Emily Dickinson Lexicon

Herschel, proper n. [German/Yiddish Hirsch, deer.]

Sir William Herschel (1738-1822); astronomer who discovered a distant planet in 1781; [fig.] Uranus; heavenly body; remote satellite of the sun.

herself, pron. [OE hire self; third person singular feminine reflexive pronoun; see she, her, her's, and self, n.] (webplay: power).

1. [Refers to a person] she.
2. [Refers to life, or a road of life] itself.
3. [Refers to abstractions such as the soul, truth, and rapture] itself.
4. [Refers to nature, or natural things such as dew, a drop, moon, bird, flower, or a butterfly] itself.
5. [Refers to times such as day, noon; refers to seasons such as summer] itself.

hesitate (-d, -s, hesitating), v. [Fr. < L. hæsitāre, stutter in speech, be undecided.] (webplay: decision, pause, speaking).

1. Stop; pause; doubt fact; be uncertain.
2. Falter; stutter; stop in speech.

hesitation, n. [see hesitate, v.]

Pause; doubt; uncertainty; delay in action.

Hesperian, proper adj. [L. < Gk 'evening star'.]

Western; of the sunset; pertaining to the garden of golden apples that the daughters of Hesperus guarded in Greek myth; [fig.] heavenly; paradisiacal; mythical; legendary.

Hesperides, proper n. [see Hesperian, proper n.]

Mythical land in the West; blessed islands in the westernmost reaches of the world; garden island of golden apples guarded by nymphs; class of plants including citrus named for this island; Canary Islands or Cape Verde Islands; [see ED's letters.]

hew (-ed, -n), v. [OE héawan < Germanic.]

Form; carefully mold; model laboriously; make as when using a sharp tool to cut, chisel, or otherwise shape a piece of wood, stone, etc.

hide (hid, hidden, -s, -th, hiding), v. [OE hýdan < Germanic.] (webplay: conceal, crimes, earth, face, hood, knowledge, place, safe, secret, seek, self, sight, spiritual, sun, tell).

1. Keep confidential; hold back; veil from knowledge.
2. Conceal from sight; put in an unseeable position.
3. Bury in the ground; [fig.] plant in the earth.
4. Protect; keep in safety.
5. Not to confess; neglect to disclose.
6. Phrase. “Hide and Seek”: child's game wherein some players conceal themselves from view and another finds them.

hie, v. [OE; see MDu hîgen, pant, breathe with difficulty.]

Hasten; hurry off.

high (-er, -est), adj. [OE héah < Germanic.] (webplay: color, court, dear, deep, divine, excellence, feelings, hour, low, mighty, mind, nature, proud, rank, rich, rising, rock, soul, sound, sun, tower, wind).

1. Great; grand; important; of exalted rank.
2. Fancy; costly; eloquent; ostentatious.
3. Fine; excellent; super; top quality; upper class; [fig.] heavenly; exalted; dignified.
4. Hot; ardent; sultry; intense; extreme.
5. Loud; acute; sharp; accented; lofty in pitch; intense in musical tone.
6. Far above; upward in position; [fig.] elevated above mortal constraints.
7. Difficult; strenuous; inaccessible; out of reach.
8. Towering over; hovering above; elevated to a higher altitude than.
9. Phrase. “high up”: proud; haughty; arrogant; overbearing; presumptuous.