height

Etymology

From Middle English heighte, heiȝþe, from Old English hēahþu, hēhþo, hīehþu (“height”), Proto-West Germanic *hauhiþu, from Proto-Germanic *hauhiþō (compare *hauhaz). Corresponds to high + -th. Cognates See also Saterland Frisian Höchte, Hööchte (“height”), West Frisian hichte (“height”), Dutch hoogte (“height”), Middle High German hœhede, hœhte (“height”), Old Norse and Old Norse hæð (“height”) (compare Swedish höjd, Norwegian høyde), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌹𐌸𐌰 (hauhiþa, “height”).

noun

1. The distance from the base of something to the top.
   Happiness Makes Up in Height for What It Lacks in Length [title of poem] 1942, Robert Frost, “Happiness Makes Up in Height for What It Lacks in Length”, in A Witness Tree, New York: Henry Hold and Company, published 1943, page 15
2. The distance of something above the ground or some other chosen level.
   We flew at a height of 15 000 meters.
3. (phonetics) A quality of vowels, indicating the vertical position of the tongue relative to the roof of the mouth; in practice, the first formant, associated with the height of the tongue.
4. The vertical distance from the ground to the highest part of a standing person or animal (withers in the case of a horse).
5. The highest point or maximum degree.
   During the height of Italian immigration in the United States and in New York City, gangs flourished not only because of poverty but also because of political and social corruption. Policemen and politicians were often as crooked as the gang leaders themselves. 2004, Peter Bondanella, chapter 4, in Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos, pages 173–174
   If City never quite reached the heights of their 6-1 demolition of United, then Roberto Mancini's side should still have had this game safe long before Johnson restored their two-goal advantage. October 29, 2011, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport
   She's at the height of her career.
6. A high point.
   The Guardian of the Flooded Village has grown for 350 years on a rocky height near the village of Chudobin, said locally to play host to a devil that sat under it at night, playing the violin and warding off intruders – though in reality the eerie sounds are more likely to have come from the strong winds blowing over the valley. 2020-03-17, Fiona Harvey, “Pine tree near flooded Czech village voted European tree of the year”, in The Guardian
   1. A mountain, especially a very high one.
7. (Sussex) An area of land at the top of a cliff.
8. (mathematics) The amplitude of a sine function