variant, by analogy with the underlying adjective. Cognates See also Saterland Frisian Höchte, Hööchte (“height”), West Frisian hichte (“height”), Dutch hoogte (“height”), Middle High German hœhede, hœhte (“height”), Old Norse hæð (“height”) (compare Swedish höjd, Norwegian høyde), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌹𐌸𐌰 (hauhiþa, “height”).
10 senses
- 1The distance from the base to the top of something.
- 2The vertical distance from the ground to the highest…
- 3The minimum distance from a vertex of a triangle to (the…
- 4The amplitude of a sinusoid.
- 5The distance of something above the ground or some other…
- 6A high point.
- 7The highest point or maximum degree.
- 8A mountain, especially a very high one.
- 9An area of land at the top of a cliff.
- 10A quality of vowels, indicating the vertical position of…
The distance from the base to the top of something.
- Happiness Makes Up in Height for What It Lacks in Length [title of poem]1942, Robert Frost, “Happiness Makes Up in Height for What It Lacks in Length”, in A Witness Tree, New York: Henry Hold and Company, published 1943, page 15:
- He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
The vertical distance from the ground to the highest part of a standing person or animal (withers in the case of a horse).
- — What's your height? — 180 centimetres.
Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences The minimum distance from a vertex of a triangle to (the extension of) the edge opposite, namely along a line perpendicular to the edge.
- The area of a triangle is "a half base times height".
Mathematics, Sciences The amplitude of a sinusoid.
The distance of something above the ground or some other chosen level.
- We flew at a height of 15 000 meters.
- I'm afraid of heights.
A high point.
- At length they arrived at the open road, skirted by a wide heath, bounded by the rising heights of the undulating country.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 37:
- The Guardian of the Flooded Village has grown for 350 years on a rocky height near the village of Chudobin, said locally to play host to a devil that sat under it at night, playing the violin and warding off intruders – though in reality the eerie sounds are more likely to have come from the strong winds blowing over the valley.2020 March 17, Fiona Harvey, “Pine tree near flooded Czech village voted European tree of the year”, in The Guardian:
Figuratively The highest point or maximum degree.
- She's at the height of her career.
- […]They clip vs drunkards, and with Swiniſh phraſe / Soyle our addition, and indeede it takes / From our atchieuements, though perform’d at height / The pith and marrow of our attribute[…]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
4 more examples
- Leo, then at the height of his pontificate, despatched a letter to Cerularius demanding that the Patriarch should recognize the supremacy of the popes, and branding any church that refused such recognition as “an assembly of heretics, a conventicle of schismatics, a synagogue of Satan.”⁷⁶1950 [c. 1053], Will Durant, quoting Pope Leo IX, “Christianity in Conflict: 529-1085”, in The Story of Civilization (History), Simon and Schuster, sourced from Cambridge Medieval History, N.Y., 1924f., IV, 168, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 544:
- During the height of Italian immigration in the United States and in New York City, gangs flourished not only because of poverty but also because of political and social corruption. Policemen and politicians were often as crooked as the gang leaders themselves.2004, Peter Bondanella, chapter 4, in Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos, pages 173–174:
- If City never quite reached the heights of their 6-1 demolition of United, then Roberto Mancini's side should still have had this game safe long before Johnson restored their two-goal advantage.2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport:
- In the nineteen-fifties, the height of aspirational style was fine French furniture—F.F.F., as it became known in certain precincts of Fifth Avenue and Palm Beach.2022 July 18, Evan Osnos, “The Haves and the Have-Yachts”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 Jul 2022:
A mountain, especially a very high one.
An area of land at the top of a cliff.
Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Sciences A quality of vowels, indicating the vertical position of the tongue relative to the roof of the mouth; in practice, the first formant, associated with the height of the tongue.
- Derived terms
41 terms
aheight, Chicago Heights, Cleveland Heights, coheight, commanding heights, Cornwells Heights, decision height, drying height, find your height, geopotential height, height above average terrain, heighten, heightfield, heighthon, heightism, heightist, heightless, heightmap, height money, height to paper, heightwise, Irlams o' th' Height, isoheight, legal height, line-height, metacentric height, midheight, no-height, overheight, piss on from a great height, ride height, Ryland Heights, scale height, significant wave height, slant height, star height, up a height, Valley Heights, vanity height, Weymouth Heights, x-height- Related terms
- high