English

Noun

high time ‎(countable and uncountable, plural high times)

1. (uncountable, idiomatic) A point in time at which something desirable or necessary is considered to be utterly due or even overdue to occur.
   • 1820, Sir Walter Scott, The Abbot, ch. 21:

     "I will await no longer," said Lindesay; "it is high time the business were done."

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, ch. 3:

     I thought it was high time, now or never, before the light was put out, to break the spell in which I had so long been bound.

   • 1922, P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves, ch. 22:

     "But I haven't ridden for years."

     "Then it's high time you began again."

   • 2006 May 9, Hassan Rohani, "Iran's Nuclear Program: The Way Out," Time:

     It is high time to cease sensationalism and war mongering, pause and think twice about where we are heading.

2. (countable, idiomatic) A very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time.
   • 1912, L. Frank Baum, Sky Island, ch. 25:

     [T]here's going to be a high time in the Blue City tonight. We'll have music and dancing and eating.

   • 1916, Jack London, "When Alice Told Her Soul" in On the Makaloa Mat: Island Tales:

     For Alice had lived, from early in her girlhood, a life of flowers, and song, and wine, and dance. . . . And her tight tongue had served her well . . . . [N]one ever heard her gossip of the times of Kalakaua's boathouse, nor of the high times of officers of visiting warships.

   • 2000 Dec. 11, Richard Corliss, "Cinema: Better Than Tabloid Tattle" (film review of Proof of Life), Time:

     [T]he film intelligently deploys familiar thriller elements: chases; shoot-outs; high-level duplicity; terse, sassy dialogue; and a cast having a high time playing preening villains and wily good guys.

Synonyms

• (very enjoyable or exciting period of time): high old time, hoot

See also

• high noon
• last minute

References

• high time at OneLook Dictionary Search