Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To raise or lift, especially with great effort or force: synonym: lift.
  • intransitive verb To throw (a heavy object) with great effort; hurl.
  • intransitive verb To throw or toss.
  • intransitive verb To give out or utter with effort or pain.
  • intransitive verb To vomit (something).
  • intransitive verb To raise or haul up by means of a rope, line, or cable.
  • intransitive verb To move (a ship) in a certain direction or into a certain position by hauling.
  • intransitive verb To make rise or swell.
  • intransitive verb Geology To displace or move (a vein, lode, or stratum, for example).
  • intransitive verb To rise up or swell, as if pushed up; bulge.
  • intransitive verb To rise and fall in turn, as waves.
  • intransitive verb To gag or vomit.
  • intransitive verb To pant; gasp.
  • intransitive verb To move in a certain direction or to a specified position.
  • intransitive verb To pull at or haul a rope or cable.
  • intransitive verb To push at a capstan bar or lever.
  • noun The act or effort of raising or lifting something.
  • noun An act of hurling; a throw, especially when considered in terms of distance.
  • noun A horizontal dislocation, as of a rock stratum, at a fault.
  • noun An upward movement of a surface, especially when caused by swelling and expansion of clay, removal of overburden, or freezing of subsurface water.
  • noun An upward movement, especially of a ship or aircraft.
  • noun The act or an instance of gagging or vomiting.
  • noun A pulmonary disease of horses that is characterized by respiratory irregularities, such as coughing, and is noticeable especially after exercise or in cold weather.
  • idiom (sight/view) To rise or seem to rise over the horizon into view, as a ship.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An act of heaving; a lifting, throwing, tossing, or retching exertion.
  • noun An upward movement or expansion; swell or distention, as of the waves of the sea, of the lungs in difficult or painful breathing, of the earth in an earthquake, etc.; a forcible uplifting.
  • noun A rise of land; a knoll.
  • noun In mining, a dislocation or displacement of a part of a vein, in consequence of its intersection by another vein or cross-course, or by a simple slide, fracture, or jointing of the country-rock.
  • noun plural A disease of horses. See heaves.
  • To raise; lift; hoist.
  • Especially To lift with obvious effort; raise with exertion, as something heavy or resistant.
  • To lift (a child) at baptism; baptize; also, to be sponsor for.
  • To weigh; heft.
  • To cause to swell or bulge upward; raise above the former or the surrounding level: often with up.
  • To elevate or elate in condition or feeling, as by the operation of some potent agency or some moving influence; exalt; promote; raise suddenly or forcibly to a higher state.
  • To increase.
  • To bring up or forth with effort; raise from the breast or utter with the voice laboriously or painfully: as, to heave a sigh or a groan.
  • To throw upward and outward; cast or toss with force or effort; hurl or pitch, as with aim or purpose: as, to heave a stone; to heave the lead.
  • In geology, to throw or lift out of its place: said of the intersection of two veins, or of that of a cross-course with another vein.
  • Nautical, to draw or pull in any direction, as by means of a windlass or capstan: as, to heave a ship ahead (that is, to bring her forward, when not under sail, by means of a cable or other appliance); to heave up an anchor (to raise it from the bottom of the sea or elsewhere).
  • Synonyms and Hoist, Lift, etc. See raise.
  • To be raised, thrown, or forced up; rise; swell up; bulge out.
  • To rise and fall with alternate motions, as the waves of the sea, the lungs in difficult or painful breathing, the earth in an earthquake, etc.
  • To pant, as after severe exertion; labor.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English heven, from Old English hebban; see kap- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-Germanic *habjanan (“to take up, lift”) (compare West Frisian heffe, Dutch heffen, German heben, Danish hæve), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (compare Old Irish cáin 'law, tribute', cacht 'prisoner', Latin capiō 'to take', Latvian kàmpt 'to seize', Albanian kap ("I grasp, seize"), Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, "to gulp down"), κώπη (kṓpē, "handle")).

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Examples

  • Refusal to heave is universally considered resistance to capture.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » “Free Gaza” Activists’ Version of the Ship Incident 2010

  • Never mind the Republicans rationale for killing both very different but equally evil public options, since they denounce all proposals that don't boost their bottom lines, re-election chances, or the likelihood of a certain black U.S. president getting the ol 'one-term heave ho out of the let's keep-it-that-way White House.

    Julie Farby: Et Tu, Blue Dogs? 2009

  • Accompanied by a body of picked men from his crew, he ascended to the Loggan Stone, ordered several levers to be placed under it at one point, gave the word to "heave" -- and the next moment had the miserable satisfaction of seeing one of the most remarkable natural curiosities in the world utterly destroyed, for aught he could foresee to the contrary, under his own directions!

    Rambles Beyond Railways; or, Notes in Cornwall taken A-foot Wilkie Collins 1856

  • "Heave with me, lads!" cries Harry; and they "heave" -- at his heels -- rushing after, as if to extinguish a fire in the forecastle.

    The Flag of Distress A Story of the South Sea Mayne Reid 1850

  • Your heave should be a fun, energizing, liberating, and nurturing process.

    SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life Julie Morgenstern 2008

  • Your heave should be a fun, energizing, liberating, and nurturing process.

    SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life Julie Morgenstern 2008

  • Back to business: Top honors go to Thomas S.G. Lawrence, of Staten Island, N.Y., for his highly original and funny coinage heave-homemaker.

    Word Fugitives 2006

  • Back to business: Top honors go to Thomas S.G. Lawrence, of Staten Island, N.Y., for his highly original and funny coinage heave-homemaker.

    Word Fugitives 2006

  • By employing what the company refers to as a "heave and surge" energy capture design, the SeaRay is able to reportedly tap the full energy potential from passing waves.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2011

  • 'heave' - the surfacing lifts, often cracking, as a result of water in the subsoil below freezing and expanding.

    icLanarkshire 2010

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    March 25, 2012