heft
To lift or lift upTo lift or lift up (something, especially a heavy object).
» What is the degree of heft?
Eccles17 · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
10 senses(UK, US, dialectal, informal, transitive)To lift or lift up (something, especially a heavy object).
He hefted the sack of concrete into the truck.
поднима́тьpodnimátʹ, подня́тьpodnjátʹ
підійма́тиpidijmáty, підніма́тиpidnimáty, підня́тиpidnjáty
lift or elevate
(UK, US, dialectal, informal, transitive)To test the weight of (something) by lifting.
test the weight of something by lifting it
To test the weight of (something) by lifting.
(UK, US, dialectal, figuratively, informal, transitive)To evaluate or test (someone or something).
(UK, US, dialectal, informal, intransitive)To have (substantial) weight; to weigh.
(Northern England, Scotland, UK, US, dialectal, informal, transitive)To accustom (a flock or group of farm animals, chiefly cattle or sheep) to a piece of pastureland.
(Northern England, Scotland, UK, US, dialectal, figuratively, informal, transitive)To establish or settle (someone) in an occupation or place of residence.
(Northern England, Scotland, UK, US, dialectal, figuratively, informal, transitive)To establish or plant (something) firmly in a place; to fix, to root, to settle.
(Northern England, Scotland, UK, US, dialectal, informal, intransitive, reflexive)Of a thing: to establish or settle itself in a place.
(Northern England, Scotland, UK, US, dialectal, informal)To cause (milk) to be held in a cow's udder until the latter becomes hard and swollen, either by not milking the cow or by stopping up the teats, to make the cow look healthy; also, to cause (a cow) to have an udder in this condition.
(Northern England, Scotland, UK, US, broadly, dialectal, informal)To cause (urine) to be held in a person's bladder.
Examples
4 sentencesWhat is the degree of heft?
The heft of the titanium cube was unmatched.
America uses its economic heft to coerce rivals and allies.
His argument lacks heft.
Translations
4 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
The noun is derived from Late Middle English heft (“heaviness; something heavy, a weight”)The noun is derived from Late Middle English heft (“heaviness; something heavy, a weight”), from heven (“to lift, raise”) + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., forming nouns), by analogy with the development of weft from weven (modern English weave), etc. (also compare words like cleft from cleave, and theft from thieve, where the development occurred in Old English or earlier languages). The English word is analysable as heave + -t (suffix forming nouns from verbs).
The noun is borrowed from Scots heft, haft (“pasture which sheep are familiar with; attachment of sheep to a pasture; number of sheep grazing on such a pasture; (obsolete) place of residence; situation”), probably from Old Norse hefð (“occupation; possession; prescriptive right”), from hafa (“to have; to keep, retain”), from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have; to hold”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap-, *keh₂p- (“to hold; to seize”).
Borrowed from Scots heft, from Old Norse hepta (“to bind; to hinder, impede; to hold back, restrain”), from Proto-Germanic *haftijaną (“to bind; to secure”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to hold, seize”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
hefts, hefting, hefted, heftedSynonyms
4 synonymsWord family
3 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.