highborn

• high-born

From high +‎ born.

highborn (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Of high social standing as a result of having been born a member of an upper-level social class.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     I am too high-born to be propertied,
     To be a secondary at control.

   • 1672, Thomas Watson, “The Righteous Man's Excellency”, in A plea for the Godly, Thomas Parkhurst, page 95:

     It is not for Kings to drink wine, nor for Princes strong drink. It becomes not them who are highborn to be intemperate.

   • 1781, Samuel Johnson, “Waller”, in Lives of the Poets:

     His acquaintance with this high-born dame gave wit no opportunity of boasting its influence; she was not to be subdued by the powers of verse, but rejected his addresses, it is said, with disdain.

   • 1858–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “In Which Cupid Plays a Considerable Part”, in The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume II, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1859, →OCLC, page 180:

     The young Irishman was not a little touched and elated by the high-born damsel's partiality for him.

   • 1920, Joseph Conrad, chapter 4, in The Rescue:

     Was he not Rajah Hassim and was not the other a man of strong heart, of strong arm, of proud courage, a man great enough to protect highborn princes?

   • 2007 July 14, Lesley White, “Face of Tories' new deal—Gordon Brown is enjoying a honeymoon now”, in The Australian:

     He is a career rather than a conviction politician, but too highborn to be written off as a mere scaler of the greasy pole. He is a scion of the class that, deep down, believes it was born to rule.

2. (archaic) Born a member of an upper-level social class (although not necessarily retaining high social standing)
   • 1848, Thomas Macaulay, chapter 23, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume 5:

     The selfish, base, covetous, father-in-law was not at all desirous to have a highborn beggar and the posterity of a highborn beggar to maintain.

   • 1996, Peter F. Ainsworth, "'The Letter Killeth': Law and Spirit in Marie De France's Lay of Le Fresne," French Studies, volume L, no. 1 (Jan.), page 5:

     The references to the lady's long-standing affection for her loyal, high-born servant girl provide a succinct intimation that the lady herself is not a wholly repellent character.

   • 2007 March 9, “Travelling to his African home”, in Church Times, number 7513, UK:

     Mrs Monteith was able to tell her son about their high-born slave ancestor because he had left a memoir.

3. Of, pertaining to, or befitting people of high social standing.
   • 1670, Richard Crashaw, "To the Queen's Majesty on Twelfth-day" in Steps to the temple; The delights of the Muses; and, Carmen Deo Nostro, Herringman (London):

     In this illustrious throng, your lofty flood

     Swells high, fair confluence of all highborn Blood.

   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Cenci, act 2, scene 2.2:

     I should have then
     Been trained in no highborn necessities
     Which I could meet not by my daily toil.

   • 1996 June 17, Jayne M. Blanchard, “Cherry Jubilee: New artistic director Joe Dowling sees the comedy in Chekhov and intends to bring a lighter 'Cherry Orchard' to the Guthrie Stage”, in St. Paul Pioneer Press, page 8B:

     Dowling says that most performances of Chekhov plays have been filtered through translations into a British highborn sensibility.

   • 2002 May 28, Kevin B. Blackistone, “Baffert trained for the spotlight”, in The Dallas Morning News:

     If anyone in the highborn sport known as thoroughbred horse racing has swagger these days, it is Baffert.

4. (figuratively) Of superior or premium quality; magnificent; expensive.
   • 2007, “1999 Corvette FRC - All The King's Horses”, in Vette Web:

     The tires are highborn Pirelli P Zeroes in appropriately majestic sizes.

   • 2007 July 18, “Oregon Coast Travel Tips: Complete Tour of Seaside”, in beachconnection.net:

     Gearhart is worth taking a bit of time to ogle the highborn homes along the backroads near the beach.

• low-born

• “highborn”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “highborn”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)