high country

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Noun[edit]

high country (uncountable)

  1. Terrain that is at a relatively high elevation — generally, higher than foothills but not above the timberline — consisting of mountainous areas or elevated expanses of plain.
    • 1907, Stewart Edward White, chapter 13, in Arizona Nights:
      We had topped the high country, too, and had started down the other side of the mountains that ran out on the promontory.
    • 1915, Joseph A. Altsheler, chapter 13, in The Rock of Chickamauga:
      While Lookout Mountain was the loftiest summit, some of the other ridges rose almost as high. . . . September had now come and the winds were growing crisper in the high country.
    • 2001 August 6, Curt Eidem, “Letters: The War over the West”, in Time:
      I grew up in Washington State, and have hiked the high country since I was a boy scout in the '60s.

Usage notes[edit]

  • Used especially to refer to certain Western regions of the U.S. and Canada, and also parts of the Australian state of Victoria.

See also[edit]

References[edit]