Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HEED'LESS-NESS, n.

Inattention; carelessness; thoughtlessness; negligence. Locke.

HEEL, n. [Sax. hel, hela; D. hiel; Sw. häl; Dan. hæl; L. calx. Qu. its alliance to Gr. κηλη, a tumor.]

1. The hind part of the foot, particularly of man; but it is applied also to the corresponding part of the feet of quadrupeds.
2. The whole foot. The stag recalls his strength, his speed, / His winged heels. Denham.
3. The hind part of a shoe, either for man or beast.
4. The part of a stocking intended for the heel. To be out at the heels, is to have on stockings that are worn out.
5. Something shaped like the human heel; a protuberance or knob. Mortimer.
6. The latter part; as, a bill was introduced into the legislature at the heel of the session.
7. A spur. This horse understands the heel well. Encyc.
8. The after end of a ship's keel; the lower end of the stern-post to which it is connected; also, the lower end of a mast. To be at the heels, to pursue closely; to follow hard; also, to attend closely. Hungry want is at my heels. Otway. To show the heels, to flee; to run from. To take to the heels, to flee; to betake to flight. To lay by the heels, to fetter; to shackle; to confine. Addisom. To have the heels of, to outrun. Neck and heels, the whole length of the body.

HEEL, v.i.¹

To dance. Shak.

HEEL, v.i.² [Sax. hyldan, to lean or incline; D. hellen; Dan. helder; Sw. hälla, to tilt.]

To incline; to lean, as a ship; as, the ship heels a-port, or a-starboard. Encyc.

HEEL, v.t.

1. To arm a cock. Johnson.
2. To add a heel to; as, to heel a shoe.

HEEL'ED, pp.

Supplied with a heel.

HEEL'ER, n.

A cock that strikes well with his heels.

HEEL'ING, ppr.

Supplying with a heel.

HEEL'-PIECE, n.

1. Armor for the heels. Chesterfield.
2. A piece of leather on the heel of a shoe.

HEEL'-TAP, n. [heel and tap.]

A small piece of leather for the heel of a shoe.

HEEL'-TAP, v.t.

To add a piece of leather to the heel of a shoe.

HEFT, n. [Sax. hefe, from hefan, to heave, to lift.]

1. Heaving; effort. He cracks his gorge, his sides, / With violent hefts. [Not used.] Shak.
2. Weight; ponderousness. [This use is common in popular language in America. And we sometimes hear it used as a verb, as, to heft, to lift for the purpose of feeling or judging of the weight.]
3. [D. heft.] A handle; a haft. [Not used.] Waller.

HEFT'ED, a.

Heaved; expressing agitation. Shak.

HE-GE-MON'IC, or HE-GE-MON'IC-AL, a. [Gr. ηγεμονικος.]

Principal; ruling; predominant. Fotherby.

HE-GI'RA, n. [Ar. from هَجَرَ hajara, to remove, to desert.]

In chronology, an epoch among the Mohammedans, from which they compute time. The event which gave rise to it was the flight of Mohammed from Mecca; from which the magistrates, fearing his impostures might raise a sedition, expelled him, July 16, A. D. 622, under the reign of the emperor Heraclius. Harris. Encyc.

HEIF'ER, n. [hef'er; Sax. heafre, heahfore, heafore. Qu. Heb. פרה.]

A young cow. Pope.

HEIGH'-HO, [hi-ho.]

An exclamation expressing some degree of languor or uneasiness. Dryden has used it for the voice of exultation.

HEIGHT, or HIGHTH, n. [or HIGHT. hīte, or hīth; Sax. heahtho, heatho, hehthe, heotho, hethe, hihth, hyhthe, contracted or changed from heagthe, or higeth, or highthe; G. höhe, hoheit; D. hoogte, Sw. höghet, högd; Dan. höjde, höjhed. This word is formed from heah, hoh, hog, now high, and as the orthography is unsettled, I should prefer to form it regularly from the present English word high, and write it highth, or hight. The common popular pronunciation highth, or hithe, is most regular, but in the plural hights is most easily pronounced.]

1. Elevation above the ground; any indefinite distance above the earth. The eagle flies at a great hight, or highth.
2. The altitude of an object; the distance which any thing rises above its foot, basis or foundation; as, the hight or highth of a tower or steeple.
3. Elevation of a star or other celestial luminary above the horizon.
4. Degree of latitude either north or south. In this application, the distance from the equator is considered as elevation. Latitudes are higher as they approach the pole. Johnson. Guinea lieth to the north sea, in the same hight as Peru to the south. Abbot.
5. Distance of one thing above another.
6. An eminence; a summit; an elevated part of any thing.
7. A hill or mountain; any elevated ground; as, the hights of Dorchester.
8. Elevation of rank; station of dignity or office. By him that raised me to this careful hight. Shak.
9. Elevation in excellence of any kind, as in power, learning, arts.
10. Elevation in fame or reputation.
11. Utmost degree in extent or violence; as, the highth or hight: of a fever, of passion, of madness, of folly, of happiness, of good breeding. So we say, the hight of a tempest.
12. Utmost exertion. I shall now put you to the hight of your breeding. Shak.
13. Advance; degree; progress toward perfection or elevation; speaking comparatively. Social duties are carried to a greater hight – by the principles of our religion. Addison.

HEIGHT'EN, or HIGHT'EN, v.t. [hītn.]

1. To raise higher; but not often used in this literal sense.
2. To advance in progress towards a better state; to improve; to meliorate; to increase in excellence or good qualities; as, to highten virtue; to highten the beauties of description, or of poetry.
3. To aggravate; to advance toward a worse state; to augment in violence. Foreign states have endeavored to highten our confusion. Addison.
4. To increase; as, to highten our relish for intellectual pleasure.

HEIGHT'EN-ED, or HIGHT'EN-ED, pp. [hītnd.]

Raised higher; elevated; exalted; advanced; improved; aggravated; increased.

HEIGHT'EN-ING, or HIGHT'EN-ING, n. [hītning.]

1. The act of elevating; increase of excellence; improvement. Dryden.
2. Aggravation; augmentation.

HEIGHT'EN-ING, or HIGHT'EN-ING, ppr. [hītning.]

Raising; elevating; exalting; improving; increasing; aggravating.

HEIN'OUS, a.

An incorrect orthography. [See Hainous.]

HEIR, n. [āre; Norm. hier, here; Arm. hear, haer; Sw. heredero; Port. herdeiro; Fr. heritier; It. erede; L. hæres, hæredis, from the verb, Eth. ወረሰ waras, Heb. ירש, Ar. وَرَتَ warata, to become an heir, to inherit. The primary sense is to seize, or to rush on and take, or to expel and dispossess others, and take their property, according to the practice of rude nations. We observe in the Hebrew and Ethiopic, the last consonant is a sibilant, as in the Latin nominative, but the oblique cases in the Latin correspond with the Arabic word, whose final consonant is a dental. This word may be connected with the Gr. αίρεω, to take. See Class Ed, No. 51, 52, 68.]

1. The man who succeeds, or is to succeed another in the possession of lands, tenements and hereditaments, by descent; the man on whom the law casts an estate of inheritance by the death of the ancestor or former possessor; or the man in whom the title to an estate of inheritance is vested by the operation of law, on the death of a former owner. We give the title to a person who is to inherit after the death of an ancestor, and during his life, as well as to the person who has actually come into possession. A man's children are his heirs. In most monarchies, the king's eldest son is heir to the throne; and a nobleman's eldest son is heir to his title. Lo, one born in my house is my heir. Gen. xv.
2. One who inherits, or takes from an ancestor. The son is often heir to the disease, or to the miseries of the father.
3. One who succeeds to the estate of a former possessor. Jer. xlix. Mic. i.
4. One who is entitled to possess. In Scripture, saints are called heirs of the promise, heirs of righteousness, heirs of salvation, &c., by virtue of the death of Christ, or of God's gracious promises.

HEIR, v.t. [are.]

To inherit; to take possession of an estate of inheritance, after the death of the ancestor. Dryden.