“Up and down” means searching every possible place for something or someone. “High and low” is an idiom that implies exhaustive research, often taking a long time. It suggests the search will continue until the object is found, and may be exaggerated to include “all points in between.”
If someone is described as looking “up and down,” it means they are looking for something or someone in every place imaginable. Such a search would encompass virtually every place a person could think of looking for, and probably wouldn’t stop until the object of the search was found. Looking at it this way, the person in question can assure that the search will not fail for lack of effort. The phrase “up and down” takes its meaning from the fact that anyone who would see both the top and bottom of a place would leave nothing hidden.
Some occasions require English speakers to use words or phrases that may not have the meanings one would expect, based on the literal definitions of the words. These words and phrases are known as idioms and often evolve from their origins to mean something completely different over time. These meanings are usually understood by everyone in a specific culture. One such idiom intended to convey insightful research is the phrase “high and low.”
When someone searches in a way that warrants the use of this phrase, it means they’re searching for virtually every place within reach. The reasons for the research can be both serious and frivolous, but it is certainly painstaking research if the phrase is used. For example, someone might say, “I’ve searched far and wide for the right pair of shoes for the party, but haven’t found them yet.”
This phrase also implies that such research has been going on for a long time or will continue to go on well into the future. Any research that requires such accuracy cannot be done in a short period of time. The only way it could end is if the search leads to finding the object or person in question. For example, consider the sentence “He will search far and wide until he finds the right person for the job.”
As with many idioms, there is a certain degree of exaggeration that accompanies this expression. Some people take the expression even further, extending it to say that they will look for “high and low and all points in between.” Obviously it’s impossible to search everywhere, but this phrase indicates that there will be no slowdown in the particular chase.
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