1 [+adv./prep.] to lift, pull or throw sb/sth very heavy with one great effort:
[VN] I managed to heave the trunk down the stairs. * They heaved the body overboard. * He heaved himself out of his armchair. * [V] We all heaved on the rope. * Heave away lads!
2 [V] ~ (with sth) to rise up and down with strong, regular movements:
The boat heaved beneath them. * Her shoulders heaved with laughter.
3 [VN] ~ a sigh, etc. to make a sound slowly and often with effort:
We all heaved a sigh of relief. * She heaved a long sigh.
4 [V] to experience the tight feeling in your stomach that you get before you VOMIT:
The thought of it makes me heave. * His stomach heaved.
IDIOMS
heave into sight / view
HELPNOTE Hove is usually used for the past tense and past participle in this idiom. (written) (especially of ships) to appear, especially when moving gradually closer from a long way off:
A ship hove into sight. * Like a galleon in full sail, Cara hove into view.
PHRASALVERBS
heave to
HELPNOTE Hove is usually used for the past tense and past participle in this phrasal verb. (technical) if a ship or its CREW (= the people sailing it) heave to, the ship stops moving
noun [C,U]
1 an act of lifting, pulling or throwing:
With a mighty heave he lifted the sack onto the truck.
2 (especially literary) a rising and falling movement:
the steady heave of the sea
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for heave is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is heave a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, heave is tagged as verb.
Does heave appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — heave appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
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