High-gag, subs. (American).—A whisperer.—Matsell.
The high-gag, subs. phr. (American).—Telling secrets.—Matsell.
High-game, subs. (thieves’).—See quot.
1889. C. T. Clarkson and J. Hall Richardson, Police, p. 321. A
mansion ... a high game.
High-gig. In High-gig, adv. phr. (old).—In good fettle; lively. Cf.,
Gig.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 15. Rather sprightly—the Bear in
high-gig.
High-go, subs. (common).—A drinking bout; a frolic.
High-heeled Shoes. To have high-heeled shoes on, verb. phr.
(American).—To set up as a person of consequence; to do the grand
(q.v.).
High Horse. To be (or get) on (or ride) the high horse, verb. phr.
(colloquial).—To give oneself airs; to stand on one’s dignity; to take
offence. [Fr. monter sur ses grands chevaux. The simile is common to
most languages.]
1716. Addison, Freeholder, 5 Mar. He told me, he did not know what
travelling was good for, but to teach a man to ride the great
horse, to jabber French, and to talk against passive obedience.
1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xii. He was determined to ride
the high horse—and that there should be no Equality Jack in future.
1842. Comic Almanack, p. 327. Yet Dublin deems the foul extortion
fair, And swears that, as he’s ridden the high horse, So long and
well, she now will make him mayor.
1864. Times, 5 July. Mr. Gladstone in the Dano-German Debate. The
right hon. gentleman then got on what I may call his high horse,
and he would not give us the slightest opinion upon any matter of
substantive policy, because that, he said, would be accepting
office upon conditions.
1868. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone, 2nd Period, 3rd Narr., ch. ii.
Miss Rachael has her faults—‘I’ve never denied it,’ he began. ‘And
riding the high horse now and then is one of them.’
High-jinks, subs. (old).—1. An old game variously played. [Most
frequently dice were thrown by the company, and those upon whom the lot
fell were obliged to assume and maintain for a time a certain
fictitious character, or to repeat a certain number of fescennine
verses in a particular order. If they departed from the characters
assigned ... they incurred forfeits, which were compounded for by
swallowing an additional bumper.—Guy Mannering, 1836. Note to ch.
xxxii.]
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Highjinks, a Play at Dice who
Drinks.
1780. Ramsay, Maggy Johnston, i., 25. The queff or cup is filled to
the brim, then one of the company takes a pair of dice, and after
crying Hy-jinks, he throws them out; the number he casts out points
out the person that must drink; he who threw beginning at himself
number one, and so round till the number of the person agree with
that of the dice (which may fall upon himself if the number be
within twelve); then he sets the dice to him, or bids him take
them; he on whom they fall is obliged to drink, or pay a small
forfeiture in money, then throws, and so on. But if he forgets to
cry ‘Hy-jinks’ he pays a forfeiture into the bank. Now, he on whom
it falls to drink (if there be anything in the bank worth drawing)
gets it all if he drinks; then with a great deal of caution he
empties his cup, sweeps up the money, and orders the cup to be
filled again, and then throws; for if he errs in the articles he
loses the privilege of drawing the money. The articles are—(1)
Drink, (2) Draw, (3) Fill, (4) Cry ‘Hy-jinks,’ (5) Count just, (6)
Chuse your doublet, man—viz., when two equal numbers of the dice is
thrown, the person whom you chuse must pay a double of the common
forfeiture, and so must you when the dice is in his hand (sic).
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxvi. The frolicsome company had
begun to practise the ancient and now forgotten pastime of high
jinks.
1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, lv. He had made an engagement to
drive Lord Saltire, the next morning, up to Wargrave in a
pony-chaise, to look at Barrymore House, and the place where the
theatre stood, and where the game of high jinks had been played so
bravely fifty years before.