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highern.2This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2019). higheradj.adv.n.1 Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: < the Germanic base of high adj. + the Germanic base of -er suffix3; compare Old Frisian hār, Old High German hōhor, Old Icelandic hæri (also hærri), and (as comparative adverb) Old Dutch hōiro, Old Saxon hōhor.By regular phonological development the inherited forms of the comparative would originally have shown i-mutation caused by the suffix (compare discussion at -er suffix3), loss (or assimilation) of the stem-final fricative, and contraction of the suffix; see α. forms. However, already in Old English the α. forms are subject to the influence of the positive form hēah high adj. in various degrees. The β. and γ. forms are essentially re-formations from high adj. The δ. forms reflect a late Middle English double comparative formation. In early use as noun in the context of social superiority (see sense C. 1) sometimes difficult to distinguish from her n.1 Where important for the history of a particular use of high adj. or high adv., quotations for higher are included at those entries. A. adj. The comparative of high adj. I. In senses corresponding to high adj. I.the world > space > relative position > high position > [adjective] > in higher position the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > vertical extent > [adjective] > higher society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > [adjective] > exalted in rank > of higher, loftier, or more exalted rank OE 28 Is þæt torhte lond twelfum herra, folde fæðmrimes..þonne ænig þara beorga þe her beorhte mid us hea hlifiað. OE Homily: Sunnandæges Spell (Tiber. A.iii) in A. S. Napier (1883) 217 Þæt wæter wæs hegre beufan eorþan, þonne se munt, þe is syxtinan fædman hegre. a1382 (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Job xxxv. 5 Behold heuene, and loke, and myndefulli see [L. contemplare] the cloudis, that is heȝere than thou. c1400 (?c1390) (1940) l. 333 (MED) Herre þen ani in þe hous by þe hede & more. a1425 (c1395) (Royal) (1850) Deut. xxiv. 6 Thou schalt not take in the stide of wed the lowere and the hiȝere queerne stoon [a1425 E.V. grynstoon; L. molam] of thi brothir. ?a1425 (c1400) (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 61 Mount Syon..is a lytill hiere þan the oþer syde of the cytee. a1535 T. More Hist. Richard III in (1557) 37/1 His left shoulder much higher then his right. a1665 K. Digby (1868) 80 They..fill with fresh water; but I belieue it dreaneth thither from the higher land. 1762 A. Dickson i. xix. 122 Exposed to overflowings from higher ground. 1872 C. D. Warner 60 I could not learn that he ever went up any thing higher than the top of a diligence. 1952 G. H. Dury x. 89 The sizable but very low-lying dry patches, only slightly higher than the rest of the Levels. 1978 L. Kramer 189 In a sequined Elizabethan turban three inches higher than any he'd floated before. 2011 16 July 23 Tucson, which is located on ground 460 metres higher than Phoenix. a1450 (Pierpont Morgan) (1865) l. 5083 (MED) But than cam encountre strong, Folk of higher Inde among. 1535 Tobias viii. D So the angell Raphael toke holde of the deuell, and sent him awaye, and bounde him in the wyldernes of the hyer Egipte. 1575 J. Turler iv. 43 I speake heere of the higher Germanie, for the Dutche weemen are more ciuile. 1632 W. Lithgow vii. 334 Shoaring along for foure hundred miles, the higher and lower Calabrian Coast,..we landed at Naples. 1669 J. Webb 56 This Province of Xensi..is so famous, that for grandeur and Antiquity, it may by just right dispute with all the Provinces of the Higher Asia. 1700 J. Brome iii. 144 We made all the haste..to Boston, which lying within the Precincts of Higher Holland, we hoped to find more safe and inoffensive. 1740 tr. F. Juvenel de Carlencas 2 The Higher Syria nevertheless, where they [sc. Christians] made use of the Syriack Language in their Offices, may be excepted. 1817 R. T. Wilson 141 Austria was not willing that she [sc. Russia] should..throw her frontier upon Illyria and the higher Danube. 1840 Sept. 258/1 New sacred colonies issued out in..widening circles, until not only Egypt, but the banks of the higher Nile, and the green islands of the sandy desert, had their temples,..their arts and their institutions. 1909 41 649 It seems to have escaped our author's notice that the cocoanut derives not from the snows of higher India but from the alluvium of the Nile valley. 2005 A. Umbreit (Bradt Trav. Guides) (ed. 3) i. 24 Thunderstorms are practically unknown in the higher Arctic—in my 19 years in Spitsbergen, I have experienced not a single one. II. In senses corresponding to high adj. II.society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > [adjective] > superior in rank eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory (Hatton) (1871) Pref. 6 Lære mon siððan furður on Lædengeðiode ða ðe mon furðor læran wille & to hieran hade don wille. OE (Claud.) vi. lii. 258 Swa man bið mihtigra her nu for worulde oþþon þurh geþingða hearra on hade, swa sceal he deoppor synna gebetan. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon (Calig.) (1978) l. 11201 Ich wulle habben þire hæhre monne children. 1340 (1866) 122 Al alsuo ase in heuene heþ þri stages of uolke..huer-of þe on is heȝere, þe oþer men, þe þridde loȝest. c1384 (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Rom. xiii. 1 Euery soule, or lyuynge man, be suget to hiȝer poweris. c1390 W. Hilton (1954) 20 (MED) Eueri mon..coueyteþ for-to semen hiȝore þen oþer. a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich xxx. l. 122 (MED) Not fully the Ende of þe lignage, but..of Anothir knyhtes of herere parage. a1500 (c1380) J. Wyclif (1880) 479 (MED) He mut nedis ordeyne prestis, summe hyere & summe lowere. ?1566–7 G. Buchanan Opinion Reformation Univ. St. Andros in (1892) 15 Doctor..in the hyear faculteis. 1590 J. Smythe Proëme 16 All higher and lower Officers of Armies under the Generall. 1624 A. Darcie tr. xii. 54 Which Mytrall Ornament is only preserued for eminent and higher Priests. 1625 F. Bacon (new ed.) 113 Their Second Nobles..are a Counterpoize to the Higher Nobility, that they grow not too Potent. 1702 W. Penn §262. 95 Those Higher Ranks of Men are but the Trustees of Heaven for the Benefit of lesser Mortals, who, as Minors, are intituled to all their Care and Provision. 1789 T. Jefferson Let. 19 May in R. Price (1994) III. 224 The noblesse..would be induced to unite themselves into one house, with the higher clergy, the lower clergy and tiers forming another. 1865 J. G. Holland v. 188 A set of men..actuated by no higher motive than a love of plunder and of place. 1899 9 June 2/1 He makes evident the disgust of his own higher nature for the past excesses of his basilar passions. 1933 (U.S. Senate Comm. on Manuf.) 103 The men in the bonus expeditionary forces and their families camping in Pennsylvania are of a higher type than the average economic migrant. 1940 R. E. Garst 206 Sacred cow,..a subject or story in which the publisher or higher editors are interested and which must be printed. 2014 (Nexis) 19 Apr. Calling your evening meal ‘tea’ is..a working-class indicator: the higher echelons call this meal dinner or supper. the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > quality of being better or superior > [adjective] > surpassing the ordinary 1718 I. Newton Let. in (1977) VII. 18 He..kept a correspondence with Mr Oldenburg about Arithmetical questions..& hither he knew nothing of the higher Geometry. 1767 Nov. 374 By the application of algebra and the higher calculus, the principal properties of spherical triangles are investigated in a very curious and concise manner. 1778 E. Apthorp 29 A clearer and a shorter course of mathematics and the higher physics. 1807 T. Young II. 557/2 It is absolutely necessary for the purposes of the higher geometry to extend..the foundations which the ancients laid in their postulates. 1838 A. De Morgan 68 The approximative methods of the higher mathematics. 1894 Nov. 56 The present sequence begins with algebra and runs through geometry, plane trigonometry, and higher algebra to analytics. 1904 G. Burgess & W. Irwin vi. 135 You can mark a ‘high-low’ system that is pretty sure to win, but it's too difficult for me—I was never much of a Dazmaraz at the higher mathematics. 1944 27 Mar. 105/2 A lightning calculator that does problems in the higher calculus faster than twenty mathematicians. 1959 2 137 Few of the texts on higher algebra will confront the reader with numerical details, computing schemes, and example work. 2002 93 457/1 The importance of a lesser-known branch of higher mathematics for Einstein's unified approach to gravitation and inertia. 2010 19 Aug. 53/4 When a vice-president visits the CIA eight times to express his views..he's not struggling with the higher geometry of intelligence analysis but turning up the heat in the kitchen. 1797 XI. 574 (note) If a worm be found to have two seats of sensation analogous to the brain in higher animals. 1811 D. Ellis v. 365 This chemical union, especially in the higher animals, is increased and promoted by the great extent of surface of the respiratory organ. 1876 18 75 Embryogeny, therefore, contrary to what has hitherto been supposed from the complexity of the larval forms, leads to an approximation to the lower Vermes and the Turbellaria, rather than to the higher Vermes and the Annelida. 1896 J. W. Kirkaldy & E. C. Pollard tr. J. E. V. Boas ii. 24 The higher Crustacea. 1902 XXVIII. 343/1 The embryonic stages of higher forms. 1936 E. G. Boulenger 15 The apes and higher monkeys are quite as much reliant for their various needs upon the ground as among the tree-boughs. 1988 Q. N. Myrvik & R. S. Weiser (ed. 2) xxxvi. 503 The three classes comprising the higher fungi, are characterized by exogenous asexual spores called conidiospores, which are formed on conidiophores. 2012 J. Frýda in J. A. Talent 398/1 The shell-less state of some higher molluscs, like slugs and squids, has developed secondarily. III. In senses corresponding to high adj. III.OE (Tiber.) (1993) xlviii. 99 Tunc, uoce sublimiore, dicat : þænne stefne heahran cweþe. a1225 (?OE) MS Vesp. in R. Morris (1868) 1st Ser. 243 (MED) We scule bien..imeaded mid heahere mede. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon (Calig.) (1963) l. 3859 Mid hæhȝere stefne. 1467 in (2007) 1467/10/9 To set it [sc. the crown groat] heare or laware as salbe thocht spedefull. a1500 ( Vision E. Leversedge in (1905) 9 31 (MED) This mantel was lengar and the colour higher. 1567 Gen. Assembly in R. Keith (1734) 589 He shall take no higher Prices than is appointed. 1609 in W. Cramond (1903) I. 232 The..derth of bootis and shoone..daylie ryseis to heicher priceis. 1655 Ld. Orrery III. ii. ii. 125 Bidding his Threasurer give him higher Rewards, than the Prisoner could be Master of. 1772 W. Tans'ur iii. 71 The Lombardy, and Venice Pitch, is a Tone higher than ours, or theirs at Rome. 1790 c. 37 §2 Spirits of any greater or higher Degree of Strength than that of One in Six under Hydrometer Proof. 1861 July 193/3 Labor is generally from fifty to a hundred per cent higher than at other seasons, but it is very much better to employ it at any price. 1926 Feb. 50/1 It cooks at a temperature higher than boiling point. 1943 53 377 As a result of the higher price of potatoes, all potato spirits are increased by 30%. B. adv. The comparative of high adv. (in various senses). I. In senses corresponding to high adv. I.the world > space > relative position > high position > [adverb] > higher the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > vertical extent > [adverb] > higher eOE tr. Bede (Tanner) iii. vi. 174 Heo wolden þone stan..hear [OE Corpus Oxf. heaor; L. altius] & gerisenlicor in þære ilcan stowe gesettan. c1275 (?c1250) (Calig.) (1935) l. 1637 Þe nihtegale ihrde þis An hupte uppon on bloþe ris And herre sat þan heo dude ear. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. iii. xvii. 112 Suche foules fleeþ hyere in þe aier. a1400 (a1325) (Vesp.) l. 2232 A toure..þat may reche heghur [Gött. heier, Trin. Cambr. heȝer] þan heuen. ?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius (BL Add. 10340) (1868) i. pr. i. l. 41 When sche hef hir heued heyer sche perced[e] þe selue heuene. tr. Palladius (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iii. l. 445 Putte hit on ayen, And more a litel herre vppon hit wrote. c1720 N. Dubois & G. Leoni tr. A. Palladio III. vi. 13 I..mention'd it a little higher. 1793 B. Bell I. §vii. 137 It sometimes happens that the inflammatory symptoms pass easily over the anterior part of the urethra, and shew themselves in more force and violence higher in the passage. 1860 J. Tyndall i. xi. 74 Higher up the sky was violet. 1887 ‘S. Cumberland’ 159 The train groaningly proceeds higher and higher. 1922 V. Woolf ii. 21 Hats were raised higher than usual. 1998 A. Taylor (2003) ix. 64 Howard waited and watched as the sun climbed higher in the sky. II. In senses corresponding to high adv. II.the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > loudness > [adverb] > more loudly OE tr. Defensor (1969) xvii. 166 Omnis superbia..tantoque profundius labitur, quanto excelsius eleuatur : ælc ofermodignyss..& swa micelum swa he deoppur byð asliden swa micelum swa he hegur byþ upp ahafen. 1340 (1866) 44 (MED) Lyeȝe, zuerie, and uorzuerie, þe heȝere to zelle hare chapuare. a1375 (c1350) (1867) l. 529 Min hert is so hauteyn þat herre he wold. c1384 (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke xiv. 10 Frend, stiȝe hiȝere. c1450 (?a1400) (Ashm.) l. 724 Lat þou þi hert neuer þe hiȝere hale in-to pride. c1515 Ld. Berners tr. (1882–7) lxxxiii. 262 Speke out hyer that ye may the better be herde. 1570 in J. Cranstoun (1891) I. xii. 128 Be Hanniballis, and heis ȝour hartis sum hear. 1591 (?a1425) Shepherds (Huntington) in R. M. Lumiansky & D. Mill (1974) I. 143 All heaven might not have gonne harre. 1622 T. Stoughton xvi. 221 He speaketh climatically, that is, riseth by degrees higher and higher. 1627 in A. Peterkin (1820) iii. 94 According to the rentell, quhilk to our knawledge can not be valued nor munted heigher nor it is alreddie. 1774 J. Bryant II. 93 Sesostris..whose æra extends higher, than the Canon of Eusebius reaches. 1842 C. Whitehead II. ix. 293 He thought higher of human nature than he chose to acknowledge. 1878 T. Helmore xliii. 84 The contraltos and mezzo-sopranos may sing the bass an octave higher in the exercises. 1922 ‘K. Mansfield’ 36 Mrs. Stubbs pumped the stove still higher. 1942 E. Waugh (1943) ii. 85 Twenty-five pounds... Thirty. I can't go higher than thirty. 2008 (National ed.) 7 Oct. f11/5 Typically, break fees are about 3 percent of the deal value, but they are creeping higher. C. n.1the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > raising > [noun] > one who society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > [noun] > person of > specific superior OE tr. Defensor (1969) xlvi. 294 Dum..ad altiora id est superiora intellegenda ducimur : þænne..to heagrum to understandendum we beoð gelædde. OE (Junius) x. 478 Þæt ænig Cristen man oðrum derige ealles to swyðe, ne se maga þam unmagan, ne se hearra þam heanran,..ne se hlaford his mannum. ?c1225 (?a1200) (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 148 Inobediencia. þe child þet ne buweð hisaldre [sic]..Meiden hire dame. vch laȝere herre. a1500 (Rawl.) (1896) 117 A pouere man..with lytel folke sholde come to doune and the toune wynne wyth-out Soccoure of any herrer [L. citra majoris auctoritatem]. 1840 J. S. Mill in Mar. 142/1 His reliance is upon reverence for a Higher above them. a1895 C. F. Alexander (1896) iii. 321 And the priest unto a Higher Than the whole angelic choir Calleth; so he doth not slack. 1984 M. Faber tr. F. Nietzsche 10 Here is a Higher, a Deeper, a Below-us, an enormous long ordering, a hierarchy which we see. the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > [noun] c1450 (?a1400) (Ashm.) l. 2364 Alexander with his armee..Has happend ȝit ai hedire-to þe herre [a1500 Trin. Dub. hyer] of his faes. society > education > educational administration > examination > [noun] > school examinations 1910 (Edinb. Ladies' Coll.) Apr. 68 Some were brave enough to attempt Higher English, and even Higher French.] 1923 (Royal High School, Edinb.) Easter 13 The Scottish Education Department, who saw fit to make this one of the essay subjects in the Highers. 1947 Scottish Educ. Dept.: Secondary Educ. viii. 52 in (Cmd. 7005) XI. 173 The Scottish Education Department..has adjusted its Leaving Certificate requirements to changing conditions.., and the minimum presentation is now only two Highers and three Lowers. 1967 H. Calvin ix. 135 He asked me what my qualifications were, and I said the school Highers and the National Certificate. 1983 J. L. Ingard xi. 95 Perhaps Joe would stay and do another year at school and take his Highers. 2007 C. MacFarlane (2009) xviii. 141 St Bonaventure's—‘Bonnies’—was not exactly known for turning out anyone with an academic pedigree. It did not even do O Levels or Highers. Phrases P1. With the adjective. the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery, superiority, or advantage [verb (intransitive)] a1225 (c1200) (1888) 127 Ðe dieules muȝen beȝelpen þat hie hafden ðe heiȝere hand ouer me. a1325 (c1250) (1968) l. 3392 Israel Hadde hegere hond. a1393 J. Gower (Fairf.) vi. l. 404 The heiere hond he hadde And victoire of his enemys. c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 401 If þt he faught and hadde the hyer hond. a1450 (?a1300) (Caius) (1810) l. 5239 And who that haves the heyer hand, Have the cyte and al her land. a1500 (?c1450) viii. 124 That he myghte haue the hier honde. c1540 (?a1400) (2002) f. 109v That holly the herhond hade at his wille. 1569 W. Samuel xx. sig. G.iiij Then did they pray and God them plight, to haue the higher hand. 1570 J. Foxe (rev. ed.) II. 1352/2 It will shortly haue the higher hand of all cloudes. 1653 R. Mead v. iv. 74 Hold, or I swear ere thou shalt have the higher hand, I'le rime thee to death. 1833 21 July 229/2 The Tories have the higher hand. 1883 J. B. Cazenove St. Martin of Tours v. in 208 During this life the sorrow bears the higher hand. 2008 (Nexis) 15 Mar. (Opinion & editorial section) 8 The women backing singers had the higher hand and were telling a good-for-nothing lover/husband to pack his bags and leave for good. P2. With the adverb. a. Proverbs indicating the dangers of ambition or advancement. a1450 (Westm. Sch. 3) (1967) 50 Euer þe hiȝer he clymbeþ, & for vnwarschip his feet hym fayle, þe sarrer & þe lower nedely he falliþ. a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xxxvi. 21 (MED) Swa ill men, the heghere thai klymbe in honurs and riches, the soner thai dye. ?1532 T. Paynell tr. Erasmus v. sig. Cv Yet the hygher thou clymmest the sorer is thy fall So saythe the satyryan mayster Iuuenall. 1577 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin iii. f. 122 The hygher that they clymb, the more horrible shall their fall bee. 1613 Bp. W. Cowper 269 They haue sometime in their pride, high imaginations; as if with the builders of Babel, they would mount vp into heauen: but the higher they mount, the lower they fall. 1659 N. Hardy (ii. 15-16) xx. 404 The higher he climbeth over others heads, the sooner he breaketh his own neck. 1745 J. Kirkby 48 The higher Men climb, still the greater Danger is in their Fall. 1791 T. Priestley 26 Many are seized with the disorder of Haman; the higher they climb, the lower they fall. 1885 7 Mar. 309/1 The higher you are the worse you fall. 1888 F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet 337 The best worldly gifts of God..bring with them peculiar temptations. The higher one climbs the farther it is possible for him to fall. 1917 G. B. Lancaster 325 She was not yet wise enough to know that the higher a man climbs the greater his fall and the more it hurts him. 1987 3 Mar. 34/7 There is no escape from scrutiny when you are champion. The higher you climb the harder you fall. 2002 (Nexis) 21 June There was a time when the powerful dreaded failure; the belief was that the higher one climbed, the further one had to fall. ?a1425 (Claud.) (1850) Prov. iii. 35 Gloss. The filthe of the hyndrere partis of an ape aperith more, whanne he stieth an hiȝ.] c1594 F. Bacon Promus of Fourmes & Elegancyes (Harl. 7017) in E. Durning-Lawrence (1910) 239 He doth like the ape that the higher he clymbes the more he shews his ars. 1658 J. Jones in tr. Ovid Comm. 42 Advancement shews the man; the higher the Ape climbs, the more she shews her naked parts. a1739 C. Jarvis tr. M. de Cervantes (1742) II. iii. xviii. 266 And what care I? added Sanchica; let who will say, when they see me step it stately and bridle it, The higher the monkey climbs, the more he exposes his bald buttocks. 1742 A. Pope 3 (note) The higher you climb, the more you shew your A—. 1779 July 396/2 The higher he [sc. a monkey] climbs, the more he exposes what modesty and decency would teach him to hide. 1814 R. Bland I. 153 ‘Tu fai come la simia, che piu va in alto, piu mostra il cula,’ that is, ‘an ape, the higher he climbs, the more he shews his tail.’ 1853 Feb. 73 The higher the monkey climbs the pole The more he shows his tail. 1951 17 Sept. 164/2 Invited to judge a Yale-Harvard debate.., he politely begged off... ‘I turned [it] down..on the theory that the higher a monkey climbs the more he shows his tail.’ 1996 B. Bailey xxii. 332 ‘The higher you climb, the more you show your ass,’ Haug muttered in good humour. c1550 (1979) vi. 32 Than the master cryit on the rudir man, mait keip ful and by, a luf, cumna hiear. 1839 July 397 The frequent order which he gave to the man at the wheel of—‘Sted-dy, no higher, boy’—pronounced him to be the officer of the watch steering the vessel—which was sailing close hauled upon the starboard tack. 1841 B. J. Totten xix. 150 She will come up as the wind hauls until ‘she is her course.’ Then give directions to the helmsman, to let her come ‘no higher’. 1863 S. B. Luce (ed. 2) xxv. 471 Should the ship be standing along on a taut bowline, and the quartermaster perceives that a cloth or two of the main-topsail was lifting, he cries out, No higher! by which he means that the ship is not only too high, or too near the wind, but that she should go off a little. 1948 R. de Kerchove No higher! Compounds C1. Compounds of the adjective. a. In noun phrases used attributively, corresponding to compounds of high adj. (see high adj. and n.2 Compounds 2a, Compounds 4; see also high frequency adj., high-grade adj., high-level adj.). Also higher class adj., higher-order adj. at Compounds 1b. 1988 Feb. 56/2 Apple's market development manager responsible for emerging higher-end design applications. 2013 1 Feb. d4/2 G&S has developed a strong niche market in construction of higher-end homes, all of which are pre-sold. 1950 55 744/1 We were placed in a position of having continually to modify the definition of the roentgen in order to cope with the new properties of the higher-energy radiations. 2002 F. Close et al. vi. 87 Changing the frequency to keep in time with higher-energy particles would mean that any particles still at lower energies would become out of step. 1936 R. S. Glasgow iii. 71 Crowding the higher frequency stations together on the tuning dial of the condenser. 1991 (Proc. Conf. UW Centre for New OED) 141 Subsequent recourse to the larger, untagged corpus was useful..in verifying the Brown Corpus results for the higher frequency pairs. 2002 5 Dec. 471/1 The higher-frequency Rabi sideband at the laser frequency (ΩO + ΩR). 1862 109 Such higher-grade certificates could be given by the normal schools, when established, or by a board of county examiners. 1891 May 121/1 Moral philosophy..is taught in some higher-grade schools. 1948 F. Brailsford iv. 69 The most important source of internal strains in the higher grade soft magnetic materials. 2005 15 July 16/1 The addition of a number of desirable items that hitherto have been reserved for higher grade models. 1911 25 379 These unclaimed abatements are most numerous in the higher income groups affected. 1958 B. Abel-Smith in N. Mackenzie 59 The middle classes..participate with the higher income groups in special benefits from their employment. 2011 14 Dec. 14/3 Seventy-five per cent of three-year-olds in the higher-income group were read to every day. 1906 15 339 In reproductive imagination the higher-level system in predominant activity at any one moment plays down upon the sensory level. 1967 Feb. 30/1 A ‘programming language’, sometimes called a ‘higher level language’ (to distinguish it from the normal machine codes or assembly languages..). 2012 23 Oct. 2/5 A time when higher-level qualifications are becoming increasingly important. 1989 P. Horowitz & W. Hill (ed. 2) ix. 612/2 Higher-performance cables use glass fibers. 1998 G. R. Capelo & R. C. Brenner (ed. 3) v. 112/1 Chromium dioxide tape has magnetic characteristics that fall between those of oxide tape and the higher performance metal tape. 1965 2 299 In the polynomial problem the true use of higher precision arithmetic is unavoidable. 2006 D. H. Erwin iii. 86 By removing the outer part of the zircon crystal by mechanical abrasion, the result is seemingly higher precision analyses. 1917 Oct. 124 (advt.) The design and manufacture of higher quality products at lower cost. 1950 (U.S. Dept. Agriculture) (rev. ed.) 3 The latter arrangement may make it possible to have a higher-quality bull than could be afforded by individual purchase. 2005 17 Jan. 45/2 Four ‘lifestyle’ stores offering higher-quality products. 1974 6 Sept. 18/1 Higher resolution pictures of the planet than had previously been possible. 2003 (U.S. National Res. Council: Div. Engin. & Phys. Sci.) iv. 71 Even higher-resolution maps of the whole sky. 1945 27 178 North Dakota..is also a higher risk area. 2011 July 112/2 Men who fall into one of these higher-risk groupsy. b. society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > leader or commander > officer or soldier of rank > [noun] > staff officer > staff of officers 1842 11 May Suppl. It was not until the force under General Pollock was brigaded, that he again fell into the higher command. 1914 24 Aug. 5/7 All this is perfectly understood by the higher command of the Allies. 1916 15 Dec. 10/5 It was with great pain that he had heard the criticism upon the higher command. If there was one man in France who was trusted by every one from the highest to the lowest,..it was Sir Douglas Haig. 1927 E. Thompson 30 And as for the Higher Command! How many generals do you suppose we've got rid of, up to date? 1990 A. Beevor xxiv. 294 The FINCO (Field Intelligence NCO) lives off his wits and out of touch with higher command. 2012 (Nexis) 22 Nov. a9 The Chinese People's Liberation Army air force is feeling the heat from higher command for failing to produce enough qualified pilots. 1538 T. Elyot Prouocatio, an appele to an hyger court. 1611 R. Cotgrave Evocation, an euocation..also, a calling before one by authoritie; a transferring, or remouing of causes vnto a higher Court by command of the Judges thereof. 1771 Apr. 221/2 All contempts are either punishable in the courts contemned or in some higher court. 1843 T. Carlyle iii. viii. 243 The Higher Court..in which..every Human Soul is an apparitor. 1947 44 viii. 236 The issue was the remission of the case by a higher court to a lower court and not the dismissal of the case by the magistrate. 2011 D. J. Baker vii. 245 The higher courts are not likely to judicially review the penalty unless it is patently excessive. society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > text > criticism, interpretation > [noun] > higher criticism 1822 Jan. 52 Formerly professor in the university there of the oriental languages, biblical archaiology, higher criticism, and doctrinal theology. 1836 R. Keith tr. E. W. Hengstenberg I. 414 A fundamental principle of the higher criticism [Ger. der höheren Critik]. 1881 W. R. Smith (1892) 90 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. 1927 S. Lewis ii. 34 It's fellows like you who break down the dike of true belief, and open a channel for higher criticism and sabellianism and nymphomania and agnosticism and heresy. 2007 18 May 24/3 Biblical criticism, and then the higher criticism, revealed the Bible to be a book with a human history: a historical document composed of several strands written by human beings at different times, to be read in different ways. 1827 D. G. Wait tr. J. L. Hug II. i. 5 We..must consign its whole investigation to the jurisdiction of higher critics. 1897 J. Rendel Harris in Sept. 342 He is a ‘higher critic’ occupied with the genesis of all Gospels out of their primitive deposit. 1957 31 Oct. 13/4 The very word causerie is like a bell whose sound may grate harshly upon the ear of the Higher Critic. 1996 J. Updike 67 Think of these Huxleyites and Higher Critics and socialist scoffers not as reasonable men of good will like you and me but as devils in disguise. society > education > [noun] > systematic education > higher education 1741 141 To say that the softness of their [sc. women's] nature makes them incapable of a higher education..is doing them an unpardonable unjustice.] 1834 Oct. 215 The oldest word for an unexclusive institution of higher education, was studium, and studium generale—terms employed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and retained in those which followed. 1866 E. Davies (title) The higher education of women. 1884 C. Bird i. 5 Few [sc. people] realise to what an extent we are surpassed by Germany..as regards the liberal provision made for higher education. 1931 (title) Report of the Commission on Christian Higher Education in India. 1961 26 Feb. 12/6 By 1970 there could be 140,000 children applying for the 70,000 places there will then be in higher education. 2011 14 July 2/5 An English ‘Ivy League’ consisting of just a handful of leading universities could develop as a result of government plans to shake up higher education, figures suggest. the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > activities of God > [noun] > law of the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > activities of God > [noun] > law of > as implanted in human mind 1593 R. Hooker i. 53 If here it be demaunded what that is which keepeth nature in obedience to her owne lawe, we must haue recourse to that higher lawe wherof we haue already spoken. 1678 V. Alsop ii. viii. 305 A higher Law of God or Reasen may make a nullity in the Law of the Magistrate. 1728 J. S. Barrington iii. 82 His [sc. Jesus] having also perform'd a perfect Obedience to a peculiar and a higher Law that he voluntarily put himself under. 1846 Nov. 497 Every law of man supposes a higher law in the constitution of the world—a law of God, of which each law of man is only a particular application. 1984 R. David Introd. 18/2 Historically, the idea of higher law was linked with a view of the world, the social order, and justice, which arose from philosophical or religious beliefs independent of the temporal powers. 2013 (Nexis) 25 Apr. 13 They feel that their duty to a higher law overwhelms their allegiance to those on the statute books. society > education > [noun] > systematic education > higher education 1826 W. E. Andrews III. 23 He was sent to the university of Cambridge, and there for some time applied himself with good success to higher learning. 1933 10 Dec. n3/1 The education of the part-time and adult student stands out..as a service which institutions of higher learning must recognize and to which they must adapt themselves. 2005 9 Feb. 1/5 Ontario universities say free-range tuition would not price higher learning out of reach of the average family. 1919 26 No. 1. 28 The higher order learning curve which followed the first curve is not carried far enough with either of these two subjects to justify determining the learning coefficients for the first and second order curves. 1928 C. S. Whitehead & C. A. Hoff (new ed.) i. i. 31 That these seminal animalcules..are necessary to the beginning of life in all the higher order beings, is established beyond question. 1949 G. Ryle vi. 198 The range of higher order acts and attitudes, which are apt to be inadequately covered by the umbrella-title ‘self-consciousness’. 1970 P. Scott i. 12 Large centres provide not only the low-order goods but also higher-order goods bought less frequently and for which shoppers will travel longer distances. 1982 (Nexis) 15 Nov. 83 Some form of higher-order teleconferencing, such as voice-plus-facsimile, slow scan,..or full-motion video. 2008 D. Areily ix. 167 The dorsolateral aspect of the prefrontal cortex, DLPFC, an area involved in higher brain functions like working memory, associations, and higher-order cognitions and ideas. 1821 tr. A. P. de Candolle & K. Sprengel iii. 53 In higher plants [Ger. in höhern Pflanzen] the germs press so much upon one another, that they commonly make their appearance enveloped by scales, in the axes of the leaves. 1884 July 387 In the higher plants, where the differentiation of structure is carried to a high degree, there is a very considerable portion of the body which has become incapable of further growth. 1940 27 314/2 No higher plant has been proved to grow normally without calcium. 2010 (Nexis) 29 July 4 Many [phytoplankton] are really bacteria, whilst others have all of the cellular machinery commonly found in higher plants. the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] society > authority > [noun] > those in authority > person or body c1384 (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Rom. xiii. 1 Euery soule, or lyuynge man, be suget to hiȝer poweris. Forsoth there is not power no but of God; sothli tho thingis that ben of God, ben ordeyned. 1588 J. Harvey 99 May it be deemed..that any higher power, or Secundeian godhead,..presently menaceth any such heinous mischeefes,..as are strongly imagined? 1703 F. Bugg Pref. sig. A5 The Commands of their Princes are no farther obliging to them, than as they suit with..their Light within; which they account the higher Power, superior both to Scripture and Magistracy. 1870 July 66/1 Religion rests chiefly on a belief in a Higher Power. 1969 June 15/2 Buddhism refuses any efficacy to prayer and does not recognise a higher power outside ourselves to work out our salvation. 2015 F. Mathews xvi. 148 Hudson closed his eyes, as though willing a higher power to give him strength. 1915 30 Nov. 5/3 For 1918 a new Higher School Certificate Examination is announced. 1918 6 (heading) Exemption from the Previous examination by means of the higher school certificate examination. 1945 (Min. of Educ. Pamphlet No. 2) Gloss. 58 Higher School certificate (higher certificate), certificate awarded on results of the examination taken at about 18 by grammar school pupils. 1963 H. C. Barnard & J. A. Lauwerys 106 The Higher School Certificate examination, which came into operation in 1917 and was conducted by certain university boards, was taken by pupils in grammar schools at about the age of 18. It was primarily intended to be a test of a two-years sixth form course of a somewhat specialised nature. 2001 E. Edwards i. 21 The Higher School Certificate was a qualification for university entrance. 1878 W. Besant & J. Rice I. iv. 950 What then was the good of having been a leader in undergraduate advanced circles, and an acknowledged exponent of the Higher Thought? 1897 Dec. 417/1 A magazine devoted mainly to higher thought, to reformatory ideas and improvement..cannot compete in price with those published for the masses. 1906 H. W. Dresser x. 242 The term [sc. New Thought] was apparently a convenient designation... But critics soon assailed it on the ground that the doctrine was not new, and in England the term ‘Higher Thought’ was substituted. 1909 H. G. Wells vi. 124 Jim is up to the neck in Mahatmas and Theosophy and Higher Thought and rot. 1909 G. K. Chesterton v. 136 Of all conceivable forms of enlightenment the worst is..the Inner Light... Anyone who knows anyone from the Higher Thought Centre knows how it does work. 2002 (Nexis) 4 Feb. Mr Carlyle drove Mrs C mad, by sailing through life indifferent to everything but Higher Thought and dyspepsia. the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > quality of being better or superior > [adverb] c1500 (1895) xxi. 126 He is moche fayre & wel shapen of membres, & hath a face to deuyse, except that one of his eyen is hyer sette than the other is. 1575 G. Turberville 155 The higher fleeing that a Hawke is, the more neede..to regarde that you ouerflee hir not. 1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus i. iv. 7 A..higher aspiring minde. 1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus iv. ix. 457 The miserable ouerthrow of Crassus made the Parthians higher crested. 1651 A. Weamys 25 But Plangus thoughts were higher flown than these Portaitures could reach to. 1703 R. Neve 63 A Hall..higher pitch'd. 1742 E. Young 8 Time higher-aim'd, still nearer the great Mark. 1800 X. 699 The consumption of the higher priced teas has considerably increased even during the war. 1866 G. MacDonald (1878) xxxiii. 586 She's higher-born than you. 1883 ‘M. Twain’ li. 502 Explosion followed explosion..the reports grew steadily sharper and higher-keyed. 1912 M. Beerbohm p. v Tripping off the pens of all higher-toned reviewers. 1923 H. Crane 21 July (1965) 142 Being with the largest advertising agency in the world..will get me higher-paid positions in other places after awhile. 1969 15 Jan. 91/3 Allied Breweries, the International Compressed Air Corporation or other proclaimed seekers of higher-educated manpower. 2009 15 July c14/5 Producers say the difficulty in selling higher-priced sustainable palm oils highlights the double standards. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022). higherv. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: higher adj. Etymology: < higher adj. Compare earlier lower v. (later in transitive use). With sense 2 compare earlier highering adj. the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > raising > make to go up or cause to rise [verb (transitive)] > raise 1592 in (1901) XXII. 553 Yt ys alledged that the bridge havinge ben highered duringe the mynorytie of Sir Edward Denney..was latelie taken downe. 1703 G. Garden tr. A. Bourignon iii. i. 6 These Men understand not the Scriptures.., weighing me in their false Scales which have no just weights, but are higher'd or lower'd according to their own grandeur. 1794 D. Steel I. 55 The upper-plate has a dove-tail on the back, that slides up and down in a groove..and, by a staff, made fast to its front, it is highered or lowered. 1831 29 980 Our high opinion..has not been lowered..It has—pardon the expression—been highered. 1861 H. Mayhew (new ed.) III. 150/1 I highered the rope in my yard. 1908 Rep. Select Comm. Home Work 130/2 in (H.C. 246) VIII. 1 The employer sees what she has priced it at. If it does not suit him he lowers it or highers it. 2012 (Nexis) 27 Sept. 21 Egress [is] made easier for the driver by the steering wheel being automatically highered when the engine is switched off and lowered again when it is started. the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > rise or go up [verb (intransitive)] 1889 30 Sept. 6/4 Quotations for forge and foundry bars are highering. 1905 18 Nov. 871/2 The table highers and lowers for various depths of mortise. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < |
