*high*

v. t. [ imp. Behight; p. p. Behight, Behoten. ] [ OE. bihaten, AS. behātan to vow, promise; pref. be- + hātan to call, command. See Hight, v. ] [ Obs. in all its senses. ] 1. To promise; to vow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Behight by vow unto the chaste Minerve. Surrey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To give in trust; to commit; to intrust. [ 1913 Webster ]

The keys are to thy hand behight. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To adjudge; to assign by authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

The second was to Triamond behight. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To mean, or intend. [ 1913 Webster ]

More than heart behighteth. Mir. for Mag. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To consider or esteem to be; to declare to be. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the lookers-on him dead behight. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To call; to name; to address. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whom . . . he knew and thus behight. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To command; to order. [ 1913 Webster ]

He behight those gates to be unbarred. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A vow; a promise. [ Obs. ] Surrey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. High as the breast. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Higher superl. Highest. ] [ OE. high, hegh, hey, heh, AS. heáh, h&unr_;h; akin to OS. h&unr_;h, OFries. hag, hach, D. hoog, OHG. h&unr_;h, G. hoch, Icel. h&unr_;r, Sw. hög, Dan. höi, Goth. hauhs, and to Icel. haugr mound, G. hügel hill, Lith. kaukaras. ] 1. Elevated above any starting point of measurement, as a line, or surface; having altitude; lifted up; raised or extended in the direction of the zenith; lofty; tall; as, a high mountain, tower, tree; the sun is high. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Regarded as raised up or elevated; distinguished; remarkable; conspicuous; superior; -- used indefinitely or relatively, and often in figurative senses, which are understood from the connection; as --

(a) Elevated in character or quality, whether moral or intellectual; preëminent; honorable; as, high aims, or motives. “The highest faculty of the soul.” Baxter.

(b) Exalted in social standing or general estimation, or in rank, reputation, office, and the like; dignified; as, she was welcomed in the highest circles. [ 1913 Webster ]

He was a wight of high renown. Shak.

(c) Of noble birth; illustrious; as, of high family.

(d) Of great strength, force, importance, and the like; strong; mighty; powerful; violent; sometimes, triumphant; victorious; majestic, etc.; as, a high wind; high passions. “With rather a high manner.” Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. Ps. lxxxix. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

Can heavenly minds such high resentment show? Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

(e) Very abstract; difficult to comprehend or surmount; grand; noble. [ 1913 Webster ]

Both meet to hear and answer such high things. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Plain living and high thinking are no more. Wordsworth.

(f) Costly; dear in price; extravagant; as, to hold goods at a high price. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

An high look and a proud heart . . . is sin. Prov. xxi. 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Possessing a characteristic quality in a supreme or superior degree; as, 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) color; high (i. e., extensive, thorough) scholarship, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

High time it is this war now ended were. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

High sauces and spices are fetched from the Indies. Baker. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Cookery) Strong-scented; slightly tainted; as, epicures do not cook game before it is high. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mus.) Acute or sharp; -- opposed to grave or low; as, a high note. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Phon.) Made with a high position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate, as ē (ēve), &oomacr_; (f&oomacr_;d). See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 10, 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

High admiral, the chief admiral. --
High altar, the principal altar in a church. --
High and dry, out of water; out of reach of the current or tide; -- said of a vessel, aground or beached. --
High and mighty arrogant; overbearing. [ Colloq. ] --
High art, art which deals with lofty and dignified subjects and is characterized by an elevated style avoiding all meretricious display. --
High bailiff, the chief bailiff. --
High Church, and
Low Church, two ecclesiastical parties in the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church. The high-churchmen emphasize the doctrine of the apostolic succession, and hold, in general, to a sacramental presence in the Eucharist, to baptismal regeneration, and to the sole validity of Episcopal ordination. They attach much importance to ceremonies and symbols in worship. Low-churchmen lay less stress on these points, and, in many instances, reject altogether the peculiar tenets of the high-church school. See Broad Church. --
High constable (Law), a chief of constabulary. See Constable, n., 2. --
High commission court, a court of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England erected and united to the regal power by Queen Elizabeth in 1559. On account of the abuse of its powers it was abolished in 1641. --
High day (Script.), a holy or feast day. John xix. 31. --
High festival (Eccl.), a festival to be observed with full ceremonial. --
High German, or
High Dutch. See under German. --
High jinks, an old Scottish pastime; hence, noisy revelry; wild sport. [ Colloq. ] “All the high jinks of the county, when the lad comes of age.” F. Harrison. --
High latitude (Geog.), one designated by the higher figures; consequently, a latitude remote from the equator. --
High life, life among the aristocracy or the rich. --
High liver, one who indulges in a rich diet. --
High living, a feeding upon rich, pampering food. --
High Mass. (R. C. Ch.) See under Mass. --
High milling, a process of making flour from grain by several successive grindings and intermediate sorting, instead of by a single grinding. --
High noon, the time when the sun is in the meridian. --
High place (Script.), an eminence or mound on which sacrifices were offered. --
High priest. See in the Vocabulary. --
High relief. (Fine Arts) See Alto-rilievo. --
High school. See under School.
High seas (Law), the open sea; the part of the ocean not in the territorial waters of any particular sovereignty, usually distant three miles or more from the coast line. Wharton. --
High steam, steam having a high pressure. --
High steward, the chief steward. --
High tea, tea with meats and extra relishes. --
High tide, the greatest flow of the tide; high water. --
High time. (a) Quite time; full time for the occasion. (b) A time of great excitement or enjoyment; a carousal. [ Slang ] --
High treason, treason against the sovereign or the state, the highest civil offense. See Treason. [ 1913 Webster ] ☞ It is now sufficient to speak of high treason as treason simply, seeing that petty treason, as a distinct offense, has been abolished. Mozley & W. --
High water, the utmost flow or greatest elevation of the tide; also, the time of such elevation. --
High-water mark. (a) That line of the seashore to which the waters ordinarily reach at high water. (b) A mark showing the highest level reached by water in a river or other body of fresh water, as in time of freshet. --
High-water shrub (Bot.), a composite shrub (Iva frutescens), growing in salt marshes along the Atlantic coast of the United States. --
High wine, distilled spirits containing a high percentage of alcohol; -- usually in the plural. --
To be on a high horse, to be on one's dignity; to bear one's self loftily. [ Colloq. ] --
With a high hand. (a) With power; in force; triumphantly. “The children of Israel went out with a high hand.” Ex. xiv. 8. (b) In an overbearing manner, arbitrarily. “They governed the city with a high hand.” Jowett (Thucyd. ).

Syn. -- Tall; lofty; elevated; noble; exalted; supercilious; proud; violent; full; dear. See Tall. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ See Hie. ] To hie. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Men must high them apace, and make haste. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a high manner; in a high place; to a great altitude; to a great degree; largely; in a superior manner; eminently; powerfully. “And reasoned high.” Milton. “I can not reach so high.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ High is extensively used in the formation of compound words, most of which are of very obvious signification; as, high-aimed, high-arched, high-aspiring, high-bearing, high-boasting, high-browed, high-crested, high-crowned, high-designing, high-engendered, high-feeding, high-flaming, high-flavored, high-gazing, high-heaped, high-heeled, high-priced, high-reared, high-resolved, high-rigged, high-seated, high-shouldered, high-soaring, high-towering, high-voiced, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

High and low, everywhere; in all supposable places; as, I hunted high and low. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An elevated place; a superior region; a height; the sky; heaven. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. People of rank or high station; as, high and low. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Card Playing) The highest card dealt or drawn. [ 1913 Webster ]

High, low, jack, and the game, a game at cards; -- also called all fours, old sledge, and seven up. --
In high and low, utterly; completely; in every respect. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. --
On high, aloft; above. [ 1913 Webster ] The dayspring from on high hath visited us. Luke i. 78. --
The Most High, the Supreme Being; God. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To rise; as, the sun higheth. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. conceited and arrogant; imperious. [ PJC ]

n. 1. An alcoholic beverage having a liquor such as whiskey mixed with water or a carbonated beverage, and usually served with ice in a tall glass. [ wns=1 ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Railroads) A railroad track signal permitting the engineer to proceed at full speed. [ PJC ]

n. A ruffian; one who hounds, or spies upon, another; app. esp. to the members of certain alleged societies among the Chinese. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Inflated, as with conceit. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a high diving board. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of noble or aristocratic birth. Contrasted with lowborn and common. Shak.
Syn. -- aristocratic, blue-blooded, coroneted, gentle, patrician, titled, wellborn, upper-class. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. One who lives high; also, in politics, a highflyer. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. A kind of tall chest of drawers, with drawers up to near or above eye level and fouyr legs at the base; it is often divided into lower and upper sections, with the lower section somewhat wider than the upper; also called a tallboy. Compare lowboy. [ U. S. ] “Mahogany highboys glittering with brass handles.” K. L. Bates. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

a. Bred in high life; of pure blood. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a person of intellectual or erudite tastes; an intellectual. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. highly cultured or educated; pertaining to highly educated people; as, highbrow events such as the ballet or opera. [ informal ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of lofty structure; tall. “High-built organs.” Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

The high-built elephant his castle rears. Creech. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a chair designed for feeding a very young child, having four long legs and a footrest and a detachable tray, which rests in front of the child, holds the food, and also serves as a restraint, to keep the child from falling out of the chair.
Syn. -- feeding chair. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of or pertaining to, or favoring, the party called the High Church, or their doctrines or policy. See High Church, under High, a. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The principles of the high-church party. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. -men One who holds high-church principles. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being a high-churchman. J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having a strong, deep, or glaring color; flushed. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Vivid; strong or forcible in representation; hence, exaggerated; as, high-colored description. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having lofty arches. “The high-embowed roof.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the branch of particle physics which studies collisions of particles accelerated to such high energy that new fundamental particles are generated in the process. The creation of new particles of very high energy is required to permit the study of the most fundamental relations between forms of matter, so as to understand the fundamental nature of matter. The high energies also reproduce the high-temperature conditions at the earliest phase of the big bang, allowing generation of some data relevant to understanding the nature and evolution of the universe. [ PJC ]

adj. prenom. 1. advanced in complexity or elaboration; as, higher mathematics. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. of or pertaining to education beyond the secondary level; as, higher education; higher learning. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

. Criticism which includes the study of the contents, literary character, date, authorship, etc., of any writing; as, the higher criticism of the Pentateuch. Called also historical criticism.

The comparison of the Hebrew and Greek texts . . . introduces us to a series of questions affecting the composition, the editing, and the collection of the sacred books. This class of questions forms the special subject of the branch of critical science which is usually distinguished from the verbal criticism of the text by the name of higher, or historical, criticism. W. Robertson Smith. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Rising higher; ascending. [ 1913 Webster ]

In ever highering eagle circles. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Education) A certificate awarded for completing a course of vocational education beyond secondary school, preparing the student for a career in business or certain practical arts. It is a term used in the United Kingdom. [ United Kingdom ] [ PJC ]

n. (Computers) A computer programming language with an instruction set allowing one instruction to code for several assembly language instructions. The aggregation of several assembly-language instructions into one instruction allows much greater efficiency in writing computer programs. Most programs are now written in some higher programming language, such as BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, C, C++, PROLOG, or JAVA. [ PJC ]

adj. having a rank above that of another.
Syn. -- ranking(prenominal), superior. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

. See New thought, below. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A superior officer or official; a person having greater rank or station or quality than others; -- used chiefly in pl. [ Slang ]
Syn. -- superior, superordinate. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. Affectedly genteel; pretentious; haughty; snobbish. [ Written also hifalutin. ] [ informal ]
Syn. -- grandiose, hifalutin, hoity-toity, la-di-da. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Perh. a corruption of highflighting. ] High-flown, bombastic language. [ Written also hifalutin. ] [ Jocular, U. S. ] Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pampered; fed luxuriously. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Finished with great care; polished. [ 1913 Webster ]

. 1. See Cinch (the game). [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. pl. a celebratory or mutually congratulatory gesture between two persons performed by each slapping the other's raised right hand. Also used as a verb. [ PJC ]

n. 1. One who is extravagant in pretensions, opinions, or manners; one who is highfaluting. Swift. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. a person of great ability and ambition. [ wns=1 ]
Syn. -- highflyer. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Elevated; proud. “High-flown hopes.” Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Turgid; extravagant; bombastic; inflated; as, high-flown language. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Elated. Young. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as highflier. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Extravagant in opinions or ambition. “Highflying, arbitrary kings.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Flying at a high altitude; -- of airplanes. [ PJC ]

3. Having an excessively high cost or perceived value; temporarily very successful; -- of objects with respect to a market and people in their occupations; as, highflying internet stocks; highflying executives moving between companies. [ PJC ]

n. A spree; a revel. [ Low ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Overbearing; oppressive; arbitrary; violent; as, a high-handed act. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of courage or nobleness; high-souled. -- High"-heart`ed*ness, n. [1913 Webster]