on high
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English
Etymology
From Middle English on heigh, on an heigh (“in or into heaven; up to heaven”) , from Old English on hēagum (“on high”); hēagum is an inflected form of hēah (“high; tall”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kewk- (“height; to elevate”). The English word is equivalent to on + high. Compare Dutch omhoog (“upwards, on high”), West Frisian omheech (“upwards”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɒn ˈhaɪ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɑn ˈhaɪ/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪ
Prepositional phrase
- To a high position; or up in, or to, the sky; above.
- 1796–1798 (date written; published 1802), Robert Southey, “The Inchcape Rock”, in The Poetical Works of Robert Southey. , volume VI, London: [Andrew Spottiswoode] for Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, , published 1838, →OCLC, page 137:
- So thick a haze o’erspreads the sky, / They cannot see the Sun on high; / The wind hath blown a gale all day, / At evening it hath died away.
- c. 1920s–1930s, Elizabeth Fleming, “The Ploughman”, in School Journal, volume 32, Wellington, New Zealand: School Publications Branch, Department of Education, published 1938, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 112:
- His [a horse's] back would be so glossy, / His sides so smooth and brown, / I'd have to hold his collar / To keep from slipping down! / And jogging on the roadway, / The people passing by / Would turn to smile at Bonny / With me set up on high.
- (specifically, chiefly Christianity, literary) Up in, or to, Heaven.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Psalms 113:5, column 1:
- Who is like vnto the Lord our God: who dwelleth on high: […]
- 1687, John Dryden, “A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day, 1687”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, , volume II, London: J and R Tonson, , published 1760, →OCLC, page 271:
- The trumpet ſhall be heard on high, / The dead ſhall live, the living die, / And Muſic ſhall untune the ſky.
- (humorous) In authority, influence, or power.
- According to those on high, taxes need to increase again.
Derived terms
Translations
(humorous) in authority, influence or power
References
- ^ “on (an) heigh” under “heigh, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Further reading
- “on high, phrase” under “high, adj. and n.2”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2021. - “on high, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
