highman

English

Etymology

From Middle English heimon, equivalent to high + man.

Noun

highman (plural highmen)

  1. A man of rank, especially a high rank; a superior.
    • 1834, The New sporting magazine, page 88:
      If not riding for life, that he is riding for immortality; and as the hero may perchance feel (for even a highman may feel like a hero), when he willingly throws away his existence in the hope of earning a glorious name, []
    • 2007, David Farland, The Runelords:
      So the highman sent to the King, asking him to purchase the wool for his troops at a bargain price. "But the highman did not know that rain in the west hills had caused a blight of wool rot on the sheep there. [] "
  2. (slang, obsolete) A loaded die that yields high numbers.
    • 2012, P F Chisholm, A Famine of Horses:
      "He had a couple of bales of crooked dice, a highman and a lowman and one with a bristle on the pip, but he hasn't the way of using them properly yet. [] "

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