Meanings
- idiomaticImmensely, forcefully.
But I wished to high heaven that my head would quit aching.
1921 December, anonymous author, “Shell-Shocked—And After”, in The Atlantic Monthly, volume 128, page 7404 more examples
The rear housing on the back tender truck was now blazing to high heaven.
1929, Francis Lynde, Young Blood, page 148If someone would have the nerve to ask for, say, 10 percent of that amount to be used for the training of this same young man to make a good farmer and citizen out of him, then they would cry to high heaven about the out-of-reason waste of money.
1955 October 28, Helge E. Nygren, “Statement of Helge E. Nygren […]”, in Price-Support Program: Hearings before the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, United States Senate, Eighty-Fourth Congress, First Session […], volume 3, published 1956, page 1182He stood in the middle of the road and began to complain to high heaven at the top of his voice.
2013 [a. 1929], Evald Tang Kristensen, translated by Stephen Badman, “Broken on the Wheel”, in John Herbert, editor, Odds and Sods: Stories Taken from the Collection of Evald Tang Kristensen, →ISBN, page 36How can I ever forget one cold night in February while the wind blew to high heaven?
2015, Nesarío García, Hoe, Heaven, and Hell: My Boyhood in Rural New Mexico, →ISBN, page 38
Cite this entry
to high heaven. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/to%20high%20heaven
“to high heaven.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/to%20high%20heaven. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “to high heaven,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/to%20high%20heaven.
Source: to high heaven on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.