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Webster 1913 Edition

Heave

Heave

(hēv)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp.
Heaved
(hēvd)
, or
Hove
(hōv)
;
p. p.
Heaved
,
Hove
, formerly
Hoven
(hō′v’n)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Heaving
.]
[OE.
heven
,
hebben
, AS.
hebban
; akin to OS.
hebbian
, D.
heffen
, OHG.
heffan
,
hevan
, G.
heben
, Icel.
hefja
, Sw.
häfva
, Dan.
hæve
, Goth.
hafjan
, L.
capere
to take, seize; cf. Gr.
κώπη
handle. Cf.
Accept
,
Behoof
,
Capacious
,
Forceps
,
Haft
,
Receipt
.]
1.
To cause to move upward or onward by a lifting effort; to lift; to raise; to hoist; – often with up;
as, the wave
heaved
the boat on land
.
One
heaved
ahigh, to be hurled down below.
Shakespeare
☞ Heave, as now used, implies that the thing raised is heavy or hard to move; but formerly it was used in a less restricted sense.
Here a little child I stand,
Heaving
up my either hand.
Herrick.
2.
To throw; to cast; – obsolete, provincial, or colloquial, except in certain nautical phrases;
as, to
heave
the lead; to
heave
the log.
3.
To force from, or into, any position; to cause to move; also, to throw off; – mostly used in certain nautical phrases;
as, to
heave
the ship ahead
.
4.
To raise or force from the breast; to utter with effort;
as, to
heave
a sigh
.
The wretched animal
heaved
forth such groans.
Shakespeare
5.
To cause to swell or rise, as the breast or bosom.
The glittering, finny swarms
That
heave
our friths, and crowd upon our shores.
Thomson.
To heave a cable short
(Naut.)
,
to haul in cable till the ship is almost perpendicularly above the anchor.
–
To heave a ship ahead
(Naut.)
,
to warp her ahead when not under sail, as by means of cables.
–
To heave a ship down
(Naut.)
,
to throw or lay her down on one side; to careen her.
–
To heave a ship to
(Naut.)
,
to bring the ship’s head to the wind, and stop her motion.
–
To heave about
(Naut.)
,
to put about suddenly.
–
To heave in
(Naut.)
,
to shorten (cable).
–
To heave in stays
(Naut.)
,
to put a vessel on the other tack.
–
To heave out a sail
(Naut.)
,
to unfurl it.
–
To heave taut
(Naut.)
,
to turn a capstan, etc., till the rope becomes strained. See
Taut
, and
Tight
.
–
To heave the lead
(Naut.)
,
to take soundings with lead and line.
–
To heave the log
.
(Naut.)
See
Log
.
–
To heave up anchor
(Naut.)
,
to raise it from the bottom of the sea or elsewhere.

Heave

(hēv)
,
Verb.
I.
1.
To be thrown up or raised; to rise upward, as a tower or mound.
And the huge columns
heave
into the sky.
Pope.
Where
heaves
the turf in many a moldering heap.
Gray.
The
heaving
sods of Bunker Hill.
E. Everett.
2.
To rise and fall with alternate motions, as the lungs in heavy breathing, as waves in a heavy sea, as ships on the billows, as the earth when broken up by frost, etc.; to swell; to dilate; to expand; to distend; hence, to labor; to struggle.
Frequent for breath his panting bosom
heaves
.
Prior.
The
heaving
plain of ocean.
Byron.
3.
To make an effort to raise, throw, or move anything; to strain to do something difficult.
The Church of England had struggled and
heaved
at a reformation ever since Wyclif's days.
Atterbury.
4.
To make an effort to vomit; to retch; to vomit.
To heave at
.
(a)
To make an effort at.
(b)
To attack, to oppose.
[Obs.]
Fuller.
–
To heave in sight
(as a ship at sea), to come in sight; to appear.
–
To heave up
,
to vomit.
[Low]

Heave

,
Noun.
1.
An effort to raise something, as a weight, or one's self, or to move something heavy.
After many strains and
heaves

He got up to his saddle eaves.
Hudibras.
2.
An upward motion; a rising; a swell or distention, as of the breast in difficult breathing, of the waves, of the earth in an earthquake, and the like.
There's matter in these sighs, these profound
heaves
,
You must translate.
Shakespeare
None could guess whether the next
heave
of the earthquake would settle . . . or swallow them.
Dryden.
3.
(Geol.)
A horizontal dislocation in a metallic lode, taking place at an intersection with another lode.

Webster 1828 Edition

Heave

HEAVE

,
Verb.
T.
heev. pret. heaved, or hove; pp. heaved, hove, formerly hoven. [Gr. to breathe.]
1.
To lift; to raise; to move upward.
So stretch'd out huge in length the arch fiend lay,
Chain'd on the burning lake, nor ever hence
Had ris'n, or heaved his head.
2.
To cause to swell.
The glittering finny swarms
That heave our friths and crowd upon our shores.
3.
To raise or force from the breast; as, to heave a sigh or groan, which is accompanied with a swelling or expansion of the thorax.
4.
To raise; to elevate; with high.
One heaved on high.
5.
To puff; to elate.
6.
To throw; to cast; to send; as, to heave a stone. This is a common use of the word in popular language, and among seamen; as, to heave the lead.
7.
To raise by turning a windlass; with up; as, to heave up the anchor. Hence,
8.
To turn a windlass or capstern with bars or levers. Hence the order, to heave away.
To heave ahead, to draw ship forwards.
To heave astern, to cause to recede; to draw back.
To heave down, to throw or lay down on one side; to careen.
To heave out, to throw out. With seamen, to loose or unfurl a sail, particularly the stay-sails.
To heave in stays, in tacking, to bring a ship's head to the wind.
To heave short, to draw so much of a cable into the ship, as that she is almost perpendicularly above the anchor.
To heave a strain, to work at the windlass with unusual exertion.
To heave taught, to turn a capstern, &c. till the rope becomes straight. [See Taught and Tight.]
To heave to, to bring the ship's head to the wind, and stop her motion.
To heave up, to relinquish; [so to throw up;] as, to heave up a design. [Vulgar.]

HEAVE

,
Verb.
I.
heev. To swell, distend or dilate; as, a horse heaves in panting. Hence,
1.
To pant; to breathe with labor or pain; as, he heaves for breath.
2.
To keck; to make an effort to vomit.
3.
To rise in billows, as the sea; to swell.
4.
To rise; to be lifted; as, a ship heaves.
5.
To rise or swell, as the earth at the breaking up of frost.
To heave in sight, to appear; to make its first appearance; as a ship at sea, or as a distant object approaching or being approached.
We observe that this verb has often the sense of raising or rising in an arch or circular form, as in throwing and in distention, and from this sense is derived its application to the apparent arch over our heads, heaven.

HEAVE

,
Noun.
heev. A rising or swell; an exertion or effort upward.
None could guess whether the next heave of the earthquake would settle or swallow them.
1.
A rising swell, or distention, as of the breast.
These profound heaves.
2.
An effort to vomit.
3.
An effort to rise.

Definition 2024

heave

heave

English

Verb

heave ‎(third-person singular simple present heaves, present participle heaving, simple past heaved or hove, past participle heaved or hove or hoven)

  1. (transitive) To lift with difficulty; to raise with some effort; to lift (a heavy thing).
    We heaved the chest-of-doors on to the second-floor landing.
  2. (transitive) To throw, cast.
    They heaved rocks into the pond.
    The cap'n hove the body overboard.
  3. (intransitive) To rise and fall.
    Her chest heaved with emotion.
    • Prior
      Frequent for breath his panting bosom heaves.
    • Byron
      the heaving plain of ocean
  4. (transitive) To utter with effort.
    She heaved a sigh and stared out of the window.
    • Shakespeare
      The wretched animal heaved forth such groans.
  5. (transitive, nautical) To pull up with a rope or cable.
    Heave up the anchor there, boys!
  6. (transitive, archaic) To lift (generally); to raise, or cause to move upwards (particularly in ships or vehicles) or forwards.
    • Herrick
      Here a little child I stand, / Heaving up my either hand.
  7. (intransitive) To be thrown up or raised; to rise upward, as a tower or mound.
    • Alexander Pope
      And the huge columns heave into the sky.
    • Gray
      where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap
    • E. Everett
      the heaving sods of Bunker Hill
  8. (transitive, mining, geology) To displace (a vein, stratum).
  9. (transitive, now rare) To cause to swell or rise, especially in repeated exertions.
    The wind heaved the waves.
  10. (transitive, intransitive, nautical) To move in a certain direction or into a certain position or situation.
    to heave the ship ahead
    • 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, At the Earth's Core, The Gutenberg Project:
      The Sagoths were now not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and I saw that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other than by a ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry, and as I reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance. Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight. Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the left-hand canyon,
  11. (intransitive) To retch, to make an effort to vomit; to vomit.
    The smell of the old cheese was enough to make you heave.
  12. (intransitive) To make an effort to raise, throw, or move anything; to strain to do something difficult.
    • Atterbury
      The Church of England had struggled and heaved at a reformation ever since Wyclif's days.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

heave ‎(plural heaves)

  1. An effort to raise something, as a weight, or one's self, or to move something heavy.
  2. An upward motion; a rising; a swell or distention, as of the breast in difficult breathing, of the waves, of the earth in an earthquake, and the like.
  3. A horizontal dislocation in a metallic lode, taking place at an intersection with another lode.
  4. (nautical) The measure of extent to which a nautical vessel goes up and down in a short period of time. Compare with pitch.

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną ‎(“to take up, lift”) (compare West Frisian heffe, Dutch heffen, German heben, Danish hæve), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pyé-, from the root *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”)).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /hiːv/
  • Rhymes: -iːv

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