higher groundn.

1539 R. Morison tr. Frontinus Strategemes & Policies Warre ii. v. sig. fii And as though he fled, got the higher grounde [L. superiora loca], on whom folowing him out of aray and order, he sharply set.

1594 J. Norden Speculum Brit.: Essex 11 Sundrie valleis ther are, which of necessitie require hills; but they are but small knottes,..makinge a difference betwene the valley and the higher grounde.

1694 P. Falle Acct. Isle of Jersey ii. 60 The higher Grounds are gritty, gravelly, and some stony and rocky.

1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I Deterration is a Removal of the Earth, Sand, &c., from the Mountains and higher Grounds down into the Valleys and Lower Parts.

1792 W. Bartram Trav. N. & S. Carolina (new ed.) ii. x. 274 They [sc. the frogs] are to be seen in incredible multitudes clambering up the tall grass, weeds, round the verges of the savannas, bordering on the higher ground.

1801 Farmer's Mag. Nov. 414 The benefit arising from draining, whether by carrying away surface-water, or freeing the land from spouts, occasioned by water bursting out from higher grounds.

1897 J. Bryce Impressions S. Afr. v. 42 On the higher grounds..grass is abundant.

1913 Logansport (Indiana) Pharos 26 Feb. 6/4 Our landing was in a cluster of cabbage palmetto, which grew everywhere very profusely, showing we were on higher ground.

1960 Wall St. Jrnl. 30 Nov. 7/3 Growers use the rockland in preference to more fertile soil partly because..rocklands are on higher ground and are less subject to flooding.

2001 R. Nicoll White Male Heart (2002) 43 The stag would be moving its hinds to higher ground, into the stronger breeze to escape the madness-inducing attention of the midges.

1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie v. 240/1 We must resort to a higher grounde [Fr. un principe plus haut]: which is, to consider for what purpose God hath made our tongues, and to what ende hee hath giuen vs speech.

1651 J. Ellistone tr. J. Böhme Signatura Rerum 77 I write not Heathenishly, but Theosophically, from a higher Ground [Ger. auß einem höheren grunde] then the outward Father is.

1799 Med. & Physical Jrnl. Mar. 102 Dr. Beddoes, as standing on higher ground, may triumphantly and successfully direct the shafts of criticism, and pointed satire, against his feeble antagonist.

1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. 70 Kant..was permitted to assume a higher ground (the autonomy of the will) as a postulate deducible from the unconditional command..of the conscience.

1882 G. M. Hopkins Lett. to R. Bridges (1955) 148 Let me say, to take no higher ground, that without earnestness there is nothing sound or beautiful in character.

1975 M. Kumin House, Bridge, Fountain, Gate 26 The Lord lifts me up to higher ground on Friday so that Saturday I put my hands in the nail-scarred hands.

1992 Utne Reader Nov. 100/1 Pathetic art rebels against the cult of image, but not by claiming to seek the higher ground, as did so many art movements of the past.

2005 Washington Post 9 Nov. c14/4 I have tried to take the higher ground by not saying anything back..but he likes to push my buttons.