Definition of "heave"

heave

/hiːv/

verb
third-person singular simple present heaves, present participle heaving, simple past heaved or hove, past participle heaved or hove or hoven or heft
1. (transitive) To lift with difficulty; to raise with some effort; to lift (a heavy thing).
2. (transitive) To throw, cast.
3. (intransitive) To rise and fall.
  Quotations
  Frequent for breath his panting bosom heaves.
  1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], (please specify the page)
  the heaving plain of ocean
  1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: Printed for John Murray, […], stanza LXXII
  Presently the moon went down, and left us floating on the waters, now only heaving like some troubled woman's breast, with leisure to reflect upon all that we had gone through and all that we had escaped.
  1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887
4. (transitive) To utter with effort.
  Quotations
  The wretched animal heaved forth such groans.
  c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]
5. (transitive, nautical) To pull up with a rope or cable.
6. (transitive, archaic) To lift (generally); to raise, or cause to move upwards (particularly in ships or vehicles) or forwards.
  Quotations
  Here a little child I stand, / Heaving up my either hand; […]
  1647–1648, Robert Herrick, “[Noble Numbers.] Another Grace for a Child.”, in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Complete Poems of Robert Herrick. […] (Early English Poets), volume III, London: Chatto and Windus, […], published 1876, page 158
7. (intransitive) To be thrown up or raised; to rise upward, as a tower or mound.
  Quotations
  The grovving Tovv'rs like Exhalations riſe, / And the huge Columns heave into the Skies.
  1715, [Alexander] Pope, The Temple of Fame: A Vision, London: […] Bernard Lintott […], page 13
  where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap
  1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753
  the heaving sods of Bunker Hill
  17 June, 1857, Edward Everett, The Statue of Warren
8. (transitive, mining, geology) To displace (a vein, stratum).
9. (transitive, archaic) To cause to swell or rise, especially in repeated exertions.
10. (transitive, intransitive, nautical) To move in a certain direction or into a certain position or situation.
  Quotations
  Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight.
  1914 April 4–25, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Sly One”, in At the Earth’s Core, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 1922, page 209
11. (intransitive) To retch, to make an effort to vomit; to vomit.
12. (intransitive) To make an effort to raise, throw, or move anything; to strain to do something difficult.
  Quotations
  She [The Church of England] had ſtruggl'd and heav'd at a Reformation; ever ſince Wicliffs dayes, for about a 150 years together: […]
  1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation; […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Sheldonian] Theater, page 64
13. (obsolete, Britain, thieves' cant) To rob; to steal from; to plunder.
  Quotations
  Ben mort (good vvench) ſhal you and I heaue a booth, mill a ken, or nip a bung? ſhall you and I rob a houſe, or cut a purſe?
  c. 1607–1610 (date written), Thomas Middleton; Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girle. Or Moll Cut-purse. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Thomas Archer, […], published 1611, [Act V, scene i]
noun
plural heaves
1. An effort to raise something, such as a weight or one's own body, or to move something heavy.
  Quotations
  July made no reply but that of a sigh. For she was thinking of the heave she must make to see herself lifted from the ground.
  2010, Andrea Levy, The Long Song, Tinder Press (2017), page 374
2. An upward motion; a rising; a swell or distention, as of the breast in difficult breathing, of the waves, of the earth in an earthquake, etc.
  Quotations
  and now the bed shook, the curtains rattled so, that I could scarce hear the sighs and murmurs, the heaves and pantings that accompanied the action, from the beginning to the end
  1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […]
  The slab and piles will work together to resist 'ground heave' (the upward movement of the ground as it tries to push up into the box).
  2023 March 8, Chris Howe, “Building the platform for Old Oak Common's platforms”, in RAIL, number 978, page 60
3. A horizontal dislocation in a metallic lode, taking place at an intersection with another lode.
4. (nautical) The measure of extent to which a nautical vessel goes up and down in a short period of time. Compare pitch.
5. An effort to vomit; retching.
6. (rare, only used attributively as in "heave line" or "heave horse") Broken wind in horses.
  Quotations
  The dust would have to be watched out for with a heave horse, and most alfalfa hay...
  1928, Farm Life - Volume 47, Issue 1, page 24
  The late stage is recognized by horse people as the true "heave" horse and at this stage most of the airways are partially or completely obstructed.
  1988, New York State Veterinary College, Annual Conference for Veterinarians: Abstracts of Papers, page 14
  The bay horse was straining at the time the picture was taken, making its heave line more noticeable.
  2013, Lon D. Lewis, Feeding and Care of the Horse
7. (cricket) A forceful shot in which the ball follows a high trajectory
  Quotations
  That left 15 needed from Boult's final set. Two dots were followed by a heave over deep mid-wicket, then came the outrageous moment of fortune.
  2019 July 14, Stephan Shemilt, “England win Cricket World Cup: Ben Stokes stars in dramatic finale against New Zealand”, in BBC Sport‎, London

Definition of "heave"

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