heft

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See also: Heft and Hëft

English

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WOTD – 22 June 2024

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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The noun is derived from Late Middle English heft (“heaviness; something heavy, a weight”),[1] from heven (“to lift, raise; to make an effort to lift or raise, heave”)[2] + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., forming nouns),[3] 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).[4] The English word is analysable as heave + -t (suffix forming nouns from verbs).

The verb is probably derived from the noun.[5]

Noun

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heft (countable and uncountable, plural hefts)

  1. (uncountable)
    1. The feel of the weight of something; heaviness.
      Synonym: heftiness
      A high quality hammer should have good balance and heft.
      • 1591, [Ludovico Ariosto], “The XXX. Booke”, in Iohn Haringtõ [i.e., John Harington], transl., Orlando Furioso in English Heroical Verse, […], London: […] Richard Field […], →OCLC, stanza 51, page 245, column 1:
        But Durindan at laſt fell vvith ſuch heft, / Full on the circle of Rogeros ſhield, / That halfe vvay through the Argent byrd it cleft, / And pierſt the core of male [i.e., mail] that vvas vvithin, / And found a paſſage to the verie skin.
      • 1888, Paul Cushing, “The Plateau Mine”, in The Blacksmith of Voe […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1892, →OCLC, page 255:
        I pictured him doing violence to his better nature, and only wanting a good heft of circumstance to enable him to throw off his load of deviltry.
      • 2014 September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again [print version: Revisiting a moon that still has secrets to reveal: Supermoon revives interest in its violent origins and hidden face]”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-27:
        Unlike most moons of the solar system, ours has the heft to pull itself into a sphere.
      • 2021 March 30, J[ames] B[ernard] MacKinnon, “An Entire Group of Whales has Somehow Escaped Human Attention”, in The Atlantic‎[2], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-05-15:
        The skull [of a Hubbs' beaked whale] was an awkward armload. Bizarrely, its size, shape, and long, narrow bill brought to mind the head of Big Bird from Sesame Street, but with none of bird-bone's lightness: It had heft and density.
    2. (dated except UK, dialectal and US) The force exerted by an object due to gravitation; weight.
      • 1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “Englebourn Village”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 1st, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 302:
        The man had been carried out of the yard while the fire was still burning; […] Public opinion was much divided, some holding that it would go hard with a man of his age and heft; but the common belief seemed to be that he was of that sort "as'd take a deal o'killin'," and that he would be none the worse for such a fall as that.
      • 1888–1889, Maxwell Gray [pseudonym; Mary Gleed Tuttiett], “Light and Shade”, in The Reproach of Annesley. […], volume I, London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., […], published 1889, →OCLC, part III, page 260:
        "Look at the heft of 'n [a baby]," said the proud father, "entirely drags ye down, Miss Sybil, 'e do."
      • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, pages 115–116:
        Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.
    3. (figurative) Graveness, seriousness; gravity.
      • 1878, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The Illumination”, in Poganuc People: Their Loves and Lives, New York, N.Y.: Fords, Howard, & Hulbert, →OCLC, page 35:
        He's got a good voice, and reads well; but come to a sermon—wal, ain't no gret heft in't.
    4. (figurative) Importance, influence; weight.
    5. (US, informal, dated) The greater part of something; the bulk, the mass.
  2. (countable)
    1. (UK, dialectal) An act of lifting; a lift.
    2. (obsolete) An act of heaving (lifting with difficulty); an instance of violent exertion or straining.
      • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 282, column 1:
        [I]f one preſent / Th'abhor'd Ingredient [a spider in a drink] to his eye, make knovvne / Hovv he hath drunke, he cracks his gorge, his ſides / VVith violent Hefts: I haue drunke, and ſeene the Spider.
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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heft (third-person singular simple present hefts, present participle hefting, simple past and past participle hefted) (UK, dialectal and US, informal)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To lift or lift up (something, especially a heavy object).
      Synonym: hoist
      He hefted the sack of concrete into the truck.
      • 1882, Richard Jefferies, “Shooting with Double-barrels”, in Bevis: The Story of a Boy […], volume III, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 254:
        […] Bevis was to "heft" his gun to the shoulder, and only to press it there sufficiently to feel that the butt touched him.
      • 1888, Paul Cushing, “A Witness Tells His Tale”, in The Blacksmith of Voe […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1892, →OCLC, page 176:
        I'd say, put irons on his shackles (wrists), a omber (horse-collar) o' hemp around his neck, sit him on a dung-cart, and drive him aneath th' tawest whoke-tree (oak-tree) in the parish, throw th' t'other end of th' hemp o'er a good stout limb, and let every honest man in Voe lend a hand to heft th' rogue into th' air.
      • 1912, Robert W[illiam] Service, “Athabaska Dick”, in Rhymes of a Rolling Stone, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 46:
        And here they must make the long portage, and the boys sweat in the sun; / And they heft and pack, and they haul and track, and each must do his trick; […]
      • 1932, William Faulkner, chapter 14, in Light in August, [New York, N.Y.]: Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, →OCLC; republished London: Chatto & Windus, 1933, →OCLC, page 308:
        [H]e found that he was hefting the bench leg, curiously, as though trying its balance, as if he had never touched it before.
    2. To test the weight of (something) by lifting.
      1. (figurative) To evaluate or test (someone or something).
        • 1878, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The Illumination”, in Poganuc People: Their Loves and Lives, New York, N.Y.: Fords, Howard, & Hulbert, →OCLC, pages 34–35:
          Sim's ben to college, and he's putty smart and chipper. Come to heft him, tho', he don't weigh much 'longside o' Parson Cushing.
  2. (intransitive) To have (substantial) weight; to weigh.
    • 1893, Charlotte M[ary] Yonge, “The Hoard”, in The Treasures in the Marshes, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Whittaker, […], →OCLC, page 12:
      "[I]t's yellow! is it gold?" / "My!" exclaimed his mother, weighing it in her hand, "I do believe it is. Brass never would heft so much, and would be green. Bless me, Wat, this is a find! Where ever did you come by it? In the gutters, do you say?"
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From heave +‎ -t (suffix forming the past and/or past participle forms of verbs).

Verb

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heft

  1. (obsolete) simple past and past participle of heave [16th–17th c.]

Etymology 3

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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”),[6][7] 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”).

The verb is borrowed from Scots heft (“to cause (cattle or sheep) to become familiar with a pasture; of animals: to become familiar with a pasture; (figurative) of a person: to become settled in an occupation or place”),[6][8] probably from Old Norse hefða (“to acquire prescriptive rights”), from hefð (noun): see above.

Both the noun and verb may have been influenced by Scots heft (“(noun) handle of an implement, haft; (verb) to fit (an implement) with a handle”).[6][9]

Noun

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heft (plural hefts) (Northern England, Scotland, agriculture)

  1. A piece of pastureland which farm animals (chiefly cattle or sheep) have become accustomed to.
  2. A flock or group of farm animals (chiefly cattle or sheep) which have become accustomed to a particular piece of pastureland.
Alternative forms
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Translations
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Verb

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heft (third-person singular simple present hefts, present participle hefting, simple past and past participle hefted) (Northern England, Scotland)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (agriculture) To accustom (a flock or group of farm animals, chiefly cattle or sheep) to a piece of pastureland.
      • 1898, S[amuel] R[utherford] Crockett, “The Year Terrible”, in The Standard Bearer, London: Methuen and Co. […], →OCLC, page 6:
        For I had been "hefting" (as the business is called in our Galloway land) a double score of lambs which had just been brought from a neighbouring lowland farm to summer upon our scanty upland pastures. Now it is the nature of sheep to return if they can to their mother-hill, or, at least, to stray farther and farther off, seeking some well-known landmark. So, till such new-comers grow satisfied and "heft" (or attach) themselves to the soil, they must be watched carefully both night and day.
    2. (figurative)
      1. To establish or settle (someone) in an occupation or place of residence.
      2. To establish or plant (something) firmly in a place; to fix, to root, to settle.
  2. (intransitive, reflexive) Of a thing: to establish or settle itself in a place.
Alternative forms
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Translations
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Etymology 4

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Borrowed from Scots heft,[10] 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”).[11]

Verb

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heft (third-person singular simple present hefts, present participle hefting, simple past and past participle hefted) (transitive, chiefly Scotland, usually passive voice)

  1. (agriculture) 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.
    • 1844, Henry Stephens, “Of Cows Calving, and of Calves”, in The Book of the Farm, […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, paragraph 2106, page 460:
      You also see the impropriety of hefting or holding the milk in cows until the udder is distended much beyond its ordinary size, for the sake of shewing its utmost capacity for holding milk, a device which all cow-dealers, and indeed every one who has a cow for sale in a market, scrupulously uses. […] [E]very farmer is surely aware, or ought to be aware, that the person who purchases a hefted cow on account of the magnitude of its udder exhibited in the market, gains nothing by the device; because, when the cow comes into his possession, she will never be hefted, and, of course, never shew the greatest magnitude of udder, and never, of course, confer the benefit for which she was bought in preference to others with udders in a more natural state. If, then, purchasers derive no benefit from hefting, because they do not allow hefting, why do they encourage so cruel and afterwards injurious practice in dealers?
    • 1922, Patrick MacGill, “The Inaugural Dinner”, in Lanty Hanlon: A Comedy of Irish Life, Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland: Brandon Book Publishers, published 1983, →ISBN, section III, page 259:
      The heavy udders of hefted cows trailed on the ground, dripping milk on the greensward. Stray cattle ate the rich grass.
      An adjective use.
  2. (by extension) To cause (urine) to be held in a person's bladder.
Translations
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Etymology 5

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Origin unknown.

Noun

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heft

  1. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (Western Ireland, veterinary medicine) A poor condition in sheep caused by mineral deficiency.

Etymology 6

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Borrowed from German Heft (“issue of a serial publication, number; magazine; notebook; notepad”),[12] a back-formation from heften (“to fasten”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haftijaną (“to bind; to secure”): see further at etymology 5.

Noun

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heft (plural hefts)

  1. A number of sheets of paper fastened together, as to form a book or a notebook.
  2. A part of a serial publication; a fascicle, an issue, a number.
    • 1900 January 25, “Notes”, in The Nation, volume 70, number 1804, New York, N.Y.: Nation Associates, →ISSN, →OCLC, page LXX, column 1:
      Such an organ is now to be published by the house of J[oseph] Ricker, in Giessen, Ephemeris für Semitische Epigraphik, edited by Dr. Mark Lidzbarki. […] The size of the "hefts" will depend on the material requiring attention, and the annual volume is to cost about 15 marks.
Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “heft, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “hēven, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ “-th(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “heft, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “heft, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022; compare Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “HEFT, sb.1 and v.1”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 131–132.
  5. ^ “heft, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 “heft, v.3, n.2”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
  7. ^ Compare Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “HEFT, sb.2 and v.2”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 132; “heft, n.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “haft, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  8. ^ Compare “haft, v.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  9. ^ “heft, n.1, v.1”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
  10. ^ “heft, v.4”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
  11. ^ Compare Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “HEFT, v.4”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 132, column 2; “heft, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  12. ^ “heft, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle Dutch hefte, from Old Dutch *hefti, from Proto-West Germanic *haftī, from Proto-Germanic *haftiją. Forms with -cht- were dominant in Middle Dutch.

Noun

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heft n (plural heften, diminutive heftje n)

  1. handle of a knife or other tool, haft, hilt
  2. (metaphor, used absolutely: het heft) control, charge
    Synonyms: gevest, handgreep
    Zij heeft hier het heft in handen. ― She runs the show here.
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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heft

  1. inflection of heffen:
    1. second/third-person singular present indicative
    2. (archaic) plural imperative

Kashubian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from German Heft.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈxɛft/
  • Rhymes: -ɛft
  • Syllabification: heft

Noun

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heft m inan (diminutive heftk or herfcëk)

  1. notebook
    Synonym: zesziwk

Declension

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Declension of heft
singular plural
nominative hëft hëftë
genitive hëftu hëftów
dative hëftowi hëftóm
accusative hëft hëftë
instrumental hëftã hëftama
locative hëfce hëftach
vocative hëft/hëfce hëftë

Further reading

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  • Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “zeszyt”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎[4]
  • “heft”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From heven, on the model of weven and weft.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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heft (plural heftis)

  1. (Late Middle English, rare) weight

Descendants

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  • English: heft
  • ⇒ Yola: heifteen, heiftem

References

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Northern Kurdish

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Etymology

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From Proto-Iranian *haptá, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *saptá, from Proto-Indo-European *septḿ̥. Compare Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬞𐬙𐬀 (hapta), Persian هفت (haft), Ossetian авд (avd), Pashto اووه (uwə).

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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heft

  1. seven

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From the verb hefte.

Noun

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heft n (definite singular heftet, indefinite plural heft, definite plural hefta)

  1. encumberment

Verb

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heft

  1. imperative of hefta

References

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Scots

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Etymology

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The noun is probably derived from Old Norse hefð (“occupation; possession; prescriptive right”),[1] 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”).

The verb is probably derived from Old Norse hefða (“to acquire prescriptive rights”), from hefð (noun): see above.[1]

Both the noun and verb may have been influenced by Scots heft (“(noun) handle of an implement, haft; (verb) to fit (an implement) with a handle”).[1][2]

Noun

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heft (agriculture)

  1. A piece of pastureland which farm animals (chiefly cattle or sheep) have become accustomed to.
  2. A flock or group of farm animals (chiefly cattle or sheep) which have become accustomed to a particular piece of pastureland.

Alternative forms

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Verb

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heft (third-person singular simple present hefts, present participle heftin, simple past heftit, past participle heftit)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (agriculture) To accustom (a flock or group of farm animals, chiefly cattle or sheep) to a piece of pastureland.
    2. (figurative)
      1. To establish or settle (someone) in an occupation or place of residence.
      2. To establish or plant (something) firmly in a place; to fix, to root, to settle.
  2. (intransitive, reflexive) Of a thing: to establish or settle itself in a place.

Alternative forms

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “heft, v.3, n.2”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
  2. ^ “heft, n.1, v.1”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
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