highs

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of high.

   Traders celebrated as the index touched new highs three sessions in a row.

   The summer brought a string of afternoon highs well above ninety degrees.

   Note

   One spelling covers several countable highs, so the plural takes its meaning from the company it keeps. Markets reach new highs. Forecasters report daily highs of temperature. A weather map shows highs, an informal name for anticyclones. Someone chasing highs is after euphoria, often from drugs. Because each of these can be counted, the plural comes naturally wherever peaks are tallied or compared.

2. 2
   verbobsolete

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of high. Obsolete.

   Note

   A verb form that now survives only on the page. Both meanings of the verb high are obsolete: "to rise," and a variant spelling of hie, "to hasten." In modern text, highs is almost always the plural noun. Read it as the verb only when it follows a singular subject and is followed by a direction, as in highs up the slope or highs across the channel.

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