DCHP-1 Online
highball [ < highball, n., an early type of railway signal to proceed] Esp. Lumbering, Slang 
adj. or attrib. operating on a speeded-up schedule; working at top speed.
- 1919 I sometimes think they have hit the nail on the head, more especially so when I see some of our high-ball hook-tenders moving the "Old Pot" to a new landing and leave her setting so that when the boiler is full of water the glass will show a gauge or less.
- 1925 This outfit would be "high-ball' if the super had his way, but owing to his ignorance of logging he is not able to put it over.
- 1948 (1956) ". . . you gotta be good to last. She's highball."
- 1919 I sometimes think they have hit the nail on the head, more especially so when I see some of our high-ball hook-tenders moving the "Old Pot" to a new landing and leave her setting so that when the boiler is full of water the glass will show a gauge or less.