A high five is a congratulatory gesture or greeting between two people. To perform a high five, one person raises his hand in the air, open-palmed, and the other person slaps the open palm. High five may also be used as a verb, related terms are high fives, high fived, high fiving. The high five is an American invention originally performed by athletes congratulating each other, though there is some dispute as to who invented the gesture. It is presumed to have originated in the 1970s. The low five has been around since the 1920s, it was popular in jazz circles. National High Five Day is the third Thursday of April. High five may also be rendered with a hyphen as in high-five, but the Oxford English Dictionary only lists this alternative as a verb form.
Examples
Students at Rigby High School and Middle School set out the break the world record for the longest high five chain this weekend. (The East Idaho News)
Sophia Boxold was really happy to high five Taylor Dyer at the end of camp. (The Macon County Times)
David Evans, of New Smyrna Beach, writer, director and narrator of The Sandlot, gives Brady Querry age 4 a high five Monday afternoon before meeting the Heritage High baseball team before their 14th game. (USA Today)
“I got all over the country, people ask me, ‘Hey man, you know, did you invent the high five?’ Baker said in “The High Five,” an ESPN 30 for 30 short. (The Washington Post)
A LOLLIPOP man once known as the happiest in Scotland has told how he quit in disgust after council bosses banned him from high-fiving kids. (The Daily Record)