Etimology
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 elevate, height”). Cognate with Scots heich (“high”), Saterland Frisian hooch (“high”), West Frisian heech (“high”), Dutch hoog (“high”), Low German hoog (“high”), German hoch (“high”), Swedish hög (“high”), Norwegian høy (“high”), Icelandic hár (“high”), Lithuanian kaukas (“bump, boil, sore”)
adjective
high (comparative higher, superlative highest)
Physically elevated, extending above a base or average level:
Having a specified elevation or height; tall.
Elevated in status, esteem, or prestige, or in importance or development; exalted in rank, station, or character.
(of an opinion or practice, obsolete outside set phrases) Extreme, excessive; now specifically very traditionalist and conservative.
Elevated in mood; marked by great merriment, excitement, etc.
(of a lifestyle) Luxurious; rich.
Lofty, often to the point of arrogant, haughty, boastful, proud.
(with "on" or "about") Keen, enthused.
(of a body of water) With tall waves.
Remote (to the north or south) from the equator; situated at (or constituting) a latitude which is expressed by a large number.
Large, great (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).
(acoustics) Acute or shrill in pitch, due to being of greater frequency, i.e. produced by more rapid vibrations (wave oscillations).
(phonetics) Made with some part of the tongue positioned high in the mouth, relatively close to the palate.
(card games) Greater in value than other cards, denominations, suits, etc.
(of meat, especially venison) Strong-scented; slightly tainted/spoiled; beginning to decompose.
(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.
(nautical, of a sailing ship) Near, in its direction of travel, to the (direction of the) wind.
(sports such as soccer) Positioned up the field, towards the opposing team's goal.
Examples
The balloon rose high in the sky. The wall was high. a high mountain
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[.]
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.
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.
A nightgown with a high neck and long sleeves may have the fullness set into a yoke.
the pitch was high
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.
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.
Not a one of them was old enough to know what the high past of Liani separatism had really been like.
the high priest, the high officials of the court, the high altar
high crimes, the high festival of the sun
high heat; high noon; high seasoning; high pleasure; high colour; high scholarship; high tide; high [tourism] season; the High Middle Ages
High time it is this war now ended were.
High sauces and rich spices are fetch'd from the Indies.
to hear and answer such high things
Plain living and high thinking are no more.
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?
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.
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.
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.
in high spirits
I was having a high time, living the good life.
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.
a high tone
An high looke, and a proud heart, […] is sinne.
His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.
"Conversely, just because I am not high on positivity, it does not mean I am necessarily high on negativity."
I'm not that high about the relationship.
The sea is as high as ever. I shouldn't think any boat could put out today.
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 . E. vallentini is very important in the lower Antarctic region, around […]
We predict that L. arctica will coincide with the whole reindeer-caribou distribution, probably excepted Svalbard, South Georgia and other high-polar areas.
[…] 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 […]
Except for some lithodid crabs that have recently been found in the Antarctic Bellingshausen Sea , reptants are not known from high polar areas, where water temperature at the seafloor drops permanently below about 0°C.
This study also analyzed the sources of variations over an environmental gradient extending from low to high latitudes.
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
Can heavenly minds such high resentment show?
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.
Ignition voltage needs to be high enough to overcome the high resistance created by the air gap.
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.
The note was too high for her to sing.
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
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.
Epicures do not cook game before it is high.
The tailor liked his meat high.
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.
"Three extremely high people showing up at the animal shelter like WE FOUND A DOG would be really funny, but..."
NO NEARER! 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.
Our defensive line is too high.
Related words
synonyms
haute, hawt
(elevated): See Thesaurus:tall
(intoxicated): See Thesaurus:stoned or Thesaurus:drunk
antonyms
low
hyponyms
chest-high
knee-high
sky-high
super-high
thigh-high
ultra-high
waist-high
adverb
high (comparative higher, superlative highest)
In or to an elevated position.
In or at a great value.
At a pitch of great frequency.
Examples
How high above land did you fly?
The desks were piled high with magazines.
Costs have grown higher this year again.
I certainly can't sing that high.
noun
high (plural highs)
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).
A period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.
A drug that gives such a high.
(meteorology, informal) A large area of elevated atmospheric pressure; an anticyclone.
(card games) The highest card dealt or drawn.
Examples
It was one of the highs of his career.
Inflation reached a ten-year high.
South Korea has reached a new high in a kind of air pollution measured in fine dust. Audio
Audio
Today's high was 32 °C.
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.
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.
A large high is centred on the Azores.
verb
high (third-person singular simple present highs, present participle highing, simple past and past participle highed)
(obsolete) To rise.
Examples
The sun higheth.
Etimology
See hie.
verb
high (third-person singular simple present highs, present participle highing, simple past and past participle highed)
(obsolete) Alternative form of hie (“to hasten”)