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Reader question: Please explain "decline of the high street." My comments: This means traditional commerce - traditional ways of doing business, buying and selling etc - is, on the main, on the wane. On the wane means becoming smaller, as the moon gets smaller when it's on the wane, when its illuminated area begins decreasing after a full moon. Other things on the wane means they're also decreasing, becoming less vigorous, less influential or less extensive. Which explains how traditional shops and businesses are faring these days. As customers increasingly buy stuff online, traditional shops, i.e. real shops on the street are having fewer and fewer customers, hence their decline. Oh, high street. That in the old days referred to the main street or the biggest street or perhaps the only street of the village or small town. High street, or High Street was thus called presumably because on this street, the decibel levels were high, as there must have been a lot of shouting and shouting back going on. In other words, there was a high level of hustle and bustle, i.e. a lot of activities. Today, high street stands for the busiest commercial district of a city, its down town area where the most important and biggest business transactions are done and dealt. Okay? Okay and all right. Here are media examples of high street, both as noun and adjective: 1. If you're visiting Britain for the first time and wondering what local people mean when they direct you to "the High Street", you are not alone. The High Street is one of those phrases—and places—that is so much a part of everyday life in the UK that local people hardly ever feel the need to explain to visitors and tourists. | 
