highboy

English

Etymology

See high and lowboy.

Noun

highboy (plural highboys)

Philadelphia highboy (State Dept. collection), ca. 1760

1. A tall chest of drawers that is raised up on high legs.

   Hypernym: tallboy

   Coordinate term: lowboy

   • 1897, Katharine Lee Bates, American Literature:

     mahogany highboys glittering with brass handles

   • 1929 June, Herbert Cescinsky, “American furniture problems”, in The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, volume 54, number 315, page 313:

     […] the well-known Pennsylvania "Highboy," which is only the English "Tallboy" double-chest elevated on cabriole legs […]

   • (US) National Gallery of Art

     During the Queen Anne period in America, the highboy attained its characteristic form. [...] The cabriole leg was a distinctive feature developed in the Queen Anne period; its shape repeats the S-curve that dominated all Queen Anne design.

2. (dated) One who enjoys the high life.
3. (dated) A political highflier.

Translations

double-chest elevated on cabriole legs

• Bulgarian: скрин (bg) m (skrin)
• Finnish: korkea lipasto
• Macedonian: ви́сока ко́мода f (vísoka kómoda)