Definition of "high"

high¹

/ˈhaɪ/

adjective
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.
    Quotations
    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, page 36
  2. Relatively elevated; rising or raised above the average or normal level from which elevation is measured.
    Quotations
    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.
    1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎
    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
  3. (baseball, of a ball) Above the batter's shoulders.
  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.
  Quotations
  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. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
3. Elevated in status, esteem, or prestige, or in importance or development; exalted in rank, station, or character.
  Quotations
  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
  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, page 122
  1. Most exalted; foremost.
  2. Of great importance and consequence: grave (if negative) or solemn (if positive).
  3. Consummate; advanced (e.g. in development) to the utmost extent or culmination, or possessing a quality in its supreme degree, at its zenith.
    Quotations
    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; reprinted in Amoretti and Epithalamion (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas […], 1927,
    High sauces and rich spices are fetch'd from the Indies.
    1709-1710, Thomas Baker, Reflections on Learning
  4. Advanced in complexity (and hence potentially abstract and/or difficult to comprehend).
    Quotations
    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, [Act I, scene ii]
    Plain living and high thinking are no more.
    1802, William Wordsworth, England 1802
4. (of an opinion or practice, obsolete outside set phrases) Extreme, excessive; now specifically very traditionalist and conservative.
  Quotations
  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, page 69
5. Elevated in mood; marked by great merriment, excitement, etc.
  Quotations
  I was having a high time, living the good life.
  1970, Grateful Dead, High Time, on the album Workingman's Dead
6. (of a lifestyle) Luxurious; rich.
  Quotations
  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
7. Lofty, often to the point of arrogant, haughty, boastful, proud.
  Quotations
  An high looke, and a proud heart, […] is sinne.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 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 Theater, published 1707
8. (with "on" or "about") Keen, enthused.
  Quotations
  "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
  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
9. (of a body of water) With tall waves.
  Quotations
  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
10. Remote (to the north or south) from the equator; situated at (or constituting) a latitude which is expressed by a large number.
  Quotations
  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
11. Large, great (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).
  Quotations
  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, […]
  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.
  2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist
  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).
12. (acoustics) Acute or shrill in pitch, due to being of greater frequency, i.e. produced by more rapid vibrations (wave oscillations).
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.
  2. (of a card or hand) Winning; able to take a trick, win a round, etc.
    Quotations
    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
15. (of meat, especially venison) Strong-scented; slightly tainted/spoiled; beginning to decompose.
  Quotations
  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
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.
  Quotations
  "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
17. (nautical, of a sailing ship) Near, in its direction of travel, to the (direction of the) wind.
  Quotations
  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 soccer) Positioned up the field, towards the opposing team's goal.
adverb
comparative higher, superlative highest
1. In or to an elevated position.
2. In or at a great value.
3. At a pitch of great frequency.
noun
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).
  Quotations
  South Korea has reached a new high in a kind of air pollution measured in fine dust. Audio (US)(file)
  2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)
  1. The maximum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.
2. A period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.
  Quotations
  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. A drug that gives such a high.
  Quotations
  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. (meteorology, informal) A large area of elevated atmospheric pressure; an anticyclone.
5. (card games) The highest card dealt or drawn.
verb
third-person singular simple present highs, present participle highing, simple past and past participle highed
1. (obsolete) To rise.

high²

/ˈhaɪ/

verb
third-person singular simple present highs, present participle highing, simple past and past participle highed
1. (obsolete) Alternative form of hie (“to hasten”)