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单词 heel
释义

heeln.1int.

Brit. /hiːl/, U.S. /hil/
Forms: Old English hæla (rare), Old English healan (accusative plural, perhaps transmission error), Old English hel (Northumbrian, accusative singular), Old English hel- (in compounds), Old English hell- (in compounds), Old English–early Middle English hela, late Old English hæl- (Kentish, in compounds), Middle English ele, Middle English heyle, Middle English heyll, Middle English hile, Middle English hole (transmission error), Middle English hyelle, Middle English–1500s hele, Middle English–1500s hiele, Middle English (1500s–1600s Scottish) heille, Middle English–1600s heale, Middle English–1600s heele, 1500s heiles (plural), 1500s helle, 1500s– heel, 1600s eel, 1600s heal, 1800s– 'eel (regional and nonstandard); also Scottish pre-1700 eyl, pre-1700 heil, pre-1700 heill, pre-1700 heyl, pre-1700 heyll.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian hēla , Middle Dutch hiele (Dutch hiel ), Old Icelandic hæll , Old Swedish häl (Swedish häl ), Old Danish hæl (Danish hæl ) < the Germanic base of ho n.1 + a suffix causing i-mutation (compare -el suffix1).In Old English a weak masculine (as apparently also in Old Frisian); perhaps also once in Northumbrian as a strong masculine. Specific senses. In the specific use in cribbage (see sense A. 6) perhaps with reference to turning the card upside down; it is possible that the use may date from a time when court cards were single-ended rather than double-ended, so that one end of the card showed the heels of the figure depicted on it. There appears to be no support for the suggestion in quot. 1754 that the expression alludes to to lay (also set, clap, etc.) (a person) by the heels at Phrases 2b. In sense A. 7a after classical Latin calc-, calx heel (see calcar n.2) in its specific scientific Latin use in entomology. In sense A. 8 after heel v.3 9a. In sense A. 10i after French talon de quille, lit. ‘heel of the keel’ (1643). In sense A. 10l after classical Latin tālus ankle (see talus n.2) in its specific scientific Latin use in botany. In sense A. 10n after French talon talon n. (1805 or earlier in this sense).
A. n.1
I. Senses relating to a part of the body.
1. In a person.
a. The rear part of the foot, below and behind the ankle. Also: the bone forming this part of the foot (= heel bone n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > extremities > foot > [noun] > heel of
heeleOE
heel spureOE
hoc1000
lark-heel1865
rearfoot1935
eOE Glosses to Lorica of Laidcenn (Cambr. Ll.1.10) in A. B. Kuypers Bk. of Cerne (1902) 87 [Tege] talos cum tibis et calcibus : helan sconcum helum.
eOE Cleopatra Gloss. in J. J. Quinn Minor Lat.-Old Eng. Glossaries in MS Cotton Cleopatra A.III (Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.) (1956) 30 Calx, hela, hoh niþeweard.
OE Prognostics (Tiber.) (2007) 244 Gif þæt wif mid þam helum stæpeð swiðor on þa eorðan heo cenneð cnyht, gif heo mid þam tan stæpeð swiðor on þa eorþan heo cænneð mæden.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 88 A lutel hurt in þe echȝe. derueð mare þen amuchel iþe hele for þe flesch is deadre.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 898 Sparede he neyþer tos ne heles.
a1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesworth (Cambr.) (1929) l. 149 Taloun [glossed] hele.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 102 (MED) The calcane or þe hele [L. calcaneus] is not broken, for it is an hard bone and defended of ligamentez.
a1529 J. Skelton Phyllyp Sparowe (?1545) sig. D.iii To se her treade the grounde with heles short and rounde.
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 24 A fift of an inflamed heale.
1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper i. 17 A Serpent, a Basilisk, biting the heele, and stinging the face.
1711 E. Budgell Spectator No. 77. ⁋8 His Stockings are about his Heels.
1783 H. Swinburne Trav. in Two Sicilies I. 60 The Tarantella is a low dance, consisting of turns on the heel, much footing and snapping of the fingers.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xl. 440 Bravo! Heel over toe—cut and shuffle.
1860 W. C. Harris Man. Drill (ed. 3) 19 To change feet in marching, the advanced foot will complete its pace, and the ball of the rear foot will be brought up quickly to the heel of the advanced one.
1939 W. Haymaker tr. R. Bing Textbk. Nerv. Dis. xi. 318 Hypotonus of the quadriceps is sometimes so marked in tabes that the heel can be brought up to the buttock.
1998 Beach Metro Community News (Toronto) 10 Mar. 20/1 My father suffered a punctured lung, internal bleeding, as well as a broken heel and vertebrae.
2003 R. G. Price Ultimate Guide Weight Training Sports i. 14 Bend your left knee while keeping your right heel flat on the floor.
b. The foot as a whole.See also head to heel at head n.1 Phrases 3i(a).In quot. OE apparently: spec. the sole of the foot, translating the post-classical Latin phrase a plantis usque ad verticem ‘from the soles to the crown of the head’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > extremities > foot > [noun]
footOE
heelOE
toec1290
pettitoes1590
goers1612
hoofa1616
fetlock1645
stamper1652
fetterlock1674
pedestal1695
trotter1755
footsie1762
dew-beaters1811
pedal1838
mud-hook1850
tootsy1854
tootsicum1860
gun-boat1870
mundowie1880
plate of meat1887
trilby1895
dog1913
puppies1922
OE Glosses to Lorica of Laidcenn (Harl. 585) in E. Pettit Anglo-Saxon Remedies, Charms, & Prayers (2001) I. lxv. 54 Ut a plantis usque ad uertice[m] nullo membro foris intus egrotem : þætte from þæm hælum [eOE Cambr. Ll.1.10 ilum] oð ðæs heafdes heannesse nængum lime minum utan innan ic geuntrumige.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Margaret (Royal) (1934) 31 Þe meiden dude swa, leowsede & leoðede a lutel hire hele.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Royal) 214 Þet hit urne endelong hire leofliche bodi dun to þe helen.
c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Laud) l. 32 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 432 Þe moder werede þe strongue here..Fram þe scholdre to þe hele.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 4494 (MED) Y wolde..to-cleue hym þorȝ flechs & bon Doun riȝt to þe hele.
c1450 J. Lydgate Secrees (Sloane 2464) l. 2682 (MED) Of leggys and helys be tokenyth largenesse Mighty to be in strength of body.
1587 J. Hooker in tr. Giraldus Cambrensis Vaticinall Hist. Conquest Ireland Ep. Ded. sig. Aijv, in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II His bodie hanged by the heeles at Corke.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. xii. sig. Aa5 His looser garment..Flew about his heeles in wanton wize.
1604 S. Rowlands Looke to It sig. E3v You that do liue by shaking of the heele, By hopping, and by turning like a wheele.
1638 J. Milton Lycidas in Obsequies 21 in Justa Edouardo King Rough Satyres danc'd, and Fauns with cloven heel From the glad sound would not be absent long.
1707 M. Prior Hans Carvel in Poems Several Occasions 39 He..was carried off to Bed, John held his Heels, and Nan his Head.
1823 Mirror of Lit. 10 May 433/1 Nothing is more common in India than to see young girls walking on their heads, with their heels in the air.
1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede I. i. xi. 220 For ye're a stirrin' body in a mornin', an' ye've a light heel.
1916 Lantern Jan. 307 Tingling with all guilt from crown to heel, Stole soft on tiptoe, seeking what to steal.
1949 Mansfield (Ohio) News-Jrnl. 17 Jan. 6/4 Princess Margaret Rose has shown a fleet pair of heels..while doing a can-can.
1993 D. Mullins Times of used to Be 114 Shake your heels and dust your britches, boys,..and let's get into the swing of things.
2. In other vertebrate animals.
a.
(a) The hoof or foot of a horse, cow, or other quadruped. Frequently (in plural): the two hind feet. See also sense A. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > body and limbs > [noun] > paw or foot > hind foot > two hind feet
heelOE
OE tr. Medicina de Quadrupedibus (Vitell.) v. 250 Wið wambe wræce, genim haran helan [L. talum], ber on þinum hedclaþe.
a1500 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Douce) l. 386 His horse in fyne sandel was trapped to þe hele.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Gen. xlix. C Dan shalbe..an edder in the path, and byte the horse in the heles [a1425 Wycliffite, L.V. feet].
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 152v After that, hangyng him [sc. Hog] vp by the heeles, you shall plucke [etc.].
1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Twelfth Bk. Metamorphoses in Fables 437 He falls; and lashing up his Heels, his Rider throws.
1760 Harrison's House-keeper's Pocket-bk. (ed. 7) (Addenda) 199 Take a Pound and a half of Sheeps-Heels, take the Skin off, and lay it in Spring-water a Day.
1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 333 The horse..throwing high his heels, Starts to the voluntary race again.
1853 Ld. Tennyson Princess (ed. 5) Prol. 3 She trampled some beneath her horses' heels.
c1875 M. Jewry Every-day Cookery 128/2 Put two thoroughly clean cow-heels into a stew pan.
1950 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Tribune 30 Mar. 6/4 The stallion fell upon him..and whirled to lash out with his murderous heels.
1991 L. Kinsale Prince of Midnight xiv. 200 The black skidded back on its heels and turned tail.
(b) The rear part of the foot of a quadruped or bird; esp. the rear section of the foot or hoof of a horse or other ungulate. Also (in the foot of a horse): †either of the two lateral processes (wings) of the coffin bone (obsolete); either of two rounded prominences (bulbs) located on either side of the back of the hoof.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > body and limbs > [noun] > paw or foot > hoof > hind part of hoof
heel1575
1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lii. 154 The pleytes or wrincles which are betweene his heele and dewelawes [sic], should leaue print or forme on the ground.
1674 N. Cox Gentleman's Recreation 17 In soft or sandy ground they [sc. harts] slip upon the Heel, by reason of their weight, and thus by frequent staying themselves thereon it makes the Heel grow broader and greater.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) The Heel [of a horse]..is the lower hind Part of the Foot, comprehended between the Quarters, and opposite to the Toe.
1770 J. Clark Observ. Shoeing Horses p. ix Shews the under part of the coffin-bone. A. The round part, or toe. B. B. It's processes, or heels.
1801 R. Lawrence Inq. Struct. & Animal Œcon. Horse iii. 58 This disease attacks the frog of the foot, extending from its center up to the cleft of the heels.
1831 W. Youatt Horse xv. 286 On either side [of the coffin-bone]..are projections called the wings, or heels of the coffin-bone.
1835 W. Kirby On Power of God in Creation of Animals II. xvii. 194 The foot of birds is most commonly tetradactyle, with one toe or thumb at the heel and the other three in front.
?1847 T. Brown Man. Mod. Farriery 170 This..comprehends wounds and bruises of the coronet..in the fore feet, by the hind foot overreaching the heel when in rapid action and wounding it.
1981 A. Fraser in K. Thear & A. Fraser Compl. Bk. Livestock & Poultry (1988) viii. 210/2 The result is that the hind shoe cuts off a slice from the heels of the fore foot.
2001 Dressage June 25/4 The point of the exercise is to bring the breakover point back and to provide cover and support to the structures at the back of the foot, primarily the heel, bars and posterior frog.
(c) In a bird, esp. a gamecock or lark: the hind toe (hallux); = spur n.1 5a. Cf. heel spur n. 3. Also: a metal spur or gaff attached to each leg of a gamecock, in place of the natural spur, before a fight (cf. heel v.3 4a). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > parts of or bird defined by > [noun] > toe or claw
clawa700
toec1386
palma1425
pawc1440
talon1486
spur1548
heel1631
heel spur1871
pinion-claw1884
bird claw1889
1631 G. Markham Country Contentments (ed. 4) xix. 105 The best cocke maisters are of the opinion, that a sharp heeld cocke, though hee be a little false, is much better than the truest cocke which hath a dull heele, and hitteth seldome.
1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi viii. 411 Neither is it now any other then a common sport to see such creatures enter battell with their weaponed-wounding heels, and cruell pecking beaks.
1792 W. Osbaldiston Brit. Sportsman 346 His narrow heel, or sharpness of heel, is known no otherwise than by observation in fighting.
1804 M. Lewis Jrnl. 5 Aug. in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1986) II. 451 The heel or back toe is fixed to the leg above the palm of the foot.
1806 T. Smith Naturalist's Cabinet III. 295 All the lark species are distinguishable from other small birds by the length of their heels.
1863 J. G. Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. (new ed.) III. 19 I remarked the Vultures frequently attack each other, fighting with their claws or heels.
1876 E. A. Hart Tiny Houses & their Builders 187 This heel being long and straight, prevents it [sc. a lark] being able to cling to the branch of a tree, like other birds.
1938 T. Pridgen Courage iv. 72 The Northerners like short heels, regulation inch-and-a-quarter gaffs, and Whitehackles are suitable to this form of fight.
2007 Contra Costa Times (Nexis) 23 Mar. f4 The roosters have razor-sharp knives on their heels and they are pitted against each other in a fight to the death.
b. In digitigrade and ungulate quadrupeds, and in birds: the part of the hind limb containing the bone that is homologous to the human heel bone (the calcaneus or os calcis); (also) the tibiotarsal joint, the hock. Occasionally also: the calcaneus. †heel of the hock: the bony point of the hock.In these animals, in contrast to humans, this part of the hind limb is typically carried well above the ground.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > body and limbs > [noun] > paw or foot > part corresponding to heel
talona1425
heel1683
suffrago1842
1683 A. Snape Anat. Horse iv. xxii. 191 Whereas a Horse and other four-footed Beasts having four Feet upon the ground..do therefore go as it were upon Tip-toes, their Heels reaching as high up the Leg as to the Hock, which indeed is the Heel of the Horse.
1792 W. Osbaldiston Brit. Sportsman 93/2 These are of a wenny nature, and grow on the point of the elbow and the heel of the hock.
1874 E. Coues in S. F. Baird et al. Hist. N. Amer. Birds III. 545 The heel (calcaneus) is at the top of the tarsus.
1882 Cent. Mag. Dec. 237/1 In long-legged birds and waders an incision should be made back of the heel, that is to say, in the tibio-tarsal joint.
1907 L. S. Keyser Our Bird Comrades 190 The joint which extends backward, forming an angle with the next large bone, is really the bird's heel. Thus you perceive that most birds walk with their heels high in the air.
2004 K. M. Parsons Great Dinosaur Controv. 236 Dinosaurs and birds also lengthen their stride by walking on their toes, heel off the ground.
3. Uses in which the heel is viewed primarily as a means or instrument.
a. The heel of a person or animal viewed as an instrument of kicking.Frequently in to raise (also lift) one's heel against and variants, with reference to John 13:18 (see quot. c1384).See also to kick up one's heels at Phrases 2g(a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > striking > striking with specific thing > [noun] > with the foot > kicking > instrument of
heelOE
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John xiii. 18 Qui manducat mecum panem leuabit contra me calcaneum suum : seðe brucað..mec mið þæt hlaf he ahefeð..ongægn mec hel..his.
lOE Homily: In Cena Domini (Faust. A.ix) in B. Assmann Angelsächsische Homilien u. Heiligenleben (1889) 161 Se man, se ðe þigeð þysne hlaf mid me, he ahefð his helan wið me.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 109 Mi leof is ifatted..& smit me mit his heale.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) John xiii. 18 He that etith my breed, schal reyse his heele aȝens me.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xl[i]. 9 Yee euen myne owne familier frende..hath lift vp his hele agaynst me.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 313 They must not be afraid of other horsses..but..rush into the battell, fighting (as is said) with heeles and mouth.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iii. i. 18 I should kicke being kickt, and being at that passe, You would keepe from my heeles, and beware of an asse. View more context for this quotation
1648 Dulman turn'd Doctor 8 Some kicking heeles full well I wot, Wert thou a Paul, would spurne the out of place.
1722 A. Ramsay Fables & Tales 14 Reply'd the Ass, and made a Heel.
1724 N. Amhurst Oculus Britanniæ 3 Thy god-like fury shoots and fires my brain..which sometimes provokes thy righteous heel To kick obdurate whigs, with rampant zeal.
1733 A. Pope Of Use of Riches 4 With spurning heels.
1760 J. Wesley Let. 4 Sept. (1931) IV. 104 This owing..to a false brother, who, after eating of my bread, privately lifts up his heel against me.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Ode to Naples in Posthumous Poems (1824) 117 Fair Milan..lifts her heel To bruise his head.
1889 Outing June 211/2 He tightened the girth regardless of spiteful heels and savagely threatening teeth.
1919 J. Burroughs Let. Jan. in C. Johnson John Burroughs Talks (1922) xxii. 349 The little beast is very free with her heels—so free that Dr. Barrus dare not go near her.
2000 R. J. Spahn tr. H. Lienhard New Worlds to Seek i. ix. 41 Had I been allowed to treat them according my inclination I would have been quite ready to do so, but instead of wine, with fists and heels.
b. A person's (spurred) heel used as a means to manage a horse when riding; the management of a horse with the heel. Also: a spur.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > [noun] > art of horse-riding > use of hands and legs > management by (spurred) heel
heelc1400
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > parts of footwear > [noun] > heel > types of
heelc1400
cork1609
Polonia heel1613
high heel1645
French heel1651
spur box1862
rubber heel1867
boot-heel1870
Louis Quinze1875
Louis heel1906
Cuban heel1908
brogue heel1927
spike heel1929
stiletto heel1931
wedge-heel1939
stiletto1953
wedge1959
stacked heel1960
stilt heel1973
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 777 (MED) Þenne gederez he to Gryngolet with þe gilt helez.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 99v Ector..Toke his horse with his helis hasted before.
1566 T. Blundeville Arte of Rydynge (rev. ed.) v. f. 7v, in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe I woulde not wyshe you to be to busye in helpynge him, vntill you can kepe tyme and measure, with both hand and heele.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. iii. sig. C6v So bent his speare, and spurd his horse with yron heele.
a1653 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 62 It's time to lend my horse a heele.
1653 Duchess of Newcastle Poems & Fancies 183 To stop, to goe, to leap, to run, and yet Obey the heele, the hand, the wand, the bit.
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. iii. 200 Then ply'd With Iron-heel his Courser's side.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) This Horse understands the Heels well.
1792 W. Osbaldiston Brit. Sportsman 395 The word heel is taken for the spur itself; hence they say..‘he knows the heels; he obeys the heels; he answers the heels; he is very well upon the heels’.
1852 C. Kingsley Andromeda 300 As..some colt..at last, in pride of obedience Answers the heel.
1888 M. E. Kennard Glorious Gallop 92 She gave Galopard a slight touch of the heel, and trotted briskly on.
1940 W. Fawcett Young Horseman xii. 151 The horse is taught with voice, hand and heel to turn away from the side on which he feels the rein against his neck.
1954 H. M. Llewellyn in M. P. Ansell Jumping 12 He has to use tact with a horse and so develops a gentle heel and a caressing hand.
2014 Herald Sun (Austral.) (Nexis) 24 Oct. 109 The best riders in Hong Kong at that time..used hands and heels.
c. In plural. The heels considered as the last view of a fugitive, and hence emblematic of fleeing or (more broadly) locomotion.See also to show a clean pair of heels at show v. Phrases 1a and to take to one's heels at Phrases 2d(b).
ΚΠ
c1475 Gregory's Chron. in J. Gairdner Hist. Coll. Citizen London (1876) 198 (MED) The Erle of Wyltschyre..fought manly with the helys, for he was a feryd of lesynge of beute.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. cli. 180 Suche as had their horses by them mounted and shewed their horses heles, and thenglysshmen after them in chase.
1583 P. Stubbes Anat. Abuses sig. Hivv He showes them a faire pair of heeles, and away goeth he.
1583 T. Stocker tr. Tragicall Hist. Ciuile Warres Lowe Countries i. f. 96 The rest, full of lyfe in the heeles, saued them selues.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. v. 34 Saying, our Grace is onely in our Heeles, And that we are most loftie Run-awayes. View more context for this quotation
1623 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. VII. O.T. xix. 445 Many a one hath had better counsell from his heels, than from his elbowes.
a1645 W. Browne tr. M. Le Roy Hist. Polexander (1647) iv. ii. 197 One squadron..he routed and put to their heeles.
1736 N. Bailey et al. Dictionarium Britannicum (ed. 2) (at cited word) One Pair of Heels is worth two Pair of Hands. That is, it is better to run for it, than be beaten, where a Man has not the Courage or Force to withstand his Enemy.
1797 A. Radcliffe Italian I. vii. 182 He seems to have as swift a pair of heels to assist in carrying him off, as any Lazaro in Naples need desire.
1813 W. Scott Rokeby p. xlii He..set off along the trading path, trusting to his heels.
1894 Jrnl. Anthropol. Soc. Bombay 3 457 They used to..clear out of the place as fast as their heels carried them.
1936 R. G. Plowhead Lucretia Ann on Sagebrush Plains xiv. 305 Neither knew that with swift heels Lucretia Ann was happily capering along behind.
2001 R. L. Eickhoff tr. Homer Odyssey viii. 156 The tortoise catches the hare! Cunning has proved far better than your twinkling heels, eh, Ares?
d. The heel viewed as a means to crush or push down, and hence as an instrument of destruction or oppression.See also iron heel n. at iron adj. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > oppression > [noun] > instrument or symbol of
yokeeOE
rod of iron1526
iron fist1600
heel1601
millstonea1660
the world > movement > impact > striking > striking with specific thing > [noun] > with the foot > trampling > instrument of
heel1601
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > extremities > foot > [noun] > heel of > as instrument of trampling down or crushing
heel1601
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. xviii. v. 554 That the lords eye is far better for the land, than his heele.
1740 Disc. Late Fast 9 The curse of crouching to a tyrant, and groaning under the heel of an oppressor.
1819 P. B. Shelley Cenci iv. iv. 77 Our innocence is as an armed heel To trample accusation.
1867 G. Smith Three Eng. Statesmen iv. 273 He had been too hasty in setting his heel on the agents of tyranny and corruption.
1879 H. George Progress & Poverty v. ii. 257 Those classes upon whom the iron heel of modern civilization presses.
1918 T. M. Kettle Ways of War 141 Belgium..has been mashed to a bloody pulp where the heel of the Prussian..has passed.
1974 Post-Star (Glens Falls, N.Y.) 24 Oct. 4 Prohibition still had its heel on the neck of the thirsty.
2000 L. Bradley Bass Culture (2001) ii. 34 It was a clampdown..designed to keep the sufferahs under the heel of authorities.
4.
a. The part of the sole of a boot or shoe which lies underneath a person's heel, esp. a distinct element of the sole which raises a person's heel to a greater or lesser extent. Also: the back part of the upper of a shoe or boot. Cf. Compounds 2a.Cuban heel, high heel, kitten heel, rubber heel, stacked heel, stiletto heel, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > parts of footwear > [noun] > heel
heel1409
heel piece1674
1409 in H. T. Riley Memorials London (1868) 572 [No quarter, called] forforte, [of] overlether, [made of new leather, or quarter of] overlether [behind, called the] hele [of new leather, shall be pieced with old leather].
a1425 (?c1350) Ywain & Gawain (1964) l. 683 (MED) Þan fel þe portculis onone..Thorgh sadel and stede it smate al down, His spores of his heles it schare.
a1500 (?a1325) Otuel & Roland (1935) l. 1369 Men brouȝten hym..two spores that were boun, On hys helys thay ham dyȝt.
1562–3 Act 5 Elizabeth I c. 8 §19 in Statutes of Realm (1963) IV. i. 432 Into the nether parte of any Bootes, (the inner Sole and Heele of the Shoe onely except..).
1592 R. Greene Quip for Vpstart Courtier sig. D3v You wil ioine a neates leather vampy to a calues leather heele: is not heere good stuffe maister shoomaker?
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iv. i. 119 Gabrels pumpes were all vnpinkt i'th heele . View more context for this quotation
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 146 Their shooes..are vsually sharpe at the toe..the heeles shod with thin Iron.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 7. ⁋16 One of his Shoes had lost an Heel.
1716 J. Gay Trivia i. 3 The wooden Heel may raise the Dancer's Bound.
1835 Weekly Visitor 6 Jan. 3/1 Cast another glance at the poor wretch, as she stoops to adjust her brown paper sock, and to pull up the trodden down heel of her saturated shoe.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 397 She determined..whether his heels must be high or low.
1875 J. Grant One of Six Hundred I. vi. 89 Berkeley..made a species of pirouette on the brass heels of his glazed boots.
1921 Boot & Shoe Recorder 25 June 175/3 Ballet slippers, made of black kid or sheepskin with flat sole and no heel, are primarily designed..for dancing.
1951 B. Cleary Ellen Tebbits ii. 42 When she was grown up she was going to have a yellow dress and a pair of red shoes with teetery heels.
1994 Which? May 18/3 The latest trainer technology consists of two inflatable chambers in the heel.
2001 J. Baggott Girl Talk v. 58 Piper had curly brown hair and wore beat-up, untied L.L. Bean moccasins with crushed heels.
2011 P. James Dead Man's Grip 236 The heel was hanging by a strip of leather... She wondered if she had enough time to hobble to a heel bar and get it fixed.
b. In plural. High-heeled shoes; (now) esp. stilettos.Short for high heels: see high heel n.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > shoe > [noun] > types of > with specific heels > high heels
high shoe1606
heels1667
court shoe1885
spike heel1929
stiletto heel1931
wedge-heel1939
wedge shoe1939
wedge sole1939
wedgie1940
court1959
wedge1959
pump1967
stilt heel1973
Manolo Blahnik1988
1667 R. L'Estrange tr. F. de Quevedo Visions vii. 317 One of the Gang..was..rais'd upon a pair of Heels that made her legs longer than her Body.
1710 Tatler No. 151 I should be glad to see an able Head make so good a Figure..as a Pair of Red Heels.
1847 Water-cure Jrnl. Nov. 321/1 The tendons would not be contracted, as they are in such as wear heels.
1952 S. Plath Jrnl. 20 Sept. (2000) 145 Why do I not wear heels..because I look like such a bobby soxer in flat shoes?
1995 K. Atkinson Behind Scenes at Museum (1996) ii. 93 Bunty..was quite the thing nowadays in heels and stockings and even lipstick.
2011 C. Moran How to be Woman (2012) xi. 202 Walking in heels is a skill as impressive as being able to tightrope walk.
c. In plural. Footsteps made by a person wearing shoes with (esp. high) heels; the sound of this.
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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > repeated sound or succession of sounds > [noun] > sound of footsteps
stepa1616
tramping1660
stump1690
tit-tat1699
treading1709–10
pad1879
plod-plodding1881
heels1883
flip-flop1889
clump1891
pid-pad1900
plod1902
clomp1912
1883 Alton (Illinois) Daily Tel. 20 Nov. The click of heels was heard on the pavement, and along came a chap with his hands in his pockets.
1942 R. L. Haig-Brown Timber xiii. 171 Julie..liked the walk home.., her head high, the sound of her heels crisp and sharp against the sidewalk.
1973 P. Roth Great Amer. Novel iii. 142 They could hear her heels ringing on the concrete runway to the clubhouse.
1986 N.Y. Times 25 June c1 The clickety-click of hurrying heels.
2015 Toronto Star (Nexis) 22 May (Business section) s8 The sound of the office door opening with a crash and heels echoing on old hardwood floors.
5. The rounded part of a stocking, sock, etc., designed to cover a person's heel.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and feet > [noun] > stocking > parts of > other
shanka1547
heelc1571
heeling1591
stocking-sole1607
scogger1615
calfa1658
stocking top1664
seama1825
rig1838
ladder-stop1931
c1571 E. Campion Two Bks. Hist. Ireland (1963) ii. ix. 129 He..bare it [sc. a letter] a daye in the hele of his hose.
1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant ii. ix. 92 That the stockings may not thereby be worn out, they sew a piece of red Leather to the heel of the stocking.
1788 E. Picken Poems & Epist. 183 The cause Was a rent in the heel of her—S tocking!
1802 Med. Repository 5 459 A part of the heel of one of the stockings was not decomposed.
1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 305/1 Upon the ease with which the heel fits the wearer much of the comfort of the stocking depends.
1940 Consumers Union Rep. Dec. 216 Nylon..will outlast silk in the heels and toes.
1982 A. Tyler Dinner at Homesick Restaurant (1983) ii. 35 The heel of his black rayon sock was worn so thin it was translucent.
2003 Independent (Nexis) 3 Mar. 9 Women in comfy pants and tights with holes in the heel.
6. Cards. his (also rarely her) heels: used to refer to the jack. Frequently in two for his heels: (in Cribbage) two points awarded to the dealer for turning up a jack as the starter (cf. nob n.3 2).See discussion in etymology section. Quot. 1729 is in the context of a game of ombre, which is of a completely different type, and so unlikely to show a connection with the later use in cribbage.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > cribbage > [noun] > jack
his heels1754
nob1821
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card or cards > [noun] > picture-card > jack > in specific games
pur1592
Tom1647
maker1753
his heels1754
bragger1807
nob1821
right bower1839
1729 J. Swift Jrnl. Dublin Lady 6 What Agony of Soul she feels, To see a Knave's inverted Heels, She draws up Card, by Card, to find, Good fortune, peeping from behind.]
1754 ‘G. Smith’ Serious Refl. Card-playing 16 A Friend of the same Party whisper'd that he was safe enough, for he had got His Heels. This, it seems, is a Cant Name for the Knave, as being one, I suppose, that should be laid by the Heels.
1796 Grose's Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3) (at cited word) To turn up his heels, to turn up the knave of trumps at the game of all-fours.
1850 H. G. Bohn et al. Hand-bk. Games 275 (Cribbage) Should the turn-up card itself be a Knave, the dealer immediately scores two points..which by way of antithesis with ‘his nob’, are called ‘two for his heels’.
1882 Society 11 Nov. 9/1 In cribbage parlance, it was one for her nob and two for her heels.
1923 F. Swinnerton Young Felix i. iv. 100 The gurgle of laughter which Felix always gave at scoring either ‘one for his nob’ or ‘two for his heels’.
1981 G. Brandreth Everyman's Indoor Games 98 If the start is a jack the dealer pegs two points—‘2 for his heels’.
7. Entomology. A part of the leg of an insect.
†a. The base of the first tarsal segment when it is curved or enlarged to join the tibia. Also more generally: the first tarsal segment. Obsolete.
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1809 W. Kirby Let. 27 Nov. in J. Freeman Life Rev. W. Kirby (1852) xv. 302 I don't see that we have any term for the point of meeting of two joints. With respect to tibia and femur, geniculus will do very well; the other end of tibia and tarsus, if necessary to be noticed, would with equal propriety be denominated calx or heel.
1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. 386 Calx (the Heel). The curving part of the Planta..by which it inosculates with the Tibia.
1883 Explan. Terms used in Entomol. (Brooklyn Entomol. Soc.) 21 Metotarsus, heel, first tarsal joint, when greatly differing from the other joints in breadth and length, (as in some Hymenoptera).
b. A bristle or spine located on the tibia; a spur. Now rare.
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1815 Edinb. Encycl. (1830) IX. 96/2 Tibiæ spinose, armed with heels.
1825 T. Say Gloss. Say's Entomol. 32 Spinulæ, spinous processes at the base of the tibia, in Hymenopterous insects, including velum; they are the ‘spines’ or ‘spurs’ of Degeer, and heels of Leach.
1832 J. Stephenson Med. Zool. & Mineral. 213 Posterior tibiæ without spurs or heels.
1989 S. W. Nichols Torre-Bueno Gloss. Entomol. 326 Heel.., in adult Hymenoptera, tibial spur.
†c. The lower end of the tibia. Obsolete. rare.
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1867 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 9 The lower end of the tibia projects into a prominent heel on which it treads heavily.
1898 A. S. Packard tr. V. Gruber in Text-bk. Entomol. 106 Let the same [left fore leg] be extended and fixed on the ground by means of its sharp claws and its pointed heel [Ger. seines..Fersenabsatzes].
8. Rugby. An instance of pushing or kicking the ball out of the back of a scrum or ruck with one’s heel. Also (and earliest) in heel out. Cf. heel v.3 9a.See also quick heel n. at quick adj., n.1, and adv. Compounds 1b.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > [noun] > actions or manoeuvres
scrimmaging1776
throw on1845
rush1857
catch1858
maul1860
touch1863
mauling1864
touch-in-goal1869
goal-kicking1871
throw-forward1871
sidestepping1877
handing1882
punting1882
heel1886
touch kicking1889
forward pass1890
scrumming1892
touch-finding1895
heeling1896
wheel1897
scrag1903
reverse pass1907
jinka1914
hand-off1916
play-the-ball1918
gather1921
pivot pass1922
sidestep1927
smother-tackle1927
stiff-arm1927
heel-back1929
scissors1948
rucking1949
loose scrummaging1952
cut-through1960
pivot break1960
put-in1962
chip kicking1963
box kicking1971
peel1973
chip and chase1976
tap penalty1976
1886 Leeds Mercury 18 Oct. 3/2 Naylor getting the ball from a heel out, ran nicely into the visitors' territory.
1893 Guy's Hosp. Gaz. 11 Feb. 54/2 From a heel out, Jones, after a dodgy run, secured a try.
1899 F. Mitchell in M. Shearman et al. Football (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) (new ed.) xvi. 216 If the opposing forwards make a clean heel through the centre, then there is practically no chance of your getting the ball.
1948 Times 1 Nov. 6/5 His punting to touch..only becomes ordinary if the spoilers take full advantage of every slow heel and pass from the scrummage.
1992 News of World 15 Nov. 56/5 Scrum-half Dewi Morris took advantage of a sloppy South African heel for England's third try.
2016 Irish Independent (Nexis) 1 Jan. People who say the art of hooking is dead should watch the Ulsterman's timing of the heel at scrum time.
II. Something resembling a heel in form or position.
9.
a. The crusty end of a loaf of bread.In quot. c1390: (perhaps) the crust or end of a pie.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > bread > loaf > [noun] > crust of loaf
crusta1330
heelc1390
kissing-crust1708
undercrust1738
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. viii. l. 181 I nolde ȝeue for þi pardoun one pye hele!
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Esquignonner, to cut, or breake off a lumpe, cantle, crustie heele, or peece from a loafe of bread.
1653 J. Ford Queen iii. sig. D3/2 To have our brains rubb'd out with the heel of a brown manchet.
1720 T. Gordon Humourist I. 76 She goes to Silly the Cook-maid for a Dish of Broth, or the Heel of a Loaf.
1756 N. Robinson Treat. Virtues Crust of Bread ix. 74 Eating an ounce or ten drachms of the crust or heel of a loaf made of the purest wheat.
1814 W. Scott Waverley III. xvi. 240 The heel o' the white loaf that came from the bailie's. View more context for this quotation
1873 Good Words 14 615/1 If..the remainder had been money instead of the ‘heel’ of a week-old loaf, she could have got a pinch of tea with it.
1951 C. Sellars Open Westport 108 His mother sliced off the square heel of the loaf—the middle part that curved up was Curly Kate.
1970 Mattoon (Illinois) Jrnl. Gaz. 27 July 2/1 The birds usually ate the heels.
2011 Titusville (Pa.) Herald 7 Apr. 7/4 Save the heels for croutons or make into bread crumbs to use in another recipe.
b. The rind of a cheese.
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the world > food and drink > food > dairy produce > cheese > [noun] > rind of cheese
tripc1386
rind1577
heel1656
1656 A. Kellie Truths Plea for Infants sig. A4v Your ignorance of Orthography appears and shews plainly that you know no more what an Eccentricke, Epicycle or Phænomenon is, then the heele of an old Cheese.
1756 G. S. Green Parson’s Parlour 14 A homely Shelf—but amply grac'd, With Spoons..An Inkhorn, and a Heel of Cheese.
a1774 R. Fergusson Poems (1785) 151 I wat weel They'll stoo the kebbuck to the heel.
1849 C. Dickens David Copperfield (1850) xi. 117 The heel of a Dutch cheese.
1895 Trans. Gaelic Soc. of Inverness 1883–4 19 271 The small heel of an exceedingly hard old cheese.
1943 Ackley (Iowa) World Jrnl. 29 Apr. 6/1 The heel of a cheese is usually a hard little piece that can not be sliced without crumbling.
1972 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gaz. 2 Jan. a23/1 Cold weather menus [for birds] may include nutmeats, cheese heels, pastry and bread crumbs [etc.].
2015 Guardian (Nexis) 6 June Anita was obsessive about waste: the last drip of milk, the last heel of cheese—all had to be carefully conserved.
10.
a. gen. The rear, lower end, or base of something; a part protruding from this.In quot. ?c1450: the lower hem of a long gown.
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the world > space > relative position > end or extremity > [noun] > lower end
heel?c1450
foot1561
bottom1621
breech1678
talon1869
?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 31 (MED) Thei furre her colers..and thei furre her heles, the whiche is doubed with filth.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 255 An Instrument..for the spreading of Mole-casts, the Teeth of which being Iron and broad, rakes out the Mould and spreads it, and at the other side where there is a kind of heel or knob, 'tis very convenient to break clots with.
1747 R. Maxwell Suppl. Ministers Widows Scheme 28 Then, with the Heel of the Plough..make as straight a Mark betwixt the two Sticks as possible.
?1795 J. Butler Plan of Improvem. in Constr. & Use of Fire-arms 17 If the cloth is placed as directed to blunt the blow of the cock and any cushion placed between the heel of the hammer and the spring, the musquet is much improved.
1807 A. Young Gen. View Agric. Essex I. v. 139 The plough heel, comprising the position of the breast behind, and forming, together with the end of the rest, that wedge which fills up the furrow.
1839 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 27 168 Having your rudder upon deck, let a hole be bored through the heel.
1848 tr. E. Meyer in S. C. Brees Third Series Railway Pract. 198 We will call the end forming the centre of rotation, the heel of the switch, and the tapering end the point.
1879 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 19 Aug. 321/2 The combination of the outside bent frame-bar.., the inside bent frame-bar.., the tongue pivoted at its heel to said bars, the driving-wheel.
1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. Heel, the thick or broad end of a wedge-shaped piece, the broad end of a railway switch for example.
1903 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 28 July 922/1 A tailpiece carried by said knuckle and provided with a projecting heel.
1935 Laura Standard & Crystal Brook Courier (Austral.) 5 Apr. The fine soil pouring back over the heel of the share immediately covers it.
1997 B. MacLaverty Grace Notes (1998) 49 Occasionally the steam iron exhaled. When she set it down on its heel there was a metallic click.
2003 Oxoniensia 67 310 The heel has the maker's mark ‘S C’ in serif stamped on it. This is probably the mark of Samuel Carter, part of a clay pipe manufacturing dynasty.
b. The lower or handle end of a weapon or tool; (also) the part of the blade in a weapon or tool nearest to the shaft or handle.
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1591 W. Garrard & R. Hitchcock Arte of Warre 55 The heele and tippe of their pikes would be equally bolden.
1594 I. G. tr. G. di Grassi True Arte Def. sig. P4v With the heele, or the blunt end of the Holberd [he] shall strike the enimie in the brest.
1619 E. Davies Art War i. viii. 76 It is necessarie for him to..so carie the Butt-end or heele of his pike, that it may bee iust ouer against the ioynt of the hamme of the souldier.
1787 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Norfolk I. 241 It is universally mown into swath;—with a small bow fixed at the heel of the sithe.
1797 W. Pepper Abridgment New Broad Sword Exercise (ed. 2) 14 Bring the Sword hand to a level with the right ear, the heel of the Sword in the palm of the hand.
1812 Examiner 31 Aug. 552/1 Two hairs on the heel of it [sc. a razor].
1875 Indian Med. Gaz. 1 Feb. 43/2 The muscles were then divided down to the bone with a clean cut by a catlin from the heel to its point.
1903 Model Engineer & Electrician 9 July 41/1 Never, in roughing, push the tool straight at the work..; but always roll it on its heel.
1984 W. Barton Chip Carving 18 Concentrate on putting more pressure on the heel of the blade rather than the tip.
2014 G. Kristian God of Vengeance 48 He killed the first man..with an overhead swing similar to Slagfid's but using the heel of the axe rather than the blade to crush the helmeted head of the man opposite.
†c. Botany. An elongated hollow projection at the base of a petal or corolla; a spur (spur n.1 7b). Also called calcar; cf. calcar n.2 1. Obsolete.
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1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 159 The flowers be likewise gaping,..with a little horne or heele hanging behinde euery one of them.
1640 J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum xiv. xv. 1356 A large head of pale purple flowers, spotted with a deeper purple colour, each flower having a heele of the same colour behind it.
1665 J. Rea Flora ii. iv. 179 Stalks bearing in a spike divers small flowers, made in the fashion of the common Wild Tode-flax, but lesser, and without heels behind.
1728 R. Bradley Dict. Botanicum at Orchis The Belly of the Flower is white, having on the backside a crooked Heel or Horn.
1760 P. Miller Figures Most Beautiful Plants Gardeners Dict. II. clxvi. 111/1 The Flowers of the Linaria having a Spur or Heel, which is not in those of the Antirrhinum.
1855 W. Thompson Eng. Flower Garden 104 In the Larkspur and Monkshood, both sepals and petals undergo modification, the heel being formed by the upper sepal.
d. Nautical. The lower or fixed end of a mast or other spar. Cf. Compounds 2b.In quot. 1602 in plural in same sense.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > spar > [noun] > parts of
heel1602
heeling1794
heel piece1794
housingc1860
1602 J. Marston Hist. Antonio & Mellida i. sig. C2 Now gustie flawes strook vp the very heeles Of our maine mast.
1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. vi. 28 It is..reeued thorow the heele of the Top mast thwart ships, and then made fast to a ring.
1705 tr. G. Guillet de Saint-Georges Gentleman's Dict. iii. Heel of the mast, signifies that part of the Foot of any Mast which is par'd away slanting on the Aftward side thereof, in order that it may be Stay'd aftward on.
1776 Jrnl. 20 Feb. in A. J. Wahll Voy. of Canceaux (2003) 360 Carpenters employed securing the heel of the bowsprit.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxx. 107 The tightest ship..will leak more or less round the heel of the bowsprit.
1895 ‘J. Bickerdyke’ in ‘J. Bickerdyke’ et al. Sea Fishing (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) ix. 288 The heel of the boom rests on the rail, and is perfectly free, except that it is kept from running inboard by a heel rope rove through it and made fast to the rail.
1938 Mariner's Mirror 24 418 The fore-mast is stepped far forward... Its heel rests at deck level.
2000 R. F. Duncan Dorothy Elizabeth xii. 116 Would a notch in the heel of the bowsprit suffice to hold the mooring line?
e. Conchology and Zoology. Originally: the part of a bivalve shell which contains the hinge. In later use also: the posterior region of the foot of a mollusc where it joins the visceral mass; (also) a heel-like projection on the foot of certain molluscs.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > Testacea (shelled molluscs) > shelled mollusc > shell > part of
auricle1665
heel1673
lip1681
mouth1681
whirl1681
rib1711
antihelix1721
canal1734
columella1755
vesture1755
body whirl1776
fent1776
pillar1776
pillar-lip1776
septum1786
aperture1794
body whorl1807
costa1812
seam1816
spine1822
umbo1822
varix1822
peristome1828
summit1828
nucleus1833
concameration1835
lunula1835
nympha1836
nymph1839
lunule1842
peritreme1848
body chamber1851
axis1866
umbone1867
liration1904
1673 J. Ray Observ. Journey Low-countries 341 On one side, viz. that next the Palace, they have placed the figure of the heel of a cochle-shell made in stone, and from thence have drawn rayes or ribs of stone (answering to the ridges or striæ of a cochle-shell) to the edges round.
1692 J. Ray Misc. Disc. Dissolution World 115 It seems strange to me that two shells should be so adapted together at the heel as to shoot out to the same extension and the upper and nether valve be of different Figure.
1742 J. Martyn & E. Chambers tr. Philos. Hist. & Mem. Royal Acad. Sci. Paris II. 377 All the kinds of muscles..have a sort of leather ligament, which binds the two shells together at the posterior and thicker part, called the heel thereof.
1799 tr. B. Faujas-de-St.-Fond Trav. in Eng., Scotl., & Hebrides II. 164 An oyster from the coast of Guinea, pierced by one of these pholades, which are still as they were found in the heel of the oyster.
1836 Penny Cycl. V. 312 The heel of the larger valve deeply notched up to the border of articulation.
1855 W. Clark Mollusca Testacea 95 The mantle..is largely open ventrally for the passage of a hyaline foot, that has a byssal groove at the heel.
1958 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 241 443 In the Lucinidae..there is division into a spade-like heel and a typically long vermiform foot.
1991 Jrnl. Shellfish Res. 12 226/2 Heel depth is not always a reliable indicator of age.
2008 P. E. Saucedo & P. C. Southgate in P. C. Southgate & J. S. Lucas Pearl Oyster v. 168 Other measures which have been used in studies with pearl oysters include..heel depth, the thickness of the valve at the hinge line.
f. On a gate: the upright timber or post at the side on which the hinges are mounted. Cf. head n.1 49.
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the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > that which or one who closes or shuts > a barrier > [noun] > gate > upright timbers of gate
heada1642
heel1730
hanging-head1888
dagger-
1730 E. White Observ. France & Italy II. 499 That bar which is for opening and shutting is placed behind, towards the Heel of the Gate.
1854 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 15 250 The head and heel [of gates in Oxford], called here the ‘har’, are usually made of elm.
1893 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 3rd Ser. 4 38 A gate is a rectangular frame consisting of ‘heel’ and ‘head’ and top and bottom rails.
1919 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 4 Nov. 88/2 A flat spring secured to the shank and engaging the heel of the gate.
1968 J. Arnold Shell Bk. Country Crafts 114 The vertical at the hinge end, variously known as the harr, arr or heel.
2011 A. R. Gehring Homesteading Handbk. iv. 183/1 The heel of the gate, made of angle iron, is fitted with winding brackets.
†g. Architecture and Joinery. A cornice moulding with an S-shaped cross section, with the upper part convex and the lower part concave; a cyma reversa. Cf. ogee n. 2a, talon n. 3b. Obsolete.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > architectural ornament > [noun] > moulding > other mouldings
bowtell1376
crownwork1594
protypum1601
chaplet1623
bandeleta1645
bedding-moulding1664
quadra1664
surbase1678
platband1696
bed-moulding1703
eyebrow1703
square1703
gorge1706
nerve1728
heel1734
quirk-moulding1776
star1781
bead1799
rope moulding1813
zigzag1814
chevron-moulding1815
nebule1823
billet1835
dancette1838
pellet moulding1838
vignette moulding1842
bird's beak moulding1845
beak-head ornament1848
beak-head1849
billet moulding1851
beading1858
bead-work1881
Venetian dentil1892
chevron-work-
1734 Builder's Dict. I Heel, in Carpentry, an inverted Ogee.
1755 Ess. Archit. iv. 99 The cornish is composed of a heel, of a dentil which ought never to be cut into teeth, of an astragal..of brackets with their hinder parts crowned with an heel, an eve, with a heel and with an ogee.
h. Architecture and Building. The lower part of a rafter at the point where it rests on a wall or horizontal beam.
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1754 Contract Building Exchange Edinb. 24 The feet of the whole couples shall butt with a heel against a wall-plate, and be spiked down to it.
1797 P. Nicholson Carpenter & Joiner's Assistant 65 That part of the tie-beam, which left standing, to receive the heel of the rafter, is easily split away.
1855 T. H. Burrowes Pennsylvania School Archit. iii. 41 The heels to be secured to the wall plates, well bedded in mortar.
1876 W. J. Fryer Archit. Iron Work 132 Expansion is also provided against by fastening down one heel with wall bolts.
1953 Proc. Royal Irish Acad. 1952–3 C. 55 38 The weight of the stone-work of the parapet wall..would have kept the heel of the beam down.
2000 L. Koel Construction Print Reading x. 108/1 The ends of the joists can then be nailed to the heels of the rafters as well as the wall plates.
i. Nautical. The part of a ship's keel nearest to the stern.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > bottom or part under water > [noun] > keel and kelson > keel > aft extremity
heel1769
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Transl. French Terms Talon de la quille, the after-end of the keel, into which the foot of the stern-post is tenanted: this is also called the ship's heel.
1779 G. Cartwright Jrnl. Resid. Coast Labrador 11 July (1792) II. 459 I looked at the Caplin, and found her keel was so much bent, under her dillroom, that the heel of it touched the ground.
1819 S. M. Lloyd Majesty 10 Cut the mirror with its pondrous keel, Leaving a ruffled track behind its heel.
1895 Boston Daily Globe 13 Dec. 8/2 Danger of striking the ship's heel on the outer shoal.
1950 Jrnl. Malayan Branch Royal Asiatic Soc. 23 123 These have rather fine lines, with a straight keel and the fore-foot and heel well rounded.
1990 T. Cunliffe Easy on Helm i. 4 When making stern-way she will be less likely to become unmanageable by tripping over the heel of her own keel than will Suzie.
j. Farriery. Either of the ends of a horseshoe; (also) a projection beneath either end, designed to prevent slipping. Cf. calkin n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > shoeing of horses > [noun] > horseshoe > parts of horseshoe
calkin1445
sponge1566
stopping1566
calk1587
spurn1696
quarter1727
welt1758
heel1770
cock1789
cork1806
seating1831
toe-weight1901
1770 J. Clark Observ. Shoeing Horses 22 It is also a common practice..to turn up the heels of the shoes into what is called Cramps or Caukers.
1793 C. Vial de Sainbel Lect. Elements Farriery iii. 102 It is better to supply this defect by a slight encrease of thickness in the heels of the shoe, than to strip this part of its horny covering.
1831 W. Youatt Horse xvii. 316 The heels of the shoe should be examined as to their proper width.
1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 17 Aug. 14/1 The shoes of the horses have neither toes nor heels, which seems to be a peculiarity of Paris farriery.
1922 Forging & Heat Treating Sept. 437/2 Machine for making heels on horseshoe blanks.
1968 R. F. Wiseman Compl. Horseshoeing Guide xi. 213 A short caulk under the inside heel will help to make the foot slide straight.
2013 L. C. Barger & P. Rogerson Life on Rocky Farm ii. 7 The heels of the shoes had to be turned down and sharpened to keep them from slipping on the ice.
k. A small, often decorative, raised part on the back of a spoon or fork where the bowl or tines meet the stem; (more generally) the bulging part of the bowl of a spoon or tines of a fork nearest the stem.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > setting table > table utensils > [noun] > cutlery > spoon > parts of
stalka1423
slipc1530
shank1688
bit1703
heel1801
rat's tail1878
1801 Country Gaz. U.S. 24 Sept. 1/4 A machine for manufacturing Silver Spoons which..will turn out from a flat bar, a Spoon in a minute, ready for the punch with heel and name impressed upon it.
1851 Official Catal. Great Exhib. III. 685/1 The figure on the heel of spoon and fork ‘Sappho’.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) IV. 413/1 The next operation is stamping upon it the little projection which in trade parlance is called the ‘heel’, and which seems to indicate the juncture of the bowl with the stem.
1920 W. S. Fales Wallace Hostess Bk. (1922) 33 The Wallace process of reinforcing the point of greatest wear—the ‘heel’ of the tines of forks and the bowls of spoons, with an extra coating of pure silver.
1978 Washington Post 2 Nov. e14/2 Purists will advise taking the garlic and mashing it into the sides of a salad bowl with the heel of a spoon.
1983 I. Pickford Silver Flatware ii. 112 (caption) Left, Fiddle Husk with thread heel, Dessert fork, London, 1837... Right, Fiddle Husk with husk heel, Table spoon, London, 1826.
2013 Western Morning News (Nexis) 30 Apr. (Art & Antiques section) 2 A Queen Anne triffid spoon with beaded V shaped heel.
l. Horticulture. A piece of the main stem of a plant left attached to the base of a cutting.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > management of plants > propagation of plants > [noun] > by cuttings > cutting or slip
planteOE
plantingeOE
quickwoodc1383
graffa1393
sarmenta1398
slivingc1400
springc1400
clavec1420
sleavingc1440
talionc1440
quick1456
quicking1469
graft1483
quickset1484
slip1495
setlingc1503
set1513
pitchset1519
slaving?1523
truncheon1572
stallon1587
crosset1600
marquot1600
sliver1604
secta1616
offset1629
slipping1638
side-slip1651
slift1657
cutting1691
pitcher1707
mallet-shoot1745
root cutting1784
stowing1788
stool1789
pitch1808
heel1822
cutling1834
piping1851
cutback1897
stump plant1953
1822 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening iv. iii. 434 The talus or heel intended to throw out fibres, instead of being inserted in the soil, is inserted in the wood.
1850 G. Glenny Hand-bk. Flower Garden p. liv/1 Insert the buds close to the heel of the shoot and the main stem of the upper part of the shoot.
1882 Garden 4 Feb. 85/3 [They] propagate readily from cuttings made of ripened wood, taken off with a ‘heel’.
1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. iv. 86 At the other end (the heel) evidence will be found of the rhizome which originally connected the tuber to the parent plant.
2012 Daily Mirror 8 Sept. 42 There are two ways to propagate hypericums—using cuttings of new growth or using a cutting with a heel.
m. Palaeontology and Zoology. The posterior part of a molar, used for crushing food; = talonid n. Also: a projection or spur on a non-molar tooth.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > [noun] > parts of > (parts of) teeth
heel1833
metacone1888
metaconid1888
metaconule1888
paracone1888
paraconid1888
protocone1888
protoconid1888
protoconule1888
mesostyle1892
talonid1897
1833 I. Hays Descr. Inferior Maxillary Bones Mastodons i. 23 Posterior molar, with four points and a broad heel.
1879 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. & Arts 3rd Ser. 18 215 There is..a low distinct heel on the posterior border [of the fourth lower premolar].
1951 G. R. de Beer Vertebr. Zool. (ed. 2) xviii. 230 The primitive shape of the molar teeth in the mammal is three-cusped or tritubercular in the upper jaw, while those of the lower jaw have three cusps and a posterior ‘heel’ or talonid.
1994 P. W. Lucas & M. F. Teaford in G. Davies & J. Oates Colobine Monkeys vi. 175 The mandibular canines frequently have a distal heel, which often becomes more noticeable with wear.
2008 C. A. Long Wild Mammals Wisconsin 70/2 The four molars above are primitive trigons, the lower trigonids each has a talonid heel.
n. The end at which the bow of a stringed instrument is held. Opposed to point n.1 19d.
ΚΠ
1842 J. A. Hamilton Dict. Mus. Terms (new ed.) 85 Talon,..The heel of the bow, that part near the nut.
1856 M. C. Clarke tr. H. Berlioz Treat. Mod. Instrumentation 12 With the heel [Fr. talon] of the [violin] bow.
1915 J. Dunn Violin Playing (ed. 3) viii. 50 The third example can also be taken at the heel, commencing down bow, when the bow will be raised for the accented notes as at the point.
1987 D. C. Pratt & C. Bunting 'Cello Technique v. 12 Proceed similarly with the up-bow until about four inches from the heel.
2009 A. Barlowe 12 Etude-caprices 9 The easiest places to check levels are at the middle and the heel of the bow.
o. The top corner of the butt of a gun when in firing position at the shoulder.
ΚΠ
1850 Daily News 9 Jan. 2/5 A small spring plate of steel in the butt or heel of the gun.
1881 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. 432 Most gun-stocks are twisted over, that is to say, the toe of the butt is more out of truth with the barrels than the heel.
1919 Hardware & House Furnishing Goods Oct. 58/1 He soaks up a lot of advice, good and bad, about the kind of gun to buy; the length of stock, drop at heel and comb.
1950 Illustr. London News 21 Apr. 628/2 The lieutenant, in an access of grief over dead comrades, grinds his bottle of drug-pellets under the heel of his gun.
1990 Field Jan. 92 Since a backward projection of the bore's axis then came above the heel of the stock, the gun on recoil pushed back and flipped upwards.
p. The crook in the head of a golf club; the part of the head nearest the shaft.
ΚΠ
1857 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) II. 696/2 Heel, the crook of the head where it joins the shaft.
1891 Golf 27 Feb. 378/1 In the old cleek the centre of gravity of the head..is at the heel, whereas here it is just behind the best striking-place of the ball.
1924 J. White Easier Golf iv. 100 What I attempt to do is to use this heel..as a wedge, and by driving this into the sand behind the ball I create sufficient disturbance to force the ball out of any lie.
1993 H. Penick And if you play Golf you're my Friend 138 Slices are hit in the heel, which also adds loft to the club.
2010 D. Barrett Miracle at Merion xx. 267 Hogan had his clubs made with the sweet spot toward the heel.
q. Chiefly Australian. The counterfoil of a cheque; a cheque stub. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1857 Morning Chron. 10 Sept. 3/5 I wrote on the heel of my cheque-book the corresponding amounts of the cheques I drew.
1877 S. Austral. Reg. (Adelaide) 23 Aug. 3/6 Both the cheques and the heels of the cheques were made out in the names specified in that statement except in nine instances, where the names were not given in the heels.
1900 Rep. Taxation Acts Comm. 131 in Proc. Parl. S. Austral. 1900 (1901) II I simply gave him the heel of each cheque, because as every cheque is paid we enter on the heel what it is paid for.
1947 South Eastern Times (Austral.) 8 Aug. 249 I did receive a cheque for £2/5/-, but under the circumstances I was stuck for money at the time, and seeing Mr Cabot had no heel of the cheque book, I endorsed it to £12/15/-.
r. Forging. The blunt, rectangular end of an anvil, where the pritchel hole and hardie hole are located. Cf. beak-iron n.
ΚΠ
1863 Canad. Agriculturalist Feb. 78/1 Champher the toe of the common shoe over the heel of the anvil.
1885 Amateur Work, Illustr. 5 267/1 Place the iron over the hole in the heel of the anvil, and hammer the hot iron into the hole.
1940 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 8 Jan. 7/3 A modern streamlined anvil, with the heel, face and horn following more slender lines than those of the old-time implement.
1994 J. Andrews New Edge Anvil 15 The edge of the heel can be either sharp or rounded.
2008 A. R. Gehring Back to Basics 350/2 At one end the face forms a square overhang called the heel.
s. On a guitar, violin, or similar stringed instrument: the point at which the neck is attached to the body of the instrument.
ΚΠ
1909 Common-sense June 8 (advt.) Mandolin... Natural mahogany finished neck with shaped heel and head.
1978 Early Music 6 533/1 The ribs [of the viol] have been cut down to taper evenly from the heel to the end.
2003 P. F. Gura C. F. Martin & his Guitars iii. 106 He..commonly used what is known as a Spanish-shaped heel rather than the ice cream cone shape typical of his earlier instruments.
t. Bookbinding. The lower edge of a book or page. Cf. head n.1 19o.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > book > leaves or pages of book > [noun] > page > lower edge of page
tail1835
heel1930
1930 Godfrey's Catal. No. 134. 26 Small piece gone from heel, and joint becoming tender.
1990 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc. 102 51 Impressed on the heel of the volume, also in gold lettering, is ‘S.M.F./Ossoli./Journal.’
2005 Catal. Heritage Signature Auction #817 (Heritage Auction Galleries Dallas) 136/3 Slight staining to the outer corners and to the head and heel of the spine panel.
11.
a. The latter or concluding part of a period of time. Now chiefly historical or in historical contexts. Cf. tail-end n. 1c.In quot. 1584: the latter part of a planet's passage through a sign of the zodiac. Cf. head n.1 30.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > end or conclusion > [noun] > the latter part
eveningOE
enda1200
eventide?c1225
finea1350
tail1377
latter (last) enda1382
issue1484
latter day?1498
waning1561
last days1572
heel1584
sunsetting1593
fall1596
lag-end1598
posterior1598
sunset1599
dotage1606
exit1615
stern1623
waning timea1639
last1683
heel piecea1764
shank1828
tail-end1845
tailpiece1869
tag1882
teatime1913
end-point1921
the world > the universe > celestial sphere > zone of celestial sphere > [noun] > Zodiac > sign of zodiac > latter part of
heel1584
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft xiii. vii. 298 That it be not doone in the end, declination, or heele (as they terme it) of the course [of the planet].
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 47 So but seldome should they meete in the heele of the weeke at the best mens tables, vppon Fridayes and Satterdayes.
1758 J. Rutty Diary 31 Oct. in Spiritual Diary & Soliloquies (1776) I. 209 Nine hours spent in bed: it is a great deal in the heel of the evening.
1803 Duke of Wellington in Marquess Wellesley Select. Despatches (1877) 787 The corps which I intended to bring forward in a close pursuit at the heel of the day, lost many men.
1847 J. C. Calhoun Wks. IV. 363 The Senate's resolution—passed at the very heel of the session.
1932 S. O'Faoláin Midsummer Night Madness in Coll. Stories (1980) I. 18 They rose suddenly and left me, to walk..down to the village now that it was so fine in the heel of the day.
1998 Furrow 49 213 Slipping down to the church in the heel of the evening.
2008 D. MacGillivray Captain A. MacLean 1 He [sc. Alex MacLean] was an exceptional sailor and a fascinating individual who acquired an enormous reputation in the heel of the age of sail.
†b. The latter or concluding part of a book or a piece of writing. Cf. heel piece n. 3. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > book > matter of book > [noun] > postface or conclusion
envoyc1398
extraduction1533
epilogue1564
heel1608
explicit1660
post-face1742
afterword1890
1608 H. Clapham Errour Left Hand vii. 92 When you shall reade it with a lesse partiall spirit, you shall obserue, what yet..you haue not: specially, by the positions added to ye heele of that Booke.
a1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. i. vi, in Wks. (1640) III I will promise..to give, in the heele of the booke, some spurre and incitement to that which I so reasonably seeke.
1815 ‘J. Mathers’ Hist. Mr. John Decastro & Brother Bat I. xix. 226 He then made the best of his way to Bagley wood, where he hid himself, as we observed at the heel of the last chapter.
12. More fully the heel of Italy. The peninsular part of the region of Apulia in south-eastern Italy. Cf. toe n. 4f. [From the resemblance of Italy on maps to a tall, high-heeled boot.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > Italy > [noun] > southern Italy > heel or toe of Italy
the heel of Italy1658
the toe of Italy1941
1658 T. Bancroft Time's out of Tune xiv. 101 That head-city that is said to be Seated about the heel of Italy.
1717 G. Berkeley Jrnls. Trav. Italy 31 May in Wks. (1955) VII. 290 No mountains in the heel of Italy.
1797 Crit. Rev. Sept. 34 From Cape di Leuca, the uttermost point of the heel of Italy, the author turned his steps again towards Naples.
1869 G. Rawlinson Man. Anc. Hist. 335 The heel of Italy (Iapygia).
1890 Chautauquan May 1890 Taranto, lying between the two peninsulas, between the heel and the toe, was not held to be in Italy.
1940 Times 8 Nov. 4/1 They are also within striking distance of..the sea between the heel of Italy and Albania.
2006 Independent 26 Sept. (Extra section) 5/1 Puglia sits right on Italy's heel.
2013 Daily Tel. 13 Sept. 36/3 Forces which raced 40 miles across the north of the heel from Taranto captured another big naval base at Brindisi.
13. In full heel of the hand, heel of the palm. The part of the palm next to the wrist.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > extremities > hand > [noun] > other parts of
quadranglec1450
breast?1541
mons venerisa1637
mount of Venus1695
heel of the hand1704
1704 J. Pitts True Acct. Mohammetans ix. 160 A Hole made in the Heel of each Hand.
1829 Lancet 29 Aug. 680/2 Surely this overwhelming shock, received by a fall on the heel of the hand, may make the carpus follow up the radius by the side of the ulna.
1887 D. Graham in Buck's Handbk. Med. Sci. IV. 645/1 The heel of the operator's hand will be used for vigorous friction of the palm.
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Heel of the hand, the part of the hand on which it rests in the act of writing.
1941 ‘Gypsy Rose Lee’ G-String Murders (2005) xix. 191 ‘That does it!’ I shouted, hitting the side of my head with the heel of my hand.
2013 Church Times 22 Mar. 16/1 Bash the garlic cloves with the heel of your hand.
B. int.
Used as a command to a dog to follow closely behind an accompanying person. Cf. to heel! at Phrases 1c(c).
ΚΠ
1848 W. N. Hutchinson Dog Breaking iii. 25 The word ‘heel’, and a backward low wave of the right hand and arm to the rear,..will, after a few times, bring the dog close behind you.
1859 ‘Stonehenge’ Shot-gun & Sporting Rifle ii. i. 121 The following comprise the points in which the dog should be made obedient to the word of command before he is taken into the field to show him game: 1st. To come to heel; the word being ‘Heel’.
1923 D. L. Sayers Whose Body? ix. 200 The dog..barked... ‘Heel,’ said the man in velveteen, violently. The animal sidled up, ashamed.
1971 M. Tripp Five Minutes with Stranger i. vi. 64 She was saying ‘Heel’ in a voice that would have quelled a riot in hell.
1999 M. Frayn Headlong (2000) 9 ‘Heel!’ he says, in an effortlessly landowning kind of voice, and the dogs become instantly subservient.

Phrases

P1. Prepositional phrases.
a.
(a) at (also on, upon, †in) a person's heels and variants: closely following (either in time or space); in close pursuit of; close behind; soon after.See also hard on the heels of at hard adv. Phrases 2, hot on the heels of at hot adj. and n.1 Phrases 6b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > [phrase] > following closely
at (also on, upon, in) a person's heelsc1300
at the back ofc1430
on, upon the back (of)1614
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > retainer or follower > as follower or retainer of [phrase]
at (also on, upon, in) a person's heelsc1300
c1300 St. Clement (Laud) l. 508 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 338 (MED) Euere orn þe se after heom wel faste at heore helene bi-hinde.
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1899 Renaud com..& alle þe rabel in a res, ryȝt at his heleȝ.
a1555 H. Latimer in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1563) 1310/2 It is but a superstition to thynke yt a pater noster cannot be wel sayd wtout an Ave Marie at his heele.
1571 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Psalmes of Dauid with Comm. (xlix. 13) Death preaceth hard at your heeles.
1589 E. Bunny Briefe Answer Quarrels R. P. 127 Do but proue that to your gentle reader: & the other wil follow vpon it, hard at the heels.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) i. i. 27 Painter. When comes your Booke forth? Poet. Vpon the heeles of my presentment sir. View more context for this quotation
1650 O. Cromwell Let. 30 July in Writings & Speeches (1939) (modernized text) II. 299 I marching in the heel of them with the residue of the army.
1674 N. Cox Gentleman's Recreation iii. 188 To have your Dog at your heels.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1691) Pref. sig. a2 The Hollanders are at our heels, in the race of Naval Power.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones VI. xviii. x. 260 Unavailable Repentance treads on his Heels . View more context for this quotation
1782 W. Cowper John Gilpin 204 Away went Gilpin, and away Went post-boy at his heels.
1821 Examiner 7 Oct. 1/1 To time the insurrection so inconveniently, at the very heels of that awkward Neapolitan business.
1827 R. Pollok Course of Time I. v. 234 So swift trod sorrow on the heels of joy!
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xvi. 112 I..kept close at his heels.
1932 Extension Mag. Feb. 7/3 He became positive that the two men close on his heels were shadowing him.
1984 B. MacLaverty Cal (new ed.) 39 The teams came out and at their heels followed the umpires.
1990 DAV Mag. July 16/2 The VA's latest action came on the heels of a decision..to grant disability compensation to Vietnam veterans for non-Hodgkins's lymphoma.
2014 New Yorker 3 Mar. 84/3 Its limber hero..has to negotiate the roofs and the alleyways of his home town with the law at his heels.
(b) at heel(s): close behind a person; esp. (of a dog) so as to follow closely behind an accompanying person, esp. when so commanded (cf. to heel at Phrases 1c).
ΚΠ
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. l. 443 Ther ben also somme, as men seie, That folwen Simon ate hieles.
1576 G. Gascoigne Steele Glas sig. G.ij He himselfe, with hauke vpon his fist And houndes at heele.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iv. xiii. 21 The hearts That pannelled me at heeles, to whom I gaue Their wishes. View more context for this quotation
1646 J. Trapp Comm. Num. xxxii. 23 The guilt will haunt you at heels, as a bloodhound.
1853 M. Arnold Sohrab & Rustum in Poems (new ed.) 19 Ruksh, his horse, Follow'd him, like a faithful hound, at heel.
1886 Ld. Walsingham & R. Payne-Gallwey Shooting (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) I. 334 Provided the dog is fairly cured of chasing, taught to ‘down-charge’, find, return, and keep at heel.
1936 J. G. Horne Flooer o' Ling 1 A randie chiel Doxie at heel Gaed stavin throu the thrang.
2008 R. Raisin God's Own Country ix. 63 Afterward, I'd take her up the Moors and practise her to bide at heel.
2010 P. Wright Ribbon of Wilderness iv. 129 The Countryside Ranger with weather-toned complexion, unhurried stride, and dog at heel.
†(c) at the hard heels: so as to be very close behind; immediately after. See hard adj. and n. Phrases 3. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
c1487 J. Skelton tr. Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca Historica iv. 289 Thise valiaunt women [sc. the Amazons] so nere enchaced theym at the harde heles.
1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 8v Our auncestours, which pursued vertue at the harde heeles, and shunned vice.
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. Gv Lady Tabitha and Petro de campo Frego her pandor, followed him at the hard heeles.
1630 R. Norton tr. W. Camden Hist. Princesse Elizabeth ii. 103 That he might follow the report of his comming at the hard heeles.
1648 A. Rowley Schollers Compan. 17 Come on, or imediately, follow, pursue and follow straightly, or at the hard heels.
b. out at heels and variants.
(a) With reference to stockings, socks, or shoes: so as to be worn through at the heels; (more generally, with reference to a person) in stockings, socks, or shoes that have worn through at the heels. Hence: in difficult or straitened circumstances; in a shabby or neglected condition. Cf. down at heel adv. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique iii. f. 86 Some riche snudges..go with their hose out at heeles.
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear vii. 151 A good mans fortune may grow out at heeles . View more context for this quotation
1664 Duchess of Newcastle CCXI Sociable Lett. vii. 10 The Chiefest persons must mend the world; viz. they that govern the world, or else the world will be out at the heels.
1677 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iii. 51 Go look out the Fellow..that walks with his Stockings and his Sword out at heels.
1714 E. Ward Field-spy 16 Shy Leachers steer'd, with Harlots in their Hands, Ill dress'd, with daggl'd Tails, and out at Heels.
1747 Fool (1748) II. 254 My present Situation being, as I may say, a little out at Heels.
1834 Free Enquirer 30 Mar. 180/3 Shoes not worth the mending..and stockings out at heels.
1869 Guardian 17 Mar. 287/3 A parson out at heels and elbows, with a lean wife and ragged children.
1919 M. G. Sabel in Poetry Oct. 22 They say that I am out at heels, And that my coat is shoddy.
1929 J. Steinbeck Cup of Gold iii. 112 Huguenots and Lutherans and Church of England men were poor and out at heel.
1969 Sewanee Rev. 77 319 Rhetoric in our fashionable age is out at heels and many will applaud Mr. Dickey's avoidance of all the old devices.
(b) attributive (usually in form out-at-heels). Wearing stockings, socks, or shoes that are worn through at the heels. Hence: experiencing financial difficulties; poor, shabby. Cf. down at heel adj. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick i. i. 21 He scorn'd in those days to go about like a poor shabby Out-at-heels Devil.
1876 Mt. Alexander Mail (Castlemaine, Austral.) 21 Jan. When they grow old and their day of adversity arrives it is astonishing with what rapidity they develop a shabby and out-at-heel appearance.
1891 Mid-Surrey Times 20 June ‘My luck,’ exclaimed an out-at-heels gentleman, ‘is so atrociously bad, that I believe that if I were to invest in some soap washing would go out of fashion to-morrow.’
1911 Outing Mag. Jan. 468/1 A lonely figure..with a general air of out at heels despondency.
1982 ELH 49 393 In our age of the common man he is the little, chuckling, out-at-heels clown.
c. to heel: (with reference to a dog obeying a command) following closely behind an accompanying person.
(a) to come to heel: (of a dog) to follow closely behind an accompanying person when commanded; (figurative) to come under another's control, to be obedient or compliant. Similarly to keep (go, walk, follow, etc.) to heel.
ΚΠ
1810 Sporting Mag. July 149/1 They will back, or come to heel, as commanded.
1824 W. Scott Redgauntlet II. iii. 72 The younger of the three animals.., unaccustomed, perhaps, to distant journeys, and the duty of following to heel, had strayed from the party.
1870 T. H. Huxley Lay Serm. (1874) iii. 35 Whose passions are trained to come to heel.
1873 G. C. Davies Mountain, Meadow & Mere vi. 45 We did so, the dogs, a spaniel and a retriever, keeping to heel.
1905 W. G. Eley Retrievers & Retrieving ii. 57 On no account let him quit your side, but always make him walk-to-heel, for a few paces at any rate, before allowing him to hunt.
1939 Times 4 Mar. 7/7 With all their talk, the Conservative dissidents always came to heel when it came to a vote.
1963 D. Lessing Man & Two Women 54 Perhaps we would have ended up with a brace of efficient and obedient animals, ever-ready to die, to go to heel.
2001 S. Walton Out of It (2002) iv. 142 Now senior police personnel once more advocate killing even for recreational smokers of cannabis because they won't come to heel.
(b) to bring to heel: to cause or command (a dog) to follow closely behind one; (figurative) to bring (a person, group, etc.) under control, to make obedient or compliant. Similarly to call to heel.
ΚΠ
1839 Ladies' Compan. Dec. 60/2 Ere he had traversed fifty paces, both bloodhounds challenged fiercely. Calling them instantly to heel, the cavalier alighted.
1853 H. W. Herbert Amer. Game iv. 99 No man is worthy the name of a shot or a sportsman, who cannot, and does not, keep his dogs..under such command that he can turn them to the right or left, bring them to heel, [etc.].
1882 E. Pfeiffer Under Aspens 208 That brings him To heel again.
1884 Scottish Rev. July 15 Hamilton was, however, now substituted for him, and he himself was ordered to stay in his diocese. This, the first crack of the whip, brought him to heel at once.
1946 S. J. Perelman Keep it Crisp 199 The principals in this droll tale are two. John Craig..and Judy, a zäftick little proposition bent on bringing him to heel.
1988 G. Weston Reign Error xvi. 231 Turner made a rare appearance at the gathering to call his pack to heel, but he was whistling in the wind.
2000 S. Brett Body on Beach (2001) ii. 12 One sharp call was enough to bring the dog to heel.
2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 23 Apr. c9/1 China has employed a brimming catalog of tactics to bring its western region to heel.
(c) to heel!: used as a command to a dog to follow closely behind an accompanying person. Cf. sense B.
ΚΠ
1849 G. P. R. James Woodman I. xiii. 288 Come in Ban! To heel, good dog.
1878 A. Marryat Left to Themselves iv. 60 George looked vexed. ‘Here, Pincher,’ he cried, ‘to heel, sir!’
1924 Amer. Mercury Sept. 116/2 There were oldtimers who learned what ‘yoicks’ meant and that the proper address to a well-bred dog is ‘To heel!’.
1965 H. Davies Here we go, round Mulberry Bush xv. 174 To heel, boy. Sit still. Some old tramp's trousers. Sit still, boy. Damn you.
2014 T. Tomlinson Better than Gold xiv. 112 ‘To heel, to heel,’ Egfrid cried desperately. Reluctantly the hound returned to him.
d. Chiefly Irish English. in (also at) the heel(s) of the hunt: at the last minute; (later also) in the end, ultimately.
ΚΠ
1823 Rambler's Mag. 1 Feb. 63 She was brought in at the ‘heel of the hunt’, at the Haymarket.., and gained applause because there was no one to judge, who knew or cared a pin how the few nights that concluded the performances went off.
1890 A. Gowing Unruly Spirit II. 23 Stories were flying about the room of..blood-curdling horrors inflicted on Mrs. This-and-That by the brutality of doctors called in at ‘the heel of the hunt’.
1948 L. A. G. Strong Trevannion xvii. 323 You love a girl faithfully for years, and some glib sod comes along at the heel of the hunt and snitches her from you.
1968 Irish Times 13 Nov. 12/5 So in the heel of the hunt it was the outsider..and not the student who got elected to the Rectorship of Edinburgh.
1998 Belfast News-lett. (Nexis) 16 Feb. (Features section) 6 They must see that, at the heels of the hunt, violence has proved counter-productive.
2014 Irish Times (Nexis) 29 July 2 In the heel of the hunt, it was bogus invoices for mobile phones that got him.
P2. Phrases with a verb.
a.
(a) to turn one's heels and variants: to turn around, esp. prior to fleeing or leaving; (hence) to run away, to flee. Also occasionally to turn one's heel. Now somewhat rare. [Compare Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French tourner le talon to flee (c1200 in Old French), to turn one's back on a person (1223 in Old French).]
ΚΠ
a1450 (?a1300) Richard Coer de Lyon (Caius) (1810) l. 3834 When they..see men begynne strokes dele, Anon they ginne to turne her hele; And gunne to drawen in her hornes.
1579 T. Churchyard Gen. Rehearsall Warres sig. Cc.iiv Now Fortune frounes, thei turne their heele. And scarce can spare, me one good woorde.
1587 J. Hooker Chron. Ireland 142/1 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II His companie turned their heeles, forsooke the field, and dispersed themselues into the woods.
1587 J. Hooker tr. Giraldus Cambrensis Vaticinall Hist. Conquest Ireland i. xxv. 19/1 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II He turneth a faire paire of heeles and runneth awaie.
a1653 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 120 Big lookeing minions..make hast To turne their heeles.
1816 Parterre 27 July 24/2 I turned my heels, without second thoughts.
1892 Weekly Irish Times 9 July 3/3 The famous frigate was turning her heels rapidly to European shores.
1962 Corsicana (Texas) Semi-weekly Light 30 Nov. 10/5 Rose had almost reached the jail steps..when he suddenly waved and turned his heels.
2003 L. Thompson tr. M. Niemi Pop. Music from Vittula (2004) xix. 205 A few ancient Red Pioneers came to stand in the doorway..but they soon turned their heels and left.
(b) to turn heel (also heels): (a) to turn round sharply; to run away, leave, retreat; (b) figurative to reverse one's position, policy, opinion, etc.Cf. to turn tail at tail n.1 11d.
ΚΠ
1645 S. Ashe Reall Thankfulnesse 10 The foolish Asse, which..either runs away from his feeder, or else turns heels, and strikes him.
1747 Gen. Advertiser 8 Oct. 1/2 The Remainder of the Garrison..turned Heels and made off.
1776 Edinb. Advertiser 21 June 1/3 He hoped the intrepid native Indians of America would never turn heel until all the tyrant plunderers were drove out of that free country.
1846 Knickerbocker Dec. 522 One of the flag-men..turned heel to run; but so close was the pursuit of the bull that all saw the fate of the poor fellow to be inevitable.
1896 N. Munro Lost Pibroch 219 Is it for war or sport, or for the red gold, that a man turns heel on his home and takes the world for his pillow?
1950 Evening Tel. (Rocky Mount, N. Carolina) 14 June 4 a/2 A gun that would have fired..if one of them [sc. prisoners] had turned heels and started to run.
1964 N.Y. Times 28 June br23/2 O'Sullivan turns heel and drops the lady for the good of the service.
1997 Trail May 23/2 Letting out shrieks of terror my mates turned heel and clattered down the stairs.
2007 Fortnight Mar. 15/1 One wonders whether or not he is going to turn heel on his former self and..work with..Sinn Fein.
(c) to turn on one's heel and variants: (of a person) to turn sharply round; to turn away, esp. prior to leaving.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > point or lie in a direction [verb (intransitive)] > turn round or to face a direction > turn to opposite direction
turnc1225
bewenda1300
to turn aboutc1330
returna1470
wheel1639
face1644
to turn on one's heel1669
to turn around1756
to turn round1787
about-face1896
about-turn1927
U-turn1931
U1971
1669 S. Lee Contempl. Mortality 33 'Twill gawl him to the heart.., to think what a feather cap fool he leaves for his heir: that will turn upon his left heel, and twit the miser, when he sees his chests all lined with gold.
1699 E. Ward Walk to Islington 16 Further, the Mob's Admiration to kindle, She turns on her Heel, like a Wheel on a Spindle.
1752 H. Fielding Amelia III. ix. vii. 283 Instead..of attempting to follow her, he turned on his Heel, and addressed his Discourse to another Lady.
1757 W. Thompson Royal Navy-men's Advocate 38 L——d V——e..turn'd short on his Heel, telling me he knew nothing of the Matter.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia I. i. v. 61 Sir Robert..turned upon his heel, and was striding out of the room.
a1835 M. Scott Cruise of Midge (1836) viii. 120 He..turned round on his heels, and marched out of the cabin.
1887 ‘E. Lyall’ Knight-errant I. xii. 232 Carlo had turned sharply round on his heel and left him without a word.
1931 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 8 July 15/1 ‘That's all you know about it,’ declared Maurine, turning on her heel.
2008 ‘R. Keeland’ tr. S. Larsson Girl with Dragon Tattoo xii. 203 The officer turned on his heel and ran off before she could injure him.
b. to lay (also set, clap, etc.) (a person) by the heels: to put in irons or the stocks; to fetter, arrest, or confine. Similarly to have (a person) by the heels, to lie by the heels and variants. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > general proceedings > arrest > [verb (transitive)]
at-holda1230
attacha1325
resta1325
takec1330
arrest1393
restay?a1400
tachec1400
seisinc1425
to take upa1438
stowc1450
seize1471
to lay (also set, clap, etc.) (a person) by the heels?1515
deprehend1532
apprehend1548
nipa1566
upsnatcha1566
finger1572
to make stay of1572
embarge1585
cap1590
reprehend1598
prehenda1605
embar1647
nap1665
nab1686
bone1699
roast1699
do1784
touch1785
pinch1789
to pull up1799
grab1800
nick1806
pull1811
hobble1819
nail1823
nipper1823
bag1824
lag1847
tap1859
snaffle1860
to put the collar on1865
copper1872
to take in1878
lumber1882
to pick up1887
to pull in1893
lift1923
drag1924
to knock off1926
to put the sleeve on1930
bust1940
pop1960
vamp1970
society > authority > subjection > restraint or restraining > restraint depriving of liberty > binding or fettering > bind, fetter, or shackle [verb (transitive)] > by the feet or legs
gyvec1290
fetterc1300
hopshackle?a1513
to lay (also set, clap, etc.) (a person) by the heels?1515
to lay fast by the feet1560
garter1604
enfetter1611
heela1638
?1515 Hyckescorner (de Worde) sig. B.iv I wyll go fetche a pair of gyues For in good faythe he shall besette fast by the heles.
a1555 N. Ridley in M. Coverdale Certain Lett. Martyrs (1564) 54 Grimbolde was caught by the heele and cast into the marshalsee, but now is at liberty agayne.
1578 T. Blenerhasset 2nd Pt. Mirrour for Magistrates f. 28v Hateful Mishappe she had me by the heele, And clapte me close in dungeon of Decay.
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft iii. xv. 65 One of Q. Maries iustices..laid an archer by the heeles.
1606 J. Rawlinson Foure Summons of Shulamite 75 Downe with it, even to the ground..& lay them fast by the heels.
1651 J. Lilburne Humble Addr. 9 For which affronting contempts..he ought in law, equity, and justice, rather be clapt by the heels then to bee heard by you.
1700 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) IV. 638 The lord cheif justice..will lay the undersherif by the heels.
1757 E. Perronet Mitre (new ed.) ii. 83 Then with a voice as harsh as brass, Cries—‘lay him by the heels’.
1781 F. Burney Jrnl. Aug. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (2003) IV. 455 I supposed you would have finished it [sc. a play] in your last fit of sickness..pray go on with it when you are tyed by the Heel next.
1865 C. Kingsley Hereward II. xvi. 274 Tell him Hereward has..half a dozen knights safe by the heels.
1882 R. L. Stevenson Familiar Stud. Men & Bks. 265 His brother still lay by the heels for an unpatriotic treaty with England.
1889 Baltimore Sun 19 Nov. The bold offender..would have been quickly set by the heels.
1945 G. Mitchell Rising of Moon x. 112 I must be sure and speak up for him at the Old Bailey if he happened to be laid by the heels.
2007 Conradian 32 53 Just at the very moment he had unshackled himself from an oppressive mother and a moribund Russian society, fate (or chance) had laid him by the heels.
c.
(a) to turn (also tip, lay, etc.) up one's heels and variants: to die; also in extended use. Now Australian.Cf. to kick up one's heels at Phrases 2g(b), to turn one's toes up at toe n. 5j.
ΚΠ
c1525 Bk. Mayd Emlyn sig. B.iiiv He toke a surfet with a cup That made hym tourne his heles vp.
1589 ‘Marphoreus’ Martins Months Minde sig. Hv Ha, he, tse, tse, py, hy, see fortunes wheeles, So how, Mad Martin hath turnde vp his heeles.
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 13 Of which [sickness]..seauen thousand and fifty people toppled vp their heeles there.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Passer oultre, to tipe vp the heeles, to die.
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 31 Oftentimes (after a longe declininge and goinge backe) [they] turne up theire heeles.
a1653 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 155 Nowe Shechem's gone, he hath laid up his heeles.
1710 New Map Trav. High Church Apostle 3 At last the Pagan Governour tips up his Heels and dyes, and then all the Hopes of the Pagans and Lewissites vanish'd.
1860 New Sporting Mag. Apr. 269 In the night old Iron Legs turned up her heels like the Tooley-street mare.
1886 Cairns (Queensland) Post 2 Dec. I've just brought him [sc. an alligator] down from the Territ'ry for a curiosity like. And now he's gone and turned up his heels.
1937 China Press (Shanghai) 27 June (Shipping section) 1/3 One seasick cow turned up her heels and was given a ‘big’ burial at sea.
2015 Newcastle (New S. Wales) Star (Nexis) 24 Aug. One plant can spoil the effect when it turns up its heels, leaving an unwanted gap.
(b) to trip (also turn, tumble, kick, etc.) up a person's heels and variants: to trip up a person; to lay low or bring down a person; also figurative. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > kill [verb (intransitive)]
to shed blood?a1100
to let blood?c1225
to be (a person's) priesta1450
shortena1535
kill1535
to throw (also turn, etc.) over the perch1568
to trip (also turn, tumble, kick, etc.) up a person's heels1587
to make dice of (a person's) bones1591
to put out (also quench) a person's light(s)1599
account1848
to fix1875
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > causing to come or go down > cause to come or go down [verb (transitive)] > bring to the ground/lay low > knock down > specifically a person or animal
fellOE
to strike down1470
quell1535
to run down1587
to trip (also turn, tumble, kick, etc.) up a person's heels1587
to strike up the heels of1602
level1770
silence1785
grass1814
send1822
to send to grass1845
beef1926
deck1953
1587 J. Hooker Chron. Ireland 93/2 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II He strake him with his bullet full in the forehead..and withall turned vp his heeles.
1592 T. Lodge Euphues Shadow sig. I4v Fortune who after she hath tripped vp the heele, houldeth vp by the hand.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iii. ii. 208 It is yong Orlando, that tript vp the Wrastlers heeles, and your heart, both in an instant. View more context for this quotation
1647 J. Taylor Kings Wellcome 3 Thy Constancie hath trip'd up Fortunes heele.
1648 T. Gage Eng.-Amer. vi. 17 Our men with one reasonable Cup of Spanish Sacke presently tumbled up their heeles, and left them like swine.
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 174 It shall go hard but they will throw up his heels . View more context for this quotation
1707 J. Addison Rosamond ii. 26 Death has tripp'd up my Heels.
1758 D. Garrick Gamesters ii. 19 When 'tis done, I would chuse To tell her: it may kick up her heels another way.
1786 F. Burney Diary 13 Aug. (1842) III. 105 I have come on prodigiously..in the power and skill of walking backwards, without tripping up my own heels.
1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 321 Chip, to trip; as, ‘to chip up the heels’; or to ‘chip a fall’; as in wrestling.
1809 Hansard Commons 15 June 1037 They may rejoice they have outwitted the hon. gent. who introduced the measure, and have tripped up his heels.
1887 S. Baring-Gould Gaverocks III. 58 I wish it were in my power to kick up his heels.
1930 Forest & Stream Mar. 204/3 I know that cold serpent's tricks, and was determined that he should not trip up my heels.
1976 Newsweek (Nexis) 31 May (Arts section) 52 The army of underdogs that tripped up the heels of authority everywhere.
d.
(a) to take one's heels: to run away, to flee. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes i. f. 127 When this Manes had taken his heeles and renne awaye from his maister [L. is quum profugisset a domino].
1607 T. Tomkis Lingua i. viii. sig. Cv Seeing me eft-soones, he tooke his heeles, And threw his garment from him all in hast.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) i. ii. 94 Nay, and you will not sir, Ile take my heeles . View more context for this quotation
1690 W. Walker Idiomatologia Anglo-Lat. Pref. 1 Let us take our heels and run away.
1751 W. Forbes Dominie Deposed (ed. 10) i. 6 This made my Lad at length to loup, And take his Heels.
1777 S. Elbert in Coll. Georgia Hist. Soc. (1902) V. 27 The Indians fired on them & Killed five in Cool blood, that they took their Heels & made their Escape.
(b) to take to one's heels: to run away, to flee. Formerly also †to take oneself to one's heels, †to betake (oneself) to one's heels.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] > run away or flee
fleec825
afleeeOE
atrina1000
atfleec1000
to run awayOE
to turn to or into flighta1225
to turn the ridgec1225
atrenc1275
atshakec1275
to give backa1300
flemec1300
startc1330
to take (on oneself) the flighta1500
to take the back upon oneselfa1500
fly1523
to take (also betake) (oneself) to one's legs1530
to flee one's way1535
to take to one's heels1548
flought?1567
fuge1573
to turn taila1586
to run off1628
to take flighta1639
refugea1641
to run for it1642
to take leg1740
to give (also take) leg-bail1751
bail1775
sherry1788
to pull foot1792
fugitate1830
to tail off (out)1830
to take to flight1840
to break (strike, etc.) for (the) tall timber1845
guy1879
to give leg (or legs)1883
rabbit1887
to do a guy1889
high-tail1908
to have it on one's toes1958
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. xlix So deceauyng his kepers [he] toke him to his heeles.
1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. H4 They..betake them to their heeles as to their best refuge.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. v. 208 Some of those that were furthest off, being scared out of their couches, not knowing what violence or from whence it was, tooke to their heels and fled.
1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age i. i. iv. 7 The Tartars..as soon as they..find the Poles advancing, betake themselves to their heels.
1759 Mod. Part Universal Hist. XIII. xvi. i. 511 The greater part took themselves to their heels, and fled into the high mountains of Judea.
1764 Oxf. Sausage 116 At length the suspicion fell thick on poor Tray, Till he took to his heels and with speed ran away.
1809 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. II. vii. viii. 240 The rabble incontinently took to their heels.
1888 A. Jessopp Coming of Friars ii. 93 The beholders would have..taken to their heels and run for their lives.
1946 S. J. Perelman Keep it Crisp 129 I laid about me with the folded Billboard to such effect that the blackguards took to their heels, howling with pain.
1999 E. Afr. Standard (Nairobi) 18 Oct. 4/4 When the thugs discovered that the vehicle was carrying a dead body, they abandoned it and took to their heels.
†e. to cast (also throw) at one's heels and variants: to cast underfoot, to reject with contempt. Also similarly to cast at heel. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > hold in contempt [verb (transitive)] > reject contemptuously
spurnc1000
defyc1320
refusec1350
to kick against or ata1425
spurn1526
asperne1548
explodea1552
to cast (also throw) at one's heels1555
mock1558
foot1600
outscout1602
slighta1616
scout1710
stuff1955
1555 W. Waterman tr. Josephus in tr. J. Boemus Fardle of Facions sig. Y.vv Those that..threwe not at their hieles those thinges that Moyses had taughte them.
1576 G. Gascoigne Steele Glas sig. C.ijv Wherein I see, a corps of comely shape..Is cast at heele, by courting al to soone.
a1628 J. Preston Breast-plate of Faith (1630) 24 They resist it, casting it at their heeles.
1659 D. Pell Πελαγος 593 The States of England throw not their dear and costly purchased Victories at their heels.
1820 Picture of Life 60 He did not..throw his business at his heels, but continued to dedicate a reasonable portion of his time to the tedious and irksome forms of his profession.
†f. to bless the world with one's heels: to be hanged. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1566 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure I. xxxiii. f. 67v The three theues were conueied forthe, to blesse the worlde with their heeles.
g. to kick up one's heels.
†(a) To offer resistance or opposition to something; to lash out. Also to kick up the heel. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1576 A. Fleming tr. Cicero in Panoplie Epist. 66 We ought not to kicke upp the heele, as repining to live in that state, whereunto by birth we were ordeined.
1614 J. Day Dyall 157 An Adversary, who had somtimes beene his familiar friend, and afterwards kickt vp the heele against him.
1681 News from Doctor's Commons 2 Some [men] are grown so wonderful light and wanton, that they kick up their Heels at all Correction.
1891 E. B. Biggar Anecdotal Life Sir John Macdonald 116 Why did you kick up your heels so on the Confederation question? Have you gone over to the enemy?
†(b) To die. Obsolete.Cf. to turn (also tip, lay, etc.) up one's heels at Phrases 2c(a).
ΚΠ
1604 T. Dekker & T. Middleton Honest Whore i. ii. 20 I woud not for a duckat she had kickt vp hir heeles.
?1660 T. Thompson Life Mother Shipton iv. iii. 35 The old dotard my Father, who at the approaching of winter must undauntedly expect to kick up his heels.
1702 T. Brown Select Epist. Cicero 160 If he shou'd be so wonderfully complaisant as to kick up his Heels before You, he will take care that his Wife's Charms shan't survive him.
1749 T. Bligh Let. in J. Stevenson Two Cent. Life in Down (1920) xiii. 382 Mrs Montgomery is brought to bed of a daughter and had like to have kicked up her heels.
1845 R. Browning Flight of Duchess xvi, in Bells & Pomegranates No. VII: Dramatic Romances & Lyrics 19/1 His heels he'll kick up, Slain by an onslaught fierce of hiccup.
(c) Of a quadruped (typically a horse): to kick up the back legs, especially before galloping away. Also figurative (of a person): to behave in a rebellious, flighty, or capricious manner.
ΚΠ
1653 J. Ford Queen ii. sig. B4v/2 She's a rank Jade that being past the breeder, cannot kick up her heels..and cry wee-hee.
1706 G. Farquhar Recruiting Officer iii. i. 24 We lov'd two Ladies.., and just as we were upon the point of leaping into their Arms..they snort, kick up their Heels, and away they run.
1859 Harper's Mag. Feb. 397/1 Worn old chargers turned out to grass, if the trumpet sounds over the hedge, may we not kick up our old heels and gallop a minute or so.
a1933 J. Galsworthy End of Chapter (1934) i. xxiv. 192 You remind me of a two-year-old..—one of those whipcordy chestnuts that kick up their heels in the paddock.
1998 P. Marshall Riding the Wind (2000) xviii. 216 Children are broken in their youth.., never questioning authority, never kicking up their heels and making a run for it.
2009 C. Kimball Field Guide to Goats 103/1 These carefree little bundles of energy [sc. young goats] kick up their heels.
(d) To dance in a lively manner; (hence) to have fun, to enjoy oneself unreservedly.
ΚΠ
1713 Capt. Bland Northern Atalantis 42 We saw Book-keepers, Journey-men, and Apprentices, and their Taudry Margaretta's kicking up their Heels to a Scotch Trump.
1833 United Service Jrnl. Oct. 198 Jack..found his messmate in a cloud of smoke, kicking up his heels with a fat, jetty young woman, who was shying her legs about in a Scotch reel.
1891 Puck 25 Feb. 10/1 That girl liked nothing under God's heaven so well as to kick up her heels all night at some lowbred, dingy little country hotel.
1959 Anniston (Alabama) Star 7 Sept. 6/5 All those Jet Setters who are kicking up their heels in the South of France.
1990 Delaware Today July 46/3 First it was disco, then dirty, then lambada—whatever way you want to kick up your heels.
2004 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 8 Aug. 15/2 She's a smart, resourceful young thing and she deserves to kick up her heels.
†h. to cast (also lay) one's heels in one's neck: to leap headlong or recklessly. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > swift movement in specific manner > move swiftly in specific manner [verb (intransitive)] > move with impetuous speed
leapOE
swengec1000
swingOE
throwc1275
hurla1300
dashc1300
fling1300
stetec1330
lance?a1400
slinga1400
whirlc1400
wringc1400
dingc1450
whither1487
chop1555
to cast (also lay) one's heels in one's neck1599
clap1603
precipitate1622
teara1627
toss1727
to keep on at a score1807
whing1882
whirlwind1894
to go off full score1900
careen1923
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 8 His yeomen bolde cast their heeles in their necke, and friskt it after him.
1676 C. Cotton Compl. Angler 281 These stones are so slippery I can not stand!.. I think I were best lay my heels in my neck and tumble down!
i. to have (also get) the heels of: to outrun, outstrip; to catch up with. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away from [verb (transitive)] > leave behind by superior speed
outrunc1460
to show (a person) a (clean or fair) pair of heels (also one's heels)1595
to have (also get) the heels of1649
to throw out1682
distance1691
to throw off1695
lose1709
to gain ground of1719
to gain from1805
the world > movement > rate of motion > move at specific rate [verb (transitive)] > gain (ground) upon > catch up or overtake > outstrip > by running
of-runOE
overruna1425
outrunc1460
fore-run1513
to have (also get) the heels of1649
to have the legs of (also on)1861
to give a stone and a beating to1885
1649 Bartholmew Fairing iv. 12 You and I must run a race to day..pray heaven your Pegasus be well breath'd, I shall have the heels of him else.
1681 Elegy on Mod. Heroe, Redmon o Hanlan (single sheet) But death, although he ran so fast, Has got the heels of him at last.
1705 Acct. of Conf. between Duke of Buckingham & Father Fitzgerald in Duke of Buckingham Misc. Wks. II. 49 Father, your zeal has got the heels of your Discretion.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 350 Friday..had..the Heels of the Bear.
1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle I. viii. 59 The lieutenant, whose steed had got the heels of the other..took the opportunity of throwing himself off in his passage through a field of rich clover.
1832 F. Marryat Newton Forster I. xi. 148 Be smart, my lads, for she has the heels of us.
1892 N. Amer. Rev. Aug. 165 No Northern army ever had the heels of the unencumbered cohorts of the South.
1943 Baldur (Manitoba) Gaz. 29 Apr. These machines have the heels of any German fighter when operating at their best height.
j. Hunting. to run (also hunt, take it) heel: (of a hound) to follow the scent backwards, travelling in the opposite direction to the quarry; to hunt or run counter; also in figurative contexts. Formerly also †to run back the heel, †to hunt it by the heel. Cf. heel-way adv. Now rare.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > hunting with hounds > work done by hounds > action of hounds [phrase] > to run back on the scent
to hunt it by the heel1677
to run (also hunt, take it) heel1677
to run back the heel1781
to take it heel1828
1677 N. Cox Gentleman's Recreation (ed. 2) i. 16 When the Hounds or Beagles hunt it by the Heel, we say, they Hunt Counter.
1781 P. Beckford Thoughts on Hunting x. 138 A fault..which such hounds must of necessity sometimes be guilty of, that is, running back the heel.
1814 in Rec. N. Devon Staghounds (c1882) 45 The whole pack took it heel, and were stopped before they reached the edge of the covert.
1828 Sporting Mag. 22 232 I cannot help challenging a stale scent, or, speaking more technically, taking it heel.
1840 Sporting Mag. Mar. 403 The hounds unfortunately ran heel on re-entering the wood.
1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports ii. v. 132/2 Too little [assistance] will make them tie on the scent, and hunt heel.
1923 Times 17 Jan. 5/5 The old Melbreak hounds will never run heel.
1946 M. C. Self Horseman's Encycl. 455 When hounds hit the line and run it backwards they are said to ‘run heel’.
1985 Times 2 Nov. 29/2 Hounds running ‘heel’—that is, running backwards the way the fox has come.
k. British. to kick one's heels: to wait, esp. idly or impatiently; to mark time. Cf. to cool one's heels at cool v.1 Phrases 4.
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the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > be idle or unoccupied [verb (intransitive)]
emptyeOE
to tell the clock1527
idle1668
to kick one's heels1703
twirl1777
gammer1788
to twiddle one's thumbs, or fingers1846
to make (also do) kef1852
goof1932
doss1937
to sit on one's hands1939
to bugger about ——1946
to spin one's wheels1960
1703 Myst. of Tithe-stealing 1 'Tis cold kicking our Heels here; what think ye of stepping in at the Unicorn, and taking one Pipe before Market begins?
1760 S. Foote Minor ii. 57 To let your uncle kick his heels in your hall.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple I. xiii. 198 I'll trouble him [not] to..leave me here kicking my heels.
1879 A. Trollope Eye for Eye I. ix. 152 He had hurried over to see a dying man, and now there was nothing for him to do but to kick his heels.
1965 Financial Times 10 May 10/3 They kicked their heels in separate jobs, but eventually decided to return to the research industry and set up their own company.
2010 J. Powell Breaking of Eggs (2011) vii. 126 What would I do now? Kick my heels in Paris? I would be bored within weeks.
2016 Courier (Dundee) 2 Jan. (Perth & Perthshire ed.) 43/1 Craigen, like the rest of the Raith players, was left kicking his heels on Boxing Day with their game against Alloa called off.
l. to tap one's heels: to tap one's feet while waiting for something, or during a delay; (chiefly figurative) to wait impatiently for something to occur. Cf. to kick one's heels at Phrases 2k.
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1860 Welcome Guest 2 378/2 For five days longer he tapped his heels, And the money did not come.
1919 Lumber Manufacturer & Dealer 24 Mar. 18/1 There is a..standstill in the lumber business... The local mill owners are tapping their heels and twiddling their thumbs, wondering what is going to be the outcome.
1953 R. MacDougall Escapade ii. 45 Look here, Skillingworth, I'm not going to sit and tap my heels while you put the whole school through the third degree.
1965 P. Tempest tr. K. Kalchev In New Town Together xi. 76 Violetta was tapping her heels impatiently outside the restaurant.
2001 Vancouver Province (Nexis) 21 June b2 Six weeks ago I was a single man tapping my heels. Now I've got two kids and a wife.
m. to set (also rock, push, send, etc.) (a person) back on his (or her) heels.
(a) Originally Boxing. To knock (a person) forcefully backward; to force back, to cause to stagger or reel backwards.
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1891 Referee (Sydney) 14 Jan. 6/5 In the second round Paddy slung his left.., and landing square on the side of Mac's chin, he sent him back on his heels.
1912 Washington Post 8 Feb. 8/5 Every time he attempted to advance Gibbons set him back on his heels with the ever extended glove.
1947 N.Y. Times 1 May 30/4 His line drive to Lade..almost set the stocky youngster back on his heels.
1953 Times 22 Oct. 8/3 Another left hook by Turpin rocked Olson back on his heels.
2014 J. A. Johnstone Rebel Yell viii. 109 The impact rocked him back on his heels. He pancaked, folding at the knees.
(b) figurative (originally U.S. Sport). To throw (a person) off guard; to surprise, shock, or disconcert (a person). Also: to put at a disadvantage; to put on the defensive. Hence back on one's heels: on the defensive, at a disadvantage.
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1914 Sat. Evening Post 4 July 8/2 ‘We had more .300 batters last season than there was in the National.’ ‘But look what they was hitting against!’ I thought that one would set him back on his heels, but it didn't. He went right along.
1927 N.Y. Times 8 Feb. 19/3 ‘Light Horse Harry’ Cooper handed ‘The Haig’ a 10 and 9 defeat at match play, which set the golf fans back on their heels, so to speak.
1937 Boys' Life Oct. 11/2 Princeton..bowled the Lions back on their heels under an avalanche of twenty points.
1944 Life 24 Jan. 28/1 One of the hardest blows yet struck against the German Air Force. The Germans are back on their heels.
1978 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 11 Nov. This was the affair that rocked Britain back on its heels and even threatened the monarchy itself.
1998 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 28 Jan. e4 You have to be the aggressor or you're back on your heels reacting to everything they are doing.
2014 New Yorker 22 Dec. 105/1 Produce the transition of power in Iraq, produce the coalition, produce the train-and-equip, then put all these pieces together to push ISIS back on its heels.
P3. Miscellaneous phrases.
a. heels over head: so that one's heels are in the air and one's head is below them; so as turn completely over, as in a somersault; (figurative) headlong, precipitously; (so as to be) in a state of chaos or disorder, topsy-turvy. Also attributive.Now less common than head over heels at head n.1 Phrases 3i(c). Cf. also heels over gowdy at gowdy n.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > falling > [phrase] > head over heels
tail over top1303
top over tailc1330
heels over headc1400
tail and top1558
head over heels1678
over head and heels1678
heels over gowdy1751
head over tip1824
arse over tip1922
ass over tea-kettle1963
c1400 (?c1380) Patience l. 271 He [sc. Jonas] glydes in by þe giles þurȝ glaymande glette,..Ay hele ouer hed hourlande aboute.
1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais 1st Bk. Wks. xxxv. 160 He incontinently turned heels over head in the aire, and streight found himself betwixt the bowe of the saddle in a good settlement.
1664 Duchess of Newcastle CCXI Sociable Lett. clxxvii. 370 Not Rashly to Venture Hand over Head, or rather Heels over Head, but to let Wisdom Counsel before Courage Fights.
?1748 ‘T. Bobbin’ View Lancs. Dial. (ed. 2) (Gloss.) 33 Arsy versy, heels over-head.
1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess 81 Now by this time the house is heels o'er head.
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion viii. 376 They..An uncouth feat exhibit, and are gone Heels over head . View more context for this quotation
1864 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia IV. xvii. ii. 523 A total circumgyration, summerset, or tumble heels-over-head in the Political relations of Europe.
1887 Cent. Mag. Nov. 49/1 What'll happen if you go on in this heels-over-head way?
1915 Moody's Mag. Aug. 387/2 You'll be able to hold your head up—and that's more than you can do now if you are heels over head in debt.
1952 Daily Mercury (Mackay, Queensland) 16 July 7 Of recent years the way of homes and living has gone heels over head, topsy-turvy.
2010 Register-Herald (Beckley, W. Virginia) 13 Jan. 3 b/1 Aldridge tripped over a ball and went heels-over-head before landing on the back of his head.
b. with one's heels foremost (also forward): (with reference to the manner in which a corpse is traditionally carried) as a corpse, dead. Also simply heels foremost.
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the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [adverb]
awayOE
asleep1297
with one's heels foremost (also forward)1637
irresuscitably1834
1637 T. Brian Pisse-prophet viii. 68 He..meanes to dye in good earnest; and so betakes himselfe to his chamber, with a resolution to save his purse, out of which hee never comes till he be brought with his heels forward.
1655 tr. C. Sorel Comical Hist. Francion viii. 21 She became every day more wicked than other, desiring nothing more than to see me carried forth with my heels formost.
1670 G. Havers tr. G. Leti Il Cardinalismo di Santa Chiesa ii. ii. 147 He was clapt in Prison, and came not out but with his heels forward.
1781 London Mag. June 259/2 A consciousness of their charms, and the consequent fickleness of their disposition, make them long to see their husbands carried out of doors with their heels foremost.
1880 Scotsman 24 Nov. 7/6 Intimating that unless he clears out within twelve days he will be carried from the place with his heels foremost.
1907 W. Bulfin Rambles in Eirinn (1908) i. 10 But he had to go away, heels foremost, at last, and leave it all behind him.
1991 Pacific Stars & Stripes (Tokyo) 26 May (Sunday Suppl.) 2/2 If I allow you to go on, your chances of returning heels foremost are better than excellent.
P4. beef to the heels: see beef n. 2c; to click one's heels: see click v.1 4c; to dig in one's heels: see to dig in 3 at dig v. Phrasal verbs; to drag one's heels: see drag v. 1b; don't let flies stick to your heels: see fly n.1 1e; hairy round the heels: see hairy adj. 1c; to have one's heart in one's heels: see heart n., int., and adv. Phrases 5a; neck and heels: see neck n.1 Phrases 7b; to have round heels: see round heel n. 1a; not to know whether one is on one's head or one's heels: see head n.1 Phrases 3i(b).

Compounds

C1. General attributive and objective, as heel-clacking, heel end, heel-kicker, heel leather, heel loop, heel-sliding, heel stitches, heel strap, etc.
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1610 G. Markham Maister-peece ii. xcvii. 387 From the two heele-nayles backward, let the shooe be broader then the hoofe.
1655 Natura Exenterata 417 Make one purl at the beginning of your heel-needle, then take up a stitch between the two purls and work it plain, then the next stitch make a purl, and the next stitch work plain.
1702 W. Hope tr. J. de Solleysel Compl. Horseman (new ed.) i. xix. 78 When you are arrived from a Journey, immediately draw the two Heel-nails of the Fore-feet.
1795 W. Felton Treat. Carriages II. 144 A Heel leather to shelter the legs behind.
1808 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Devon v. 119 At the heel-end [in a drill-plough] of this sole, a perpendicular bar is inserted.
1856 Calcutta Rev. 26 351 The poor villagers trudging through the dried-up fields in the hot months get a kind of heel-crack.
1859 C. Dickens Haunted House: Ghost in Corner Room in All Year Round Extra Christmas No., 13 Dec. 48 There ensued such toe-and-heeling..and double-shuffling, and heel-sliding.
1880 Turner & Co.'s Catal. Tools (Sheffield) 66 Common brown Skate Straps, with heel loops.
1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 306/2 Place together the pin holding the heel stitches and those holding the foot stitches.
1887 F. Marryat Driven to Bay III. xv. 241 Clinging to the heel end of the spar.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 494 A firm heelclacking is heard.
1926 D. H. Lawrence Let. 19 Jan. (1932) 647 Murry..wrote me impertinently..that I was a professional heel-kicker.
1941 W. J. Cash Mind of South i. iii. 83 Jim Crow—the banjo-picking, heel-flinging, hi-yi-ing happy jack of the levees and the cotton fields.
1943 Boys' Life Dec. 8 Attach the bindings so that when lifted by the heel strap, the ski balances in horizontal position.
1963 Financial Times 5 Oct. 8/5 The top layer of heel leather wears down in about one day.
2003 B. Fradkin Mist Walker (2009) 92 Green heard the clicking of heel studs against the hard tile.
C2.
a. Shoemaking (see sense A. 4).
heel blank n. a piece of leather, wood, or other material, ready to be shaped into a heel or one of the lifts (lift n.2 8a) of a heel.
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1863 U.S. Patent 41,037 2/2 With some work I secure the sole temporarily to the heel blank at the same time that the latter is punched and tacked together.
1921 Shoe & Leather Reporter 13 Oct. 47/2 The shaper is equipped with tracks on which the jack holding the heel blanks is operated.
2016 www.mdguidelines.com 24 June (O.E.D. Archive) Occupational Information for Groover And Turner (Boot & Shoe). Tends machines that cut heel blanks (rough forms) of wood, leather, or fiberboard into heels.
† heel-block n. Obsolete a block used by shoemakers when attaching a heel to the sole of a boot or shoe.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > [noun] > equipment or materials for > equipment > other
thumb-stall1589
stopping sticka1600
dresser1600
heel-block1600
rubbing pin1600
stopper1600
petty boy1688
shoe-bench1841
shoe hairs1859
fudge-wheel1874
shoe-hammer1875
size-stick1875
trimming-machine1877
heel breaster1879
slugger1892
waist-hammer1895
waist-iron1895
1600 T. Dekker Shomakers Holiday sig. C4 Hoe, boy, bring him an heele-blocke, heers a new iourneyman [sc. shoemaker].
1637 Deloney's Gentle Craft (new ed.) iv. sig. C4 A pretty blocke three inches high, in fashion sqared like a Die, Which shall be called by proper name, a Heele blocke, the very same.
1788 G. Wilson Coll. Masonic Songs 95 Adieu to Heel-blocks and Saint Mondays, Which made me oft keep watery Sundays.
heel breast n. the forward face of the heel of a boot or shoe, adjoining the waist (waist n. 4).
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > parts of footwear > [noun] > heel > parts of
lift1677
heeltap1688
heel piece1841
top lift1842
heel lift1844
heel brace1859
heel breast1873
riser1928
1873 Specifications of Patents (U.S. Patent Office) 14 Oct. 271/1 A seat, b, upon which rests the heel-breast, and a last-pin.
1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §429 Scourer..designated according to parts upon which he works, e.g. bottom or naumkeag scourer, heel scourer, heel-breast scourer.
2000 N. E. Rexford Women's Shoes Amer. 1795–1930 ix. 222 Most have a low heel in which the sole continues onto the heel breast.
heel breaster n. (a) a tool or machine for cutting heel breasts; (b) a person who cuts or shapes heel breasts as an occupation.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > [noun] > equipment or materials for > equipment > other
thumb-stall1589
stopping sticka1600
dresser1600
heel-block1600
rubbing pin1600
stopper1600
petty boy1688
shoe-bench1841
shoe hairs1859
fudge-wheel1874
shoe-hammer1875
size-stick1875
trimming-machine1877
heel breaster1879
slugger1892
waist-hammer1895
waist-iron1895
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > [noun] > processes involved in > cutting heel breasts > one who
heel breaster1879
1879 Internat. Exhib. Paris 1878: Rep. Commissioners Victoria 296/2 (caption) Heel Breaster.
1886 E. W. Tullidge Hist. Salt Lake City lxxx. 687 The boots or shoes..are then given to the heel breaster, who manipulates a machine which, at one slice, cuts through the six, or more, thicknesses of sole leather comprising the heel and leaves a square breast next to the shank.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 30 Oct. 7/3 The same firm have several other novelties, including an automatic Louis heel-breaster. The uninitiated may like to know that ‘heel-breasting’ is the operation of bevelling out the curve on the inside edge of the heel to the familiar half-moon or other shape.
1992 1990 Census of Population: Classified Index Industries & Occupations (U.S. Bureau of Census) o105/2 Heel breaster.
heel breasting n. now somewhat rare the operation of cutting or shaping heel breasts; (also) the heel breast itself.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > [noun] > processes involved in > cutting heel breasts
heel breasting1866
1866 U.S. Patent 52,997 (title) Improved heel-breasting machine.
1920 Hide & Leather 10 Apr. 51/1 Heel breasting is one of the most important operations in the shoe factory... The appearance of the heel breasting is an important factor in the appearance of the shoes.
1956 Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times 8 Apr. c7/2 Flame red halter with white heel breasting and collar.
heel counter n. a piece of stiff leather or plastic which forms or reinforces the back of a shoe or boot and provides support to the back and sides of the wearer's heel; = counter n.6
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1867 Boston Directory 378/1 Nichols Oldin & Co. heel counter manufacturers.
1916 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 17 Oct. 857/1 Inserting a heel counter through said slit into the space between the two linings.
2011 J. D. Rose & V. J. Martorana Foot Bk. 28 (caption) The lack of an appropriate heel counter in these shoes has allowed a pronated foot to break them down.
heel cup n. the part of a shoe or orthotic device designed to support or cushion the heel; (also) an insert of plastic, rubber, gel, etc., added to a shoe for this purpose.
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1868 Trans. Amer. Med. Assoc. 19 357 (caption) Cushioned iron cup to receive the heel. The heel cup should extend forward so far that the band, b, shall not press upon the ankle.
1935 Le Mars (Iowa) Globe-Post 22 July 6/6 (advt.) Corn Pads Waterproof 10c Cork Insoles 10c Heel Cups 10c.
1996 L. O'Keefe Shoes v. 290 Their molded heel cup and patented..‘footbed’ ergonomically mimic the natural contours of the foot.
2009 T. A. Souza Differential Diagnosis & Managem. for Chiropractor 469 Use of heel cups may be helpful. The heel cup is often made of shock-absorbent material and provides some medial/lateral support.
heel cutter n. a person whose occupation is cutting out the lifts (lift n.2 8a) which form the heel of a boot or shoe; a tool for cutting out heel lifts.
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1766 in A. Cuthbertson Poems (List of subscribers) sig. M Robert Anderson heel-cutter there [sc. Glasgow].
1855 Daily Chron. & Sentinel (Augusta, Georgia) 24 Oct. 1/1 Hammers, Pincers, Rasps..Peg Cutters, Heel Cutters.
1987 Xenia (Ohio) Daily Gaz. 23 Mar. 5/3 The finisher shaft with its revolving sanders, shiners and heel cutters.
1996 Telegram & Gaz. (Worcester, Mass.) (Electronic ed.) 16 Oct. b5 Mr. Mezinski was a heel cutter at Crescent Leather Co. for the past 40 years.
heel lift n. any of the layers of leather or other material which comprise the heel of a boot or shoe.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > parts of footwear > [noun] > heel > parts of
lift1677
heeltap1688
heel piece1841
top lift1842
heel lift1844
heel brace1859
heel breast1873
riser1928
1844 U.S. Patent 3,657 1/2 The broad end of spring No. 1 is scalloped and attached to the heel at each point or horn of the crescent, so as not to intercept the nails of the heel-lifts.
1920 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 3 Feb. 159/1 The usual tendency of the rubber heel lifts to draw away from the leather.
1993 C. Franzen tr. A. Borinsky Mean Woman 9 Remains of heel lifts for out-of-style pumps.
heel-maker n. a person who makes the heels of boots or shoes; a manufacturer of heels.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > [noun] > processes involved in > one who makes specific parts of
heel-maker1611
shoeman1841
seatsman?1881
1611 in R. E. G. Kirk & E. F. Kirk Returns of Aliens (1907) III. 139/1 Helemakers.
1622 in J. C. Tingey Rec. City of Norwich (1910) II. 383 Trunkmakers and helemakers shalbe the Twelfth and last Company.
1723 London Gaz. No. 6196/8 Joseph Cook..Heelmaker.
1882 Leicester Chron. & Leics. Mercury 1 July (Suppl.) 2/6 The plaintiff was engaged by defendants as a heel maker.
2015 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 15 June 21 A self-confessed control freak, he spends Monday-to-Friday in Italy at the heel-makers, the tanners.
heel parer n. now rare (a) a tool or machine for shaping and trimming heel blanks; (b) a person whose occupation is shaping and trimming heel blanks.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > [noun] > processes involved in > one who trims
shoe-turner1486
heel parer1880
knifer1888
1880 Glasgow Herald 30 July 7/2 (advt.) Machines and shoemaker's utensils:—viz..Bottom Leveller, Heel Parer.
?1881 Census Eng. & Wales: Instr. Clerks classifying Occupations & Ages (?1885) 76 Heel Parer.
1904 Daily Chron. 11 June 8/6 Boot Trade.—Wanted good heel parers and heel scourers.
1939 Scotsman 12 May 12/5 Finishing department—Edge trimmer, heel parer, edge setter.
1955 Argus (Melbourne) 30 July 19/4 (advt.) The plant includes..finisher, complete with scouring keag, brushes, flues, and motor, edge trimmer, and heel parer.
heel quarter n. one of the pieces of leather, etc., making up that part of the upper of a boot or shoe which encloses the wearer's heel; (also) this part as a whole, the counter; cf. quarter n. 22c.
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1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 14/1 Parts of a Shooe..The Rann [is] the Leather as holds the Heel quarters and Vamp to the Soles.
1809 S. T. Coleridge Friend 7 Dec. 244 Country-women and Servant-girls, who with their clean white stockings and with slippers without heel-quarters, tripped along the dirty streets.
1893 Trans. Calif. State Agric. Soc. 1892 155 Sandals, with heavy, wooden soles, leather heel quarters, and a leather band across the instep.
2006 D. Tiberio & J. R. Hinkebein in J. D. Placzek & D. A. Boyce Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Secrets (ed. 2) lxxviii. 630 Wearing a shoe that has a low throat and heel quarter..may cause this sensation.
heel scourer n. (a) a machine for scouring the surface of boot or shoe heels; (b) a person whose occupation is scouring the surface of heels.
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1878 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 3 Apr. 7/1 In this same room are a McKay heeler and a Russell edge trimmer and setter, being the only ones in the western country, and a Corthell heel scourer for polishing the heels.
1881 N.Y. Times 22 Mar. 1/7 Joseph was a heel scourer in John Kelly's shoe factory.
1954 Sydney Morning Herald 19 Oct. 21/3 Wanted, experienced Finisher. Must be able to work Naumkeg and Heel Scourer.
1992 1990 Census Pop. & Housing (U.S. Bureau of Census) o105/2 Heel scourer.
heel seat n. the part of the outer sole to which the heel of a boot or shoe is attached; (also) the part inside a boot or shoe on which the wearer's heel rests.
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1792 G. Galloway Poems 20 No wet to thole, I shut each hole, And wrought my heel-seat under; My forepart's wide—round toe, and side, And lin'd smooth to a wonder.
1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 284/2 The crude heel is pressed upon the ‘heel seat’ of the shoe.
1921 Boot & Shoe Recorder 21 Sept. 92 (advt.) Satin Mule for the boudoir. Made in finest quality satin, cushioned heel seat.
1993 Greenwich (Connecticut) News 14 Jan. 27/2 The narrow-footed skier may also have some slippage in the heel seat.
1995 J. L. Severa Dressed for Photographer iv. 313 Late-sixties shoe styles featured a high ‘Louis’ heel—sharply incurved and with a broad heel seat—for dress.
heel shave n. a tool like a spokeshave, used to shape the heel of a boot or shoe.
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1853 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 17 Nov. (advt.) Boot and Shoemakers' Kit:..Edge Planes a new article, Heel Shaves, [etc.].
1920 Shoe Repairer & Dealer 1 Sept. 45/1 Before using the heel shave what should you do with the heel?
1948 Sydney Morning Herald 30 Oct. 13/3 (advt.) Bootmaker's Equipment. Rubber Heel Pieces, Thread, Women's Weltings, Pegging Awls, Heel Shaves, [etc.].
heel tip n. (a) a protective metal plate attached to the heel of a boot or shoe; = heel plate n. 2 (now rare); (b) the (typically rubber) tip of a stiletto or other high heel.
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1833 Morning Chron. 6 Apr. The right heel-tip was very plain, but I could not say whether the left shoe had a tip on it or not, by the footsteps I saw.
1942 Ellesmere (N.Z.) Guardian 13 Nov. 5/6 There are fewer metal studs and the metal for heel tips and toe plates is also lighter.
1952 Walla Walla (Washington) Union-Bull. 28 May 10 (advt.) Do you need new toe and heel tips to make your shoes look right?
2014 Times (Nexis) 16 Dec. (Business section) 37 Two [pairs of shoes] lost their heel tips within a couple of wears.
heel trimmer n. (a) a machine used for trimming and shaping the edges of a heel blank or heel lift; (b) a person who trims heel blanks or heel lifts as an occupation.
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1861 U.S. Patent 31,666 1 Be it known that I, Charles H. Helms..have invented a new and useful Machine for Paring and Shaping the Heels of Boots and Shoes, which I denominate a ‘Heel-Trimmer’.
1881 St. Louis Globe-Democrat 30 Oct. 12/5 (advt.) Wanted—Heel trimmer and burnisher on ladies' and gents' shoes.
1941 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 216 156/1 The most efficient heel trimmer turns out approximately 1.5 times as many shoes a day as the least efficient.
2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 2 Feb. a1 Gear such as heel trimmers, shoe stretchers and hydraulic presses makes it easier to restore footwear made of newer synthetic materials.
b. Nautical (see sense A. 10d).
heel chain n. a chain for securing a jib boom at its heel.
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1838 G. Back Narr. Exped. in H.M.S. Terror vi. 433 The heel chains were again set up, and being brought over each quarter were hove tight by the capstan.
c1860 H. Stuart Novices or Young Seaman's Catech. (rev. ed.) 74 The heel of the jib-boom has a sheave for the heel rope to reeve through, a score for the heel chain.
1997 W. Mowll Building Working Model Warship 124/2 The jibboom is held in place by the heel chain, which prevents the boom from being pushed inboard.
† heel jigger n. Obsolete a jigger (jigger n.1 2a) or small tackle fastened to the heel of a spar to assist in running it in and out.
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1849 J. M. Murphy & W. N. Jeffers Naut. Routine & Stowage i. 4 Attach two other (canting and heel) jiggers together.
1883 Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel 26 Mar. I took a good pull on the heel jigger and thus detached the torpedo from the boom.
1888 Cent. Mag. July 435/2 I stood in the bow, the heel-jigger in my right hand and the exploding-line in the left.
heel knee n. a bent piece of timber which fits into the angle formed by the junction of the sternpost and keel in order to reinforce the joint; = sternson n. a.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > rear part of vessel > [noun] > parts supporting stern-post
crutch1769
heel knee1830
stern-knee1846
sternson1846
sternson-knee1849
clutch1850
oxter-plate1884
1830 P. Hedderwick Treat. Marine Archit. iii. i. 264 Keep the chain round the end of the keel until such time as the dead-woods are all on, and the heel-knee fastened.
1863 A. Young Naut. Dict. (ed. 2) 121 The upper foremost and upper aftermost pieces of dead-wood are called Deadwood-knees, being crooked pieces of timber, the bolting of which connects the keel with the stem and stern-post. They are termed respectively Stem-knees and Heel-knees.
2004 T. J. Oertling in F. M. Hocker & C. A. Ward Philos. Shipbuilding ix. 132/2 The latter wreck had its frames toenailed into the heel knee.
heel lashing n. a lashing which secures the heel of a spar.
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1791 J. H. Moore Pract. Navigator (ed. 9) 285 Put Heel Lashings on the Sheers, with good Oak Planks under them.
1837 Morning Herald (N.Y.) 4 Aug. I had to take the heel-lashing of the boom to secure the water casks.
1903 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Aug. 4/3 The masthead men..started to take the heel lashing off the clubtopsail sprit.
1993 D. H. Roberts tr. J. Boudriot Hist. French Frigate 1650–1850 xii. 347 The presence of the jackstaff standard and the stay collars on the bowsprit made it necessary to rig the jibboom asymmetrically to starboard; it was secured by means of a heel-lashing and an iron cap consisting of two rings.
heel tackle n. a tackle attached to the heel of a spar, esp. one used to secure the heel of each of the legs of a shears (shear n.1 4) or derrick (derrick n. 2b).
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1834 C. Martelli Naval Officer's Guide 19 I will keep fast the heel tackles, and have hands ready to ease off the after guys.
1847 A. C. Key Narr. Recov. H.M.S. Gorgon 24 When the heel of the mast was a few feet from the partners, the upper purchase was hauled taut, and heel-tackles clapped on.
1936 N.Y. Times 12 Apr. s8/7 On the spinnaker boom there are..a boom lift and a heel tackle.
1995 Admiralty Man. Seamanship iii. 206 It is assumed that the derrick is fully rigged with its head lashing, main tackle, guys and heel tackle.
c. Other compounds.
heel-back n. Rugby an instance of pushing or kicking the ball out of the back of a scrum or ruck with one’s heel; = sense A. 8.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > [noun] > actions or manoeuvres
scrimmaging1776
throw on1845
rush1857
catch1858
maul1860
touch1863
mauling1864
touch-in-goal1869
goal-kicking1871
throw-forward1871
sidestepping1877
handing1882
punting1882
heel1886
touch kicking1889
forward pass1890
scrumming1892
touch-finding1895
heeling1896
wheel1897
scrag1903
reverse pass1907
jinka1914
hand-off1916
play-the-ball1918
gather1921
pivot pass1922
sidestep1927
smother-tackle1927
stiff-arm1927
heel-back1929
scissors1948
rucking1949
loose scrummaging1952
cut-through1960
pivot break1960
put-in1962
chip kicking1963
box kicking1971
peel1973
chip and chase1976
tap penalty1976
1929 Times 4 Mar. 6/3 Cagney's adroit heel-back and Wakefield's splendid opportunism at ten yards range.
1936 Times 9 Jan. 4/1 A quick heel-back from a loose scrummage.
1992 G. Whannel Fields in Vision (1995) vi. 100 A cut-back to long shot as the heel-back takes place.
heel bar n. (a) either of the top and bottom rails of a gate, to which the heel is attached (cf. sense A. 10f); (b) a small shop or counter where shoes are repaired, esp. while the customer waits.
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1803 Trans. Soc. Encouragem. Arts, Manuf., & Commerce 21 34 If the thimbles have straps embracing the heel of the gate.., and if they are fixed to the heel bars and braces, by means of iron pins and screw nuts, great firmness will be given to the gate at those two points.
1948 Daily Court Rev. 1 Nov. A chain of ‘3-Minute Heel Bars’ in railroad stations, building lobbies and other locations over the nation.
1987 Wrought Ironwork v. 86/2 Fit the heel bar to the back stile.
2011 P. James Dead Man's Grip 236 The heel was hanging by a strip of leather... She wondered if she had enough time to hobble to a heel bar and get it fixed.
† heel-beam n. Obsolete (in certain horse-drawn timber carts) a beam situated in front of the axle (see quot.).
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1828 H. Steuart Planter's Guide 242 Others, in some of the northern districts of this kingdom,..have added what they denominate a ‘Heel-beam’, 18 In. out from the axle or crossbar... It is placed immediately in front of the axle, and next to the draught-bar, to which the horses are put. In other words, the Side-stays are lengthened out..; and the position of the axle being altered, it causes the frame to project about 18 In. beyond it.
heel bug n. the harvest mite, Eutrombicula autumnalis, or its blood-sucking larva; (also) dermatitis of the legs of horses caused by these larvae.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [noun] > disorders of legs > dislocation
stifle1566
stifling1566
hipping1610
stifle-slip1908
heel bug1920
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Acari or family Acaridae > member of (tick) > family Trombidiidae > trombicula autumnalis (heel bug)
heel bug1920
1920 Vet. Rec. 6 Nov. 218/1 Heel bug, or harvester, Leptus autumnalis, is an annual source of trouble to thoroughbreds in training.
1931 Daily Tel. 22 May 19/7 Lady Marjorie is suffering from lameness in the off-hind heel, due to variola, which is a similar complaint to heel-bug.
2009 A. Wood Horsecare Handbk. 177/1 Heel bug is the larval stage of the harvest mite; it is red in color and also sucks blood from humans.
heel cap n. (a) a protective cap on the heel of a boot or shoe (cf. heel tip n. at Compounds 2a); (b) a piece of material for protecting or repairing the heel of a sock or stocking; (also) the heel of a sock or stocking.
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1854 Caledonian Mercury 19 Jan. (advt.) Iron Heel-Caps and Felt Over-Shoes to prevent slipping.
1900 Patents for Inventions: Abridgm. Specif. Wearing-apparel 1893–6 196/1 Stockings and socks are repaired by means of toe and heel caps.
1907 Textile Amer. Dec. 23/2 She will close the toe and stitch the open ends of the heel caps together.
1930 Bradford (Pa.) Era 30 Oct. 9/5 Heel caps must be straight and free from ragged edges.
1933 N.Z. Herald 16 June 5/4 Boys and girls are very hard on their stockings, but mother will be saved many a big ‘potato’ if she makes them extra toe and heel caps to be worn under the stockings.
1998 D. Lasseter Cold Storage xxiii. 313 [She] had been observed wearing a shoe with the heel cap missing.
2015 K. Atherley Custom Socks iii. 33 The heel cap is shaped with short-rows.
† heel-cap v. Obsolete transitive to mend or reinforce the heel of (a shoe or stocking); to provide with a heel cap.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > make footwear [verb (transitive)] > furnish with heel or sole
sole1570
heel1598
heel-piece1699
heel-cap1801
1801 W. Beattie Fruits Time Parings 38 [He] heel-caps his hose.
1858 J. Brown Rab in Horæ Subsecivæ 1st Ser. 307 His heavy shoes..heel-capt and toe-capt.
heel-catcher n. a person who grasps another's heel; a supplanter.With reference to the biblical figure Jacob who is described as clutching the heel of his twin brother Esau when leaving the womb of their mother Rebecca (see note at the etymology of heeler n.2).
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1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Gen. xxv. 26) 199 Calcanearius, an heel-catcher, or supplanter.
1679 C. Ness Chrystal Mirrour iii. 61 This heel-catcher (your own treacherous heart) would not onely have catched your heel, but also your very birth-right and blessing.
1976 Sioux Center News (Sioux County, Iowa) 19 May 2/3 He was born the ‘heel-catcher’ and early in life tricked his brother into selling his birthright.
heelchaser n. a dog which nips at the heels of an animal to urge it on; (more generally) a person who or animal which follows at the heels of another (literal and figurative).
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1918 Forest & Stream Feb. 125/1 (advt.) Scotch collie pups, pedigreed, natural heelchasers.
1938 D. Thomas Let. 1 June in Sel. Lett. (1966) 199 It's the dog among the fairies..the wizard's heel-chaser.
1997 L. Shriver Double Fault (2006) 122 Heelchasers are optimistic and fearless, with nothing to lose; frontrunners are naturally conservative and paranoid.
heel clip n. Farriery an upturned projection on either of the heels of a horseshoe, designed to help keep the shoe in position; cf. toe-clip n. (b) at toe n. Compounds 2.
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1831 Veterinarian Jan. 27 The heel-clips are two clips at the heels of the side bars which correspond to the toe-clip.
1867 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1866 II. 950 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (39th Congr., 2nd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. No. 109) XVI The expanding screw is protected from wear and blows by its elevation, and operates between the raised heel clips.
1990 J. W. Evans in J. W. Evans et al. Horse (ed. 2) xix. 737 Horses that are required to make sudden stops and turns are difficult to keep shod unless toe and heel clips are added.
heel dance n. any of various dances involving movement or tapping of the heels.
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1838 J. P. Robertson & W. P. Robertson Lett. on Paraguay I. xxvi. 327 Up got Doña Juana, in her eighty-fourth year, and danced a sarandîg, or heel-dance.
1951 A. Koestler Age of Longing i. iv. 58 Loose, springy limbs which seemed specially designed for the Kaukasian heel-dance.
1995 Orange County (Calif.) Reg. 30 June (Show section) 9/2 The cast of 17 moves gracefully from the thump-thumping heel dance of the Powhatan tribe to the horn-blower jig of sailors.
heel dog n. †(a) a dog, esp. a retriever, which comes or keeps to heel (obsolete); (b) a sheepdog or cattle dog trained to drive animals by running or nipping at their heels; cf. heeler n.2 6a.
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1887 Field 70 569/3 Any man..would with ease dispose of twenty ‘heel’ dogs ere he was asked for one ‘Hold up’ one.
1888 Country Gentleman 12 May 626/2 If he could breed a few canine beaters he might do well, also some heel dogs for the batteries.
1902 W. T. Palmer Lake-Country Rambles xvi. 187 Its master takes it on to the fell, and allows it to run in company with his heel-dog.
2001 Seguin (Texas) Gazette-Enterprise 28 Sept. a4/5 A heel dog instinctively closing up the herd by nipping hocks.
heel-dragger n. a person who resists taking action or delays making a decision; also in extended use, applied to a group, nation, etc.Cf. cf. to drag one's heels at drag v. 1b, foot-dragger n. at foot n. and int. Compounds 3.
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1928 Delphi (Indiana) Citizen 13 Dec. Those men, who are sometimes referred to as ‘heel draggers’ have the ‘wait and see’ attitude.
1958 S. T. Possony in R. Strausz-Hupé & H. W. Hazard Idea of Colonialism i. 18 A third group..can best be described as ‘heel-draggers’; they intend to do nothing until they are forced..to make grudging and belated concessions.
2006 Santa Fe (New Mexico) New Mexican (Nexis) 30 Dec. a5 The United States is the leading heel-dragger when it comes to international commitment to reduction of the carbon emissions contributing to global warming.
2015 C. Leerhsen Ty Cobb (2016) iii. 355 The last man to arrive in the clubhouse each day, and an inveterate heel-dragger when it came to spring training.
heel-dragging n. and adj. (a) n. reluctance or slowness to act or make a decision; (b) adj. characterized by such slowness or reluctance.Cf. to drag one's heels at drag v. 1b, foot-dragging n. and adj. at foot n. and int. Compounds 3.
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1945 E. Liverpool (Ohio) Rev. 4 Jan. 7/3 Some officials..are inclined to be angry with the Swiss for what they called heel-dragging in complying with requests to tighten up on help to the Germans.
1948 Montana Standard 6 July 1/8 Russia is expected to do a heel-dragging act in considering and answering the allied notes.
1980 Policy Anal. 6 470 The credible threat of continued bad publicity is the most effective spur to a heel-dragging bureaucracy.
2016 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 24 Jan. st. 8 Manners change—in fits and starts, and often with some heel-dragging by the old guard.
† heel-fast adj. Obsolete rare bound or shackled tightly by the heels.
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1896 Church Times 2 Apr. 403 Rogues who are lying heel-fast in gaol.
heel fastener n. †(a) a fastener for securing an ice skate at the heel of the wearer (obsolete); (b) a metal fastener which passes through the sole of a shoe into the back of a wooden heel, thus ensuring that the heel cannot become detached (now rare).
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1878 Specif. Patents (U.S. Patent Office) 5 Feb. 16/1 To use the skate, I graduate the heel-fastener by the right and left hand screws for the length of the foot.
1887 Canad. Patent Office Rec. Oct. 536/2 A boot and shoe heel fastener consisting of the body A. terminating at one end in one or more points to pass through the heel, and with a flange B at the opposite end, turned at substantially right angles to the body.
1896 Amer. Stationer 21 May 893/1 The entire skate will be molded in one piece, the upper part being formed to resemble a slipper, with a split leather ‘lace-up’ securely attached as a heel fastener.
1963 Kenosha (Wisconsin) News 19 Mar. 12 The wire heel fasteners are installed securely and in such a manner that no metal is exposed.
heelflip n. Skateboarding a manoeuvre similar to a kick flip, in which the board is manipulated by the heel of the skateboarder's front foot so that it completes a sideways rotation before landing; cf. kick flip n. at kick n.1 Additions.
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1993 Sunday News (Kenosha, Wisconsin) 1 Aug. f1 Kick flip, the majority of tricks nowadays are flip tricks. This is where the board leaves the ground and flips end over end. Also known as a heel flip.
1994 Sydney Morning Herald 21 Jan. (Metro Mag.) 2/1 One of the basic tricks of the moment is doing an ‘ollie’..combined with another trick, like a heel flip or a kick flip (where the board spins around independent of your feet), and then you magically land it.
2007 N. Hornby Slam iv. 71 I went to the wheelchair ramp..and messed about—nothing too flash, just a few fakie flips and heelflips.
heel fly n. any of several North American warble flies that are parasites of cattle, esp. Hypoderma bovis and H. lineata.
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1870 Monthly Rep. Dept. Agric. (U.S. Dept. Agric.) July 275 Some time since I received a letter from you, requesting a specimen of the heel fly, so troublesome to Texas cattle, and what I know of its habits.
1913 W. C. Barnes Western Grazing Grounds & Forest Ranges xix. 324 The heel fly is known to fame as the fly that brings the great ‘warble grub’ in the backs of cattle.
2016 J. R. Campbell & R. T. Marshall Dairy Production & Processing xiii. 200/2 Cattle have a great fear of heel flies, which explains their running on pasture to shaded areas.
heel-free adj. [compare earlier to heel free (see quot. 1936 at heel v.3 6b)] rare (of a dog) able to keep to heel when off the lead.
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1948 in B. Vesey-Fitzgerald Bk. Dog 223 Ten minutes a day for three days and most puppies will be ‘heel-free’ in the pen.
† heel-hurted adj. Obsolete that has been wounded in the heel.
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a1569 A. Kingsmill Viewe Mans Estate (1574) sig. C.vii We are but heele hurted, but he shall be wounded on the head.
heel iron n. (a) Agriculture a metal plate on the undersurface or ‘heel’ of a plough; (b) a protective metal plate attached to the heel of a boot or shoe; = heel plate n. 2 (now historical).
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1783 Lett. & Papers Agric. (Bath & West of Eng. Soc.) II. 357 I the side iron. K the heel iron. L the ground raise. These three are often made of cast-iron.
1843 W. H. Humphreys Rep. Supreme Court Tennessee 3 301 Snodgrass then, upon inspection of his shoes, found that they had heel-irons on.
1868 U.S. Patent 77,855 12 May 2 A new and useful Improvement in Ploughs... Figure 1 is a side elevation, showing the heel-iron turned up, as when not in use.
1948 Middlesboro (Kentucky) Daily News 1 Sept. 5 (advt.) Growing Boys' School Shoes, Panco sole, heel irons. All sizes.
2000 J. W. Patterson Tree Accurst iv. 87 Collis finds bones, greasy ashes, a heel iron from Charles's moccasins.
2014 Smallholder (Nexis) 31 Dec. The heel iron on the rear landside supports some of the weight at the back of the plough.
heel joint n. now rare (in a quadruped or bird) a joint homologous to the human ankle joint; a tibiotarsal joint; cf. sense A. 2b.
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1827 W. Scott Life Napoleon V. xii. 341 It was that of the Abyssinian hunter, who, dreading to front the elephant in his fury, draws his sabre along the animal's heel-joint, and waits until the exertions of the powerful brute burst the injured sinews, and he sinks prostrate under his own weight.
1920 Rabbits & Dollars 44 Then cut away the skin around the hocks, or heel-joint, of the leg by which the [dead] rabbit is suspended.
2012 Condor 114 304/2 The geolocator was tied and glued to a PVC flag on the tibia above the heel joint.
† heel lifter n. Obsolete a fugitive, a runaway.Apparently an isolated use.
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1583 T. Stocker tr. Tragicall Hist. Ciuile Warres Lowe Countries i. f. 132v Amongest the lustie heele lifters..a good manie..were driuen to returne.
heel pad n. (a) a pad inserted in the heel of a boot or shoe; (b) (in animals) the rear pad (pad n.2 7b) of an animal's foot; (in humans) a cushion of fatty and fibrous tissue on which the heel bone rests.
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1842 North Amer. & Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia) 15 Nov. The ladies of New York have adopted a heel pad which brings the ankle more in the middle of the foot.
1869 R. Owen in Trans. Zool. Soc. 6 495 The under surface of so much as remains of this ‘heel-pad’ measures 3 inches 8 lines by 3 inches 6 lines.
1894 Westm. Gaz. 12 July 3/3 The knees are squeezed in a vice..and heel-pads inserted in the boots.
1924 J. Grinnell & T. I. Storer Animal Life in Yosemite 74 The wolverine's track shows five unequal toes and a very large triangular heel pad.
1996 André de Brett Catal. Autumn 182/1 Soft moulded heel pads are easy to fit and change from shoe to shoe.
2009 M. Richter et al. in B. D. Browner et al. Skeletal Trauma 2 (ed. 5) lxvii. 2378/2 Injury to the heel pad results in a compromise of the blood supply to the region.
heel prick n. the action of pricking a heel, esp. of a newborn baby, with a lancet or other device in order to obtain a small sample of blood; an instance of this; frequently attributive; = heel stick n.
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1946 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 21 Dec. 973/1 For the performance of the direct Coombs' test, a few drops of blood taken from the newborn infant, from the cord or from a heel-prick, are dropped into citrate.
1996 Daily Tel. 4 June 18/8 After about a week, every new-born baby is given a heel prick test.
2003 N. T. Hatfield Introd. Pediatric Nursing (ed. 6) viii. 117/2 I was stressed out from listening to my infant wail at the heel pricks.
† heel-ring n. Obsolete (a) the fixed ring on the blade of a scythe by which it is attached to the shaft; (b) the ring securing the blade of a plough.
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1823 Washington Q. Mag. 1 53 The scythe is then to be fitted to the main sneath, and secured by what is called a common heel ring.
1846 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I. 442/2 Heel-ring, the ring which secures the blade of a plough.
1863 Country Gentleman 28 May 349/2 They make the ‘heel-rings’ for their snaths of limber iron, and much too slender for answering the intended purpose, viz., of fastening the scythe firmly to the snath.
1900 W. Brown Hist. Town Hampton Falls II. 262 The scythe was fastened with a heel-ring and wedge.
† heel sophist n. humorous Obsolete a person knowledgeable in the art of dancing.Apparently an isolated use.
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1743 H. Fielding Ess. Conversat. in Misc. I. 158 Three Dancing-Masters..the Heel Sophists.
heelsplitter n. U.S. any of various North American freshwater mussels of the genera Lasmigona and Potamilus (family Unionidae), the shells of which have a sharp edge; frequently with distinguishing word.
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1898 Bull. U.S. Fish Comm. 1897 17 407 Tennessee furnishes a host of names [for mussels], black (24), white (13), yellow (44),..heel-splitter (3).
1937 Ecology 18 383 The pink heel splitter, Proptera alata megaptera (Raf.), and the white heel splitter, Lasmigona complanata (Barnes), occur in greatest abundance on pure sand, or sand mixed with mud.
1995 K. Terwilliger et al. Guide Endangered & Threatened Species Virginia 76 The Tennessee heelsplitter, a relatively small mussel with a length of about 2½ inches, is characterized by a smooth, elongate, rhomboid shell.
2011 Louisiana Weekly 14 Nov. Several dozen mussel species, including a threatened species called the inflated heelsplitter, lived in the river before the spill.
heel stick n. the action of pricking a heel, esp. of a newborn baby, with a lancet or other device in order to obtain a small sample of blood; an instance of this; frequently attributive; = heel prick n.
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1964 Joplin (Missouri) Globe 27 Sept. a12/2 Approximately 48 hours after an infant has had its first milk feeding, a few drops of blood are obtained by a heel-stick and are placed on a special filter-paper.
1995 in T. M. Field Touch in Early Devel. ix. 109 We are currently assaying glucose and insulin levels in the heel-stick blood samples of preterm infants.
2011 G. Leifer Introd. Maternity & Pediatric Nursing (ed. 6) ix. 218/2 The heel stick should avoid the center of the heel where bone, nerves, and blood vessels are near the surface.
heel stone n. a stone in which the base of a post, stanchion, etc., rests or is fixed.
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1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. 530 The stable posts, and posts in front of the feeding-troughs, to have heel-stones 12 inches square and 18 inches long.
1883 Iron 26 Jan. 70/3 Each of the heel-stones consists of a block of Penrhyn granite from Cornwall... The pair will carry the gates which will close the entrance to the lock.
1953 Proc. Royal Irish Acad. 1952–3 C. 55 50 The edge of the notch is not rubbed as it should be if it had functioned as the heel stone of a wooden door.
2008 D. A. Wilson Forensic Procedures for Boundary & Title Investig. xix. 315 (caption) A typical rail fence..with close-up showing the location of ‘heel stones’ under the intersections of the rails.
heel strike n. an instance of the heel striking the ground when walking, running, etc.; cf. foot strike n. (a) at foot n. and int. Compounds 3.In quot. 1951: a step in tap-dancing.
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1951 M. L. Wolf Dict. Arts 327 Heel strike, in tap dancing, any step or movement in which either heel executes a sharp tap while proceeding rapidly in a forward direction or to either side.
1965 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 65 86/3 It [sc. the knee] bends a little immediately after the heel-strike.
1978 Guardian 31 Mar. 11 There are 1,600 heel strikes to go on my LSD [i.e. Long Slow Distance] training programme.
2012 Church Times 3 Aug. 32/1 This helps you do the proper running which is a forefront strike as opposed to a heel strike.
heel striker n. a person whose stride (esp. when running) is characterized by the heel striking the ground first; = rearfoot striker n. at rearfoot n. Compounds.
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1981 Winchester (Va.) Star 21 Feb. 16 (advt.) This makes it an ideal shoe for the extreme heel striker.
1997 K. B. Fields & M. W. Craib in R. E. Sallis & F. Massimino Essent. Sports Med. lxiv. 480 The typical heel striker has a first peak of impact force shortly after heel strike.
2010 New Yorker 8 Nov. 78/2 Since high school, Ritzenhein had been a heel striker; even when he was running at speed, his heel struck the ground before the ball of his foot did.
heel-string n. the Achilles tendon (which inserts into the heel bone).
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1775 Gazetteer & New Daily Advertiser 10 Aug. If they cannot attend, they have no pay, except when a bone is fractured, or the heel-string cut asunder.
1861 H. A. Jacobs Incidents Life Slave Girl xxi. 174 I never had my heel-strings cut to prevent my running away.
1914 Hunter-Trader-Trapper Dec. 87/2 When skinning [a raccoon], rip from under lip straight to vent, then rip hind legs on extreme back side over heel-string to vent.
1992 Toronto Star (Nexis) 15 July (Sports section) d2 My right heel-string hurts when I sprint prior to the jump, when I push hard.
† heel tool n. Obsolete a turning tool for the preliminary cutting or shaping of a piece of iron.
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1827 Manch. Guardian 4 Aug. Heel tools, and gravers, vices, pullies.
1849 J. Weale Rudim. Dict. Terms Archit. ii. 217/2 Heel tool, a tool used by turners for roughing out a piece of iron, or turning it to somewhat near the intended size: it has a very acute cutting edge and an angular base or heel.
1904 P. N. Hasluck Metalworking 406/1 The heel tool..is another form of tool used in rough turning iron.
heel-treading adj. and n. (a) adj. that treads on a person's heels (literal and figurative); (b) n. the action of treading on a person's heels (literal and figurative).The term heel-treading (pace quot. 1812) does not occur in George Puttenham's 1589 work The Arte of English Poesie.
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1812 S. E. Brydges & J. Haslewood Brit. Bibliogr. II. 255 The following mode of repeating a portion of the antecedent line, may amuse: Puttenham, in his Art of Poesie, 1589, terms this heel treading kind of verse.
1835 Eclectic Rev. Dec. 493 There is no bustle, no elbowing, or heel-treading, no disorder.
1920 H. A. Franck Roaming through W. Indies xiv. 358 The same incessant cries for alms, the same heel-treading throngs of guides marked our progress.
1990 W. Frisch tr. A. Schubring in Brahms & his World ii. 119 It is this kind of heel-treading, sometimes quite bizarre, that we often encounter in Schumann.
heel tree n. English regional (east midlands and East Anglian) a crossbar pivoted in the middle, to which the traces are attached in a horse-drawn cart, plough, or similar; = swingletree n. 2.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > parts of cart or carriage > [noun] > swingle-tree
swing-tree1396
swingletree1483
spring-tree1600
bridge tree1607
whippin1697
whippletree1733
cross-tree1765
splinter-bar1765
swindle-tree1801
shackle-bar1834
whiffletree1842
heel tree1846
single-tree1847
swingle-bar1849
pulling-tree1895
trace-block1900
1846 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I. 442/2 Heel-tree, the swing-bar at the heels of a horse drawing a harrow. Linc.
1851 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. Eng. 12 381 The ploughs each have a wooden pin to connect the heel-tree with the plough-cock.
1874 Notts. Guardian 13 Mar. 1/6 3 gathering rakes, 3 swathe rakes, heel trees (in lots).
1969 H. Orton & P. M. Tilling Surv. Eng. Dial. III. i. 131 Q[uestion]. What do you call this?..Heel/horse/swell/swingle/..-tree(s).
† heel-wedge n. Obsolete (a) a wedge used to hold the coulter of a plough in place, spec. one driven into the opening on the underside of the beam; (b) a wedge driven into the heel-ring of a scythe to ensure that the blade remains securely attached to the shaft.
ΚΠ
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. iii In the settyng of the culture, and with the driueng of his syde wedges, forewedg, and hele wedg.
1666 Pleugh-song in J. Forbes Cantus (ed. 2) sig. K The missel and the pleugh-bowl, the pleugh-staff, the pleugh-shoone, the mell and the stilt and the beam and the heel wedge.
1727 M. Bradley in R. Bradley Compl. Body Husbandry ii. 42 The upper wedges are called the fore wedges, and the wedge below the beam is called the hole, or heel-wedge.
1814 Farmer's Mag. May 199 The openings for the coulters have plates of iron above and below for strengthening the wood, with top and heel wedges attached by chains for preservation.
1823 Washington Q. Mag. 1 54 The scythe is then to be fitted to the main sneath, and secured by what is called a common heel ring and heel wedge.
1888 E. R. Shaw Pot of Gold 46 So there followed driving of heel-wedges, twisting and ranging of blade with handle, stretching out of the foot to determine whether the scythe-point was too far out or too close in.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

heeln.2

Brit. /hiːl/, U.S. /hil/
Forms: see heel v.2; also 1600s hele.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: heel v.2
Etymology: < heel v.2 Compare slightly later heeling n.3 Compare also later hield n. 3.
Nautical.
An instance of a boat or ship heeling or leaning to one side; (also) the amount by which a boat or ship heels, expressed as an angle.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > action or motion of vessel > [noun] > heeling or listing
careen1591
heel1622
heeling1625
list1633
seel1644
seeling1644
hield1867
1622 R. Hawkins Observ. Voiage South Sea ii. 5 The winde freshing, sodenly the Shipp began to make a little hele.
1664 J. Yonge Jrnl. (1963) (modernized text) 68 The sea gave the ship such a heel that all the kentlage..ran to leeward and made the ship lie on one side.
1720 H. Walker Jrnl. or Acct. Exped. Canada 98 The Windsor proving too difficult to careen..: I therefore order'd her only to have a large Heel.
1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 438 The strength of our ship..was now very much impair'd, our main beam working and playing at every heel the ship gave.
1765 C. Johnstone Chrysal III. i. iii. 15 When the ship takes a heel.
1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto II li. 144 She gave a heel, and then a lurch to port.
1862 Standard 24 Apr. An average of 2 deg. of deviation for each degree of heel!
1882 W. H. White Man. Naval Archit. (ed. 2) 151 The Devastation..was made to reach a heel exceeding 7 degrees, by four hundred men running eighteen times across her deck.
1906 T. J. Hains Voy. of Arrow v. 58 We were nearly through the meal when the vessel took a sudden heel to leeward.
1964 F. Chichester Lonely Sea & Sky (1967) xxvii. 319 I looked at the pendulum which measures the heel of the yacht and was astonished to see that we were still heeled over 25 degrees to starboard.
1999 P. Berman Catamaran Sailing (rev. ed.) iv. 37 Remember that a cat should never have a great heel to leeward or any heel to windward.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

heeln.3

Brit. /hiːl/, U.S. /hil/
Origin: Probably a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: heel n.1
Etymology: Probably an extended use of heel n.1, although the semantic development is unclear; perhaps with allusion to the furtive behaviour of a sneak thief, who is rarely seen face to face (compare heel n.1 3c); or perhaps with allusion to down at heel adj.
1. U.S. Criminals' slang. An opportunistic burglar, a sneak thief. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1908 [implied in: Scrap Bk. 5 78/2 That window was made fer you... An' then..you can 'asten to hopen the door at the back fer some o' yer pals which'll be a waitin' there—they not being so small an' heelish as Dandy.].
1909 F. H. Tillotson How to be Detective 92 Heel, a sneak thief.
1916 Literary Digest 19 Aug. 425/1 She..is said to be running a respectable ‘scatter’ in Dayton, Ohio, for reformed pickpockets and ‘heels’ or ‘pennyweighters’, the argot for sneak-thieves and shoplifters.
1920 Business Digest & Investm. Weekly 3 Feb. 161/1 The ‘stalls’ engage the men at the windows while the ‘heel’ who does the real work for the ‘mob’, slips around unseen from the wickets, enters the cage and makes his haul while the employees' backs are turned.
1937 B. L. Reitman Sister of Road vii. 103 Later I found it [sc. a stretch in prison] was for being a sneak thief, a ‘heel’ as they called it.
2. U.S. Criminals' slang. With the. Criminal activity; spec. stealing, burglary. Esp. in out on the heel: engaged in criminal activity. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime
crime1485
game1739
work1762
heel1911
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [phrase] > committing a crime
out on the heel1911
1911 G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society viii. 235 I wasn't above usin' it [sc. nitroglycerine] I kin tell you when I was out on the ‘heel’.
1918 Virginia Law Reg. 7 13 Thieves who tap store tills are called ‘damper getters’, and when working are said to be ‘out on the Heel’.
1937 E. H. Sutherland Professional Thief iii. 48 The heel and the boost are two related types of stealing from places of business.
3.
a. U.S. (originally Criminals' slang). A dishonourable, untrustworthy, or otherwise despicable person. Chiefly as predicate.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > baseness > base person > [noun]
houndOE
hinderlingc1175
whelpc1330
vilec1400
beasta1425
dog bolt1465
shake-rag1571
vassal1589
brock1607
shag-rag1611
shack-rag1612
slubberdegullion1612
baseling1618
shag1620
shab1637
slabberdegullion1653
whiffler1659
hang-dog1693
reptile1697
Nobodaddyc1793
skunk1816
spalpeen1817
tiger1827
soap-lock1840
shake1846
white mouse1846
sweep1853
shuck1862
whiffmagig1871
scrubber1876
ullage1901
jelly bean1905
heel1914
dirty dog1928
crud1932
crut1937
klunk1942
crudball1968
scumbag1971
bawbag1999
society > morality > moral evil > lack of principle or integrity > [noun] > dishonesty > dishonest person
shondc725
makeshift1554
roundabout1605
fraudsman1613
trickster1711
bug1785
fly-by-night1796
twister1834
rigger1859
shyster1877
crook1879
heel1914
wide boy1937
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > evasive deception, shiftiness > [noun] > double-dealing, duplicity > two-timing, double-crossing > practitioner of
jilter1709
double-crosser1888
heel1914
two-timer1927
1914 L. E. Jackson & C. R. Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 43 Heel,..an incompetent; an undesirable; an inefficient or pusillanimous pretender to sterling criminal qualifications.
1918 Chicago Sunday Tribune 17 Feb. If she tossed you becus you was no good..then you're a heel an' you oughta never get a girl to marry you again.
1929 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 13 Apr. 54/4 If a crook becomes an informer, then he is a rat or a heel.
1932 J. T. Farrell Studs Lonigan xvi. 354 Studs watched him give the college handshake, thought what a heel O'Brien had turned into.
1949 ‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar xvii. 157 Signing a paper didn't make him any more of a heel than he was being at the moment.
1957 L. P. Hartley Hireling 225 It doesn't matter how she feels, does it, when she's lost her fiancé—though he was a heel and she's well rid of him?
1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Dec. 749/5 John Augustus Grimshawe was a heel about money and women.
1971 Kokomo (Indiana) Tribune 11 Apr. 27/2 It makes them look like real heels, honest-to-goodness racists.
2010 T. Blair Journey i. 16 I was beginning to feel a right heel about the whole thing, coming in and creating all this distress.
b. A wrestler who is cast as the villain or antagonist in a bout of professional wrestling, employing underhand, excessively aggressive tactics and behaving in an ostentatiously unsportsmanlike manner.Frequently opposed to face n. 8 or baby face n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > wrestling > [noun] > wrestler > types of
sumo1864
sumotori1884
ozeki1892
sumo1893
yokozuna1894
rikishi1907
mud-wrestler1936
baby face1948
luchador1953
heel1958
wrist-wrestler1978
face1998
curtain jerker1999
1958 G. Boyington Baa Baa Black Sheep 375 Wrestling, as well as other professions, has a language of its own... Hero is ‘baby face’; villain is ‘heel’.
1976 Texas Monthly May 88/1 He saw an ad in the newspaper that offered any amateur who was willing to enter the ring against a vicious heel named Spider Galento $1 for every minute he lasted.
1998 Newsweek 23 Nov. 62/2 In the traditional morality plays of professional wrestling, grapplers divided into good guys, or ‘baby faces’, and black-hatted ‘heels’.
2012 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 4 Apr. s2 Like any good heel, he's flirted with becoming a ‘face’ (wrestling for nice guys) at times this season.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

heelv.1

Brit. /hiːl/, U.S. /hil/
Forms: 1. Present stem.

α. (Strong) early Old English heolan, early Old English hileð (3rd singular indicative, in prefixed forms), Old English hælan (rare), Old English helan, Old English hilþ (3rd singular indicative, in prefixed forms), Old English hilð (3rd singular indicative), Old English hylest (2nd singular indicative), Old English hylð (3rd singular indicative); N.E.D. (1898) also records a form Middle English hilest (2nd singular indicative).

β. (Weak) Old English helian, early Middle English heole (south-west midlands), Middle English heele, Middle English helie (chiefly southern), Middle English helle, Middle English hely (south-western), Middle English helye (south-west midlands), Middle English heyle (east midlands), Middle English 1800s– hele, Middle English–1600s hell, 1500s–1700s heal, 1600s heale, 1700s– hail, 1700s– hale, 1700s– heel; English regional 1600s 1800s–1900s heal, 1800s ail (south-western), 1800s eel (north-west midlands), 1800s hail (south-western), 1800s hale (chiefly south-western), 1800s heeal, 1800s heill (south-western), 1800s yeal (Cheshire), 1800s–1900s hele, 1800s–1900s hell; Scottish pre-1700 hail, pre-1700 heil, pre-1700 heile, pre-1700 heyll, pre-1700 1700s heill, pre-1700 1700s– hele, 1700s hool, 1700s–1900s heal, 1800s hael (Caithness), 1800s hel (Shetland), 1800s– heel, 1900s– heyl; also Irish English 1800s heal (Wexford), 1800s heel (northern), 1800s hele (Wexford); N.E.D. (1898) also records forms early Middle English hale, Middle English hel.

2. Past tense.

α. (Strong) early Old English hel (chiefly Mercian), Old English hæl, Old English hælan (plural), Old English hælon (plural), early Middle English halen (south-east midlands, plural), early Middle English hele (south-western, plural), early Middle English helen (south-west midlands, plural), Middle English hal (south-west midlands).

β. (Weak) Old English helode, Old English–Middle English helede, early Middle English heolede (Oxfordshire), Middle English heild (northern), Middle English helde, Middle English helete (south-eastern), Middle English helid, Middle English helyd, 1500s–1700s (1800s English regional) healed, 1800s haled (English regional), 1800s– heeled; also Scottish pre-1700 healit, pre-1700 heillyt, pre-1700 heleit, pre-1700 helit, pre-1700 helyt, pre-1700 heylyt, pre-1700 1900s heild, 1800s heal'd, 1900s healt; N.E.D. (1898) also records a form Middle English helled.

3. Past participle.

α. (Strong) Old English geholen, Old English–early Middle English holen (in prefixed forms (not ge-)), early Middle English ihelen (perhaps transmission error), Middle English hole, Middle English holn, Middle English ihole, Middle English iholen, Middle English yhole; Scottish pre-1700 houin; Irish English (Wexford) 1800s hole.

β. (Weak) Old English helod (in prefixed forms (not ge-)), Old English (in prefixed forms (not ge-))–Middle English 1800s heled, early Middle English ihæled, early Middle English iheoled (Oxfordshire), Middle English helet (in prefixed forms (not ge-)), Middle English helid, Middle English helied, Middle English hellud, Middle English helud, Middle English helut, Middle English heoled, Middle English hilde, Middle English hyllyd, Middle English hylyd, Middle English ieled, Middle English iheled, Middle English ihelid, Middle English ihyled, Middle English yheled, Middle English yhelid, Middle English yhellyd, Middle English yhelyd, Middle English yheoled (west midlands), 1500s–1700s healed, 1800s– heeled; English regional 1700s–1800s haled, 1800s hailed (south-western), 1800s heal'd, 1800s heeal'd, 1800s–1900s healed; Scottish pre-1700 heild, pre-1700 heilit, pre-1700 heillit, pre-1700 held, pre-1700 helde, pre-1700 heled, pre-1700 helyt, pre-1700 1800s helit, 1800s heal'd; Irish English (Wexford) 1800s hulth, 1800s– helt.

See also heild v.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: A merging of two distinct but closely related words: (i) an Old English strong verb of Class IV (helan ), cognate with Old Frisian hela to conceal (West Frisian hele to harbour stolen goods), Old Dutch -helan (in bihelan to hide, conceal; Middle Dutch helen , heelen to hide, conceal, to harbour stolen goods, Dutch helen to harbour stolen goods), Old Saxon helan to hide, conceal (Middle Low German hēlen , hellen to conceal, to harbour stolen goods), Old High German helan to hide, conceal, to cover up, to deny (Middle High German heln to hide, conceal, German hehlen to hide, conceal, to harbour stolen goods) < the same Indo-European base as classical Latin cēlāre to hide (see cele v.), (prefixed) occulere to cover up, hide, conceal (see occult adj.), Early Irish ceilid (Irish ceil ), Welsh celu to hide, conceal (12th–13th cent.); and (ii) an Old English weak verb of Class II (helian ), originally a by-form of a weak Class I verb *hellan (see note), cognate with Old Frisian -hella , -hiella (in bihella , bihiella to cover, to hide), Old Saxon hellian to cover, to veil, Old High German hellen to cover, to veil (Middle High German -heln (in entheln to uncover, < Old High German inthellen to discover, to find out)) < a different ablaut grade (o -grade) of the same Germanic base. Compare hill v.1 and heild v.The Old English weak verb. The earlier weak Class I verb (*hellan ) is not securely attested in extant Old English texts; however, although no forms with geminate -ll- are attested, the early West Saxon 3rd singular present indicative form heleð probably shows a distinct weak Class I form (compare also prefixed early West Saxon beheleð and past tense singular behelede ). The i-mutated stem vowel of the weak Class II forms shows that they originated as by-forms of a weak Class I verb. The sense ‘to cover’ (see sense 2) is attested only for the weak verb (especially in its prefixed forms); compare the sense of the weak verb in other Germanic languages. Development of the weak inflection in Middle English. After early Middle English, strong inflections are attested chiefly in linguistically conservative texts, almost exclusively in the past participle. Generalization of the weak inflection is probably due partly to the merger with the historical weak verb, and partly to a development of the weak inflection in the historical strong verb itself. Cognates of the strong verb passed over to the weak inflection in all continental Germanic languages: the cognates are conjugated strong in Old Dutch, Old Saxon, and Old High German, weak in West Frisian, Dutch, and modern German, and show variation in Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, Middle High German, and early modern German. Modern spelling. The spelling of the word continues to vary considerably in modern use, probably reflecting its limited currency. The spelling heel is very common only in sense 2c, where some folk-etymological association with heel v.3 seems likely. Specific forms. In form hool perhaps showing an alteration by analogy with whole v. beside heal v.1 The origin of the forms hail and hale, attested in Masonic usage (compare sense 1) from the 18th cent., is unclear. The forms may either originate in regional pronunciations (compare Forms 1 β. ), or be due to the influence of Older Scots graphic forms with -ei- , where the postvocalic -i- indicates vowel length (compare reveil v.). Prefixed forms. In Old English the prefixed form gehelan is also attested for the strong verb in the sense ‘to hide, conceal’ (in transitive and intransitive use) (compare y- prefix). With the strong verb compare also behelan to hide, conceal (compare be- prefix and behele v.) and forhelan forhele v. With the weak verb compare behelian behele v., forhelian to cover, to clothe (compare for- prefix1 and also forhele v., forhill v.), oferhelian overhele v., unhelian unhele v. (compare unhill v.).
1.
a. transitive. To hide or conceal (something); to keep (something) secret. In later use chiefly British regional and in the language of Masonic oaths as part of a formula with conceal and (often) reveal.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > hide, conceal [verb (transitive)]
heeleOE
forhelec888
i-hedec888
dernc893
hidec897
wryOE
behelec1000
behidec1000
bewryc1000
forhidec1000
overheleOE
hilla1250
fealc1325
cover1340
forcover1382
blinda1400
hulsterc1400
overclosec1400
concealc1425
shroud1426
blend1430
close1430
shadow1436
obumber?1440
mufflea1450
alaynec1450
mew?c1450
purloin1461
to keep close?1471
oversilec1478
bewrap1481
supprime1490
occulta1500
silec1500
smoor1513
shadec1530
skleir1532
oppressa1538
hudder-mudder1544
pretex1548
lap?c1550
absconce1570
to steek away1575
couch1577
recondite1578
huddle1581
mew1581
enshrine1582
enshroud1582
mask1582
veil1582
abscondc1586
smotherc1592
blot1593
sheathe1594
immask1595
secret1595
bemist1598
palliate1598
hoodwinka1600
overmaska1600
hugger1600
obscure1600
upwrap1600
undisclose1601
disguise1605
screen1611
underfold1612
huke1613
eclipsea1616
encavea1616
ensconcea1616
obscurify1622
cloud1623
inmewa1625
beclouda1631
pretext1634
covert1647
sconce1652
tapisa1660
shun1661
sneak1701
overlay1719
secrete1741
blank1764
submerge1796
slur1813
wrap1817
buttress1820
stifle1820
disidentify1845
to stick away1900
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > keeping from knowledge > keep from knowledge [verb (transitive)]
heeleOE
dernc893
mitheeOE
wryOE
buryc1175
hidec1200
dilla1300
laina1375
keepa1382
wrapa1382
cover1382
conceala1393
curea1400
shroud1412
veilc1460
smorec1480
cele1484
suppress1533
wrap1560
smoulder1571
squat1577
muffle1582
estrange1611
screen1621
lock1646
umbrage1675
reserve1719
restrict1802
hugger-mugger1803
mask1841
ward1881
thimblerig1899
marzipan1974
α.
eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) xxxix. 11 Non celaui misericordiam tuam et ueritatem tuam a synagoga multa : ne hel ic mildheortnisse ðine & soðfestnisse ðine from gesomnunge micelre.
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) vi. xxxiii. 151 Ualens wæs gelæred from anum Arrianiscan biscepe.., ac he hit hæl swiðe fæste wið his broðor.
a1200 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Trin. Cambr.) l. 161 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 225 Al sal þar ben þanne cuð þat men luȝen her and halen.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 117 Ȝef þin goddede wel ihole weren.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 26 Þe kueades þet were y-hole and yroted ine þe herte.
c1390 Body & Soul (Vernon) (1889) 88 (MED) Þou hit dust, and ich hit hal; Ne misdude ich neuer nouȝt.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 28135 Ic ha þam holn al wit my pride.
a1425 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Linc. Inn) (1952) l. 4167 My coppe þow hast y stole And vndur þy barm hole.
c1580 ( tr. Bk. Alexander (1927) III. ii. 6251 Hardy will may nocht wele houin be [Fr. estre celee].
β. OE Wulfstan Canons of Edgar (Corpus Cambr.) (1972) xlvii. 12 We lærað þæt ænig gehadod man his scare ne helige, ne hine misefesian ne læte.OE King Ælfred tr. Psalms (Paris) (2001) xxxi. 5 Ic þa gedyde mine scylda þe swyþe cuðe, and min unriht ic na ne helede wið þe.a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 57 (MED) Ne þu naȝest for to stele, ne nan þefþe for to heole.c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 209 Mei ich..heolen abraham þing þet ich þenche to donne?c1330 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Auch.) (1952) l. 20 (MED) He hiȝt hem eiȝte and gret noblais Þai schuld it hele and ben in pais.1340 Ayenbite (1866) 175 (MED) Yholliche of echen him ssriue..no þing to hele, no þing wyþzigge.1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. clxxxixv/2 But the preest alwey heled his synne.1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) iv. 373 Syne [thai] it helit [1489 Adv. helyt] weill eneuch.a1500 (?c1450) Bone Florence (1976) l. 989 They made þem to swere þey schulde be lele, And Syr Emers counsell heyle.a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 129 (MED) Hele the cors of this dede man in some prive place of thin house.1570 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xviii. 35 Heill nor conceill, reset nane of thay lownis.1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess i. 12 For when love dwells atweesh twa lovers leal, They neither gueed nor ill frae ither heal.1806 R. Jamieson Pop. Ballads I. 345 Wel helit in ane hude.?a1854 King's Dochter Lady Jean (Buchan) in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1884) I. ii. 453/2 Although I would heal it neer sae well, Our God above does see.1883 T. Lees Easther's Gloss. Dial. Almondbury & Huddersfield Hele,..to hide.1891 E. Ingersoll Week in N.Y. xv. 266 Here, however, we are trenching upon secrets that the brothers and sisters ‘hele, conceal and never reveal. So mote it be!’a1899 D. Nicolson MS Coll. Caithness Words in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1902) III. 111/2 Dinna tell her, she canna heal a thing.1912 D. McKie Fables frae French 62 This grippin' bodie healt his gowd awa' Deep i' the grun', whar 'twas nae guid ava.1948 R. Graves White Goddess xxv. 399 The bond that united the poets of the British Isles in pre-Christian days was the oath of secrecy, sworn by all members of the endowed poetic colleges, to hele, conceal and never reveal the college secrets.
b. intransitive. To practise concealment; to keep a secret; to keep silence. In later use occurring only in the language of Masonic oaths as part of a formula with conceal and (often) reveal.
ΘΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > keeping from knowledge > escape observation [verb (intransitive)] > keep silent about, not mention
swiec900
heelOE
to hold out1907
to dummy up1926
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > keeping from knowledge > keep from knowledge [verb (transitive)] > keep back, not mention
heelOE
to hold back1535
whust1558
whist1570
to keep in1574
to keep back1612
to keep up1678
OE Cynewulf Elene 706 Ic adreogan ne mæg, ne leng helan be ðam lifes treo.
c1225 Worcester Glosses to Old Eng. Homilies in Anglia (1928) 52 24 Clumiað : heleð.
c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 351 No longer hele y nille, Al that soþe tellen y wille.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 595 (MED) Ȝut bi cas of cunsail ful wel can ich hele, & be tristy and trew.
a1400 (c1300) Northern Homily: Serm. on Gospels (Coll. Phys.) in Middle Eng. Dict. at Helen Crist bad him that he suld hele, And sai noht qua gaf him his hele.
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 2522 To hele wel is no folye.
a1500 (?c1400) Earl of Toulous l. 1040 in W. H. French & C. B. Hale Middle Eng. Metrical Romances (1930) I. 414 The abbot seyde..þat he wolde hele, And ellys he were wode.
1696 Edinburgh Register House MS in Trans. Manch. Assoc. Masonic Res. (1932) 22 148 What is the first point?.. The first is to heill and conceall.
1755 Scots Mag. Mar. 134/2 The word is one, the sign is two, the grip is three, the penalty is four, and Heal and conceal is five.
1882 Masonic Rev. Mar. 83 Q. How should I spell the well-known Masonic word, ‘hail’? Is it hele, as in Canada, or hail? R... Perhaps hele is better, and then it should be pronounced heel. ‘Hele, conceal, and reveal,’ is the Canadian collocution.
1971 A. Davidson Peregrine: Primus 118 I have not after all sworn by the length of yon cable-tow to keep silence, nor to hele, conceal, and never reveal.
1990 A. Spence Magic Flute 245 Seemed a decent enough bloke. Gave me the old handshake. The grip. Hele and conceal, eh? Never reveal.
2.
a. transitive. gen. To cover. English regional in later use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > cover [verb (transitive)]
beteec893
wryOE
heelOE
hilla1240
forhilla1300
covera1400
curea1400
covertc1420
paviliona1509
overdeck1509
heild?a1513
deck?1521
overhale1568
line1572
skin1618
operculate1623
endue1644
theek1667
to do over1700
sheugh1755
occlude1879
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xxxviii. 15 Heo helede [L. operuerat] hyre neb þæt he hi ne mihte gecnawan.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 195 Anes kinnes neddres is þe mid hire lichame heleð hire heued þane he beð of harme offered.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 9184 Heo liggeð i þissen felden i-hæled [c1300 Otho iheled] in heore telden.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 3655 (MED) Fer after hym þe grete route þat helede þe contre al aboute, So huge was þat meygny.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. l. 4033 (MED) Sche tok up turves..Al heled with the grene gras.
c1450 (?c1400) Three Kings Cologne (Cambr. Ee.4.32) (1886) 52 Derkenes schulle heele þe erþe.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) ix. 128 Snaw had helit [1489 Adv. helyt] all the land.
a1500 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 138 (MED) Theyre gownys be sett with plytys fele, To schortt yt ys theyre kneys to hele.
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie ii. 42 When his [sc. the lion's] necke and shoulders be healed with heare and mayne.
1625 J. Ussher Answer to Jesuite 287 In this Countrie, with them that retaine the ancient language..to hell the dead, is as much as to cover the dead.
1673 J. Ray S. & E. Countrey Words in Coll. Eng. Words 68 To Heal, to cover; Suss. As, ‘to heal the fire’; ‘to heal a house’; ‘to heal a person in bed’.
1867 W. F. Rock Jim an' Nell 3 We've hailed tha neck, torned pegs ta arish, We'm gwain ta zee up haff tha parish.
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. at Hele Oh, 'tis nort but a thing I brought 'long to hale the 'osses way.
1901 in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1902) III. 111/2 To heel one over with a rug.
b. transitive. To roof (a building), esp. with slate or tiles. Also with in. Also intransitive. English regional (southern) in later use.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > build or provide with specific parts [verb (transitive)] > roof
heela1387
theek1387
cover1393
roofc1425
uphead1519
shedc1600
close1659
oversail1673
hovel1688
to cover in1726
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > build or provide with specific parts [verb (transitive)] > roof > tile, slate, or shingle
heela1387
tile1467
slatc1475
slate1530
shingle1562
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 17 Brent tyle to hele wiþ hous and cherches.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. viii. l. 237 Alle þe houses beþ heled..With no lede, bote with loue.
1458 in E. Hobhouse Church-wardens' Accts. (1890) 100 It. for a Plomer to hely the batylmente for the styple.
1673 J. Ray S. & E. Countrey Words in Coll. Eng. Words 68 To Heal, to cover; Suss. As, ‘to heal the fire’; ‘to heal a house’; ‘to heal a person in bed’.
1703 R. Neve City & Countrey Purchaser 275 They Rip, and Heal, and Counter-lath, for 3s. per Square.
a1895 W. H. Daniels MS Coll. N. Devonshire Words in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1902) III. 112/1 Routley hath'n' hailed his mews eet.
1901 S. P. Hawes in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1902) III. 112/1 [Essex] They have nearly finished healing the church.
1901 W. W. Skeat in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1902) III. 112/1 [Herefordshire] The building was helled in.
c. transitive. To cover (roots, seeds, a plant, etc.) with soil, straw, etc.; esp. to set (a plant which is to be replanted) temporarily in the ground with the roots covered. Frequently with in, up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > planting > plant plants [verb (transitive)] > cover with earth
heela1722
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivate plants or crops [verb (transitive)] > earth up
bank1577
hill1577
mould1601
earth1658
heela1722
to set up1801
landa1806
stitch1805
soil1844
earthen1904
a1722 E. Lisle Observ. Husbandry (1757) 80 The harrow tinings will never heal the corn, nor open the ground, tho' they go twenty times over it.
1773 W. Tadman in R. Dossie Mem. Agric. (1782) III. 102 [It] destroys the small weeds, lets in the earth, and heels the seeds.
1857 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1856: Agric. 93 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (34th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. No. 65, Pt. 4) XVI In nurseries, fruit-trees are often taken up and ‘heeled in’.
1861 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 22 ii. 275 At the time of earthing the potatoes by the double mould-plough, turnip seed is sown, and thus ‘heled’.
1875 W. D. Parish Dict. Sussex Dial. at Heal I healed up the roots with some straw.
1882 Gardeners' Chron. 4 Mar. 295 Lay or ‘heel them in’ sufficiently deep to cover the naked portion of the stems.
1887 W. D. Parish & W. F. Shaw Dict. Kentish Dial. at Heal I've only just got this 'ere row o' taturs to heal.
1901 Alamogordo (New Mexico) News 30 Mar. 5/3 Several weeks ago he received the vines from a California nursery, and not wishing to put them out then he ‘heeled’ them.
1918 Garden Mag. Feb. 40 We heeled the plants into the ground in an old chicken-house and they kept very well until planted out.
1947 Gardeners' Chron. 13 Dec. 207/1 Broccoli plants which have not been ‘heeled over’ should be examined at frequent intervals.
1995 P. F. Ffolliott et al. Dryland Forestry xi. 202 Bare-rooted seedlings that have been heeled in carefully and then watered can survive several days without damage.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

heelv.2

Brit. /hiːl/, U.S. /hil/
Forms: 1500s–1600s heele, 1600s– heel.
Origin: Probably a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: hield v.
Etymology: Probably inferred < the past tense of hield v. (compare forms at that entry), although compare also Germanic cognates of hield v. with assimilatory loss of d . Folk-etymological association with heel n.1 is also possible.
Chiefly Nautical.
1. intransitive. Of a boat or ship: to lean to one side owing to the pressure of the wind or an uneven load. Also in extended use of a coach, aeroplane, or other vehicle. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > action or motion of vessel > [verb (intransitive)] > heel or list
blencha1300
rolla1325
heelc1575
seela1618
list1626
stoop1663
careen1762
to lie along1769
to lay along1779
wrong1842
to roll down1856
c1575 J. Hooker Life Sir P. Carew in Archaeologia (1840) 28 111 The sayde Mary Roose, thus heelinge more and more, was drowned.
1659 W. Somner Dict. Saxonico-Latino-Anglicum at Hylding As we say, the ship heeles, when it lies or leanes to one side.
1682 G. Wheler Journey into Greece iii. 286 The Wind abated nothing of its force..making the Vessel often heel.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson i. x. 104 The ship heeled afterwards two streaks to port.
1748 T. Smollett Roderick Random II. liii. 184 All of a sudden, the coach heeling to one side, a boisterous voice pronounced, ‘To the right and left, cover your flanks, damme!’
1782 W. Cowper Loss Royal George 7 Eight hundred of the brave..Had made the vessel heel.
1854 H. Miller My Schools & Schoolmasters (1858) 15 Our cargo is shifting..I could hear the coals rattle below; and see how stiffly we heel to the larboard.
1865 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia V. xviii. ii. 41 The Austrian Battle..has heeled fairly downwards, and is in an ominous way.
1887 Times (Weekly ed.) 14 Oct. 18/2 The balloon then heeled over, and..there was a large rent in the silk near the escape valve.
1915 Pearson's Mag. Dec. 562/1 The little yacht heeled wildly and drove her bows right through the top of a wave.
1964 Press-Courier (Oxnard, Calif.) 28 Mar. 2/4 The plane heeled over, went straight down and hit the barn.
2002 Surfer's Path June 33/1 The boat heeled so much the boom dragged dangerously in the water.
2. transitive. To cause (a boat or ship) to lean to one side. Also: †to lay (a boat or ship) on one side for cleaning, caulking, or repair (obsolete). Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > action or motion of vessel > [verb (transitive)] > cause to heel
heel1644
careen1832
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > shipbuilding and repairing > build a ship [verb (transitive)] > repair ship > careen
careen1600
heel1644
heave down1745
1644 H. Mainwaring Sea-mans Dict. 61 It [sc. a Leake] is easily stopped..by heeling the Ship over on the other side, and so nailing lead over it.
1667 S. Pepys Diary 30 June (1974) VIII. 310 The Dutch did heele the Charles to get her down.
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xiii. 363 At the S.E. end of the Island we heel'd and scrubb'd also.
1699 W. Cowley Voy. round Globe in W. Hacke Coll. Orig. Voy. 8 Here we heeled our Ships and scraped them.
1726 W. R. Chetwood Voy. & Adventures Capt. R. Boyle 291 They were oblig'd to heel the Ship on the Starboard Side, to prevent the Water running in on the Larboard.
1784 J. Douglas Cook's Voy. Pacific II. iv. iv. 294 The Commodore was determined to heel the ship in our present station.
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xlix. 461 The Rescue was heeled over considerably by the floes.
1898 Pall Mall Mag. Jan. 120 This pressure heeled the ship against her rightful wind.
1939 MotorBoating Dec. 42/1 Before the anchor was off the ground a puff struck her and heeled her until her port rail was under water.
1993 Kanawa Mag. (London, Ont.) Summer 40/1 The canoe must have enough rocker forward to permit easy maneuvering in an emergency without having to rely upon heeling the canoe to facilitate the turn.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

heelv.3

Brit. /hiːl/, U.S. /hil/
Forms: see heel n.1 and int.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: heel n.1
Etymology: < heel n.1 Compare earlier heeled adj.1, heeling n.2With the use in sense 3b compare earlier heeler n.2 1.
1. transitive. To provide (a stocking, shoe, etc.) with a heel; to repair or replace the heel of.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > make footwear [verb (transitive)] > furnish with heel or sole
sole1570
heel1598
heel-piece1699
heel-cap1801
1598 Health to Gentlemanly Profession Seruingmen sig. Bv Vnwilling to vndertake the cutting out of a Garment, before I can heele a Hose.
1605 S. Rowlands Hell's broke Loose sig. B3v Hendrick the Botcher, cease from heeling Hose.
1612 J. Webster White Divel i. sig. C2 For want of meanes..I haue bene faine to heele my Tutors stockings.
1660 A. Brome Congratulatory Poem on Return King Charls 11 Such t'other things, crept into t'other House, Whose Sires heel'd stockings, and whose Dams sold sowse.
1850 T. Mooney Nine Years in Amer. (ed. 2) 140 Soling and heeling a pair of boots, seventy-five cents.
1887 Pacific Rural Press (San Francisco) 3 Sept. 178/1 Many were the amiable chats they held, while heeling stockings, over the best way of bringing up young chickens.
1888 C. Grain Autobiogr. 14 One Gibson, who soled and heeled shoes in the world.
1915 Amer. Shoemaking 10 July 51/2 Heeling shoes on the last is generally conceded to be the better way, but the breakage of lasts has made it expensive.
1991 Observer 20 Jan. 51/8 You used to have to leave your shoes for a week to get them heeled.
2.
a. intransitive. To tap or touch the ground rhythmically with one's heel when dancing. Also transitive in to heel it.See also to heel and toe at Phrases a and to toe and heel (it) at toe v. 4.
ΚΠ
1606 Wily Beguilde 7 'Tis the daprest wench that euer danc't after a Taber and pipe. For shee will so heele it, and toe it, and trip it, O hir buttockes will quake like a custard.
1824 ‘S. Globus’ Freischütz ii. iii. 33 Ladies in furs, and Gemmen in spurs,..toeing it and heeling it.
1863 W. H. Russell My Diary North & South I. 273 The men..shuffled and cut and heeled and buckled to each other with an overwhelming solemnity.
2016 R. Antonson Full Moon over Noah's Ark iii. 47 They heeled, turned, toed, and repeated the footwork, dancing around the floor's circumference.
†b. transitive. To perform (a dance) with the heels. Obsolete.Apparently an isolated use.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > movements or steps > [verb (intransitive)] > steps
cut1603
heel1609
coupee1690
chassé1803
pigeon-wing1823
glissade1837
high-kicka1850
to cover the buckle1852
reverse1859
sashay1905
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iv. v. 87 I cannot sing Nor heele the high lauolt. View more context for this quotation
3.
†a. transitive. To seize (a person) by the heel. Cf. heeler n.2 1. Obsolete.Apparently an isolated use.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > restraint or restraining > restraint depriving of liberty > binding or fettering > bind, fetter, or shackle [verb (transitive)] > by the feet or legs
gyvec1290
fetterc1300
hopshackle?a1513
to lay (also set, clap, etc.) (a person) by the heels?1515
to lay fast by the feet1560
garter1604
enfetter1611
heela1638
a1638 J. Mede Wks. (1672) i. 226 My brother may well be called an Heeler, for he hath heeled me these two times. Now..to come behind a man and take him by the heel was foul play.
b. transitive. North American. To rope (a calf, steer, etc.) by the hind leg or legs. Cf. heeler n.2 8.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [verb (transitive)] > hobble
warlocka1400
langlec1440
hopple1586
impester1601
trammel1607
wisp1607
spancel1610
side-hankle1627
sidelanga1642
sidelangle1660
side-span1660
hamshackle1802
hobble1804
twitchel1826
sideline1837
span1847
heel1887
the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > types or manners of hindrance > hinder in specific manner [verb (transitive)] > by catching or gripping
catchc1225
wrapc1412
heel1887
1887 N.Y. Evening Post 14 Jan. One would heel him (rope him [sc. a calf] by the hind feet), while the other roped him about the neck.
1893 T. Roosevelt Wilderness Hunter ii. 27 The noose settled round the heifer's neck, and as it became taut she was brought to with a jerk; immediately afterwards the other man made his throw and cleverly heeled her.
1935 F. Hunt Bachelor Prince iv. 120 George Lane..showed the heir to the British Throne how to cut out cows from the herd; how to ‘heel’ a calf and then how to grab his tail and throw him.
1973 Salt Lake Tribune 16 June c11/8 (advt.) Top Calf roping man, also good at heading and heeling steers.
1999 T. McGuane Some Horses ii. 25 He [sc. a horse] wouldn't jump out from under a rope and he'd let you heel calves.
4.
a. transitive. To provide (a fighting cock) with spurs; to arm (a fighting cock).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting or baiting animals > fighting between animals > fight between animals [verb (transitive)] > arm with spur
heel1709
spur1832
1709 R. Howlett Royal Pastime Cock-fighting 64 I would let no man Heel a Cock, unless he has first seen him Sparr, and know his way of Striking.
1810 Belfast Monthly Mag. Oct. 288/2 The cock that for carnage they heel, The bull that they bait with their hounds, Can pain e'en as sensibly feel As themselves when they strive and get wounds.
1886 National Poultry Monitor July 79/2 Send six cents in stamps for circular, with rules for heeling, handling and feeding cocks for the pit.
1909 R. K. Fox Cocker's Guide 68 They heel the fowl for a battle royal, main or shake bag fight as follows.
1994 S. Guggenheim in A. Dundes Cockfight 153 Most men do not know how to heel a cock correctly.
b. transitive. U.S. slang. To provide (a person) with something, esp. a firearm or money; to arm. Frequently reflexive. Cf. earlier heeled adj.1 2.In later use chiefly in historical contexts or Wild West fiction.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > supply > provide or supply (something) [verb (transitive)] > provide or supply (a person or thing) with anything > equip or outfit
frameOE
dightc1275
fayc1275
graith1297
attire1330
purveyc1330
shapec1330
apparel1366
harnessc1380
ordaina1387
addressa1393
array1393
pare1393
feata1400
point1449
reparel?c1450
provide1465
fortify1470
emparel1480
appoint1490
deck?15..
equip1523
trim1523
accoutre1533
furnish1548
accommodate1552
fraught1571
suit1572
to furnish up1573
to furnish out1577
rig1579
to set out1585
equipage1590
outreik1591
befit1598
to furnish forth1600
fita1616
to fit up1670
outrig1681
to fit out1722
mount?1775
outfit1798
habilitate1824
arm1860
to fake out1871
heel1873
1873 J. Miller Life amongst Modocs 301 This was his signal to ‘heel’ himself and come upon the ground.
1886 Big Horn (Wyoming) Sentinel 2 Jan. 3/4 McFarland's friends picked him up and carried him out of the court house, ‘heeling’ him with a couple of six-shooters as they pushed their way through the crowd.
1890 Daily Herald (Madison, Indiana) 16 Sept. Mr. Holmes went out to Hanover with said tramp, furnished him tools to do the job with, heeled him with $1.00 in money, bought him a new shirt and boarded him one week.
1896 G. F. Lydston Over Hookah 416 My patient..drew out a bag of gold... ‘I wish it might have been more,..but I came away from 'Frisco in a deuce of a hurry, and without heeling myself properly.’
1918 Horseless Age 1 May 21/3 Another dealer's salesman who has by apprenticeship or accident heeled himself with the facts and figures.
1929 Daily Silver Belt (Miami, Arizona) 14 Mar. 7/4 The first chance I got when he was not looking, I heeled myself.
2015 W. W. Johnstone & J. A. Johnstone Hell's Half Acre: Cold-blooded 311 ‘You're the coward,’ Destiny said. ‘The man you killed wasn't even armed.’ ‘Then he should've heeled himself, huh?’
5. intransitive. Shipbuilding. Of a timber: to rest with the heel or lower end on (also upon, against) something.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > support > [verb (intransitive)] > be supported
rideOE
restOE
to sit upon ——1481
rely1572
stay1585
to sit on ——1605
seat1607
bottoma1640
step1791
heel1850
bed1875
1850 J. Greenwood Sailor's Sea-bk. 147 The stern-timber..heels upon the end of the..transom.
1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuilding v. 88 The pillars heeling on the floors and lowest tie plate are 3½ inches in diameter.
1918 H. C. Estep How Wooden Ships are Built vii. 62/3 Short cants which heel against the side counter timbers.
1997 W. L. Crothers Amer.-built Clipper Ship (2000) xi. 176/1 After being temporarily secured, the two portions that heeled against the keelsons were bored completely through all members.
6.
a. transitive. Originally and chiefly Australian and New Zealand. Of a dog: to nip at the heels of (an animal); esp. to herd (sheep or cattle) by nipping at their heels. Also in to heel up. Also intransitive. Cf. heeler n.2 6a, head v. 19b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [verb (transitive)] > act in particular way
sowla1616
wave1677
sick1845
snoozle1847
heel1855
sool1890
1855 Maitland (New S. Wales) Mercury 30 June Lost,..a Yellow and White Stock Dog; he heels and bites well.
1858 Sydney Morning Herald 16 Nov. 3/1 A shepherd's dog, whilst heeling some cattle, was last week bitten by a snake.
1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms I. ii. 23 The old dog had been ‘heeling’ him up too, for he was bleeding up to the hocks.
1940 E. C. Studholme Te Waimate (1954) xvi. 138 Two good dogs, one of which frightened the beasts by heeling them up (biting their heels) and the other by pulling their tails.
1947 R. B. Kelley Sheep Dogs (ed. 2) xv. 178 Dogs that heel when forcing can be made relatively harmless by removing their canine..teeth.
1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 14 Our half-bred sheep-dog, which for years had poked about the kindly heels of callers' nags, got it in the ribs. ‘No mong's going to heel that horse.’
2013 Ballarat (Austral.) Courier (Nexis) 30 Oct. 30 Koolies are good with both cattle and sheep. They will heel the cattle if they're not doing the right thing.
b. intransitive. Of a dog: to follow obediently at a person's heels; to obey the command ‘heel’ (heel int.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > follow behind [verb (intransitive)] > follow closely > specifically of a dog
heel1877
1877 C. Hallock Sportsman's Gazetteer 448 See that he [sc. a collie]..is staunch on point and charge, heels properly.
1894 N.Y. Times 25 Dec. 8/4 The dog ‘heeled’ obediently, and the policeman took them to the Thirtieth Street Station House.
1936 Centralia (Washington) Daily Chron. 7 Nov. (Five Star Weekly section) 8/2 He learns to heel on leash; that is, to follow as closely as possible to the knee of a person leading him. Then he learns to heel free, or follow in the same manner but without a leash.
1940 Pop. Mech. Nov. 707 After the pup has learned his name and has become used to a collar and lead he should be taught to heel.
2012 J. Lansing Devil's Necktie (2015) 212 They heeled dutifully, occasionally nuzzling Roman's hand, a silent warning to anyone foolish enough to challenge their master.
7. transitive. Golf. To strike (a ball) with the heel (heel n.1 10p) of the club; to play (a shot) in this way; = shank v. 4. Cf. toe v. 3b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > play golf [verb (transitive)] > type of play or stroke
drive1743
draw1842
heel1857
hook1857
loft1857
founder1878
to top a ball1881
chip1889
duff1890
pull1890
slice1890
undercut1891
hack1893
toe1893
spoon1896
borrow1897
overdrive1900
trickle1902
bolt1909
niblick1909
socket1911
birdie1921
eagle1921
shank1925
explode1926
bird1930
three-putt1946
bogey1948
double-bogey1952
fade1953
1857 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) II. 695/1 When standing too near, the ball is often ‘heeled’, or struck with that part of the club-head nearest the shaft.
1880 A. Lang Golf in XXII Ballades in Blue China 4 Ye may heel her and send her agee.
1901 Contemp. Rev. Aug. 207 Up almost to the days of the match..he was playing in perfect form; during the contest he heeled ball after ball.
1956 St. Andrews Citizen 22 Sept. 7 He heeled his shot so that the ball scuttled off to the left of the fairway.
2010 R. Fredericks Flexible Golf Swing ii. 21/1 ‘Heeling’ the shots is often common with spinning out.
8. transitive. To urge on (a horse) by digging one's heels into its sides.
ΚΠ
1863 ‘Union’ Let. 22 July in Cincinnati Daily Commerc. 24 July One bootless, hatless, shirtless being held his suspenderless pants with one hand, while he held the bridle with the other, and heeled his horse to a gallop.
1885 R. F. Burton tr. Arabian Nights' Entertainm. II. xlvii. 89 So he made towards his steed and mounted and heeled him on. Note, Arab[ic], ‘kicked’ him, i.e. with the sharp corner of the shovel-stirrup.
1964 J. Thompson Pop. 1280 (1990) ix. 62 He jumped on his mare and rode away, heeling her so hard in the flanks that she screamed with pain.
1999 W. Blevins Ravenshadow 324 I heeled my horse toward the other riders.
9. Rugby.
a. intransitive. To push or kick the ball out of the back of a scrum or ruck with one’s heel, so that it may be picked up. Frequently with out. Cf. heel n.1 8, heel-back n. at heel n.1 and int. Compounds 2c.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > play rugby football [verb (intransitive)] > actions or manoeuvres
pack1874
heel1884
scrum1890
goal1900
drop1905
to give (or sell) the (or a) dummy1907
ruck1910
jinka1914
to drop out1917
fly-kick1930
scissor1935
quick-heel1936
short-punt1937
touch-kick1954
grubber-kick1958
peel1960
corner-flag1962
to chip and chase1970
box kick1977
1884 Pauline Dec. 302/2 The forwards ought also to heel out of the scrummage whenever they cannot drive the ball straight forward, and not loosely kick the ball, to the great risk of their own half-back's head.
1892 Stratford-on-Avon Herald 18 Nov. 2/2 First get mastery in the scrums, and then you will heel out properly.
1927 H. Walpole Jeremy at Crale vi. 105 In the first five minutes the Crale forwards were neither packing nor heeling successfully.
1955 Times 22 Aug. 3/2 One of those [sc. abilities] is to heel out sufficiently cleanly to offer the halves a chance to open up the play.
2003 D. Mortimer Classic Rugby Clangers (2004) 141 Wales heeled from the resulting scrum and sent an overlong up-and-under to Rory.
b. transitive. To push or kick (the ball) out of the back of a scrum or ruck with one’s heel, so that it may be picked up. Also with out.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > play rugby football [verb (transitive)] > actions to ball
to knock on1642
punt1845
to touch down1859
ground1863
touch1864
scrimmage1871
heel1886
scrum1889
hook1906
tap-kick1960
1886 St Edward's School (Oxford) Chron. Dec. 219/1 Some capital scrummages ensued in which our opponents showed skill in heeling the ball out to their halfs.
1906 Country Life 8 Dec. 849/1 The forwards..endeavour at all costs to control the ball in the scrummage, they heel it out swiftly and cleanly for the deadly bout of passing which the backs are to carry out.
1930 R. Campbell Poems 11 See the fat nouns like porky forwards sprawl Into a scrum that never heels the ball.
1936 Times 9 Jan. 4/3 In the earlier scrummages the Navy's forwards heeled the ball with commendable cleanness.
2014 Gympie (Queensland) Times (Nexis) 17 Apr. 26 The siren sounded a split-second before the Melbourne player heeled the ball.
†10. intransitive. Hunting. Of a hound: to run back on the scent, to run heel (see heel n.1 and int. Phrases 2j). Obsolete.
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1898 Daily News 5 Oct. 6/6 One or two of the best hounds showed a disposition to heel—i.e.—go back on the line if they chanced to lose it.
1898 To-day 15 Oct. 338/2 During the trials at Scarborough, it was noticed that several of the hounds ‘heeled’ when close to their quarry, and retraced their steps to the starting-point.

Phrases

to heel and toe.
a. To dance, esp. by alternately touching the ground with one's heel and toes. Cf. heel and toe n. 1.
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1845 A. M. Hall Whiteboy I. iv. 61 [He] performed a most characteristic and animated jig in the dust, covering the buckle—heeling and toeing—whirling his whip.
1865 J. Pike Scout & Ranger xiv. 165 The men heeled and toed with a hearty goodwill.
1916 W. H. Young Merry Banker in Far East iii. 42 While he heeled-and-toed in a hundred different ways I banged the tambourine and tried to be funny with the girls.
1941 C. Porter Compl. Lyrics (1983) 175/2 You will meet someone else, I know, But he'll never heel-and-toe like me.
2008 New Eng. Rev. 29 41 I..was taught how to dance a reel, to promenade and do-si-do, to heel and toe.
b. In a motor vehicle: to work two pedals (usually the brake and accelerator) simultaneously with the heel and toe of one foot in order to maintain speed when taking corners, changing to a lower gear, etc. Also with the brake and accelerator as object. Cf. heel and toe adj. 3.
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1962 Which? July (Suppl.) 96/2 If you want to, you can ‘heel-and-toe’—work brake and accelerator at the same time.
1968 Pop. Sci. Mar. 95/1 I found I could heel-and-toe with the brake and accelerator pedals to downshift under braking, just the way I do when I race.
1978 R. Harris Rich & Beautiful vii. 111 She heeled and toed the brake-accelerator with Formula One precision.
2006 T. Strasser Slide or Die xi. 50 Heeling and toeing while working the clutch, Kennin never let the GTO's tach drop under 4,500 rpm or its tires find traction.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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