heave ho

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

ˈheave-ˈho,  n. [countable] , pl. -hos. [Informal.]

1. an act of dismissing or throwing someone out of a place.

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

heave /hiv/   v., heaved or (esp. Nautical) hove/hoʊv/ ;
heav•ing;
 n. 
v. 

1. to raise or lift with effort;
   hoist:
   [~ + object] He heaved her to her feet.
2. to lift and throw with effort:
   [~ + object] to heave a stone through a window.
3. to utter with great effort:
   [~ + object] He heaved a sigh.
4. to (cause to) rise and fall with a swelling motion: [no object]
   His chest was heaving from the effort.
   [~ + object]
   The rough seas heaved the boat about.
5. Nautical, Naval Terms to (cause to) move into a certain position or situation: [no object]
   The boat hove into sight.
   [~ + object]
   The captain hove the boat closer to the lifeboats.
6. Physiology [no object] to vomit;
   throw up.
7. Nautical, Naval Terms to pull on:
   [no object] The sailor heaved on the rope and pulled the box aboard.
8. Nautical, Naval Terms heave to, [no object] (of a ship) to come to a stop.

n. [countable]

9. an act or effort of heaving.
10. Veterinary Diseases the heaves, [plural] an episode of retching or vomiting.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

heave-ho  (hēv′hō′), n. [Informal.]

1. an act of rejection, dismissal, or forcible ejection:
   The bartender gave the noisy drunk the old heave-ho.

• noun, nominal use of phrase heave ho, Middle English havehou, hevelow

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

heave  (hēv), v., heaved or (esp. Naut.) hove;
heav•ing;
 n. 
v.t. 

1. to raise or lift with effort or force;
   hoist:
   to heave a heavy ax.
2. to throw, esp. to lift and throw with effort, force, or violence:
   to heave an anchor overboard; to heave a stone through a window.
3. [Naut.]
   • Naval Terms to move into a certain position or situation:
     to heave a vessel aback.
   • Naval Terms to move in a certain direction:
     Heave the capstan around! Heave up the anchor!
4. to utter laboriously or painfully:
   to heave a sigh.
5. to cause to rise and fall with or as with a swelling motion:
   to heave one's chest.
6. Physiology to vomit;
   throw up:
   He heaved his breakfast before noon.
7. Nautical, Naval Terms to haul or pull on (a rope, cable, line, etc.), as with the hands or a capstan:
   Heave the anchor cable!

v.i. 

8. to rise and fall in rhythmically alternate movements:
   The ship heaved and rolled in the swelling sea.
9. Physiology to breathe with effort;
   pant:
   He sat there heaving and puffing from the effort.
10. Physiology to vomit;
    retch.
11. to rise as if thrust up, as a hill;
    swell or bulge:
    The ground heaved and small fissures appeared for miles around.
12. to pull or haul on a rope, cable, etc.
13. Nautical, Naval Terms to push, as on a capstan bar.
14. [Naut.]
    • Naval Terms to move in a certain direction or into a certain position or situation:
      heave about;
      heave alongside;
      heave in stays.
    • Naval Terms (of a vessel) to rise and fall, as with a heavy beam sea.
15. Nautical, Naval Terms heave down, to careen (a vessel).
16. heave ho (an exclamation used by sailors, as when heaving the anchor up.)
17. Idioms, Naval Terms heave in sight, to rise to view, as from below the horizon:
    The ship hove in sight as dawn began to break.
18. Nautical, Naval Terms heave out:
    • to shake loose (a reef taken in a sail).
    • to loosen (a sail) from its gaskets in order to set it.
19. Naval Terms heave the lead. See lead ² (def. 12).
20. Nautical, Naval Terms heave to:
    • [Naut.] to stop the headway of (a vessel), esp. by bringing the head to the wind and trimming the sails so that they act against one another.
    • to come to a halt.

n. 

21. an act or effort of heaving.
22. a throw, toss, or cast.
23. Geology the horizontal component of the apparent displacement resulting from a fault, measured in a vertical plane perpendicular to the strike.
24. Naval Terms the rise and fall of the waves or swell of a sea.
25. Veterinary Diseases heaves, (used with a sing. v.) Also called broken wind. a disease of horses, similar to asthma in human beings, characterized by difficult breathing.

• bef. 900; Middle English heven, variant (with -v- from pt. and past participle) of hebben, Old English hebban; cognate with German heben, Old Norse hefja, Gothic hafjan; akin to Latin capere to take

heav′er, n. 
heave′less, adj. 
Synonyms

• 1. elevate. See raise. 
• 2. hurl, pitch, fling, cast, sling.
• 11. surge, billow.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

heave-ho sentence_substitute

1. a sailors' cry, as when hoisting anchor