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hight1

[hahyt]
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adjective
  1. Archaic. called or named: Childe Harold was he hight.
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Origin of hight1

before 900; Middle English; Old English heht, reduplicated preterit of hātan to name, call, promise, command (cognate with German heissen to call, be called, mean); akin to behest

hight2

[hahyt]
noun
  1. height.
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height

or hight

[hahyt]
noun
  1. extent or distance upward: The balloon stopped rising at a height of 500 feet.
  2. distance upward from a given level to a fixed point: the height from the ground to the first floor; the height of an animal at the shoulder.
  3. the distance between the lowest and highest points of a person standing upright; stature: She is five feet in height.
  4. considerable or great altitude or elevation: the height of the mountains.
  5. Often heights.
    1. a high place above a level; a hill or mountain: They stood on the heights overlooking the valley.
    2. the highest part; top; apex; summit: In his dreams he reached the heights.
  6. the highest point; utmost degree: the height of power; the height of pleasure.
  7. Archaic. high rank in social status.
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Origin of height

before 900; Middle English; Old English hīehtho. See high, -th1
Can be confusedaltitude elevation height (see synonym study at the current entry)

Synonyms

See more synonyms for height on Thesaurus.com
3. tallness. Height, altitude, elevation refer to distance above a level. Height denotes extent upward (as from foot to head) as well as any measurable distance above a given level: The tree grew to a height of ten feet. They looked down from a great height. Altitude usually refers to the distance, determined by instruments, above a given level, commonly mean sea level: altitude of an airplane. Elevation implies a distance to which something has been raised or uplifted above a level: a hill's elevation above the surrounding country, above sea level. 5. prominence. 6. peak, pinnacle; acme, zenith; culmination.

Antonyms

1, 2. depth.

Usage note

Height, and not heighth, is considered the standard English form for this word.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hight

Historical Examples

  • Avoid 'fishy' mouths, too wide for their (the vases') hight.

    The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2 No 4, October, 1862

    Various

  • Whichever may be the case the hight is corrected by the step-bearing screw.

    Steam Turbines

    Hubert E. Collins

  • The finest yard we ever saw had not a tree on it that exceeded ten feet in hight.

    Your Plants

    James Sheehan

  • The plant stood in an eight-inch pot, and measured four feet in hight.

    Your Plants

    James Sheehan

  • But "hight" was occasionally used with the common verbs "is," "was."

British Dictionary definitions for hight

hight

verb
  1. (tr; used only as a past tense in the passive or as a past participle) archaic, poetic to name; calla maid hight Mary
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Word Origin

Old English heht, from hatan to call; related to Old Norse heita, Old Frisian hēta, Old High German heizzan

height

noun
  1. the vertical distance from the bottom or lowest part of something to the top or apex
  2. the vertical distance of an object or place above the ground or above sea level; altitude
  3. relatively great altitude or distance from the bottom to the top
  4. the topmost point; summit
  5. astronomy the angular distance of a celestial body above the horizon
  6. the period of greatest activity or intensitythe height of the battle
  7. an extreme example of its kindthe height of rudeness
  8. (often plural) an area of high ground
  9. (often plural) the state of being far above the groundI don't like heights
  10. (often plural) a position of influence, fame, or powerthe giddy heights they occupied in the 1980s
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Word Origin

Old English hīehthu; related to Old Norse hǣthe, Gothic hauhitha, Old High German hōhida; see high
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hight

v.

"named, called" (archaic), from levelled past participle of Middle English highte, from Old English hatte "I am called" (passive of hatan "to call, name, command") merged with heht "called," active past tense of the same verb. Hatte was the only survival in Old English of the old Germanic synthetic passive tense. The word is related to Old Norse heita, Dutch heten, German heißen, Gothic haitan "to call, be called, command" (see cite).

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height

n.

Old English hiehþu, Anglian hehþo "highest part or point, summit; the heavens, heaven," from root of heah "high" (see high) + -itha, Germanic abstract noun suffix. Cf. Old Norse hæð, Middle Dutch hoochte, Old High German hohida, Gothic hauhiþa "height." Meaning "distance from bottom to top" is from late 13c. Meaning "excellence, high degree of a quality" is late 14c. The modern pronunciation with -t emerged 13c., but wasn't established till 19c., and heighth is still colloquial.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
hight in Medicine

height

(hīt)
n.
  1. The distance from the base of something to the top.
  2. Stature, especially of the human body.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.