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- high as a kite
high as a kite
*high as a kite
and *high as the sky 1. Lit. very high. (*Also: as ~.) The tree grew as high as a kite. Our pet bird got outside and flew up high as the sky.
2. Fig. drunk or drugged. (*Also: as ~.) Bill drank beer until he got as high as a kite. The thieves were high as the sky on drugs.
high as a kite
Intoxicated, as by alcohol, as in After three beers she's high as a kite. The adjective high has been used in the sense of "drunk" since the early 1600s; the addition of kite dates from the early 1900s. The phrase is now used of disorientation due to any drug.