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High vs Light - What's the difference?

high | light |

As a noun high

is (obsolete) thought; intention; determination; purpose or high can be a period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.

As an adjective high

is elevated in position or status; above many things.

As an adverb high

is in or to an elevated position.

As a verb high

is (obsolete) to rise or high can be to hie; to hasten.

As a proper noun light is

.

high

English

(wikipedia high)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . Related to (l).

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) Thought; intention; determination; purpose.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) high, heigh, heih, from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * hi (informal)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Elevated in position or status; above many things.
  • * , chapter=4
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high ; I never see anybody so polite.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
    • , chapter=1 citation , passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.}}
  • Tall, lofty, at a great distance above the ground (at high altitude).
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.}}
  • (figuratively) Noble, especially of motives, intentions, etc.
  • (slang) Under the psychological effects of a mood-affecting drug, especially marijuana, or (less common) alcohol.
  • Of a quantity or value, great or large.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Fenella Saunders, magazine=(American Scientist)
    • , title= Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture , passage=The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.}}
  • (acoustics) Of greater frequency, i.e. with more rapid wave oscillations.
  • (of a, body of water) With tall waves.
  • *
  • (of meat, especially venison) Strong-scented; slightly tainted/spoiled; beginning to decompose.
    • Epicures do not cook game before it is high .
  • Of great strength, force, importance, etc.; mighty; powerful; sometimes, triumphant; victorious; majestic, etc.
    • a high''' wind; '''high passions
  • * Bible, Psalms lxxxix. 13
    • Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
  • * Dryden
    • Can heavenly minds such high resentment show?
  • * Thackeray
    • with rather a high manner
  • Arrogant; lofty; boastful; proud.
  • * Bible, Proverbs xxi. 4
    • An high look and a proud heart is sin.
  • * Clarendon
    • His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.
  • Very abstract; difficult to comprehend or surmount.
  • * Shakespeare
    • to hear and answer such high things
  • * Wordsworth
    • Plain living and high thinking are no more.
  • (phonetics) Made with a high position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate.
  • Possessing a characteristic quality in a supreme or superior degree.
    • high''' (i.e. intense) heat; '''high''' (i.e. full or quite) noon; '''high''' (i.e. rich or spicy) seasoning; '''high''' (i.e. complete) pleasure; '''high''' (i.e. deep or vivid) colour; '''high (i.e. extensive, thorough) scholarship
  • * Spenser
    • High time it is this war now ended were.
  • * Baker
    • High sauces and spices are fetched from the Indies.
    Antonyms
    * low
    Derived terms
    * at the high port * fly high * get high * high altar * high as a kite * high and dry * high and low * high and mighty * high-beam * high blood pressure * high-born * high C * high card * high chair * high-class * high concept * high cotton * high country * high court * high-definition * high-density * high-end * high-energy * high explosive * high fantasy * high fashion * high fidelity * high five/high-five * high-frequency * High German * high-handed * high-hanging * high-hat * high heels * high hopes/have high hopes * high horse/on one's high horse * high island * high jinks * high jump * high-level * high line * high-maintenance * High Mass * high-minded * high-mindedly * high nelly * high-octane * high on the hog * high-pitch * high-pitched * high-powered * high pressure/high-pressure * high priest * high profile * high-ranking * high relief * high-rise * high-risk * high road * high roller * high school * high sea * high season * high-sounding * high-speed * high-spirited * high spirits * high-stick * high street * high-strung * high tackle * high tea * high-tech * high tension * high-test * high tide * high time * high-toned * high touch * high treason * high water * high yaller * highfalutin * highlight * highly * highness/Highness * highway * in high dudgeon * junior high * knee-high * Mile High Club * Most High * on high * sky-high * ultra-high * thigh-high * waist-high (high)
    See also
    * mighty

    Adverb

    (er)
  • In or to an elevated position.
    • How high above land did you fly?
  • In or at a great value.
    • Costs have grown higher this year again.
  • In a pitch of great frequency.
    • I certainly can't sing that high .
    Usage notes
    * The adverb high' and the adverb ' highly shouldn't be confused. *: He hung the picture high on the wall. *: ''As a politician, he isn't esteemed too highly .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.
  • * 2013 , Daniel Taylor, Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic climbs highest to sink Benfica'' (in ''The Guardian , 15 May 2013)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/may/15/benfica-chelsea-europa-league]
    • They will have to reflect on a seventh successive defeat in a European final while Chelsea try to make sense of an eccentric season rife with controversy and bad feeling but once again one finishing on an exhilarating high .
  • A drug that gives such a high.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= A new prescription , passage=No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs ” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.}}
  • (informal) A large area of elevated atmospheric pressure; an anticyclone.
  • The maximum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.
  • An elevated place; a superior region; a height; the sky; heaven.
  • (card games) The highest card dealt or drawn.
    • See also
    * crash

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To rise.
    • The sun higheth .

    Etymology 3

    See hie.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To hie; to hasten.
  • * Holland
    • Men must high them apace, and make haste.

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words

    light

    English

    Alternative forms

    * lite (informal); lyght, lyghte (obsolete) * (l) (Scotland)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (wikipedia light) (en noun)
  • (uncountable) The natural medium emanating from the Sun and other very hot sources (now recognised as electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of 400-750 nm), within which vision is possible.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=3 citation , passage=Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light .}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light' to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of ' light in the villages.}}
  • A source of illumination.
  • * , chapter=5
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights , […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}
  • Spiritual or mental illumination; enlightenment, useful information.
  • * Shakespeare
    • He shall never know / That I had any light of this from thee.
  • Facts; pieces of information; ideas, concepts.
  • * , Book I, New York 2001, page 166:
    • Now these notions are twofold, actions or habits […], which are durable lights and notions, which we may use when we will.
  • A notable person within a specific field or discipline.
  • * Tennyson
    • Joan of Arc, a light of ancient France
  • (painting) The manner in which the light strikes a picture; that part of a picture which represents those objects upon which the light is supposed to fall; the more illuminated part of a landscape or other scene; opposed to shade .
  • A point of view, or aspect from which a concept, person or thing is regarded.
  • * South
    • Frequent consideration of a thing shows it in its several lights and various ways of appearance.
  • A flame or something used to create fire.
  • A firework made by filling a case with a substance which burns brilliantly with a white or coloured flame.
    • a Bengal light
  • A window, or space for a window in architecture.
  • The series of squares reserved for the answer to a crossword clue.
  • (informal) A cross-light in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.
  • Open view; a visible state or condition; public observation; publicity.
  • * Shakespeare
    • The duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered; he would never bring them to light .
  • The power of perception by vision.
  • * Bible, Psalms xxxviii. 10
    • My strength faileth me; as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.
  • The brightness of the eye or eyes.
  • * Shakespeare
    • He seemed to find his way without his eyes; / For out o'door he went without their helps, / And, to the last, bended their light on me.
  • A traffic light, or, by extension, an intersection controlled by one.
    • Synonyms
    * (electromagnetic wave perceived by the eye) visible light
    Derived terms
    * ancient lights * black light * booklight * bring to light * come to light * fanlight * footlight * gaslight * half-light * headlight * hide one's light under a bushel * lamplight * light at the end of the tunnel * light box, lightbox * light bucket * light globe * Light of the World * lightbulb * lighthouse * ! * moonlight * nightlight * searchlight * see the light * skylight * spotlight * strike a light * sunlight * twilight * Very light * white light

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To start (a fire).
    • We lit the fire to get some heat.
  • To set fire to; to set burning; to kindle.
    • She lit her last match.
  • * Hakewill
    • if a thousand candles be all lighted from one
  • * Addison
    • Absence might cure it, or a second mistress / Light up another flame, and put out this.
  • To illuminate.
    • I used my torch to light the way home through the woods in the night.
  • * F. Harrison
    • One hundred years ago, to have lit' this theatre as brilliantly as it is now ' lighted would have cost, I suppose, fifty pounds.
  • * Dryden
    • The Sun has set, and Vesper, to supply / His absent beams, has lighted up the sky.
  • To become ignited; to take fire.
    • This soggy match will not light .
  • To attend or conduct with a light; to show the way to by means of a light.
  • * Landor
    • His bishops lead him forth, and light him on.
    Synonyms
    * ignite, kindle, conflagrate * (illuminate) illuminate, light up
    Antonyms
    * extinguish, put out, quench
    Derived terms
    * light someone's fire * light up * highlight

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) (m), (etyl) (m).

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having light.
  • Pale in colour.
  • *
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage='Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the Sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.}}
  • (of coffee) Served with extra milk or cream.
    • Synonyms
    * (having light) bright * (pale in colour) pale * : white, with milk, with cream
    Derived terms
    * light-haired * light-skinned

    Etymology 4

    From (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Of low weight; not heavy.
    • My bag was much lighter once I had dropped off the books.
  • * Addison
    • These weights did not exert their natural gravity insomuch that I could not guess which was light or heavy whilst I held them in my hand.
  • Lightly-built; designed for speed or small loads.
    • We took a light aircraft down to the city.
  • (senseid)Gentle; having little force or momentum.
    • This artist clearly had a light , flowing touch.
  • Easy to endure or perform.
    • light duties around the house
  • * Dryden
    • Light sufferings give us leisure to complain.
  • Low in fat, calories, alcohol, salt, etc.
    • This light beer still gets you drunk if you have enough of it.
  • Unimportant, trivial, having little value or significance.
    • I made some light comment, and we moved on.
  • travelling with no carriages, wagons attached
  • (obsolete) Unchaste, wanton.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.i:
    • Long after lay he musing at her mood, / Much grieu'd to thinke that gentle Dame so light , / For whose defence he was to shed his blood.
  • * Shakespeare
    • So do not you; for you are a light girl.
  • * Shakespeare
    • A light wife doth make a heavy husband.
  • Not heavily armed; armed with light weapons.
    • light''' troops; a troop of '''light horse
  • Not encumbered; unembarrassed; clear of impediments; hence, active; nimble; swift.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • Unmarried men are best friends, best masters but not always best subjects, for they are light to run away.
  • (dated) Easily influenced by trifling considerations; unsteady; unsettled; volatile.
    • a light''', vain person; a '''light mind
  • * Tillotson
    • There is no greater argument of a light and inconsiderate person than profanely to scoff at religion.
  • Indulging in, or inclined to, levity; lacking dignity or solemnity; frivolous; airy.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Seneca can not be too heavy, nor Plautus too light .
  • * Hawthorne
    • specimens of New England humour laboriously light and lamentably mirthful
  • Not quite sound or normal; somewhat impaired or deranged; dizzy; giddy.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain?
  • Not of the legal, standard, or usual weight; clipped; diminished.
    • light coin
    Synonyms
    * (of low weight) * (lightly-built) lightweight * (having little force or momentum) delicate, gentle, soft * lite, lo-cal (low in calories), low-alcohol (low in alcohol) * (having little value or significance) inconsequential, trivial, unimportant
    Antonyms
    * (of low weight) heavy, weighty * (lightly-built) cumbersome, heavyweight, massive * (having little force or momentum) forceful, heavy, strong * calorific (high in calories), fatty (high in fat), strong (high in alcohol) * (having little value or significance) crucial, important, weighty
    Derived terms
    * light as a feather * lightness

    Adverb

    (er)
  • Carrying little.
    • I prefer to travel light.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (curling) A stone that is not thrown hard enough.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (nautical) To unload a ship, or to jettison material to make it lighter
  • To lighten; to ease of a burden; to take off.
  • * Spenser
    • His mailèd habergeon she did undight, / And from his head his heavy burgonet did light .
    Derived terms
    * lighter

    Etymology 5

    (etyl)

    Verb

  • To find by chance.
    • I lit upon a rare book in a second-hand bookseller's.
  • (archaic) To alight.
    • She fell out of the window but luckily lit on her feet.
    Synonyms
    * (find by chance) chance upon, come upon, find, happen upon, hit upon * (alight) alight, land
    Derived terms
    * light into * light out

    Statistics

    * English terms with multiple etymologies 1000 English basic words ----