heave
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heave
- /ˈhiːv/
- [ˈhɪi̯v]
Rhymes with -iːv
Where it comes from
From Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), from Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti, from the root *kap-. See also have.
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian heffe, Dutch heffen ("to raise", "to lift"), German heben ("to raise", "to lift"), Danish hæve ("to raise", "to lift"), Albanian kap (“to grasp, seize”), Old Irish cáin (“law, tribute”), cacht (“prisoner”), Latin capiō (“to take”), Latvian kàmpt (“to seize”), Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”), κώπη (kṓpē, “handle”)).
(To lift, to raise): Compare typologically Russian поднима́ть (podnimátʹ), подня́ть (podnjátʹ) (akin to има́ть (imátʹ), име́ть (imétʹ) < Proto-Slavic *jьmati, *jьměti).
verb heaves · heaving · heaved · hove
- To lift with difficulty; to raise with some effort; to lift (a heavy thing). We heaved the chest-of-drawers up to the second-floor landing.
-
To throw, cast.
They hove rocks into the pond.
Similar: fling, hurl, bung, cast, chuck, chunk, cook, dash, dump, feck, jerk, heave
- To rise and fall. Her chest heaved with emotion.
- To utter with effort. She heaved a sigh and stared out of the window.
- To pull up with a rope or cable. Heave up the anchor there, boys!
- To lift (generally); to raise, or cause to move upwards (particularly in ships or vehicles) or forwards. Here a little child I stand, / Heaving up my either hand; […]
- To be thrown up or raised; to rise upward, as a tower or mound. The grovving Tovv'rs like Exhalations riſe, / And the huge Columns heave into the Skies.
- To displace (a vein, stratum).
- To cause to swell or rise, especially in repeated exertions. The wind heaved the waves.
- To move in a certain direction or into a certain position or situation. to heave the ship ahead
-
To retch, to make an effort to vomit; to vomit.
The smell of the old cheese was enough to make you heave.
Similar: throw up, bait, barf, be sick, blow chunks, boak, boke, boot, bork, bow down before the porcelain god, cast, cast up one's accounts
- To make an effort to raise, throw, or move anything; to strain to do something difficult. She [The Church of England] had ſtruggl'd and heav'd at a Reformation; ever ſince Wicliffs dayes, for about a 150 years together: […]
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To rob; to steal from; to plunder.
Ben mort (good vvench) ſhal you and I heaue a booth, mill a ken, or nip a bung? ſhall you and I rob a houſe, or cut a purſe?
Similar: half-inch, mill, steal, abduct, abstract, appropriate, bag, bandit, bash and grab, bone, boost, burgle
noun heaves
- An effort to raise something, such as a weight or one's own body, or to move something heavy. We gave one more heave and the wall toppled over at last.
- 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, etc. and now the bed shook, the curtains rattled so, that I could scarce hear the sighs and murmurs, the heaves and pantings that accompanied the action, from the beginning to the end
- A horizontal dislocation in a metallic lode, taking place at an intersection with another lode.
- The measure of extent to which a nautical vessel goes up and down in a short period of time.
- An effort to vomit; retching.
- Broken wind in horses. The dust would have to be watched out for with a heave horse, and most alfalfa hay...
- A forceful shot in which the ball follows a high trajectory That left 15 needed from Boult's final set. Two dots were followed by a heave over deep mid-wicket, then came the outrageous moment of fortune.
Translations
Every language
verb to rise and fall
| Ελληνικά | ανεβοκατεβαίνω anevokatevaíno |
|---|
verb to lift
| 한국어 | 오르다 oreuda |
|---|---|
| Português | levantar |
| Français | hisser |
| Deutsch | heben, hieven |
| Ελληνικά | σηκώνω sikóno |
| Română | ridica |
verb to retch
| Español | basquear |
|---|---|
| Ελληνικά | ανακατεύομαι anakatévomai |
noun An effort to raise something, as a weight, or oneself, or to move something heavy
| Italiano | sollevamento |
|---|---|
| Русский | подня́тие podnjátije, поднима́ние podnimánije |
noun a rhythmical rise and fall
| Español | ondular |
|---|
Talk about this word "heave." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/heave. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. heave. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/heave "heave." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/heave.Cite this
@misc{heave_2026,
title = {heave},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/heave},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
