Contextualizebeta

highball

noun

Etymology

From high + ball, of the same railroad origins as lowball.

  1. derived from *bʰel-✻
  2. derived from *bʰélō✻
  3. inherited from *balluz✻
  4. derived from bǫllr
  5. inherited from *beall✻
  6. inherited from bal
  7. compounded as highball — “high + ball”

Definitions

  1. A cocktail made from a spirit plus soda water etc.

  2. An all clear or full speed ahead signal.

  3. A very high bouldering problem, often with a hard landing.

    • 2014, EpicTV.com Austrian all rounder Alex Luger climbs what he describes as a highball boulder problem and what most people would call a solo.
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. Clipping of highball glass, a tall glass tumbler used for serving highballs.

      • It's great for serving heavier drinks in. Highballs and pint glasses are excellent substitutes.

    2. To make an estimate which tends toward exaggeration.

      • If we highball the price, it comes out to $240. If we lowball it, it's closer to $200.

    3. To move quickly

      To move quickly; to hightail.

      • Booster-equipped 628 highballs west at Glen Lake, Minn., back in 1947.
      • The water-level route, the whistle and the loud staccato exhaust of this great engine recalled most vividly memories of the New York Central Hudsons highballing along the Hudson River between Harmon and Albany!

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for highball. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA