Brewer's: Highland Bail

Fists and cuffs; to escape the constable by knocking him down with the aid of a companion.

“The mute eloquence of the miller and smith, which was vested in their clenched fists, was prepared to give highland bail for their arbiter [Edie Ochiltree].” —SirW.Scott: The Antiquary, chap. xxix.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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