high

adj, adv, noun and 1 more — 38 senses

high

adj

/haɪ/ · [haɪ̯]

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-West Germanic *hauh (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *hauhaz (“high”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewk- (“to bend; crooked”). Cognates Cognate with Scots heich (“high”), Yola heegh, heigh, heighe, hia, hie (“high”), North Frisian hoog, huuch (“high”), Saterland Frisian hooch, hoog (“high”), West Frisian heech (“high”), Alemannic German hooch (“high”), Central Franconian huh (“high”), Cimbrian hoach, hòach (“high”), Dutch hoog (“high”), German hoch (“high”), German Low German hooch (“high”), Limburgish hoeg (“high”), Luxembourgish héich (“high”), Mòcheno heach (“high”), Vilamovian huch (“high”), Yiddish הויך (hoykh, “high”), Danish høj (“high”), Faroese háur, høgur (“high”), Gutnish haugar (“high”), Icelandic hár (“high”), Norwegian Bokmål høg, høy (“high”), Norwegian Nynorsk høg, håg, hå (“high”), Swedish hög (“high”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍃 (hauhs, “high”), Vandalic *oas (“high”), Old French haut (“high”) (from Old High German hoh (“high”)); also with Ancient Greek Καύκᾰσος (Kaúkăsos, “Caucasus”), Latvian koks (“tree”), Lithuanian kúoka (“stick with thick end, pounder, pestle”), Bulgarian ку́ка (kúka, “hook”), Albanian çukë (“peak, summit, top”).

27 senses
  1. 1Very elevated; extending or being far above a base; tall; lofty.
  2. 2Relatively elevated; rising or raised above the average…
  3. 3Above the batter's shoulders.
  4. 4Pertaining to (or, especially of a language: spoken in)…
  5. 5Having a specified elevation or height; tall.
  6. 6Elevated in status, esteem, or prestige, or in…
  7. 7Most exalted; foremost.
  8. 8Of great importance and consequence: grave (if negative)…
  9. 9Consummate; advanced (e.g. in development) to the utmost…
  10. 10Advanced in complexity (and hence potentially abstract…
  11. 11Extreme, excessive; now specifically very traditionalist…
  12. 12Elevated in mood; marked by great merriment, excitement, etc.
  13. 13Keen, enthused.
  14. 14Intoxicated; under the influence of a mood-altering…
  15. 15Luxurious; rich.
  16. 16Lofty, often to the point of arrogant, haughty, boastful, proud.
  17. 17With tall waves.
  18. 18Remote (to the north or south) from the equator…
  19. 19Large, great (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).
  20. 20Having a large or comparatively larger concentration of…
  21. 21Acute or shrill in pitch, due to being of greater…
  22. 22Made with some part of the tongue positioned high in the…
  23. 23Having the highest rank in a straight, flush or straight flush.
  24. 24Winning; able to take a trick, win a round, etc.
  25. 25Strong-scented; slightly tainted/spoiled; beginning to decompose.
  26. 26Near, in its direction of travel, to the (direction of the) wind.
  27. 27Positioned up the field, towards the opposing team's goal.

› Physically elevated, extending above a base…

1

Very elevated; extending or being far above a base; tall; lofty.

  • The balloon rose high in the sky. The wall was high. a high mountain
  • Upon the highest spray of every mounting pole, Those Quirristers are pearcht with many a speckled breast.1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 13 p. 214:
2 more examples
  • The Chitistone River Valley offers a more direct route for travel from McCarthy to the White River and the Shushana gold placers than Skolai Creek, but it involves a high climb over the so-called “goat trail” to avoid the canyon above Chitistone[.]1930, Philip Sidney Smith, Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1928 and Administration Report:
  • 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.2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2025, page 36:
2

Relatively elevated; rising or raised above the average or normal level from which elevation is measured.

  • 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.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
  • A nightgown with a high neck and long sleeves may have the fullness set into a yoke.1919, Martha Van Rensselaer, Flora Rose, Helen Canon, A Manual of Home-Making, page 376:
1 more example
  • The concrete floors of B2B sheds were already being built to an exacting degree of flatness, calibrated using lasers, so that forklifts would not teeter while lifting pallets to the highest shelves.2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 24 Jan 2025:
3

Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Of a ball Above the batter's shoulders.

  • the pitch (or: the ball) was high
4

Pertaining to (or, especially of a language: spoken in) an area which is at a greater elevation, for example more mountainous, than other regions.

5

Having a specified elevation or height; tall.

  • three feet high three Mount Everests high
  • 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.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
6

Elevated in status, esteem, or prestige, or in importance or development; exalted in rank, station, or character.

  • The oldest of the elves' royal family still conversed in High Elvish.
  • 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.1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC:
1 more example
  • Not a one of them was old enough to know what the high past of Liani separatism had really been like.2007, Sheila Finch, Shaper's Legacy, →ISBN, page 122:
7

Most exalted; foremost.

  • the high priest, the high officials of the court, the high altar
8

Of great importance and consequence: grave (if negative) or solemn (if positive).

  • high crimes, the high festival of the sun
9

Consummate; advanced (e.g. in development) to the utmost extent or culmination, or possessing a quality in its supreme degree, at its zenith.

  • 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; high tide; high [tourism] season; the High Middle Ages
  • High time it is this war now ended were.1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “(please specify the sonnet number or title)”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC:
1 more example
  • 1709-1710, Thomas Baker, Reflections on Learning High sauces and rich spices are fetch'd from the Indies.
10

Advanced in complexity (and hence potentially abstract and/or difficult to comprehend).

  • to hear and answer such high things1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
  • Plain living and high thinking are no more.1802, William Wordsworth, England 1802:
11

Of an opinion or practice Extreme, excessive; now specifically very traditionalist and conservative.

Obsolete outside set phrases

  • high church High Tory
  • Furder, what wil you answeare for your keping a daye, cessation &c to St. Michael & al Angells? how wil you excuse your self of most high idolatrie, advancing your self in thinges you neuer sawe, rashlie puffed vp of your fleshlie minde, and not holding the heade, depriuing others of their Crowne?1591, Henry Barrow, A Plaine Refutation of M. G. Giffardes reprochful booke […], page 33:
3 more examples
  • The letter of a "Pioneer" was sent to the Chronicle office by a very respectable man, of a high conservative family, but whose interests have been injuriously affected by the constant fluctuations in the commercial policy of England.1858, Joseph Howe, Speeches and Public Letters, page 346:
  • His family was ardently royalist, and might be compared to a high Tory family on this side the water; with some change of conditions, their prejudices and disposition of the mind were the same.1875, Henry Reeve, “Introductory Notice”, in Alexis de Tocqueville, translated by Henry Reeve, Democracy in America, page xvi:
  • My father was the youngest son of a High-Church and high Tory family, the politically leftwing and religiously Nonconformist rebel; and antiimperialist who nearly lost his position in the City by refusing to sign his firm's pro–Boer War petition.2005, Jesse D. Geller, John C. Norcross, David E. Orlinsky, The Psychotherapist's Own Psychotherapy, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 69:
12

Elevated in mood; marked by great merriment, excitement, etc.

  • in high spirits
  • 1970, Grateful Dead, High Time, on the album Workingman's Dead I was having a high time, living the good life.
13

Keen, enthused.

With on or about

  • "Conversely, just because I am not high on positivity, it does not mean I am necessarily high on negativity."2016, David Chan, Enabling Positive Attitudes and Experiences in Singapore, page 140:
  • I'm not that high about the relationship.2010, Lena, quoted by S. Rosenbloom, The Multiracial Urban High School: Fearing Peers and Trusting Friends, chapter four
14

Informal Intoxicated; under the influence of a mood-altering drug, formerly usually alcohol, but now (from the mid-20th century) usually not alcohol but rather marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc.

  • "Three extremely high people showing up at the animal shelter like WE FOUND A DOG would be really funny, but..."2018, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content (webcomic), 3879: Pointy Boi:
  • Ooh! Remember when you got high at McDonald's and told Gangle to kill herself?2025 June 20, Gooseworx, “Untitled” (16:00 from the start), in The Amazing Digital Circus, episode 5, spoken by Jax (Michael Kovach):
15

Of a lifestyle Luxurious; rich.

  • high living, the high life
  • I was living the high lifestyle in famous sex clubs, relaxing on luxurious sofas, in the saunas and whirlpools, enjoying moments of excitement with my male and female companions while sipping champagne from crystal glasses.2010, Rose Maria McCarthy Anding., High Heels, Honey Lips, & White Powder:
16

Lofty, often to the point of arrogant, haughty, boastful, proud.

  • a high tone
  • An high looke, and a proud heart, […] is sinne.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 21:4:
1 more example
  • His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater:
17

Of a body of water With tall waves.

  • The sea is as high as ever. I shouldn't think any boat could put out today.1939, Agatha Christie, chapter 11, in And Then There Were None:
18

Remote (to the north or south) from the equator; situated at (or constituting) a latitude which is expressed by a large number.

  • high latitude, fish species in high arctic and antarctic areas
  • But other euphausiids, Euphausia crystallorophias, are found in the pack ice region of the high Antarctic as food of Blue and Minke Whales (Marr, 1956). E. vallentini is very important in the lower Antarctic region, around […]1966, Symposium on Antarctic Oceanography: Papers, page 242:
4 more examples
  • We predict that L. arctica will coincide with the whole reindeer-caribou distribution, probably excepted Svalbard, South Georgia and other high-polar areas.1990, International Union of Game Biologists, Transactions, the XIXth IUGB Congress: Population dynamics, Congress, page 219:
  • […] petrels, which breed primarily in the high Antarctic, the Rauer Islands are fairly central in their breeding distribution. This study documents the breeding biology of these four species of fulmarine petrels on Hop Island, Rauer Islands during […]1999, Peter John Hodum, Foraging Ecology and Reproductive Energetics of Antarctic Fulmarine Petrels, page 8:
  • Except for some lithodid crabs that have recently been found in the Antarctic Bellingshausen Sea (Klages et al., 1995; Arana and Retamal, 2000), reptants are not known from high polar areas, where water temperature at the seafloor drops permanently below about 0°C.2004, Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung, volumes 481-483, page 1:
  • This study also analyzed the sources of variations over an environmental gradient extending from low (subtropical) to high (sub-Antarctic) latitudes.2007, Zoological Studies, volume 46, iissues 1-3, page 371
19

Large, great (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).

  • My bank charges me a high interest rate.
  • I was running a high temperature and had high cholesterol.
4 more examples
  • high voltage high prices high winds a high number
  • Can heavenly minds such high resentment show?1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
  • You'll never say hello to you Until you get it on the red line overload You'll never know what you can do Until you get it up as high as you can go1986 April 24, “Danger Zone”, in Tom Whitlock (lyrics), Giorgio Moroder (music), Top Gun, performed by Kenny Loggins:
  • Ignition voltage needs to be high enough to overcome the high resistance created by the air gap.2005, Tracy Martin, How To Diagnose and Repair Automotive Electrical Systems, page 16:
20

Having a large or comparatively larger concentration of (a substance, which is often but not always linked by "in" when predicative).

  • Carrots are high in vitamin A. made from a high-copper alloy
  • Anyone can determine for himself whether certain wire is high carbon or not. Heat a piece of the wire red hot and while red plunge into water till cold.1907, The American Exporter, volume 60, page 101:
21

Acute or shrill in pitch, due to being of greater frequency, i.e. produced by more rapid vibrations (wave oscillations).

  • The note was too high for her to sing.
22

Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Sciences Made with some part of the tongue positioned high in the mouth, relatively close to the palate.

› Greater in value than other cards…

23

Card games, Games, Poker Having the 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
1 more example
  • Royal Flush = AKQJT suited = A-high straight flush
24

Card games, Games Of a card or hand Winning; able to take a trick, win a round, etc.

  • North's hand was high. East was in trouble.
  • Cutler pushed forward the two necessary white chips. No one's hand was high, and Loomis made a slight winning.1894, Harper's Magazine, volume 88, page 910:
25

Of meat Strong-scented; slightly tainted/spoiled; beginning to decompose.

Especially venison

  • Epicures do not cook game before it is high.
  • The tailor liked his meat high.
1 more example
  • What he did know was this: something about the situation smelled wrong. Something about it smelled as high as dead fish that have spent three days in the hot sun.1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:
26

Nautical, Transport Of a sailing ship Near, in its direction of travel, to the (direction of the) wind.

  • NO NEARER! (arrive! Fr.) the command given by the pilot of quarter-master, to the helmsman, to steer the ship no higher to the direction of the wind than the sails will operate to advance the ship in her course.1784, William Falconer, An Universal Dictionary of the Marine: Or, A Copious Explanation:
27

Positioned up the field, towards the opposing team's goal.

Sports such as soccer

  • Our defensive line is too high.
Synonyms
haute, hawt, tall, stoned, drunk
Antonyms
low
Derived terms
547 termsace-high, ahigh, aim high, ankle-high, ask how high when someone says jump, at the high port, blow sky high, Bowland Forest High, come hell or high water, come high, contact high, fly high, for the high jump, friends in higher places, friends in high places, on high, get high, get off one's high horse, happy as a clam at high water, have high hopes, headhigh, height, heighth, hell or high water, helper's high, High Abbotside, high-accuracy, high adventure, High Alemannic, high altar, high and dry, high and low, High and Low Bishopside, high and mighty, high and tight, high angel, high anion gap metabolic acidosis, high as a Georgia pine, high as a kite, high as giraffe pussy, High Asia, highback, highbacked, high-backed, high bailiff, highball, high bar, High Barnet, High Beach, high beam, high-beam, high beams, High Beech, High Bentham, highbie, high-binder, highbishop, high bit, High Blantyre, high blood, high blood pressure, high-blown, high-boiling, high-born, highborn, highbred, High Bridge, High Brooms, highbrow, high-budget, Highbury, highbush, high button shoe, high C, high-calorie, high camp, High Camp, high-card, high card, high-center, high center, high centered, high-centered, high centre, high-centre, high-centred, high centred, highchair, high chair, high challenge, high-cheekboner, high-church, high churchman, high churchmanship, high-class, Highclere, high cockalorum, High Cogges, high color, high colour, high comedy, high comma, high command, high commissioner, high concept, high-concept, high context culture, high-context culture, high-cost, high cotton, high countertenor, high country, high court, high crawl, high crime, Highcroft, high cross, high cube, high culture, highcut, high-daddy, highday, high days and holidays, high-def, high definition, high-definition, high-definition television, high-density, high-density lipoprotein, high dependency unit, high-dividend yield trap, high dividend yield trap, high doh, high dot, high drama, high Earth orbit, High Easter, high end, high-end, high-endness, high-energy, high entropy alloy, high-entropy alloy, Higher Macdonald, Highett, high explosive, high-falutin', high falutin, high-falutin, highfalutin, high falutin', high faluting, high-faluting, high falution, high fantasy, high fashion, high-fat, highfather, high-fed, high-fiber, high fidelity, Highfields, high finance, high-finished, high-finned dragonet, high five, high-five, high flier, high-flier, high-flown, high-flyer, high flyer, high-flying, high Fowler's, high frequency, high-frequency, high-frequency gravitational wave, high frequency gravitational wave, high-frequency trading, high frontier, high-fructose corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, high-fructose maize syrup, high-functioning autism, high functioning, high-functioning, highgate, Highgate, Highgate Hill, High German, high-gloss, high-go, high-grade, high grinding, high ground, Highgrove, high-grown, high-growth, High Halden, High Halstow, High Ham, high-handed, high-handedly, high-handedness, high-hanging fruit, High Harrington, high hat, high-hat, highhearted, high-hearted, high-heartedly, high-heartedness, high-heel, high heel, high-heeled, high heels, high-holder, high-hole, high hopes, high horse, high hundreds, high-impact, high-income, high-intensity, high-intensity interval training, high intensity training, high-IQ, highish, high island, High Island, high-jimmy-knacker, high jinks, High John root, high juice, high-jump, high jump, high jumper, high-jumper, high-key, High Kilburn, high-kilted, high king, high-king, high kingship, High Lake, highland, Highland, Highland Park, Highland Plains, Highlands, highlands, Highland Valley, highleg, High Legh, high-level, high-level language, high-level synthesis, high licence, high license, high life, highlife, high-lift device, highlight, highline, high line, highlining, High Littleton, high-living, high living, high lonesome sound, high-low, highlow, high-low split, highly, high-lying, high magic, high magick, high-maintenance, highman, high-marking, High Marnham, high-masking, High Mass, high mass, high-melting, high memory area, high milling, high-minded, high-mindedly, high-mindedness, high modernism, high modernity, highmost, high-muck-a-muck, high muckamuck, high muckety-muck, high-necked, high nellie, high-nelly, high nelly, highness, Highness, high noon, High North, high-nosed, high note, high occupancy vehicle, high-occupancy vehicle, high-occupancy vehicle lane, high-octane, high office, high off the hog, high old time, High Ongar, high on life, high on one's own supply, high on the hog, high on the totem pole, High Orchard, high order bit, high pad, highpad, high-paid, High Park, high-pass, highpass, High Peak, high-performance, high-performance liquid chromatography, high pillow, high-pitch, high-pitched, high place, High Plains, High Point, high point, highpoint, high politics, high-post, high-power, high-powered, high-precision, high-pressure, high-pressure liquid chromatography, high-priced, high priest, high priestess, high-priestly, high probability trade, high profile, high-profile, high-proof, High Prussian, high-quality, high quality rip, High Range, high-ranking, highreaching, high relief, high-rent, high-res, high-resolution, High Rhine, high-rise, high-riser, high-rise syndrome, high-risk, high road, high roller, high-roller, high scaler, high school, high schooler, high score, high score table, high-score table, high sea, high seas, high season, high-seeded, high shelf, high sheriff, high-side, high side, high-sighted, high sign, high society, high-sounding, high-spec, high-speed, high speed, high-speed rail, high speed steel, high-speed steel, high-spirited, high-spiritedness, high spirits, highspot, high-stakes, highstand, high-status, high steel, high-step, high-stepper, high-stepping, high stick, high-stick, high-sticking, high-stomached, high strangeness, high street, High Street, high striker, high strikes, high-strung, high summer, high-support, high surrogate, high-T, high table, high tackle, high-tail, hightail, high-tailed, high-tail it, high-taper, high taper, high tea, high-tech, high tech, high-techness, high technology, high-temperature superconductivity, high-temperature superconductor, high-tempo, high ten, high-tension, high tension, high-test, high-test peroxide, highth, high-ticket, high tide, hightide, high tider, high time, high-time, high toby, Highton, high-toned, high top, high-top, high touch, high-touch, High Town, Hightown, high treason, high tunnel, high undern, high-up, high up, high vacuum, Highvale, high-value, high-value target, Highveld, high-velocity, high-vis, high-visibility, high-voltage, high voltage, high-voltage transmission line, highwall, highwater, high water, high-water, high-water mark, high waters, highway, High Westwood, high-wheeler, high wine, highwire, high-wire, high wire, high-wire walker, Highworth, highwrought, high-wrought, High Wycombe, high yaller, high yellow, high-yield, high yo-yo, hit the high notes, hold one's head high, hot and high, I have high blood pressure, in high dudgeon, in high feather, in high gear, junior high school, Kilburn High and Low, knee high, knee-high blackberry, knee-high by the Fourth of July, knee-high to a grasshopper, leave someone high and dry, letter-high, logic high, Mile High City, Mile High Club, moral high ground, Most High, mount the high horse, nonhigh, Omaha high-low split, on one's high horse, on the high rope, on the high ropes, paleo-high, ride high, ride the high horse, rower's high, run high, runner's high, semihigh, senior high school, Siberian high, South Leigh and High Cogges, stink to high heaven, sugar high, superhigh, super high frequency, Thirkleby High and Low with Osgodby, three-high, to high heaven, type-high, ultrahigh, ultra high frequency, unhigh, union high school, very high frequency, white coat high blood pressure, with a high arm, with a high hand, with one's head held high
Related terms
mighty
Hyponyms
chest-high, knee-high, sky-high, super-high, thigh-high, ultra-high, waist-high

high

adv
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-West Germanic *hauh (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *hauhaz (“high”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewk- (“to bend; crooked”). Cognates Cognate with Scots heich (“high”), Yola heegh, heigh, heighe, hia, hie (“high”), North Frisian hoog, huuch (“high”), Saterland Frisian hooch, hoog (“high”), West Frisian heech (“high”), Alemannic German hooch (“high”), Central Franconian huh (“high”), Cimbrian hoach, hòach (“high”), Dutch hoog (“high”), German hoch (“high”), German Low German hooch (“high”), Limburgish hoeg (“high”), Luxembourgish héich (“high”), Mòcheno heach (“high”), Vilamovian huch (“high”), Yiddish הויך (hoykh, “high”), Danish høj (“high”), Faroese háur, høgur (“high”), Gutnish haugar (“high”), Icelandic hár (“high”), Norwegian Bokmål høg, høy (“high”), Norwegian Nynorsk høg, håg, hå (“high”), Swedish hög (“high”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍃 (hauhs, “high”), Vandalic *oas (“high”), Old French haut (“high”) (from Old High German hoh (“high”)); also with Ancient Greek Καύκᾰσος (Kaúkăsos, “Caucasus”), Latvian koks (“tree”), Lithuanian kúoka (“stick with thick end, pounder, pestle”), Bulgarian ку́ка (kúka, “hook”), Albanian çukë (“peak, summit, top”).

1

In or to an elevated position.

  • How high above land did you fly?
  • The desks were piled high with magazines.
2

In or at a great value.

  • Costs have grown higher this year again.
3

At a pitch of great frequency.

  • I certainly can't sing that high.

high

noun
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-West Germanic *hauh (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *hauhaz (“high”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewk- (“to bend; crooked”). Cognates Cognate with Scots heich (“high”), Yola heegh, heigh, heighe, hia, hie (“high”), North Frisian hoog, huuch (“high”), Saterland Frisian hooch, hoog (“high”), West Frisian heech (“high”), Alemannic German hooch (“high”), Central Franconian huh (“high”), Cimbrian hoach, hòach (“high”), Dutch hoog (“high”), German hoch (“high”), German Low German hooch (“high”), Limburgish hoeg (“high”), Luxembourgish héich (“high”), Mòcheno heach (“high”), Vilamovian huch (“high”), Yiddish הויך (hoykh, “high”), Danish høj (“high”), Faroese háur, høgur (“high”), Gutnish haugar (“high”), Icelandic hár (“high”), Norwegian Bokmål høg, høy (“high”), Norwegian Nynorsk høg, håg, hå (“high”), Swedish hög (“high”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍃 (hauhs, “high”), Vandalic *oas (“high”), Old French haut (“high”) (from Old High German hoh (“high”)); also with Ancient Greek Καύκᾰσος (Kaúkăsos, “Caucasus”), Latvian koks (“tree”), Lithuanian kúoka (“stick with thick end, pounder, pestle”), Bulgarian ку́ка (kúka, “hook”), Albanian çukë (“peak, summit, top”).

7 senses
  1. 1A high point or position, literally (as, an elevated…
  2. 2The maximum atmospheric temperature recorded at a…
  3. 3A period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.
  4. 4A drug that gives such a high.
  5. 5A large area of elevated atmospheric pressure; an anticyclone.
  6. 6The highest card dealt or drawn.
  7. 7Ellipsis of high school.
1

A high point or position, literally (as, an elevated place; a superior region; a height; the sky; heaven) or figuratively (as, a point of success or achievement; a time when things are at their best, greatest, most numerous, maximum, etc).

  • It was one of the highs of his career.
  • Inflation reached a ten-year high.
1 more example
  • South Korea has reached a new high in a kind of air pollution measured in fine dust.2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)
2

The maximum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.

  • Today's high was 32 °C.
3

A period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.

  • Falling from cloud nine / Crashing from the high / I'm letting go tonight / Yeah, I'm falling from cloud nine2012, Katy Perry, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee, Dr. Luke, Cirkut, “Wide Awake”, in Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, performed by Katy Perry:
  • 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.2013 May 15, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian:
1 more example
  • That pill gave me a high for a few hours, before I had a comedown.
4

A drug that gives such a high.

  • 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.2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
5

Climatology, Meteorology, Natural sciences Informal A large area of elevated atmospheric pressure; an anticyclone.

  • A large high is centred on the Azores.
6

Card games, Games The highest card dealt or drawn.

7

Abbreviation, Ellipsis, Informal Ellipsis of high school.

  • He’s the old man’s only son. Some baby! Yep, right behind ya. Nope, he donno me. I was in Grammar when he was in High.1932, Grace Livingston Hill, chapter 6, in The Patch of Blue, Toronto, Ont.: The Copp Clark Company, Limited, published in the 20th century, →OCLC, page 128:
  • The high school experience is one unmatched and irreplaceable. Its effects on our lives continue long after walking through our high’s doorways one last time.1998, Kristen N Maloney, “Over the Edge”, in Volume 1: Forsaken, Bloomington, Ind.: Booktango, →ISBN:
3 more examples
  • The reassignment follows a dispute between her and an association of parents of Nova High’s band members over how the band program was being run.1999 July 1, Alan Diaz, “Mom accused of making threats”, in Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach edition, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4B, column 4:
  • If you look very closely in Monday's letters page, I'm supervising those non-plagiarising students sitting for their exam in Chatswood High's hall.2005 August 30, Bob Selinger, “Racist slurs unacceptable in any context”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, N.S.W., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2006, letters:
  • […] 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in February, […] Freeman High upgraded its cameras to high definition after last year’s shooting. […] By this spring, Huffman High in Birmingham, Ala., had, in security parlance, been “hardened,” […] At Florida’s Forest High in April, for example, teachers and teens who had undergone safety training locked classroom doors […] A month later, at Dixon High in Illinois, resource officer Mark Dallas heard shots near the school gym, […]2018 November 13, John Woodrow Cox, Steven Rich, “Armored school doors, bulletproof whiteboards and secret snipers”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Nov 2018:
Derived terms
herbal high, junior high, jr. high, legal high, mini-high, senior high, sen high
Related terms
crash

high

verb

Etymology From Middle English hegen, heghen, heien, a conflation of Old English ġehēgan (“to perform, conduct”) (from Proto-West Germanic *hauwjan) and hēan (“to raise up, exalt”) (from *hauhijan), also influenced by heigh (“high”).

1

Obsolete To rise.

  • The sun higheth.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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