high sean.
/ˌhʌɪ ˈsiː/, U.S. /ˈˌhaɪ ˈsi/ With the after Old English.
1. The deep or open sea; the main (main n.1 5a). Law: (a) British the sea regarded as being within the jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty (now historical); (b) the area of the sea outside the territorial jurisdiction of any nation; international waters (cf. mare liberum n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > [noun] > open to all nations
high seaeOE
mare liberum1651
international water1858
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > [noun] > within jurisdiction of admiralty
high seaeOE
eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from transcript of damaged MS) (2009) xi. 3 Se is eac wealdend woruldgesceafta, heofones and eorðan & heahsæ [perh. read heare sæ].
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 719 And sone dede he leyn in an ore, And drou him to þe heye se.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 61 He saȝe þam in þe hiȝe see sailand to-gedire.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos vi. 27 Whan they were well on the waye oute of the lande, in the hye see.
?1538 A. Fitzherbert Offices of Sheryffes sig. K.iiij The admyral hath no iurisdiccyon, but onely vpon the highe see.
1583 C. Carleill Breef Disc. Entended Voy. Amer. sig. A.ii The passage is vpon the high sea, wherby you are not bound to the knowledge of daungers.
1600 R. Carr tr. Mahumetane Hist. iii. f. 92 In yt time he staied abrode vpon the high Sea; abiding the comming of the Christian nauie.
a1661 R. Zouch Jurisdict. of Admiralty (1663) 50 In Causes commenced before the Admiral for things done on the high Sea, and likewise before the Constable, for things done beyond the Sea.
1739 Gen. Treat. Naval Trade & Commerce II. xiii. 257 If a Spaniard robs a Frenchman on the High Sea..and the Ship is brought into a Port of the King of England, the Frenchman may there proceed criminally against the Spaniard.
1792 T. Pennant Arctic Zool. I. (ed. 2) iii. 185 It inhabits the high sea about Greenland.
1806 tr. M. D. A. Azuni Maritime Law Europe II. ii. iv. 309 If a neutral merchant vessel taken on the high sea, by a vessel of war, or privateer, is rescued..such vessel shall be immediately set at liberty to pursue her voyage.
1896 Law Times Rep. 73 699/1 When in some cases the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court was extended further than the limits of the high sea, it was so only in respect of the same objects or subjects as were within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty on the high sea.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 698/2 The historic controversy which arose out of demands on the part of different states to assert exclusive dominion over areas of the open or high sea.
1968 H. M. Albaharna Legal Status Arabian Gulf States xvii. 280 They do not affect the international character of the superjacent waters of the high sea..or the traditional rights of fishing and pearling in them.
2011 N. Klein Maritime Security & Law of Sea ii. 55 Efforts to delineate what may count as a freedom of the high sea.
2. In plural in same sense.Now more common than the singular form.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > [noun] > ocean, open sea, or deep sea
room seaeOE
seawaya1000
the deepc1000
deptha1382
oceana1387
mid-sea?a1425
profound?a1425
main seaa1530
high seas1566
main1579
main flood1596
the deep1598
deep sea1626
dipsey1626
mid-ocean1697
blue water1803
haaf1809
salt chuck1868
wide1916
1566 J. Barthlet Pedegrewe Heretiques f. 85 The high seas are in Nullius bonis appertayne [sic] to no man or countrey properly.
1591 Art. conc. Admiralty 21 July §46 Those, which vpon the high Seas, haue found any..Boates forsaken, or wayfts, driuing, or floating, without any creature in the same.
1609 Lives 19 Late Pyrates sig. F4v He was the second time endited for a pyracye, committed on the high seas, vpon a Scottish ship of Leeth, called the Royal.
1692 Acts & Laws Assembly of Mass. 25 If any shall Piratically and Feloniously Seiz any Ship or other Vessel, whether in the Harbour, or on the High Seas [etc.].
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. i. Introd. iv. 107 The main or high seas are part of the realm of England.
1787 Consititution U.S. i. 11 Piracies and felonies committed on the high seas.
1836 W. Irving Astoria III. xvii. 226 They had heard of the frigate Phœbe and the Isaac Todd being on the high seas.
1885 Manch. Examiner 4 Feb. 4/7 Three Yarmouth smackmasters charged with piracy on the high seas.
1924 J. B. Moore Internat. Law & Some Current Illusions v. 250 The right of neutral aircraft to circulate in the airspace over the high seas is emphasized.
1956 ‘A. Bridge’ Lighthearted Quest 42 Liners' captains, in her experience, kept themselves incommunicado except when on the high seas.
2012 Daily Tel. 20 July 21/6 On the high seas, boarding would require the approval of whatever flag the ship was sailing under.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a. With the first element in the singular form.
ΚΠ
1879 H. Jacobson tr. C. Dantziger in Rep. Commissioner 1877 (U.S. Comm. Fish & Fisheries) V. 769 ‘Loggers’..are just as good vessels for high sea fishing as the English smacks.
1908 R. Gourlay in H. Pyle et al. Boy's Bk. Pirates 204 Kidd had not the pluck to go on openly with his high-sea robbery.
1940 Life 29 Apr. 93/1 To Admiral Raeder and the German Navy, it represented the ideal type of high-sea raider.
1983 Law & Contemp. Probl. 46 6 A rather narrow belt of the sea over which the coastal state has jurisdiction and beyond which there is the high sea freedom to fish.
2013 School Libr. Jrnl. (Nexis) 1 June 96 A stylized, spindly legged, yellow chick dons cape, boots, and goggles to transform..bath time into a high-sea adventure.
b. With the first element in the plural form.
ΚΠ
1923 N.Y. Times 21 June 3/2 The entire high seas fishing industry might be idle soon because of labor difficulties.
1934 Mariner's Mirror 20 346 This ship of 10,000 [modius]..was perhaps the ordinary average type of high seas vessel.
1990 Canad. Geographic Feb. 61/1 Canadians negotiating controls on high-seas driftnetting.
2006 Sunday Tel. (Austral.) (Nexis) 11 June (Features section) 50 During World War I, the Q-ship was the Royal Navy's high-seas assassin.
C2.
high sea fleet n. [after German Hochseeflotte (1896 or earlier in hypothetical discussions, 1907 as official name of the fleet)] = high seas fleet n.
ΚΠ
1907 Manch. Guardian 26 Feb. 14/5 The naval force under the command of Admiral Prince Henry of Prussia..is in future to bear the name of ‘High Sea’ Fleet.
1915 D. Haig Diary 21 Oct. in War Diaries (2005) 477 They calculated that if the German High Sea Fleet came out and gave battle, our Grand Fleet would defeat it entirely, but we would lose 6 or 7 ships.
1998 C. C. Lovett in R. D. S. Higham et al. Russ. Aviation & Air Power in Twentieth Cent. v. 119 It is uncertain whether Stalin would have authorized the building of a high sea fleet capable of challenging the United States for command of the seas.
2001 Notes & Rec. Royal Soc. 55 430 After the Battle of Jutland, the German High Sea Fleet had begun to shy away from further engagement.
high seas fleet n. [partly (in spec. use) after German Hochseeflotte (see high sea fleet n.)] a fleet operating on the high seas; spec. (with capital initials) the battle fleet of the German Imperial Navy (now historical).
ΚΠ
1893 North-Eastern Daily Gaz. 13 Dec. The American Company was restricted to 7,500 [seals], while the high seas fleet were free to take all that they could.
1906 Observer 4 Aug. 6/2 The Emperor's pilgrimage, at the head of the entire German High Seas Fleet, off Swinemünde.
1980 R. B. Wernham Making of Elizabethan Foreign Policy i. 13 John Hawkins..persuaded her to let him transform her navy from a coast-defence force into a high-seas fleet capable of operating at considerable distances from home.
2003 M. D. Karau Wielding Dagger iii. 47 This..would provide the High Seas Fleet with an opportunity to attack and destroy a large group of British warships.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.eOE