rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryheaveForceful movement
verb / noun

heave

HEEV/hiːv/

A forceful upward or surging movement.

The woman heaves a heavy canvas sack onto a low platform.

An older South Asian woman heaves a heavy, unmarked canvas sack onto a low platform, showing the effort through her braced stance, bent elbows, and tightened expression.
Etymology
heaveOld Englishto lift, raise

Old English hebban meant to lift or raise. That upward action broadened to throwing and, in nautical use, hauling or pulling in any direction.

In context

LibriVox Audiobooks355:33
… guide and ease the floating remains of the gun crew through the exit and heave them over the bank.
Everyman at War. Sixty Personal Narratives of the War by Charles B. Purdom Part 1/3 | Audio Book

More examples

  • With one final heave, we lift the couch into the truck.
  • The boat heaves up and down in the rough water.
  • His stomach heaves, but nothing comes up.

Forms

heave · heaves · heaved · hove · heaving

Similar words

hoist
Emphasizes lifting something upward, often with ropes or machinery.
surge
Emphasizes a sudden, powerful movement forward or upward.
retch
Specifically means making bodily efforts to vomit.