English
high
see also: High
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English high, heigh, heih, from Old English hēah, from Proto-West Germanic *hauh, from Proto-Germanic *hauhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kewk-.

Adjective

high (comparative higher, superlative highest)

  1. Physically elevated, extending above a base or average level:
    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
    2. Relatively elevated; rising or raised above the average or normal level from which elevation is measured.
      • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC ↗:
        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.
      • 1919, Martha Van Rensselaer, Flora Rose, Helen Canon, A Manual of Home-Making, page 376:
        A nightgown with a high neck and long sleeves may have the fullness set into a yoke.
    3. (baseball, 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) in an area which is at a greater elevation, for example more mountainous, than other regions.
  2. Having a specified elevation or height; tall.
    three feet high   three Mount Everests high
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      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.
  3. 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.
    • 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC ↗:
      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.
    1. Most exalted; foremost.
      the high priest, the high officials of the court, the high altar
    2. Of great importance and consequence: grave (if negative) or solemn (if positive).
      high crimes, the high festival of the sun
    3. 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
      • 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 ↗:
        High time it is this war now ended were.
      • 1709-1710, Thomas Baker (antiquarian), Reflections on Learning
        High sauces and rich spices are fetch'd from the Indies.
    4. Advanced in complexity (and hence potentially abstract and/or difficult to comprehend).
      • 1599 (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]:
        to hear and answer such high things
      • 1802, William Wordsworth, England 1802:
        Plain living and high thinking are no more.
  4. (of an opinion or practice, obsolete outside set phrases) Extreme, excessive; now specifically very traditionalist and conservative.
    high church   High Tory
  5. 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.
  6. (of a lifestyle) Luxurious; rich.
    high living, the high life
    • 2010, Rose Maria McCarthy Anding., High Heels, Honey Lips, & White Powder:
      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.
  7. Lofty, often to the point of arrogant, haughty, boastful, proud.
    a high tone
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Proverbs 21:4 ↗:
      An high looke, and a proud heart, […] is sinne.
    • 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 Theater, published 1707, →OCLC ↗:
      His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.
  8. (with "on" or "about") Keen, enthused.
    • 2010, Lena, quoted by S. Rosenbloom, The Multiracial Urban High School: Fearing Peers and Trusting Friends (ISBN 0230114733), chapter four:
      I'm not that high about the relationship.
  9. (of a, body of water) With tall waves.
  10. 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
    • 1966, Symposium on Antarctic Oceanography: Papers, page 242:
      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 […]
    • 1999, Peter John Hodum, Foraging Ecology and Reproductive Energetics of Antarctic Fulmarine Petrels, page 8:
      […] 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  […]
    • 2007, Zoological Studies, volume 46, iissues 1-3, page 371:
      This study also analyzed the sources of variations over an environmental gradient extending from low (subtropical) to high (sub-Antarctic) latitudes.
  11. 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.
    high voltage   high prices   high winds   a high number
    • 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 ↗:
      Can heavenly minds such high resentment show?
    1. 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
    • 1907, The American Exporter, volume 60, page 101:
      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.
  12. (acoustics) 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.
  13. (phonetics) Made with some part of the tongue positioned high in the mouth, relatively close to the palate.
  14. (card games) Greater in value than other cards, denominations, suits, etc.
    1. (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
      Royal Flush = AKQJT suited = A-high straight flush
    2. (of a card or hand) Winning; able to take a trick, win a round, etc.
      North's hand was high. East was in trouble.
      • 1894, Harper's Magazine, volume 88, page 910:
        Cutler pushed forward the two necessary white chips. No one's hand was high, and Loomis made a slight winning.
  15. (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.
  16. (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.
  17. (nautical, of a, sailing ship) Near, in its direction of travel, to the (direction of the) wind.
  18. (sports such as soccer) Positioned up the field, towards the opposing team's goal.
    Our defensive line is too high.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Adverb

high (comparative higher, superlative highest)

  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.
Translations Noun

high (plural highs)

  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.
    • 2019, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190311070055/https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/south-korea-proposes-rain-project-with-china-to-cut-pollution/4819207.html VOA Learning English] (public domain)
      South Korea has reached a new high in a kind of air pollution measured in fine dust.
    1. The maximum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.
      Today's high was 32 °C.
  2. A period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.
    That pill gave me a high for a few hours, before I had a comedown.
  3. A drug that gives such a high.
  4. (meteorology, informal) A large area of elevated atmospheric pressure; an anticyclone.
    A large high is centred on the Azores.
  5. (card games) The highest card dealt or drawn.
Translations Translations Verb

high (highs, present participle highing; simple past and past participle highed)

  1. (obsolete) To rise.
    The sun higheth.
Etymology 2

See hie.

Verb

high (highs, present participle highing; simple past and past participle highed)

  1. (obsolete) Alternative form of hie
High
Proper noun
  1. Surname.


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