Heave | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Hēave, v. t.

verbtransitive

(heev), v. t. [imp. HEAVED, or HOVE; p. p. HEAVED, HOVE, formerly HOVEN; p. pr. & vb. n. HEAVING.] [A-S. hebban, hefian, O. Sax. hebbian, hefian, hevōn, Goth. hafjan, N. & M. H. Ger. heben, O. H. Ger. heffan, hevan, hepfen, L. Ger. heven, hefen, D. heffen, O. Fries. heva, N. Fries. heffe, Icel. hefja, Sw. häfva, Dan. häve, allied to Lat. capere.]

Sense 1. To move upward; to lift; to raise.

So stretched out huge in length the arch fiend lay, Chained on the burning lake, nor ever thence Has risen, or heaved his head. Milton.

Sense 2. To raise; to elevate; — usually with high.

One heaved on high, to be hurled down below. Shak.

Sense 3. To throw; to cast; to send; as, to heave a stone; to heave the lead in making soundings.

Sense 4. To force from, or into, any position; to cause to move; also, to throw off.

Sense 5. To raise or force from the breast; to cause to swell or rise.

The wretched animal heaved forth such groans. Shak.

To heave a cable short, to draw so much of it into the ship, as that she is almost perpendicularly above the anchor. — To heave a ship ahead (Naut.), to force it ahead when not under sail, as by means of cables. — To heave a ship astern, to cause it to recede or move back. — To heave a ship down, to throw or lay it down on one side; to careen it. — To heave a ship to, to bring the ship's head to the wind, and stop her motion. — To heave a strain, to work at the windlass with unusual exertion. — To heave in stays, to put a vessel on the other tack. — To heave out a sail, to unfurl it. — To heave taut, to turn a capstan, &c., till the rope becomes strained. See TAUT and TIGHT. — To heave up. (a.) To relinquish; to give up; as, to heave up a design. (b.) To discharge from the stomach; to vomit out. [Colloq.] — To heave up an anchor, to raise it from the bottom of the sea or elsewhere.

Heave, v. i.

verbintransitive

(heev), v. i. 1. To be thrown up; to be raised.

And the huge columns heave into the sky. Pope.

Where heaves the turf in many a moldering heap. Gray.

Sense 2. To rise and fall with alternate motions, as the lungs in heavy breathing, as waves in a heavy sea, as ships on the billows, as the earth when broken up by frost, &c.; to swell; to dilate; to expand; to distend; hence, to labor; to pant; to struggle. “The heaving plains of ocean.” Byron.

Frequent for breath his panting bosom heaves. Prior.

Souls immortal must forever heave At something great, the glitter or the gold. Young.

Sense 3. To make an effort to vomit; to try to throw up; to retch; to keck.

To heave in sight, to come in sight; to appear. — To heave up, to vomit. [Colloq.]

Hēave, n.

noun

(heev), n. 1. A raising up; an upward motion: swell or distention, as of the breast in difficult breathing, of the waves, of the earth in an earthquake, and the like. There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves You must translate. Shak. None could guess whether the next heave of the earthquake would settle or swallow them. Dryden. 2. An effort to raise up something, as a weight, one's self, the contents of the stomach, &c. After many strains and heaves He got up to his saddle's eaves. Hudibras. 3. A fling; an assault. I'll have one heave at him. Shak.

(Geol.) An horizontal dislocation in a metallic lode, taking place at an intersection with another lode. Dana.
(pl.) A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, and a peculiar cough.