Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense heaves, present participle heaving, past tense, past participle heavedlanguage note: The forms heaves, heaving, heaved are used for meanings [sense 1] to , [sense 3], and for the phrasal verb. The forms heaves, heaving, hove are used for meaning [sense 4].
1. verb
If you heave something heavy or difficult to move somewhere, you push, pull, or lift it using a lot of effort.
It took five strong men to heave the statue up a ramp and lower it into place. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
He heaved Barney to his feet. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
He heaved himself up off his stool. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
Synonyms: lift, raise, pull (up), drag (up) More Synonyms of heave
Heave is also a noun.
It took only one heave to hurl him into the river.
2. verb
If something heaves, it moves up and down with large regular movements.
His chest heaved, and he took a deep breath. [VERB]
...the grey, heaving seas. [VERB-ing]
Synonyms: expand, rise, swell, pant More Synonyms of heave
3. verb
If you heave, or if your stomach heaves, you vomit or feel sick.
He gasped and heaved and vomited again. [VERB]
My stomach heaved and I felt sick. [VERB]
Synonyms: vomit, be sick, throw up [informal], chuck (up) [slang] More Synonyms of heave
4. verb
If you heave a sigh, you give a big sigh.
Mr Collier heaved a sigh and got to his feet. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: breathe, sigh, puff, groan More Synonyms of heave
5. verb [usually cont]
If a place is heaving or if it is heaving with people, it is full of people.
[mainly British, informal]
The Happy Bunny club was heaving. [VERB]
Father Auberon's Academy Club positively heaved with dashing young men. [VERB + with]
to utter (sounds, sighs, etc) or breathe noisily or unhappily
to heave a sigh
4.
to rise and fall or cause to rise and fall heavily
5. (past tense and past participle hove) nautical
a.
to move or cause to move in a specified way, direction, or position
to heave in sight
b. (intransitive)
(of a vessel) to pitch or roll
6. (transitive)
to displace (rock strata, mineral veins, etc) in a horizontal direction
7. (intransitive)
to retch
noun
8.
the act or an instance of heaving
9.
a fling
10.
the horizontal displacement of rock strata at a fault
Derived forms
heaver (ˈheaver)
noun
Word origin
Old English hebban; related to Old Norse hefja, Old Saxon hebbian, Old High German heffen to raise, Latin capere to take, Sanskrit kapatī two hands full
heave in American English
(hiv)
verb transitiveWord forms: heaved, hove, ˈheaving
1.
to raise or lift, esp. with effort
2.
a.
to lift in this way and throw or cast
b.
to throw
3.
to make rise or swell, as one's chest
4.
to utter (a sigh, groan, etc.) with great effort or pain
5. Geology
to displace (a stratum or vein), as by the intersection of another stratum or vein
6. Nautical
to raise, haul, pull, move, etc. by pulling with a rope or cable
verb intransitive
7.
to swell up; bulge out
8.
to rise and fall rhythmically
heaving waves
9.
to make strenuous, spasmodic movements of the throat, chest, or stomach
; specif.,
a.
to retch; vomit or try to vomit
b.
to pant; breathe hard; gasp
10. Nautical
a.
to tug or haul (on or at a cable, rope, etc.)
b.
to push (at a capstan to turn it)
c.
to proceed; move
a ship hove into sight
noun
11.
the act or effort of heaving
12.
a throw
13. Geology
a.
the extent of horizontal displacement caused by a fault
b.
an upward displacement of soil, rocks, etc., usually caused by frost or moisture
: often called heaving
heaves
Idioms:
heave ho!
heave to
Derived forms
heaver (ˈheaver)
noun
Word origin
ME heven < OE hebban, akin to Ger heben (Goth hafjan) < IE base *kap-, to seize, grasp > have, L capere
Examples of 'heave' in a sentence
heave
The arc lights stopped me seeing anything other than a shapeless, heaving mass.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
A surprising proportion of freshers will heave a sigh of relief.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
You could almost hear the plants, and the soil, collectively heaving a sigh of relief.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The parks were heaving with people for a good reason.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The country heaved a sigh of relief.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
The traffic can be annoying and the place is heaving with tourists in the summer.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
One final heave and the sled was free.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
But it is still heaving with people.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
She woke up on the morning after the night before and heaved a huge sigh of relief.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
And his chest was visibly heaving as he fought against the physical punishment and exertion.
The Sun (2014)
But the atmosphere was unbelievable and the place was really heaving.
The Sun (2011)
All of them heave a hearty sigh of relief.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
It was a place surrounded by mobs of heaving rags, rolling eyes and angry mouths.
Aidan Hartley THE ZANZIBAR CHEST: A Memoir of Love and War (2003)
Was this a heaving, delightful mass of humanity.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Yet only a couple of weeks ago, the place was heaving.
The Sun (2009)
I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way.
Bachmann, Susan (editor) & Barth, Melinda Between Worlds: A Reader, Rhetoric and Handbook (1995)
On one hot day last week, before the rain came, his stomach heaved.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Three miles offshore the mountains heave into view, stark and forbidding, reaching up to forested heights.
Ben Nimmo IN FORKBEARD'S WAKE: Coasting Round Scandinavia (2003)
The PM is repeating the same final heave that got him into No10 five years ago.
The Sun (2015)
I cracked my knuckles, ready to begin the day, caught a whiff of the soup and felt my stomach heave.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
In other languages
heave
British English: heave VERB
If you heave something heavy or difficult to move somewhere, you push, pull, or lift it using a lot of effort.
It took five strong men to heave the statue up a ramp and lower it into place.
American English: heave
Brazilian Portuguese: puxar
Chinese: > 推用力地
European Spanish: mover con esfuerzo
French: déplacer avec effort
German: hieven
Italian: sollevare
Japanese: 持ち上げる
Korean: > 들어올리다힘겹게
European Portuguese: puxar
Latin American Spanish: mover con esfuerzo
All related terms of 'heave'
heave-ho
a sailors ' cry , as when hoisting anchor
heave to
When a boat or ship heaves to , it stops moving.
frost heave
the upthrust and cracking of a ground surface through the freezing and expansion of water underneath
heave down
to turn a vessel on its side for cleaning
yo-heave-ho
a cry formerly used by sailors while pulling or lifting together in rhythm
heave the log
to determine a ship's speed with such a device
heave into view/heave into sight
When something heaves into view or heaves into sight , it appears .
to breathe a sigh of relief to heave a sigh of relief
If people breathe or heave a sigh of relief , they feel happy that something unpleasant has not happened or is no longer happening .
sigh of relief to breathe a sigh of relief to heave a sigh of relief
If people breathe or heave a sigh of relief , they feel happy that something unpleasant has not happened or is no longer happening .