Word.ws English Dictionary

on high

UK/ɒn ˈhaɪ/US/ɑn ˈhaɪ/

on high prepositional phrase: to a high position; or up in, or to, the sky; above.

Prepositional phrase

  1. To a high position; or up in, or to, the sky; above.
    • So thick a haze o’erspreads the sky, / They cannot see the Sun on high; / The wind hath blown a gale all day, / At evening it hath died away.1796–1798 (date written; published 1802), Robert Southey, “The Inchcape Rock”, in The Poetical Works of Robert Southey. […], volume VI, London: […] [Andrew Spottiswoode] for Longman, Orme, Brown...
    • His [a horse's] back would be so glossy, / His sides so smooth and brown, / I'd have to hold his collar / To keep from slipping down! / And jogging on the roadway, / The people passing by / Would turn to smile at Bonny / With me set up on high.c. 1920s–1930s, Elizabeth Fleming, “The Ploughman”, in School Journal, volume 32, Wellington, New Zealand: School Publications Branch, Department of Education, published 1938, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 112
    Synonyms:
    ahigh, aloft
  2. (literary, specifically) Up in, or to, Heaven.
    • Who is like vnto the Lord our God: who dwelleth on high: […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 113:5, column 1
    • The trumpet ſhall be heard on high, / The dead ſhall live, the living die, / And Muſic ſhall untune the ſky.1687, John Dryden, “A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day, 1687”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 271
  3. (humorous) In authority, influence, or power.
    • According to those on high, taxes need to increase again.

on high meaning in Tamil and Sanskrit

on high in Tamil

to a high position; or up in, or to, the sky — see also above, aloft
ஏற ēṟa

on high in Sanskrit

to a high position; or up in, or to, the sky — see also above, aloft
बृहत् bṛhat

Synonyms of on high

Origin of on high

From Middle English on heigh, on an heigh (“in or into heaven; up to heaven”) [and other forms], from Old English on hēagum (“on high”); hēagum is an inflected form of hēah (“high; tall”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kewk- (“height; to elevate”). The English word is equivalent to on + high. Compare Dutch omhoog (“upwards, on high”), West Frisian omheech (“upwards”).

Words that rhyme with on high

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about on high

What does on high mean?
On high means to a high position; or up in, or to, the sky; above.
What is on high in Tamil?
On high in Tamil is ஏற (ēṟa). See On high meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is on high?
On high is a prepositional phrase.
How do you pronounce on high?
On high is pronounced /ɒn ˈhaɪ/ (UK).

Words near on high in the dictionary

  1. on God's green Earth
  2. on good terms
  3. on guard
  4. on hand
  5. on heat
  6. on high
  7. on hire
  8. On HMS
  9. on hold
  10. on horseback
  11. on ice

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on high (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-on high.ogg.

Cite this entry: “on high.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_high. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.