Hīgh1, a.
(hī), a. [compar. HIGHER; superl. HIGHEST.] [A-S. heáh, heág, heá, hêh, O. Sax. hoh, O. Fries. hag, hach, Goth. hauhs, Icel. hâr, hârr, hâ, Sw. hög, Dan. höi, D. hoog, O. H. Ger. hôh, hô, N. H. Ger. hoch.]
Sense 1. Elevated above any starting point for measurement, as a line, or surface; lifted or raised up; exalted; lofty; sublime; as, a high mountain, tower, tree; the sun is high; and the like.
Sense 2. Regarded as raised up or elevated; distinguished; remarkable; sometimes equivalent to great, used indefinitely; sometimes used in figurative senses, which are understood from the connection; as, (a.) Elevated in character or attainments, whether moral or intellectual; distinguished; pre-eminent; honorable. “The highest faculty of the soul.” Baxter. (b.) Exalted in social standing or common estimation, that is, in rank, reputation, office, condition, and the like; dignified; lofty. “He was a wight of high renown.” Shak. (c.) Of noble birth; illustrious; as, a man of high family. (d.) Of great strength, force, importance, and the like; strong; mighty; violent; powerful; sometimes, triumphant; victorious; majestic, &c.; as, a high wind; high passions. “The children of Israel went out with an high hand.” Ex. xiv. 8. “Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.” Ps. lxxxix. 13. “Can heavenly minds such high resentment show?” Dryden. (e.) Very abstruse; difficult to comprehend; profound. “They meet to hear and answer such high things.” Shak. (f.) Of great costliness or price; dear; precious; greatly prized. “If they must be good at so high a rate, they know they may be safe at a cheaper.” South. (g.) Arrogant; lofty; boastful; proud; ostentatious; — used in a bad sense. “An high look and a proud heart . . . is sin.” Prov. xxi. 4. “His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.” Clarendon.
Sense 3. Possessing some characteristic quality in a marked degree; as, high (i. e., intense) heat; high (i. e., full or complete) noon; high (i. e., rich) seasoning; high (i. e., complete) pleasure; high (i. e., deep or vivid) color; and the like.
High time it is this war now ended were. Spenser.
Solomon lived at ease, and full Of honor, wealth, high fare. Milton.
High sauces and spices are fetched from the Indies. Baker.
Sense 4. Prominent; eminent; — used in various technical senses; as, (a.) (Fine Arts.) Wrought so as to be prominent from the surface; as, high-relief, or alto-rilievo; also, in an elevated style, which disarms criticism by its intrinsic excellence. Fairholt. (b.) (Law & Politics.) Relating to, or derived from, the sovereignty of a state; as, high-treason; that is, treason committed against the king or sovereign. (c.) (Chron.) Remote in time or antiquity; as, a high antiquity. (d.) (Cookery.) Strong-scented, as tending toward putrefaction; as, venison or game should never be cooked before it is high. (e.) (Geog.) Remote from the equator, north or south; as, high latitudes. (f.) (Mus.) Acute or sharp; opposed to grave or low; as, a high note.
High admiral, the chief admiral. — High altar, the principal altar in a church. Oxf. Gloss. — High and dry, out of water; in a dry place; out of reach of the current or waves. Totten. — High bailiff, the chief bailiff. — High church and low church, two ecclesiastical parties or sects, which became distinct after the Revolution of 1688. The high church were supposed to favor the Papists, or at least to support the high claims to prerogative which were maintained by the Stuarts. The low church entertained more moderate notions, manifested great enmity to Popery, and were inclined to circumscribe the royal prerogatives. This distinction is now less marked, but not wholly obliterated. [Eng.] — High constable (Law), a police officer in some cities. Bouvier. — High commission court, a court of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England erected and united to the regal power by Queen Elizabeth, which, from the abuse of its powers, was afterward abolished. Burrill. — High day (Script.), a holy or festive day. John xix. 31. — High Dutch, or High German, the German language, as spoken in the elevated southern part of Germany, in distinction from Low Dutch, or Low German, the same language as spoken in the northern or flat parts of the country; the cultivated German, or language spoken by the educated classes, as opposed to the vulgar dialects spoken by the lower orders. — High jinks, an old Scottish pastime played in different ways. Commonly a person was selected by lot to sustain some fictitious character, or to repeat verses in a particular order; and if he departed from the character assigned, or failed in repeating the verses, he incurred certain forfeits. W. Scott. — High life, life among the aristocracy or the rich. — High living, a feeding upon rich and costly food. — High mass (Rom. Cath. Church), that mass which is performed by a choir in a specially formal and solemn manner; — distinguished from low mass, in which the prayers are rehearsed without singing. — High noon, the time when the sun is in the meridian. — High operation (Surg.), extraction of the stone by cutting into the upper part of the bladder. — High place (Script.), an eminence or mound on which sacrifices were offered. — High-priest, a chief priest. Scripture. — High school. See SCHOOL. — High seas, the waters of the ocean without the boundary of any county; also, the uninclosed waters of the ocean, which are without the limits of low-water mark. Kent. — High steam, steam having a high pressure, or a pressure greater than about fifty pounds on the square inch. — High steward, the chief steward. — High tide, the greatest flow of the tide; high water. — High time, quite time; full time for the occasion, or the time when any thing is to be done. — High treason, treason against the state, being the highest civil offense. See TREASON. Hallam. — High water, the utmost flow or greatest elevation of the tide; also, the time of such elevation. — High-water mark, that line of the sea-shore to which the waters ordinarily reach at high water; the margin of the periodical flow of the tide, unaffected by extraordinary causes. — High wine, distilled wine; brandy; also, pure or undiluted alcohol.
Synonyms— Tall; lofty; elevated; noble; exalted; supercilious; proud; ostentatious; violent; tumultuous; full; dear. See TALL.