heart

- 10 dictionary results

heart

[hahrt]

–noun

Anatomy. a hollow, pumplike organ of blood circulation, composed mainly of rhythmically contractile smooth muscle, located in the chest between the lungs and slightly to the left and consisting of four chambers: a right atrium that receives blood returning from the body via the superior and inferior vena cavae, a right ventricle that pumps the blood through the pulmonary artery to the lungs for oxygenation, a left atrium that receives the oxygenated blood via the pulmonary veins and passes it through the mitral valve, and a left ventricle that pumps the oxygenated blood, via the aorta, throughout the body.

Zoology.

a.	the homologous structure in other vertebrates, consisting of four chambers in mammals and birds and three chambers in reptiles and amphibians.

b.	the analogous contractile structure in invertebrate animals, as the tubular heart of the spider and earthworm.

3.	the center of the total personality, esp. with reference to intuition, feeling, or emotion: In your heart you know I'm an honest man.

4.	the center of emotion, esp. as contrasted to the head as the center of the intellect: His head told him not to fall in love, but his heart had the final say.

5.	capacity for sympathy; feeling; affection: His heart moved him to help the needy.

6.	spirit, courage, or enthusiasm: His heart sank when he walked into the room and saw their gloomy faces.

7.	the innermost or central part of anything: Notre Dame stands in the very heart of Paris.

8.	the vital or essential part; core: the heart of the matter.

9.	the breast or bosom: to clasp a person to one's heart.

10.	a person (used esp. in expressions of praise or affection): dear heart.

11.	a conventional shape with rounded sides meeting in a point at the bottom and curving inward to a cusp at the top.

12.	a red figure or pip of this shape on a playing card.

13.	a card of the suit bearing such figures.

14.

hearts,

a.	(used with a singular or plural verb) the suit so marked: Hearts is trump. Hearts are trump.

b.	(used with a singular verb) a game in which the players try to avoid taking tricks containing this suit.

15.	Botany. the core of a tree; the solid central part without sap or albumen.

16.	good condition for production, growth, etc., as of land or crops.

17.	Also called core. Ropemaking. a strand running through the center of a rope, the other strands being laid around it.

–verb (used with object)

18.

Archaic.

a.	to fix in the heart.

b.	to encourage.

—Idioms

19.	after one's own heart, in keeping with one's taste or preference: There's a man after my own heart!

20.	at heart, in reality; fundamentally; basically: At heart she is a romantic.

21.	break someone's heart, to cause someone great disappointment or sorrow, as to disappoint in love: The news that their son had been arrested broke their hearts.

22.	by heart, by memory; word-for-word: They knew the song by heart.

23.	cross one's heart, to maintain the truth of one's statement; affirm one's integrity: That's exactly what they told me, I cross my heart!

24.	do someone's heart good, to give happiness or pleasure to; delight: It does my heart good to see you again.

25.	eat one's heart out, to have sorrow or longing dominate one's emotions; grieve inconsolably: The children are eating their hearts out over their lost dog.

26.	from the bottom of one's heart, with complete sincerity. Also, from one's heart, from the heart.

27.	have a heart, to be compassionate or merciful: Please have a heart and give her another chance.

28.	have at heart, to have as an object, aim, or desire: to have another's best interests at heart.

29.	have one's heart in one's mouth, to be very anxious or fearful: He wanted to do the courageous thing, but his heart was in his mouth.

30.	have one's heart in the right place, to be fundamentally kind, generous, or well-intentioned: The old gentleman may have a stern manner, but his heart is in the right place.

31.	heart and soul, enthusiastically; fervently; completely: They entered heart and soul into the spirit of the holiday.

32.	in one's heart of hearts, in one's private thoughts or feelings; deep within one: He knew, in his heart of hearts, that the news would be bad.

33.	lose one's heart to, to fall in love with: He lost his heart to the prima ballerina.

34.	near one's heart, of great interest or concern to one: It is a cause that is very near his heart. Also, close to one's heart.

35.	not have the heart, to lack the necessary courage or callousness to do something: No one had the heart to tell him he was through as an actor.

36.	set one's heart against, to be unalterably opposed to: She had set her heart against selling the statue. Also, have one's heart set against.

37.	set one's heart at rest, to dismiss one's anxieties: She couldn't set her heart at rest until she knew he had returned safely.

38.	set one's heart on, to wish for intensely; determine on: She has set her heart on going to Europe after graduation. Also, have one's heart set on.

39.	take heart, to regain one's courage; become heartened: Her son's death was a great blow, but she eventually took heart, convinced that God had willed it.

40.

take or lay to heart,

a.	to think seriously about; concern oneself with: He took to heart his father's advice.

b.	to be deeply affected by; grieve over: She was prone to take criticism too much to heart.

41.	to one's heart's content, until one is satisfied; as much or as long as one wishes: The children played in the snow to their heart's content.

42.

wear one's heart on one's sleeve,

a.	to make one's intimate feelings or personal affairs known to all: She was not the kind who would wear her heart on her sleeve.

b.	to be liable to fall in love; fall in love easily: How lovely to be young and wear our hearts on our sleeves!

43.

with all one's heart,

a.	with earnestness or zeal.

b.	with willingness; cordially: She welcomed the visitors with all her heart.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME herte, OE heorte; c. D hart, G Herz, ON hjarta, Goth hairtō; akin to L cor (see cordial, courage ), Gk kardía (see cardio- )

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Heart River

–noun

a river in SW North Dakota, flowing E to the Missouri River. 180 mi. (290 km) long.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To heart

heart (härt)

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n.

Anatomy
1. The chambered muscular organ in vertebrates that pumps blood received from the veins into the arteries, thereby maintaining the flow of blood through the entire circulatory system.
2. A similarly functioning structure in invertebrates.
3. The vital center and source of one's being, emotions, and sensibilities.
4. The repository of one's deepest and sincerest feelings and beliefs: an appeal from the heart; a subject dear to her heart.
5. The seat of the intellect or imagination: the worst atrocities the human heart could devise.
6. Emotional constitution, basic disposition, or character: a man after my own heart.
7. One's prevailing mood or current inclination: We were light of heart.
8. Capacity for sympathy or generosity; compassion: a leader who seems to have no heart.
9. Love; affection: The child won my heart.
10. Courage; resolution; fortitude: The soldiers lost heart and retreated.
11. The firmness of will or the callousness required to carry out an unpleasant task or responsibility: hadn't the heart to send them away without food.
12. The central or innermost physical part of a place or region: the heart of the financial district. See Synonyms at center.
13. The core of a plant, fruit, or vegetable: hearts of palm.
14. A red, heart-shaped figure on certain playing cards.
15. A playing card with this figure.
16. hearts (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The suit of cards represented by this figure.
17. A card game in which the object is either to avoid hearts when taking tricks or to take all the hearts.
The area that is the approximate location of the heart in the body; the breast.
1. The vital center and source of one's being, emotions, and sensibilities.
2. The repository of one's deepest and sincerest feelings and beliefs: an appeal from the heart; a subject dear to her heart.
3. The seat of the intellect or imagination: the worst atrocities the human heart could devise.
4. Emotional constitution, basic disposition, or character: a man after my own heart.
5. One's prevailing mood or current inclination: We were light of heart.
6. Capacity for sympathy or generosity; compassion: a leader who seems to have no heart.
7. Love; affection: The child won my heart.
8. Courage; resolution; fortitude: The soldiers lost heart and retreated.
9. The firmness of will or the callousness required to carry out an unpleasant task or responsibility: hadn't the heart to send them away without food.
10. The central or innermost physical part of a place or region: the heart of the financial district. See Synonyms at center.
11. The core of a plant, fruit, or vegetable: hearts of palm.
12. A red, heart-shaped figure on certain playing cards.
13. A playing card with this figure.
14. hearts (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The suit of cards represented by this figure.
15. A card game in which the object is either to avoid hearts when taking tricks or to take all the hearts.
1. Emotional constitution, basic disposition, or character: a man after my own heart.
2. One's prevailing mood or current inclination: We were light of heart.
3. Capacity for sympathy or generosity; compassion: a leader who seems to have no heart.
4. Love; affection: The child won my heart.
5. Courage; resolution; fortitude: The soldiers lost heart and retreated.
6. The firmness of will or the callousness required to carry out an unpleasant task or responsibility: hadn't the heart to send them away without food.
7. The central or innermost physical part of a place or region: the heart of the financial district. See Synonyms at center.
8. The core of a plant, fruit, or vegetable: hearts of palm.
9. A red, heart-shaped figure on certain playing cards.
10. A playing card with this figure.
11. hearts (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The suit of cards represented by this figure.
12. A card game in which the object is either to avoid hearts when taking tricks or to take all the hearts.
1. Capacity for sympathy or generosity; compassion: a leader who seems to have no heart.
2. Love; affection: The child won my heart.
3. Courage; resolution; fortitude: The soldiers lost heart and retreated.
4. The firmness of will or the callousness required to carry out an unpleasant task or responsibility: hadn't the heart to send them away without food.
5. The central or innermost physical part of a place or region: the heart of the financial district. See Synonyms at center.
6. The core of a plant, fruit, or vegetable: hearts of palm.
7. A red, heart-shaped figure on certain playing cards.
8. A playing card with this figure.
9. hearts (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The suit of cards represented by this figure.
10. A card game in which the object is either to avoid hearts when taking tricks or to take all the hearts.
1. Courage; resolution; fortitude: The soldiers lost heart and retreated.
2. The firmness of will or the callousness required to carry out an unpleasant task or responsibility: hadn't the heart to send them away without food.
3. The central or innermost physical part of a place or region: the heart of the financial district. See Synonyms at center.
4. The core of a plant, fruit, or vegetable: hearts of palm.
5. A red, heart-shaped figure on certain playing cards.
6. A playing card with this figure.
7. hearts (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The suit of cards represented by this figure.
8. A card game in which the object is either to avoid hearts when taking tricks or to take all the hearts.
A person esteemed or admired as lovable, loyal, or courageous: a dear heart.
1. The central or innermost physical part of a place or region: the heart of the financial district. See Synonyms at center.
2. The core of a plant, fruit, or vegetable: hearts of palm.
3. A red, heart-shaped figure on certain playing cards.
4. A playing card with this figure.
5. hearts (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The suit of cards represented by this figure.
6. A card game in which the object is either to avoid hearts when taking tricks or to take all the hearts.
The most important or essential part: get to the heart of the matter.
A conventional two-lobed representation of the heart, usually colored red or pink.
Games
1. A red, heart-shaped figure on certain playing cards.
2. A playing card with this figure.
3. hearts (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The suit of cards represented by this figure.
4. A card game in which the object is either to avoid hearts when taking tricks or to take all the hearts.

tr.v. heart·ed, heart·ing, hearts Archaic
To encourage; hearten.

[Middle English hert, from Old English heorte; see kerd- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

heart

The hollow muscular organ that is the center of the circulatory system. The heart pumps blood throughout the intricate system of blood vessels in the body.

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Slang Dictionary

heart

tv.
to love someone or something. (Teens.) : She's hearting him more every day.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

heart

O.E. heorte, from P.Gmc. *khertan- (cf. O.S. herta, O.N. hjarta, Du. hart, O.H.G. herza, Ger. Herz, Goth. hairto), from PIE *kerd- "heart" (cf. Gk. kardia, L. cor, O.Ir. cride, Welsh craidd, Hittite kir, Lith. širdis, Rus. serdce "heart," Breton kreiz "middle," O.C.S. sreda "middle"). Spelling with -ea- is c.1500, by analogy of pronunciation with stream, heat, etc., but remained when pronunciation shifted. Most of the figurative senses were present in O.E., including "intellect, memory," now only in by heart. Hearty is c.1380; heart-rending is from 1687. Heartache was in O.E. in the sense of a physical pain, 1602 in sense of "anguish of mind;" heartburn is c.1250. Broken-hearted is attested from 1526. Heart-strings (1483) was originally literal, in old anatomy theory "the tendons and nerves that brace the heart." Heartless (c.1330) originally was used with a meaning "dejected;" sense of "callous, cruel" is not certainly attested before Shelley used it so in 1816. Heartland first recorded 1904 in geo-political writings of H.J. MacKinder.

Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: heart
Pronunciation: 'härt
Function: noun
1 : a hollow muscular organ of vertebrate animals that by its rhythmic contraction acts asa force pump maintaining the circulation of the blood and that in the human adult is about five inches (13 centimeters) long and three and one half inches (9 centimeters) broad, is of conical form, isplaced obliquely in the chest with the broad end upward and to the right and the apex opposite the interval between the cartilages of the fifth and sixth ribs on the left side, is enclosed in a serouspericardium, and consists as in other mammals and in birds of four chambers divided into an upper pair of rather thin-walled atria which receive blood from the veins and a lower pair of thick-walledventricles into which the blood is forced and which in turn pump it into the arteries
2 : a structure in an invertebrate animal functionally analogous to the vertebrate heart

Medical Dictionary

heart (härt)
n.

The chambered, muscular organ in vertebrates that pumps blood received from the veins into the arteries, thereby maintaining the flow of blood through the entire circulatory system.
A similarly functioning structure in invertebrates.

Bible Dictionary

Heart

According to the Bible, the heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. "Heart" and "soul" are often used interchangeably (Deut. 6:5; 26:16; comp. Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33), but this is not generally the case. The heart is the "home of the personal life," and hence a man is designated, according to his heart, wise (1 Kings 3:12, etc.), pure (Ps. 24:4; Matt. 5:8, etc.), upright and righteous (Gen. 20:5, 6; Ps. 11:2; 78:72), pious and good (Luke 8:15), etc. In these and such passages the word "soul" could not be substituted for "heart." The heart is also the seat of the conscience (Rom. 2:15). It is naturally wicked (Gen. 8:21), and hence it contaminates the whole life and character (Matt. 12:34; 15:18; comp. Eccl. 8:11; Ps. 73:7). Hence the heart must be changed, regenerated (Ezek. 36:26; 11:19; Ps. 51:10-14), before a man can willingly obey God. The process of salvation begins in the heart by the believing reception of the testimony of God, while the rejection of that testimony hardens the heart (Ps. 95:8; Prov. 28:14; 2 Chr. 36:13). "Hardness of heart evidences itself by light views of sin; partial acknowledgment and confession of it; pride and conceit; ingratitude; unconcern about the word and ordinances of God; inattention to divine providences; stifling convictions of conscience; shunning reproof; presumption, and general ignorance of divine things."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms & Phrases

heart

In addition to the idioms beginning with heart, also see absence makes the heart grow fonder; after one's own heart; at heart; break someone's heart; by heart; change of heart; cold hands, warm heart; cross my heart; cry one's eyes (heart) out; cut to the quick (heart); do one (one's heart) good; eat one's heart out; find it in one's heart; from the bottom of one's heart; get to the heart of; give someone heart failure; half a heart; harden one's heart; have a heart; have no heart for; heavy heart; in one's heart of hearts; lose heart; lose one's heart to; near to one's heart; not have the heart to; open one's heart; pour out one's heart; set one's heart on; sick at heart; steal someone's heart; steel one's heart against; take heart; take to heart; to one's heart's content; warm heart; warm the cockles of one's heart; wear one's heart on one's sleeve; with all one's heart; young at heart.

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