Heave

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hiːv/
• Rhymes: -iːv

Origin

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")).

Full definition of heave

Verb

1. (transitive, archaic) To lift (generally); to raise, or cause to move upwards (particularly in ships or vehicles) or forwards.
• HerrickHere a little child I stand,
  Heaving up my either hand.
2. (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.
3. (intransitive) To be thrown up or raised; to rise upward, as a tower or mound.
• Alexander PopeAnd the huge columns heave into the sky.
• Graywhere heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap
• E. Everettthe heaving sods of Bunker Hill
4. (transitive, mining, geology) To displace (a vein, stratum).
5. (transitive, now rare) To cause to swell or rise, especially in repeated exertions.The wind heaved the waves.
6. (intransitive) To rise and fall.Her chest heaved with emotion.
• PriorFrequent for breath his panting bosom heaves.
• Byronthe heaving plain of ocean
7. (transitive) To utter with effort.She heaved a sigh and stared out of the window.
• ShakespeareThe wretched animal heaved forth such groans.
8. (transitive, now nautical) To throw, cast.The cap'n hove the body overboard.
9. (transitive, nautical) To pull up with a rope or cable.Heave up the anchor there, boys!
10. (ambitransitive, 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 Chapter , 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 make an effort to vomit; to retch.
12. (intransitive) To vomit.The smell of the old cheese was enough to make you heave.
13. (intransitive) To make an effort to raise, throw, or move anything; to strain to do something difficult.
• AtterburyThe Church of England had struggled and heaved at a reformation ever since Wyclif's days.

Derived terms

• heave in sight
• two, six, heave or two six heave (see in )

Noun

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.