Heave definition
To raise or lift, especially with great effort or force.
Heaved the box of books onto the table.
verb
(geology) To displace or move (a vein, lode, or stratum, for example).
verb
To give out or utter with effort or pain.
Heaved a sigh; heaved a groan.
verb
The definition of heave is to lift something heavy, or throw something far or with great effort, or to try to vomit.
When you struggle to lift a heavy object, this is an example of a time when you heave.
When you throw something across the room, this is an example of a time when you heave it across the room.
When you try to throw up and make retching noises, this is an example of a time when you heave.
verb
To vomit (something).
verb
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To make rise or swell.
The wind heaving huge waves; an exhausted dog heaving its chest.
verb
To throw (a heavy object) with great effort; hurl.
Heave the shot; heaved a brick through the window.
verb
To raise or haul up by means of a rope, line, or cable.
Hove the anchor up and set sail.
verb
To move (a ship) in a certain direction or into a certain position by hauling.
Hove the ship astern.
verb
To rise up or swell, as if pushed up; bulge.
The sidewalk froze and heaved.
verb
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To rise and fall in turn, as waves.
verb
To gag or vomit.
verb
To pant; gasp.
Heave for air.
verb
To move in a certain direction or to a specified position.
The frigate hove alongside.
verb
To pull at or haul a rope or cable.
The brig is heaving around on the anchor.
verb
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To push at a capstan bar or lever.
verb
An act of hurling; a throw, especially when considered in terms of distance.
A heave of 63 feet.
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.
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
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To raise or lift, esp. with effort.
verb
To make rise or swell, as one's chest.
verb
To utter (a sigh, groan, etc.) with great effort or pain.
verb
(geol.) To displace (a stratum or vein), as by the intersection of another stratum or vein.
verb
(naut.) To raise, haul, pull, move, etc. by pulling with a rope or cable.
verb
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To lift in this way and throw or cast.
verb
To throw.
verb
To swell up; bulge out.
verb
To rise and fall rhythmically.
Heaving waves.
verb
To make strenuous, spasmodic movements of the throat, chest, or stomach.
- To retch; vomit or strain to vomit.
- To pant; breathe hard; gasp.
verb
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To tug or haul (on or at a cable, rope, etc.)
verb
To push (at a capstan to turn it)
verb
To proceed; move.
A ship hove into sight.
verb
The act or effort of heaving.
noun
A throw.
noun
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The extent of horizontal displacement caused by a fault.
noun
An upward displacement of soil, rocks, etc., usually caused by frost or moisture.
noun
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.
verb
(intransitive) To be thrown up or raised; to rise upward, as a tower or mound.
verb
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(now rare) To cause to swell or rise, especially in repeated exertions.
The wind heaved the waves.
verb
(intransitive) To rise and fall.
Her chest heaved with emotion.
verb
(intransitive, nautical) To move in a certain direction or into a certain position or situation.
To heave the ship ahead.
verb
(intransitive) To make an effort to raise, throw, or move anything; to strain to do something difficult.
verb
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An effort to raise something, as a weight, or one's self, or to move something heavy.
noun
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.
noun
A horizontal dislocation in a metallic lode, taking place at an intersection with another lode.
noun
(nautical) The measure of extent to which a nautical vessel goes up and down in a short period of time. Compare with pitch.
noun
To throw or toss.
Heaved his backpack into the corner.
verb
The act or effort of raising or lifting something.
With a great heave hauled the fish onto the deck.
noun
An upward movement, especially of a ship or aircraft.
noun
The act or an instance of gagging or vomiting.
noun
heave into sight
- To rise or seem to rise over the horizon into view, as a ship.
idiom
heave ho!
- an exclamation used when heaving or lifting something heavy, as by sailors when heaving in the anchor
idiom
heave to
- to stop forward movement, esp. by bringing the vessel's head into the wind and keeping it there
- to stop
idiom
Origin of heave
- Middle English heven from Old English hebban kap- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- 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”)).
From Wiktionary