knee-high
Featured
May 31, 2025
knee-high and knee-deep are expressions of literal or metaphorical depth.
Knee-high just means as high as one's knees. A knee-high is also a stocking that goes to one's knees. A related phrase is knee-deep which is often used metaphorically to suggest one has waded into, or has begun to submerse themselves in a problem or area of study.
A longer, more colorful expression with knee-high is “knee-high to a grasshopper” which means very small, as though something only came up to the height of the knee of a grasshopper.
In late 1800's American, it was an adage amongst farmers that corn should be knee-high by the 4th of July, as a benchmark of how well a corn crop was doing. With modern agricultural methods, many corn growing regions now see corn wasit height or taller by the 4th of July. In more northern regions with later planting, knee-high may still be a useful gage.
A longer, more colorful expression with knee-high is “knee-high to a grasshopper” which means very small, as though something only came up to the height of the knee of a grasshopper.
In late 1800's American, it was an adage amongst farmers that corn should be knee-high by the 4th of July, as a benchmark of how well a corn crop was doing. With modern agricultural methods, many corn growing regions now see corn wasit height or taller by the 4th of July. In more northern regions with later planting, knee-high may still be a useful gage.
Rate of Appearance in English Language Print
Google's Ngram project shows how often a pair of words has appeared in print every year since the 1800's.
Data from Google Books Ngram Viewer. Licensed under CC BY 3.0.
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