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heaving

heaving

1 3.9
A strong, hard lift or throw of something heavy
  • noun
  • /ˈhivɪŋ/
translation icon : esfuerzo
  • Despite the challenging terrain, the team continued the heaving of the heavy crates up the hill.

Examples

  • Despite twenty men's heaving, the bus rocked only slightly.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • A leaped from their boats and, with practiced skill, spread out into an open skirmish line, while, with much heaving and cursing, O'Donald's men lifted the one-ton artillery piece off the boat and pulled it up on the beach.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The construction workers were heaving large stones to build the new wall.

  • After hours of heaving the boulders, they finally finished the wall.

Synonyms

haul
vsheaving
20 2.5

An act of pulling something with effort

includes lifting and throwing heavy items as well as forceful pulling
heave
vsheaving
4 5.5

A strong lift or pull of something heavy

is the same act but done with greater effort

Antonyms

2.5

To move something to a lower position

1.1

A thing that falls down freely because of gravity

Compounds

heaving line
  • Specialized
1 8.3

A light rope with a weight at one end thrown to carry a heavier rope to a boat or shore

8.2

Upward movement of ground or pavement when water in it freezes and expands

How Forceful

fling
9 3.2
heaving
1 3.9
to throw
1.0
to hoist
79 4.7
lift
12 1.0

Surface Forms

heaving singular
heavings plural

Morphology

heaving = heave (transparent) = heave + ing

A straightforward gerund/nominalization from the verb 'heave' denoting the action of heaving, which learners can directly infer.

Etymology

The word heaving comes from the old verb heave, which meant 'to lift or pull with great force'. So a heaving is the strong, effortful lift or throw you do when moving something very heavy.