high

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Reaching a great distance up from the ground; tall.

   They climbed a high mountain.

2. 2
   adj

   Greater than usual in amount, level, or intensity.

   The patient had a high temperature.

3. 3
   adj

   Important or of a senior rank or position.

   He holds a high position in the government.

4. 4
   adv

   At or to a position far up above the ground.

   The plane flew high above the clouds.

5. 5
   adj

   (of a sound or voice) Near the top of the range of pitch; not deep.

   She sang the song in a high voice.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

High is inherited from Old English. Its many later uses include high day for an especially important religious festival and, much later, high for intoxication: being “high with wine” is recorded in 1627, while the drug-related use became especially associated with the 20th century.

From Middle English high, heigh, heih, from Old English hēah (“high, tall, lofty, high-class, exalted, sublime, illustrious, important, proud, haughty, deep, right”), from Proto-West Germanic *hauh (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *hauhaz (“high”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewk- (“to bend; crooked”). Cognates Cognate with Scots heich (“high”), Yola heegh, heigh, heighe, hia, hie (“high”), North Frisian hoog, huuch (“high”), Saterland Frisian hooch, hoog (“high”), West Frisian heech (“high”), Alemannic German hooch (“high”), Central Franconian huh (“high”), Cimbrian hoach, hòach (“high”), Dutch h…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary