Almost from the start, English on high (5)
I believe the answer is:
above
'on high' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'almost from the start english' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'from the start' becomes 'ab ovo' (I've seen this in another clue).
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation as in OED).
'abovo' with its final letter taken away is 'abov'.
'abov'+'e'='ABOVE'
(Other definitions for above that I've seen before include "On top of" , "Break into pieces" , "Overhead" , "Higher than or over something" , "At a higher level" .)