Word.ws English Dictionary

High Dutch

High Dutch proper noun: pennsylvania Dutch, particularly the Fancy Dutch.

Proper noun

High Dutch

  1. (US) Pennsylvania Dutch, particularly the Fancy Dutch.
  2. (South Africa) The standard Dutch language, especially the literary Dutch language of the Netherlands, as contrasted with Cape Dutch or Afrikaans.
  3. (archaic) High German.
    • The Emperor Charles V, made almoſt the ſame Obſervation, when he ſaid, That if he were to ſpeak to his Horſe, it ſhould be in High-Dutch.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Studious to Learn the Language, the Houyhnhnm His Master Assists in Teaching Him. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […]...
    • [H]is impatience increased, he swore in high Dutch, the noise of the wheels on his pavement saluted his ears, his vexation redoubled […].1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

Noun

High Dutch (uncountable)

  1. (archaic) Double Dutch; nonsense.

Antonyms of High Dutch

Forms of High Dutch

alternative formHigh-Dutch

Questions about High Dutch

What does High Dutch mean?
High Dutch means pennsylvania Dutch, particularly the Fancy Dutch.
What part of speech is High Dutch?
High Dutch can be a proper noun or a noun.

Words near High Dutch in the dictionary

  1. high dividend yield traps
  2. high doh
  3. high dohs
  4. high dot
  5. high drama
  6. High Dutch
  7. high Earth orbit
  8. high Earth orbits
  9. High Easter
  10. high end
  11. high entropy alloy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: High Dutch (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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