heel

English Online Dictionary. What means heel‎? What does heel mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hiːl/
• Rhymes: -iːl
• Homophones: heal (general), he'll, hill (some accents)

Etymology 1

From Middle English hele, from Old English hēla, from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄hilō, from Proto-Germanic *hanhilaz, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (“heel, hock”), equivalent to hock +‎ -le. More at hock.

Compare North Frisian haiel, West Frisian hyl, Dutch hiel, German Low German Hiel, Danish and Norwegian hæl, Swedish häl.

Noun

heel (plural heels)

1. (anatomy) The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.
2. The part of a shoe's sole which supports the foot's heel.
3. The rear part of a sock or similar covering for the foot.
4. The part of the palm of a hand closest to the wrist.

5. (usually in the plural) A woman's high-heeled shoe.
6. (firearms) The back, upper part of the stock.
7. (music) The thickening of the neck of a stringed instrument where it attaches to the body.
8. The last or lowest part of anything.
9. (US, Ireland, Scotland, Australia) A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread.
10. (US) The base of a bun sliced in half lengthwise.

    Synonyms: boot, butt
11. (informal, synecdochically) A contemptible, unscrupulous, inconsiderate or thoughtless person.
12. (by extension, slang, professional wrestling) A headlining wrestler regarded as a "bad guy," whose ring persona embodies villainous or reprehensible traits and demonstrates characteristics of a braggart and a bully.
13. (card games) The cards set aside for later use in a patience or solitaire game.
14. Anything resembling a human heel in shape; a protuberance; a knob.
15. (architecture) The lower end of a timber in a frame, as a post or rafter.
16. (specifically, US) The obtuse angle of the lower end of a rafter set sloping.
17. (architecture, obsolete) A cyma reversa.
18. (carpentry) The short side of an angled cut.
19. (golf) The part of a club head's face nearest the shaft.
20. The lower end of the bit (cutting edge) of an axehead; as opposed to the toe (upper end).
21. In a carding machine, the part of a flat nearest the cylinder.
22. (nautical) The junction between the keel and the stempost of a vessel; an angular wooden join connecting the two.

Synonyms

• (end of bread): boot, butt, ender, outsider (Scotland)

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “headlining wrestler”): babyface
• (antonym(s) of “angled cut in carpentry”): toe

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

heel (third-person singular simple present heels, present participle heeling, simple past and past participle heeled)

2. To follow at somebody's heels; to chase closely.

3. To cause to follow at somebody’s heels (transitive).
4. To add a heel to, or increase the size of the heel of (a shoe or boot).
5. To kick with the heel.

   she heeled her horse forward

6. (transitive) To perform by the use of the heels, as in dancing, running, etc.
7. (transitive) To arm with a gaff, as a cock for fighting.
8. (golf, transitive) To hit (the ball) with the heel of the club.
9. (American football, transitive) To make (a fair catch) standing with one foot forward, the heel on the ground and the toe up.
10. (US, intransitive) At Yale University, to work as a heeler or student journalist.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably inferred from hielded, the past tense of hield, from Middle English helden, heelden, from Old English hyldan, hieldan (“to incline”), cognate with Old Norse hella (“to pour out”) (whence Danish hælde (“lean, pour”)).

Verb

heel (third-person singular simple present heels, present participle heeling, simple past and past participle heeled)

1. (chiefly nautical) To incline to one side; to tilt. [from 16th c.]

Translations

See also

• angle of vanishing stability
• limit of positive stability

Noun

heel (plural heels)

1. (nautical) The act of inclining or canting from a vertical position; a cant. [from 17th c.]
   • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 14:

     [T]he boat, from a sudden gust of wind, taking a deep heel, I tumbled overboard and down I went […] .

Synonyms

• heeling

Etymology 3

See hele (“conceal, keep secret, cover”).

Verb

heel (third-person singular simple present heels, present participle heeling, simple past and past participle heeled)

1. (rare, now especially in the phrase "heel in") Alternative form of hele (“cover; conceal”).
   • (Can we date this quote?), Brian Kerr, Lodge St Lawrence 144 Ritual, page 34:

     [I] of my own free will and accord, do hereby, here at and hereon, solemnly swear that I will always heel, conceal and never improperly reveal any of the secrets or mysteries of, or belonging to [the Masons].

References

• “heel”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “heel”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “heel n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Anagrams

• Ehle, Hele, hele

Afar

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈheːl/ [ˈheːl]
• Hyphenation: heel

Noun

héel m 

1. cardamom

Declension

References

• E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “heel”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[2], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis), page 84

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɦeːl/
• Hyphenation: heel
• Rhymes: -eːl
• Homophone: Heel

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch hêel, from Old Dutch hēl, from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz.

Adjective

heel (comparative heler, superlative heelst)

1. complete, full, whole

   Synonyms: gans, volledig

2. intact, unbroken, undamaged, untarnished

3. big, enormous, significant

Usage notes

When the noun is accompanied by a definite article, a possessive pronoun, a demonstrative pronoun, or a genitive construction, heel in the sense of "whole" may precede the whole phrase, in uninflected form. For example, the following are both correct:

de hele dag / heel de dag ― the whole/entire day

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Berbice Creole Dutch: hele
• Negerhollands: heel, hele, helle
• Skepi Creole Dutch: helwel, he
• → Saramaccan: híi
• → Sranan Tongo: eri, heri, hele, heele, herheri

Adverb

heel

1. very

Usage notes

Although it is an adverb, heel may be inflected to hele so as to match a following adjective. For example, both of these sentences are correct:

The second sentence with hele may, however, be regarded as informal and less appropriate for formal writing.

Only heel is obviously possible when the adjective is not inflected to begin with:

Descendants

• Jersey Dutch: hêl, hê

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

heel

1. inflection of helen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Anagrams

• hele

Luxembourgish

Verb

heel

1. second-person singular imperative of heelen

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch hēl, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz.

Adjective

hêel

1. whole, full
2. undamaged, unbroken
3. healthy, healed
4. honest, sincere, pure

Inflection

Descendants

• Dutch: heel
  • Afrikaans: heel

Further reading

• “heel (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “heel (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

Middle English

Noun

heel

1. Alternative form of hele (“health”)

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English hele, from Old English hēla, from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄hilō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hiːɫ/
• Homophones: haail, hele, heale, hyle

Noun

heel

1. heel

References

• Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 132