heavy

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heavy

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From Middle English hevy, heviȝ, from Old English hefiġ, hefeġ, hæfiġ (“heavy; important, grave, severe, serious; oppressive, grievous; slow, dull”), from Proto-West Germanic *habīg (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Germanic *habīgaz (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to take, grasp, hold”).

• enPR: hevʹi
• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛv.i/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈhev.i/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛvi

heavy (comparative heavier, superlative heaviest)

1. (of a physical object) Having great weight.

   Can you help me carry this? It's really heavy.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.

   • 2002, Eva Brann, Homeric Moments, page 48:

     But now, ten years later, after his recent shipwreck, he cannot compete as a runner, though he can outthrow the slighter Phaeacians with the heaviest discus.

   • 2015 May 18, Angus Chen, How We Store Food At Home Could Be Linked To How Much We Eat:

     In other research, scientists have found that people who kept cereal out in the open were often about 20 pounds heavier than people who kept cereal behind closed doors.

2. (of a topic) Serious, somber.
3. Not easy to bear; burdensome; oppressive.

   heavy yokes, expenses, undertakings, trials, news, etc.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 1 Samuel 5:6:

     The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod.

   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     The king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make.

   • 1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion:

     Sent hither by my Husband to impart the heavy news.

4. (British, slang, dated) Good.

   This film is heavy.

5. (dated, late 1960s, 1970s, US) Profound.

   The Moody Blues are, like, heavy.

6. (of a rate of flow) High, great.
   • 1998, Stanley George Clayton, ""Menstruation" in Encyclopedia Britannica

     The ovarian response to gonadotropic hormones may be erratic at first, so that irregular or heavy bleeding sometimes occurs

7. (slang) Armed.

   Come heavy, or not at all.

8. (of music) Loud, distorted, or intense.

   Metal is heavier than rock.

9. (of weather) Hot and humid.
10. (of a person) Doing the specified activity more intensely than most other people.

    He was a heavy sleeper, a heavy eater and a heavy smoker – certainly not an ideal husband.

    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 29, in The History of Pendennis. , volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

      He was described in the theatrical prints as the “veteran Blenkinsop”—“the useful Blenkinsop”—“that old favourite of the public, Blenkinsop”—those parts in the drama, which are called the heavy fathers, were usually assigned to this veteran, who, indeed, acted the heavy father in public, as in private life.

11. (of the eyes) With eyelids difficult to keep open due to tiredness.
    • 2021 December, The Road Ahead, Brisbane, page 11, column 3:

      Watch for the signs of fatigue, including yawning, blinking and heavy eyes.

12. (of food) High in fat or protein; difficult to digest.

    Cheese-stuffed sausage is too heavy to eat before exercising.

13. Of great force, power, or intensity; deep or intense.
    • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

      The surf was not heavy, and there was no undertow, so we made shore easily, effecting an equally easy landing.

    • 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

      [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.

    it was a heavy storm;  a heavy slumber in bed;  a heavy punch

14. Laden with that which is weighty; encumbered; burdened; bowed down, either with an actual burden, or with grief, pain, disappointment, etc.

    his eyes were heavy with sleep;  she was heavy with child

    • 1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. , London: Rich Field , for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, , volume (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, , 1857, →OCLC:

      The heavy nobles all in council were.

      The spelling has been modernized.

    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      A light wife doth make a heavy husband.

    • 1613, William Browne, Britannia's Pastorals:

      Seating himselfe within a darkesome cave, / (Such places heavy Saturnists doe crave,) / Where yet the gladsome day was never seene […]

15. Slow; sluggish; inactive; or lifeless, dull, inanimate, stupid.

    a heavy gait, looks, manners, style, etc.

    a heavy writer or book

    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      whilst the heavy ploughman snores

    • 1700, Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

      a heavy, dull, degenerate mind

    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Isaiah 59:1:

      Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

16. Impeding motion; cloggy; clayey.
    • 1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 37:

      The next day we only made some eight miles, as the road was heavy beyond all belief. It lay through a desert region of country which was ancle-deep in soda and alkali dust.

    a heavy road; a heavy soil

17. Not raised or leavened.

    heavy bread

18. (of wines or spirits) Having much body or strength.
19. (obsolete) With child; pregnant.
20. (physics) Containing one or more isotopes that are heavier than the normal one.
21. (petroleum) Having high viscosity.
22. (finance) Of a market: in which the price of shares is declining.
    • 1819, The Scots Magazine, volumes 83-84, page 577:

      The very low prices of brandy, and the continuance of a heavy market for such a length of time, have begun to attract buyers; […]

    • 1922, The Investor's Monthly Manual: A Newspaper for Investors, page 626:

      The oil market is heavy, each day bringing along further supplies of shares from people who have not tired of the long-continued decline in the market.

23. (nautical, military) Heavily-armed.
24. (aviation, of an aircraft) Having a relatively high takeoff weight and payload.
    1. Having a maximum takeoff weight exceeding 300,000 tons, as almost all widebodies do, generating high wake turbulence.
       • 1990, Perry Francis Lafferty, The Downing of Flight Six Heavy, page 85:

         In a firm voice he said, “World Wide Six heavy is ready for takeoff.”

• sweer/swear

• light

English terms starting with “heavy”

• heave
• heft

• Sranan Tongo: hebi

heavy (comparative more heavy, superlative most heavy)

1. In a heavy manner; weightily; heavily; gravely.

   heavy laden with their sins

2. (colloquial, nonstandard) To a great degree; greatly.
   • 1957, Ray Lawler, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Sydney: Fontana Books, published 1974, page 35:

     Olive: What was it - booze? Barney: Yeh. Been hitting it pretty heavy.

3. (India, colloquial) very

• hang heavy
• heavy-laden

heavy (plural heavies or heavys)

1. (slang) A villain or bad guy; the one responsible for evil or aggressive acts.

   With his wrinkled, uneven face, the actor always seemed to play the heavy in films.

2. (slang) A doorman, bouncer or bodyguard.

   A fight started outside the bar but the heavies came out and stopped it.

3. A prominent figure; a "major player".
   • 1985 December 21, Nan Donald, “Flat-picking up a Storm”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 23, page 6:

     A collection of topical themes and love songs, featuring session work by women's music "heavies" Holly Near, Mary Watkins, Linda Tillery, Robin Flower, and others.

4. (journalism, slang, chiefly in the plural) A newspaper of the quality press.
   • 1973, Allen Hutt, The changing newspaper, page 151:

     The comment may be offered here that the 'heavies' have been the Design Award's principal scorers, both in the overall bronze plaque days and, since, in the Daily/Sunday Class 1.

   • 2006, Richard Keeble, The Newspapers Handbook:

     Reviewers in the heavies aim to impress with the depth of their knowledge and appreciation.

5. (Should we move, merge or split⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (aviation) A relatively large multi-engined aircraft.
   • 2000, Philip Woods, Shattered Allegiance, page 363:

     I read five heavies, maybe transports or tankers...could be bombers.

   • 2012, Jon E. Lewis, The Mammoth Book of Heroes:

     A 76 Squadron pilot who later completed a second tour on Mosquitoes said that his colleagues on the light bombers “simply could never understand how awful being on heavies was.”

6. (theater, archaic, slang) A serious theatrical role.
   • 2008, William L. Slout, Theatre in a Tent, page 28:

     Payton boasted his range included "leading parts or genteel heavies, character old men, dialect parts, old women and, on occasion, soubrettes and leading ladies"; however, he was most at ease in light comedy roles.

7. (military, historical) A member of the heavy cavalry.
   • 1891, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, The Historic Note-book: With an Appendix of Battles, page 153:

     Cavalry […] is divided into mediums, heavies, and light cavalry. The mediums consist of 13 regiments; the heavies of 2 regiments; and the light of 13.

• brain heavy
• dog heavy

heavy (third-person singular simple present heavies, present participle heavying, simple past and past participle heavied)

1. (often with "up") To make heavier.

   They piled their goods on the donkey's back, heavying up an already backbreaking load.

2. To sadden. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
3. (Australia, New Zealand, informal) To use power or wealth to exert influence on, e.g., governments or corporations; to pressure.

   The union was well known for the methods it used to heavy many businesses.

   • 1985, Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives Weekly Hansard, Issue 11, Part 1, page 1570:

     […] the Prime Minister sought to evade the simple fact that he heavied Mr Reid to get rid of Dr Armstrong.

   • 2001, Finola Moorhead, Darkness More Visible, Spinifex Press, Australia, page 557,

     But he is on the wrong horse, heavying me. My phone′s tapped. Well, he won′t find anything.

   • 2005, David Clune, Ken Turner (editors), The Premiers of New South Wales, 1856-2005, Volume 3: 1901-2005, page 421,

     But the next two days of the Conference also produced some very visible lobbying for the succession and apparent heavying of contenders like Brereton, Anderson and Mulock - much of it caught on television.

• Heavy (aeronautics) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From heave +‎ -y.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhiːvi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

heavy (comparative more heavy, superlative most heavy)

1. Having the heaves.

   a heavy horse

• heavy cake

• “heavy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Havey, Yahve

• IPA^(key): /ˈheʋi/,
• Rhymes: -eʋi

heavy

1. Alternative spelling of hevi (“heavyrock”).

• “heavy”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

Borrowed from English heavy.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛvi/

• Audio:

  (file)

heavy (strong nominative masculine singular heavyer, not comparable)

1. (predicative, colloquial, probably slightly dated) heavy; intense; serious; shocking (extraordinary, especially in a bad way)

   Synonyms: heftig, krass, nicht ohne, ein starkes Stück

Unadapted borrowing from English heavy (metal).

• IPA^(key): /ˈxebi/
• Rhymes: -ebi

heavy m or f (masculine and feminine plural heavys)

1. heavy (pertaining to heavy metal)
2. heavy (intense)
3. (Dominican Republic, informal) cool

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “heavy”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10