heavy

Having great weight.

Adjective

  1. Having great weight.
    • Can you help me carry this? It's really heavy.
    • Use the scales to measure how heavy it is.
    • 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...

    1. (of a person) Heavyset: overweight.

      • When he was a child he was rather heavy, but today he is impressively fit.
  2. Serious, somber.
    • "We're still in an existential-stakes war with the Pa'anuri, and possibly with our own destructive tendencies." ' "Sorry. That was pretty heavy for someone who just woke up." "Oh, I'm fine. Waking up alive has ALWAYS...
  3. Not easy to bear; burdensome; oppressive.
    • heavy yokes, expenses, undertakings, trials, news, etc.
    • The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 5:6:
    • The king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make. - 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
  4. Good.
    • This film is heavy.
  5. Profound.
    • The Moody Blues are, like, heavy.
  6. 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. Armed.
    • Come heavy, or not at all.
  8. Loud, distorted, or intense.
    • Metal is heavier than rock.
  9. Hot and humid.
  10. Doing the specified activity more intensely than most other people.
    • This car is too heavy on gas.
    • He was a heavy sleeper, a heavy eater and a heavy smoker – certainly not an ideal husband.
    • 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...
  11. With eyelids difficult to keep open due to tiredness.
    • Watch for the signs of fatigue, including yawning, blinking and heavy eyes. - 2021 December 5, The Road Ahead, Brisbane, page 11, column 3:
  12. High in fat or protein; difficult to digest.
    • Cheese-stuffed sausage is too heavy to eat before exercising.

Origin

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 *kap- (“to take, grasp, hold”). Equivalent to heave + -y. Related to have. Cognate with Scots hevy, havy, heavy (“heavy”), Saterland Frisian heeuwich, häwich (“violent, angry”), West Frisian hevich (“violent”), Dutch hevig (“violent, severe, intense, acute”), German Low German hevig (“violent, fierce, intense, angry”), German hebig (compare heftig (“fierce, severe, intense, violent, heavy”)), Icelandic höfugur (“heavy, weighty, important”), Latin capāx (“large, wide, roomy, spacious, capacious, capable, apt”). Compare typologically Russian объёмный (obʺjómnyj), ёмкий (jómkij) (akin to име́ть (imétʹ),...

Forms

heavier heaviest

Synonyms

sweer swear

Antonyms

light

Related

heave heft

Derived

as heavy as a dead donkey heavier-than-air heavily heaviness heavisome heavy-armed heavy artillery heavy as a dead donkey heavy-bearded heavy bomber heavy bread heavy breather heavy breathing heavy-browed heavy cavalry heavy chain heavy chemicals heavy client heavy-coated heavy cream heavy cross to bear heavy cruiser heavy date heavy drinker

Adjective Entry 2

  1. Having the heaves.
    • a heavy horse

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Germanic *habjaną Proto-West Germanic *habbjan Old English hebban Middle English heven English heave English -y English heavy From heave + -y.

Forms

more heavy most heavy

Related

heavy cake

Adverb

  1. In a heavy manner; weightily; heavily; gravely.
    • Heavy-laden with their sins, time hung heavy
  2. To a great degree; greatly.
    • Olive: What was it - booze? Barney: Yeh. Been hitting it pretty heavy. - 1957, Ray Lawler, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Sydney: Fontana Books, published 1974, page 35:
  3. very

Forms

more heavy most heavy

Derived

hang heavy heavy-laden

Noun

  1. 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. 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".
    • 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. - 1985 December 21, Nan Donald, “Flat-picking up a...
  4. A newspaper of the quality press.
    • 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. - 1973, Allen Hutt, The changing...
    • Reviewers in the heavies aim to impress with the depth of their knowledge and appreciation. - 2006, Richard Keeble, The Newspapers Handbook:
  5. A relatively large multi-engined aircraft.
    • I read five heavies, maybe transports or tankers...could be bombers. - 2000, Philip Woods, Shattered Allegiance, page 363:
    • 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.” - 2012, Jon E. Lewis, The Mammoth Book of...
  6. A serious theatrical role.
    • 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. A member of the heavy cavalry.
    • 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. - 1891, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, The Historic Note-book: With an...

Forms

heavies heavys

Derived

brain heavy dog heavy

Verb

  1. To make heavier.
    • They piled their goods on the donkey's back, heavying up an already backbreaking load.
  2. To sadden.
  3. 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.
    • […]the Prime Minister sought to evade the simple fact that he heavied Mr Reid to get rid of Dr Armstrong. - 1985, Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives Weekly Hansard, Issue 11, Part 1, page 1570:
    • 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.

Forms

heavies heavying heavied