high-lown.adj.

1759 T. Stephens Castle-builders vii. 161 He never much liked..an Otter, Miller, or Brewer, whether a High-low or a Low-high; which with him signified an impudent Strut, sometimes seen in the Unbred and Ill-bred.

1790 M. Flinders Acct. 18 Jan. in Gratefull to Providence (2009) II. 78 To Ed. Sudbury for high lows 10s. 6d.

1799 F. Lathom Men & Manners II. ix. 55 Her feet were adorned with red high-lows, and her cheeks with carmine.

1809 ‘M. Markwell’ Advice to Sportsmen viii. 129 To request..Mr. Cutsharp, the surgeon, to send me the first leg he should amputate..which I ordered to be dressed in a high-low, with a worsted stocking.

1822 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 12 Jan. 94 From the sole six inches upwards is a high-low.

1851 Ann. Reg. 38 He was lacing up his high-lows in the washhouse.

a1864 J. Clare Poems of Middle Period (2003) V. 352 The boys lye tending horses every where In hard nailed hilos open at the toes.

1900 W. Jeffery Cent. of our Sea Story iv. 76 Jack..soon took to wearing..loose trousers, and for ease in his feet, high-lows.

1949 Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) 7 Apr. 4/5 He washed his feet a' tha nite afore, an' cleaned his best highlows.

2008 C. Peacock Foreign Affair 175 Corduroy breeches, gaiters and a pair of that hybrid form of footwear known as high-lows, too high for a shoe and too low for a boot.

1822 Times 16 Dec. 3/5 He was observed to wear a pair of high-low shoes, and in an hour afterwards he was seen in a pair of low shoes.

1836 F. Marryat Japhet II. xv. 140 He was dressed in highlow boots, worsted stockings.

1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table vii. 185 The dandies..have split their waistbands and taken to high-low shoes.

1921 D. H. Lawrence Sea & Sardinia i. 37 He wears muddy high-low boots.

1953 S. Grapes Boy John Lett. (1974) 59 Jimmur found it at last, that wus in the shew cubboard, shoved inter one o' Granfar's high-low shews.

2004 J. Dalessandro 1906 (2005) xv. 97 A pleated ankle-length skirt that partially covered a pair of battered and misshapen leather high-low boots.

1956 Austin (Minnesota) Daily Herald 22 June 8/1 (advt.) Typical of the patients' rooms, it is furnished with the new motor high-low bed, built in dresser and equipped with patient-nurse communication system, radio program selector and telephone.

1964 G. D. Cherescavich Textbk. Nursing Assistants vii. 52 High-low bed, an electrically or manually operated bed which can be raised to the height of the regular hospital bed and lowered to the height of the home bed.

2012 Wimmera (Austral.) Mail-Times (Nexis) 14 Mar. 12 I understand that new high-low beds provide extra safety for the resident and are becoming more prevalent as needs demand.

1839 John Bull 28 July 354/1 The high-lowed ploughboy of Yorkshire.

1874 Bradford Observer 27 June 8/2 The works were almost at a standstill owing to an incipient beer-riot among the smock-fronted, high-lowed gentry who ‘likes their beer’.