high gaten.1
/ˈhʌɪ ˌɡeɪt/, U.S. /ˈhaɪ ˌɡeɪt/, Scottish English /ˈhaɪ ˌɡet/ Chiefly Scottish.
A main road, a highway; a high street. Frequently figurative: the chief or most direct way; (in quot. 1721) honesty, straightforwardness.Frequently in street and place names, esp. in Scotland and the north of England.Attested earliest in a surname.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > highway or public road
headwayOE
high streetOE
wayOE
port highwayOE
port-streetOE
port-wayOE
highway1257
high gate1324
thoroughfare1540
open road1656
rum pad1665
country road1669
toby lay1807
high toby spice1811
throughgang1856
1324 in W. Farrer Some Court Rolls of Thomas Earl of Lancaster (1901) 68 Adam del Heghgate.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 1691 Hold ȝou ouȝt of heie gates for happes, i rede.
1391 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1862) IV. 379 The burn of Condoll vp to the hevid as the he gate strekis.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 16166 To heroudes þo he him sent: euen þe heȝe gate.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) viii. 164 And saw the hye-gat [1489 Adv. hey gat] lyand was Apon a fair feld evin and dry.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) xxii. 486 Reynawde, that was vpon the hyghe gate of Ardeyn.
1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1822) v. 457 Than fled the hie gate to Rome.
1595 in W. M. Metcalfe Charters & Documents Burgh of Paisley (1902) 184 Upon the Hie Gait of the said burgh [he] come sydling behind the said Johne.
1617 T. Adams Souldiers Honour 30 Then should manie worthie spirits get vp the High-gate of preferment.
1639 T. Bancroft Two Bks. Epigrammes & Epit. i. sig. D2v Th' English Court would be A High-gate, leading to faire curtesie.
1691 Hutcheson's 45 Serm. on CXXX Psalm iii. 31 To smite you, that's the high gate, if ye were ill before, to make you worse.
1721 J. Kelly Compl. Coll. Scotish Prov. 273 Out the high Gate is ay fair Play. Downright Honesty is both best, and safest.
a1796 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1885) II. 223 She watch'd me by the hie-gate side, And up the loan she shaw'd me.
1845 Supp. Bradshaw's Railway Gaz. 18 Oct. 281/1 The portion of ground northwards from the High Gate to the Tweed.
1893 W. Gregor in Poems W. Dunbar III. 98 That's the hie gait t' ger 'im dee't.
1904 W. Drysdale Auld Biggins Stirling 90 Called ‘Quenis Gait’ in the time of Queen Mary, anciently the Highgait or High Street, was for centuries the principal street of the burgh.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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