high

comparative higher · superlative highest · alternative dialectal heigh · alternative informal hi

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

      3 more examples

      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

      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.

      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

      2 more examples

      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

      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 gamesOf 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.
2. Having a specified elevation or height; tall.

   three feet high three Mount Everests high

   1 more example

   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

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.

   2 more examples

   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

   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

   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.

      1709-1710, Thomas Baker, Reflections on Learning High sauces and rich spices are fetch'd from the Indies.

      2 more examples

      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

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

      to hear and answer such high things

      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]

      1 more example

      Plain living and high thinking are no more.

      1802, William Wordsworth, England 1802

4. obsolete outside set phrasesExtreme, excessive; now specifically very traditionalist and conservative.

   high church High Tory

   4 more examples

   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

   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

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

   in high spirits

   1 more example

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

6. with on or aboutKeen, enthused.

   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

   1 more example

   "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

7. informalIntoxicated; 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.

   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)

   1 more example

   "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

   Synonyms: stoned

8. Luxurious; rich.

   high living, the high life

   1 more example

   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

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

   a high tone

   2 more examples

   An high looke, and a proud heart, […] is sinne.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 21:4

   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

10. 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

11. 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

    5 more examples

    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

    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

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

    My bank charges me a high interest rate.

    5 more examples

    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?

    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 go

    1986 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

    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

       1 more example

       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

13. acousticsAcute 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.

14. human sciencesMade with some part of the tongue positioned high in the mouth, relatively close to the palate.
15. Greater in value than other cards, denominations, suits, etc.
    1. card gamesHaving the highest rank in a straight, flush or straight flush.

       9-high straight = 98765 unsuited

       2 more examples

       I have KT742 of the same suit. In other words, a K-high flush.

       Royal Flush = AKQJT suited = A-high straight flush

    2. card gamesWinning; able to take a trick, win a round, etc.

       North's hand was high. East was in trouble.

       1 more example

       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

16. especially venisonStrong-scented; slightly tainted/spoiled; beginning to decompose.

    The tailor liked his meat high.

    2 more examples

    Epicures do not cook game before it is 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.

    1991, Stephen King, Needful Things

17. nauticalNear, 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

18. sports such as soccerPositioned up the field, towards the opposing team's goal.

    Our defensive line is too high.

comparative higher · superlative highest · alternative dialectal heigh · alternative informal hi

1. In or to an elevated position.

   How high above land did you fly?

   1 more example

   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.

plural highs · alternative dialectal heigh · alternative informal hi

1. countableA 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).

   Inflation reached a ten-year high.

   2 more examples

   It was one of the highs of his career.

   South Korea has reached a new high in a kind of air pollution measured in fine dust.

   2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

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

      Today's high was 32 °C.

2. countableA 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.

   2 more examples

   Falling from cloud nine / Crashing from the high / I'm letting go tonight / Yeah, I'm falling from cloud nine

   2012, 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

3. countableA 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

4. countableinformalclimatologyA large area of elevated atmospheric pressure; an anticyclone.

   A large high is centred on the Azores.

5. countablecard gamesThe highest card dealt or drawn.
6. abbreviationcountableellipsisinformaluncountableEllipsis 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

   4 more examples

   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

   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

present singular third person highs · participle present highing · participle past highed · past highed

1. obsoleteTo rise.

   The sun higheth.

present singular third person highs · participle present highing · participle past highed · past highed

1. alternativeobsoleteAlternative form of hie (“to hasten”).

plural Highs

1. A surname.