1816, Sir Walter Scott, The Black Dwarf, ch. 2:The more high-spirited among the youth were, about the time that our narrative begins, expecting, rather with hope than apprehension, an opportunity of emulating their fathers in their military achievements.
1918, Jack London, "The Princess":"She was as fine a figure of a woman as I was a man, as high-spirited and courageous, as reckless and dare-devilish."
1861, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Ultor De Lacy: A Legend of Cappercullen, ch. 1:Their poor mother was, I believe, naturally a lighthearted, sociable, high-spirited little creature; and her gay and childish nature pined in the isolation and gloom of her lot.
1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Offshore Pirate":Though she was nineteen she gave the effect of a high-spirited precocious child, and in the present glow of her youth and beauty all the men and women she had known were but driftwood on the ripples of her temperament.
1950 Sept. 25, "Music: Out of the Corner," Time:Last week a group of four high-spirited folksters known as the Weavers had succeeded in shouting, twanging and crooning folk singing out of its cloistered corner.
