heel-seat 
heel-seat (hel' set), . That part of the sole of 
a shoe to which the heel is fastened. 
The crude heel Is pressed upon the heel-seat by a nail- 
ing machine. Harper's Nag., LXX. 284. 
heel-shave (hel'shav), . A tool resembling 
a spoke-shave, used for trimming the lifts of 
the heel of a shoe after they have been fitted 
to the shoe. 
heel-tap (heT tap), n. 1. A small piece of lea- 
ther several of which together form the heel 
of a shoe; a lift. See heel 1 , 4. 2. The small 
portion of wine or liquor left in a glass when the 
main portion has been drunk. 
"As there was a proper objection to drinking her in 
heel-tap)!," said the voice, " we'll give her the first glass in 
the new magnum." Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, \x\ii. 
Let the bottle pass freely, don't shirk it nor spare it ; 
For a heel-tapl a heel-tap! I never could bear it 
Peacock, Headlong Hall, v. 
No heel-taps 1 a demand by a host that his guests empty 
their glasses to the bottom. 
heeltap (hel'tap), v. t. ; pret. and pp. heeltapped, 
ppr. heeltapping. [< heel-tap, n.] To add a 
piece of leather to the heel of, as a shoe or boot. 
heel-tip (hel'tip), n. An iron plate or protec- 
tion for the heels of boots and shoes. 
heel-tool (hel'tol), . In turning, a tool with 
an acute cutting edge and an angular base or 
heel, used by metal-turners for roughing out a 
piece of iron or turning it to somewhat near 
the intended size. 
heel-tree (hel'tre), . The swing-bar at the 
heels of a horse drawing a harrow. Halliwell. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
heel-trimmer (hel'trim'er), n. A machine for 
trimming the edges of the lifts forming the 
heel of a boot or shoe, to bring them to the re- 
quired shape. 
been, . See hien. 
heept, n. A variant of hip 2 . Chaucer. 
heerH, adv. An obsolete spelling of here 1 . 
heer 2 t, A variant of hair 1 . Chaucer. 
heer 3 (her), . [Origin obscure.] The length 
of two cuts or leas of linen or woolen thread. 
heeze (hez), v. t. A dialectal variant of Itoise. 
[Scotch.] 
heft. An obsolete preterit of heave. Chaucer. 
heffel (hef 'el), n. A dialectal variant of hick- 
wall. 
heft 1 (heft), . [< ME. heft, another form of 
haft (> E. hafft), < AS. hteft, a handle, etc.: see 
haft 1 , and cf. heft*.] Same as haft 1 . 
If the heaft belonged to Walworth, the blade, or point 
thereof, at least, may be adjudged to Cavendish. 
Fuller, Worthies, Suffolk. 
heft 2 (heft), w. [In these senses modern, the 
word being formed, after heft 1 , var. of haft 1 , a 
handle, and heft 3 , obs. pret. and pp., from the 
verb heave: see heave and haft 1 ."] If. The act 
of heaving or retching ; violent strain or exer- 
tion; effort. 
If one . . . make known 
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides, 
With violent hefts. Shak., W. T., ii. 1. 
2. Weight ; heaviness. [Obsolete or prov. 
Eng.; colloq., U. S.] 
But if a part of heaven's huge sphere 
Thou chuse thy pond'rous heft to beare. 
Sir A. Gorges, tr. of Lucan (1614). 
Constitoounts air hendy to help a man in, 
But arterwards don't weigh the heft of a pin. 
Lowell, Biglow Papers. 
3. The greater or weightier part of anything ; 
the bulk; the gist. [Colloq., U. S.] 
Throwing the heft of the Pacific trade across the conti- 
nent into the port of New York. 
New York Herald, Feb. 5, 1849. 
As Sir. Hallowell himself has intimated, the heft of his 
hook is in the appendix. The American, VI. 103. 
4f. Need ; emergency. Nares. 
We friendship faire and concord did despise, 
And far appart from us we wisdom left, 
Forsook each other at the greatest heft. 
Mir. for Mags., p. 750. 
5. Command; restraint. [Prov. Eng.] 
heft 2 (heft), t'. [< heft?, n.] I. trans. 1. To 
heave up. [Prov. Eng.] 2. To try the weight 
of. [Obsolete or colloq.] 
He was tall, was my Jack, 
And as strong as a tree ; 
Thar's his gun on the rack, 
Jest you heft it and see. 
Bret Harte, Penelope. 
II. intrans. To weigh. [Colloq., TJ. S.] 
"I remember," said Mistress Ravel, " the Great Hog, up 
in Dunwich, that hefted nigh twenty score." 
S. Jvdd, Margaret, ii. 6. 
heft 3 t (heft). An early modern English preterit 
and past participle of heave. 
2772 
Infiam'd with wrath, his raging blade he he/te. 
Sffiaer, F. Q., I. xi. 39. 
heft 4 (heft), n. [Sc., also written haft; < Icel. 
hefdh, possession, prescription, = Sw. hafd, cul- 
ture, cultivation, improvement, = Dan. hafvd, 
possession, prescription (Norw.), cultivation, 
manure ; < Icel. hafa = Sw. hafva = Dan. have, 
have, hold, = E. have, q. v.] A dwelling; a 
place of residence. [Scotch.] 
heft 4 (heft), v. [= Icel. hefdha, tr., take by 
prescription, = Sw. hdfda = Dan. haxde, main- 
tain, assert, uphold (Norw.), cultivate; from 
the noun.] I. intrans. To dwell. [Scotch.] 
To Linshart, gin my hame ye speir, 
Where I hae heft near fifty year. Bp. Skinner. 
II. trans. To familiarize with a place or an 
employment; attach or cause to become at- 
tached by long usage. [Scotch.] 
Master Darsie, it may be as well that Alan and you do 
not meet till he is hefted, as It were, to his new calling. 
Scott, Redgauntlet, letter \\. 
I do believe I shall get hefted to my new situation. 
Carlyle, in Froude. 
heft 5 (heft), H. [Or., a number of sheets of paper 
sewed together and constituting a part of a 
book, a blank book consisting of sheets so sewed 
together.] A note-book. [A Germanism.] 
The teaching is almost entirely by lectures, which the 
students usually take down in coverless note-books con- 
taining about twenty blank pages stitched together, mod- 
elled after the hefts of the German students and called by 
their German name. Nineteenth Century, XXIV. 925. 
hefty (hef'ti), a. [< heft* + -y 1 .] I. Hav- 
ing considerable weight ; rather heavy; hence, 
weighty ; forcible : as, a hefty tool ; a hefty ar- 
gument. [Colloq., U. S.] 2. Easy to lift and 
handle. [Colloq., U. S.] 
To my mind the first requisite in a book is that it should 
be readable, and to be readable it should be hefty, light, 
and of a form that can be easily held in the band. 
The American, IX. 232. 
hegberry (heg'ber"i), . ; pi. hegberries (-iz). 
[See hagberry.] The bird-cherry, Primus Pa- 
dus or P. avium. [Prov. Eng.] 
Hegelian (he-ge'lian), a. and n. [< Hegel (see 
Hegelianism) + -ion.] I. a. Of or pertaining to 
Hegel or his system of philosophy ; propounded 
by Hegel : as, the Hegelian theory of universal 
history. See Hegelianism. 
The Hegelian Logic is at once a Logic and a Metaphysic 
i. e., it treats at once of the method and of the matter 
of knowledge, of the processes by which truth is discov- 
ered, and of the truth itself in its most universal aspects. 
E. Caird, Hegel, p. 186. 
II. . One who accepts the philosophical 
opinions of Hegel ; a follower of Hegel. 
Hegelianise, v. t. See Hegelianize. 
Hegelianism (he-ge'lian-izm), n. [< Hegelian 
+ -ism.'} The philosophical system of Georg 
WOhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), which 
during the second quarter of the nineteenth 
century was the leading system of metaphys- 
ical thought in Germany, it purports to be a com- 
plete philosophy, undertaking to explain the whole uni- 
verse of thought and being in its abstractest elements and 
minutest details. This it does by means of the Hegelian 
dialectic, a new logic, the real law of the movement of 
thought (not a mere form, like syllogistic), the scheme of 
which is thesis, antithesis, synthesis, the original tendency, 
the opposing tendency, and their unification in a new 
movement. By this law the conceptions of logic develop 
themselves in a long series. This law of the development 
of thought is assumed to be necessarily the law of the 
development of being, on the ground that thought and 
being are absolutely identical. Hegelianism is radically 
hostile to natural science, and especially to the Newtonian 
philosophy that is, to all the methods and scientific re- 
sults which have sprung from the "Principia." One of 
the characteristics of Hegelianism is its constant readi- 
ness to recognize continuity both as a fact and as accept- 
able to reason, which other metaphysical systems have 
often struggled to deny. Also Hegelwm. 
Hegelianize (he-ge'lian-Iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. 
Hegelianized, ppr. Hegelianizing. [< Hegelian + 
-ize.] To render Hegelian. Also spelled Hege- 
lianise. 
The Hegelianising of Kant may be best illustrated from 
the section on the "Deduction of the Categories." 
Mind, XII. 94. 
Hegelism (ha'gel-izm), n. Same as Hegelianism. 
hegemonic (he-je-mon'ik), a. [< Gr. jJ/E/aow/coV, 
< 17} e/uovi'a, leadership: see hegemony.'] Ruling; 
predominant ; principal. 
hegemonical (he-je-mon'i-kal), a. [< 'hegemonic 
+ -al.] Same as hegemonic. [Bare.] 
hegemony (he'je-mo-ni), n. [< Gr. fiyefiavia, 
leadership, chief command, < rjytfilnv, a leader, 
guide, commander, chief, < q-yeladai, lead, < ayeiv, 
lead, = L. agere, drive, do, act : see agent, act.] 
Predominance ; preponderance ; leadership ; 
specifically, headship or control exercised by 
one state over another or others, as through con- 
federation or conquest: originally applied to 
heigh 
such a relation often existing among the states 
of ancient Greece. 
A hegemony, the political ascendency of some one city 
or community over a number of subject commonwealths. 
Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 181. 
That Syracuaan siege which decided the destinies of 
Greece, and by the fall of Athens raised Sparta, Macedo- 
nia, and finally Rome to the hegemony of the civilised 
world. J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 178. 
hegget, A Middle English form of hedge. 
Chaucer. 
heggle (heg'l), v. i. A dialectal variant of 
haggle*. 
hegira. . See hejira. 
hegoleh, n. [Native name.] The madoqua an- 
telope, Neotragus madoqua. 
hegrie (heg'ri), n. [See heron.] The heron, 
Ardea cinerea. Also called skip-hegrie. [Shet- 
land Islands.] 
hegril's-skip (heg'rilz-skip). n. The heron, 
Ardea cinerea. [Shetland Islands.] 
hegumen (he-gu'men), n. [< Gr. rfyoii/tevof, prop, 
ppr. of rf) e ' a '8<"> lead: see hegemony.] Same as 
hegumenos. 
The catechetical discourse of S. Chrysostom on the Splen- 
dour-bearing Day is read by the Hegumen or Ecclesiarch, 
the brethren standing. 
Greek Office for Eaeter Day, quoted in J. M. Neale's Eastern 
[Church, 1. 887. 
hegumene (he-gu'me-ne), n. [< Gr. jjyov/^v?, 
fern, of fooWvof: see hegumen.'] In the Gr. 
Ch., the head of a nunnery, corresponding, ac- 
cording to the size and importance of the house, 
to a Western abbess or prioress. 
hegumeness (he-gu'me-nes), n. Same as hegu- 
mene. 
hegumenos (he-gu'me-nos), n. [Gr. fyov/tevoc.: 
see hegumen.]' In the Gr. Ch., the head of a 
monastery. The rank of hegumenos corresponds to that 
of the abbot of a convent of the second class or of the 
prior of one of the first class in the Western Church. The 
head of a large monastery, or the superior-general of all 
the monasteries of a district, is called an archimandrite. 
Also heyoumenos and agoumenos. 
I then dried my fingers on an embroidered towel, and 
sat down with the agoumenog and another officer of the 
monastery before a metal tray covered with various dainty 
dishes. R. Curzon, Monast. in the Levant, p. 261. 
hegumeny (he-gu'me-ni), n. [< Gr. foovuevia, 
< rfloi'/ievof, hegumenos: see hegumen.] In the 
Gr. Ch., the rank or office of hegumenos. 
Heidelberg catechism. See catechism, 2. 
heifer (hef 'er), H. [Early mod. E. also haifer, 
and with orig. guttural heighfer, heckfer, heck- 
fere, heckfar, heckfare, heckfor, heckford, hee- 
forde, etc., corruptly hawgher (Caxton); E. dial, 
also transposed heifker; < ME. liayfare, hek- 
fere, hekefere, < AS. hedhfore, also hedhfru (gen. 
hedhfore, ace. hedhfre), ONorth. pi. hehfaro, a 
heifer; an isolated word, appar. a compound, 
< hedh, high, + -fore, -fare, a supposed fern, 
form (equiv. to D. vaars, also in comp. vaar- 
koe (D. koe = E. cow 1 ) = MLG. verse = MHG. 
verse, G.fdrse, a heifer), < fearr, ONorth. far 
= MD. varre, D. var = OHG. farro, far, MHG. 
varre, var, G. farre = Icel. farri, a bullock 
(Teut. stem *fars); prob. allied to Gr. xopif, 
7r<Spr<f, a heifer: see farrow*, a. The prefix 
hedh, 'high,' is taken to mean 'full-grown' 
(Skeat), but a heifer is not full-grown. The 
AS. form is generally glossed by L. altile, or 
ML. alt ilium, a fatted calf (also applied to 
other fatted animals), < L. altilis, a., fatted, < 
alere, nourish, feed, suggesting that AS. hedh in 
hedhfore is an awkward translation, meaning 
' high-fed,' of L. altilis, or simply of the related 
L. altus, high, lit. ' grown,' < alere, nourish, feed: 
see alt, altitude, etc., and old. But this is un- 
certain. The peculiar ME. forms would seem 
to favor a connection with D. hokkeling, G. hock- 
ling, a yearling calf, appar. < D. hok, a stall, 
pen, + dim. -ling; but the change of AS. hedh 
to heck- is supported by hock, in hockday, from 
the same AS. hedh.] 1. A young cow. 
Israel, whom God calleth Jeshurun, and compareth to 
an heifer fed in large and fruitful pastures, going always 
at full bit, grew fat and wanton. 
Bp. Sanderson, Works, III. 194. 
A Lowing Heifer, Loveliest of the Herd, 
Stood feeding by. 
Congreve, On the Taking of Namure. 
2. A young female terrapin, Malaclemmys pa- 
lustris, measuring 5 or 6 inches along the lower 
shell. See cow terrapin, under terrapin. [A 
trade use.] 
heigh (hi), inter}. [Also written hey and hi, Sc. 
hegh, hech, an aspirated syllable, variously ex- 
pressive, according to tone and circumstances: 
cf. ha 1 , ho 1 , hoy*.] An exclamation designed 
to call attention, give encouragement, etc. 
