HIGHNESS, literally the quality of being lofty or high, a term used, as are so many abstractions, as a title of dignity and honour, to signify exalted rank or station. These abstractions arose in great profusion in the Roman empire, both of the East and West, and "highness" is to be directly traced to the altitudo and celsitudo of the Latin and the qtriXor, s of the Greek em perors. See FORMS OF ADDRESS.