Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Elevated land.
  • noun A mountainous or hilly section of a country.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of a highland.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An abrupt elevation of land; a high promontory or plateau: as, a jutting highland.
  • noun plural An elevated region broken into hills and mountains: often used as a proper name: as, the Highlands of Scotland; the Hudson Highlands; the highlands of Abyssinia.
  • Pertaining or belonging to high lands or to mountainous regions, especially (with a capital) the Highlands of Scotland: as, highland scenery; highland vegetation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Elevated or mountainous land; (often in the pl.) an elevated region or country.
  • noun a dance peculiar to the Scottish Highlanders; a sort of hornpipe.
  • adjective prenominal of, located in, or characteristic of high or hilly country. Contrasted to lowland.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An area of land that is at elevation; mountainous land.
  • adjective Relating to highlands.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun elevated (e.g., mountainous) land
  • adjective used of high or hilly country

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English *hei-land, *heiȝ-land, from Old English hēahland ("highland"), equivalent to high +‎ land. Cognate with Scots heland, heyland, hieland ("highland"), Dutch hoogland ("highland"), German Hochland ("highland"), Danish højland ("highland"), Swedish högland ("highland").

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