highball
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]high + ball, of the same railroad origins as lowball.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
[edit]highball (plural highballs)
- A cocktail made from a spirit plus soda water etc.
- (rail transport, US) An all clear or full speed ahead signal.
- 1946 November and December, “Notes and News: The American Highball”, in Railway Magazine, page 382:
- A white ball hauled up to the crossbar indicated that the track was clear; a black ball, run up half way, meant stop. This was the origin of the use of the word "highball" to indicate a clear line ahead, which is still used in U.S.A. railway practice.
- (climbing) 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.
- 2014, EpicTV.com
- Clipping of highball glass, a tall glass tumbler used for serving highballs.
- 2021, Kate Calder, Three Ingredient Cocktails: 60 Drinks Made in Minutes:
- It's great for serving heavier drinks in. Highballs and pint glasses are excellent substitutes.
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]Translations
[edit]type of cocktail
|
Verb
[edit]highball (third-person singular simple present highballs, present participle highballing, simple past and past participle highballed)
- To make an estimate which tends toward exaggeration.
- Antonym: lowball
- If we highball the price, it comes out to $240. If we lowball it, it's closer to $200.
- (US, slang, possibly dated) To move quickly; to hightail.
- 1959, Steam's Finest Hour, edited by David P. Morgan, Kalmbach Publishing Co. (photo caption):
- Booster-equipped 628 highballs west at Glen Lake, Minn., back in 1947.
- 1960 October, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railway: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 613:
- 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!
- 1959, Steam's Finest Hour, edited by David P. Morgan, Kalmbach Publishing Co. (photo caption):
Translations
[edit]to make a high estimate
|
Categories:
- English compound terms
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Rail transportation
- American English
- English terms with quotations
- en:Climbing
- English clippings
- English verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English slang
- English dated terms
- en:Cocktails
- English adjective-noun compound nouns