high-water markn.

1553 J. Brende tr. Q. Curtius Rufus Hist. iv. f. 57^v The worcke did growe from the bottom of the Sea..but not yet brought to the highe watter marke [L. aquae fastigium].

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §2 Betweene the Low water and High water Marke.

a1691 R. Boyle Gen. Hist. Air (1692) xxiii. 207 Upon the Neighbouring Shore, above the high-Water-mark, a great Storm chanced to increase the Tide.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. viii. 219 They..lay their eggs..in the sand, just above the high-water mark.

1765 Philos. Trans. 1764 (Royal Soc.) 54 83 The tide..was observed, by the water-bailif of the City..to rise very suddenly to almost high-water mark.

1813 R. Bakewell Introd. Geol. 11 On the coast of Lincolnshire and part of Yorkshire there is a subterranean forest about seventeen feet under the present high-water mark.

1861 Pop. Encycl. (new ed.) IV. 158/1 A self-acting dam may be raised in any river or stream, up to high water mark.

1892 J. D. Hood Waterspouts Yorksh. Wolds 48 Traces of the high-water-mark line apparent throughout the village.

1942 P. Larkin Let. July in Sel. Lett. (1992) 39 After 10 o'clock you can only walk along the top half of the beach—above high-water mark.

1966 F. H. Brightman Oxf. Bk. Flowerless Plants p. viii/1 ‘Sea Ivory’..grows abundantly wherever there are rocks exposed at high-water mark.

2003 High Country News 22 Dec. 15/4 On the canyon walls we can see the telltale white bathtub ring, marking the lake's high-water mark.

1602 J. Manningham Diary 6 Aug. (1976) 80 Pray that since there is but..one high water marke, both of your happie life and our countryes good, the same may be inlarged above ordinary termines.

1678 Fortune of France 6 Learning was at so low an Ebb, that the high Water-Mark of it, did not run above a sort of Gothish Latin.

1749 T. C. Phillips Apol. Conduct III. 281 In the Fulness of his flowing Soul, this was the utmost High-Water Mark it could rise to, viz. He would give her Double the Sum she had asked.

1757 World 23 Sept. 189 National courage is certainly not at high-water mark.

1814 Ld. Dudley Let. 13 June (1840) 43 The high-water mark of English faction is very much below the ebb of French violence.

1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights I. v. 90 Her spirits were always at high-water mark, her tongue always going.

1890 Spectator 31 May 766 He [sc. Defoe] nearly touches the high-water mark of English prose.

1919 D. Haig in War Diaries & Lett. 1914–18 (2005) App. 4. 518 The high-water mark of our fighting strength in infantry was only reached after two and a half years of conflict.

1962 W. Stark Fund. Forms of Social Thought ii. xii. 176 A fresh high-water mark of mechanicism was reached in the eighth decade of the nineteenth century.

2006 A. Summers One Train Later xxvi. 331 With our success we have set a new high-water mark.

1847 Paddiana I. 22 Smith..rather dreaded to see her in short sleeves, lest high-water-mark should be too apparent about the wrists.

1899 Daily News 31 Jan. 6/4 The high-water mark is plainly visible above a tattered scarf tied loosely round his neck.

1912 Fabrics, Fancy Goods & Notions Apr. 24/2 Those of the masculine gender were satisfied with producing a well defined high water mark at the wrist.

2003 Hamilton (Ont.) Spectator (Nexis) 18 Mar. d8 We'd have to pull our sleeves up to show that there was no ‘high water mark’ when we had washed our hands only up to the wrist.