heart, n.

(hA;t)  Forms: 13 heorte, 36 herte, 46 harte, 47 hert, hart, 6 heart. (Also 1 north. hearta, 23 horte, hierte, 3 Orm. heorrte, herrte, 34 s.w. hurte, 4 huerte, ert, 46 hertte, hartt, herth, 6 hearte, 67 Sc. hairt).  [Com. Teut.: OE. heorte (Northumb. hearta) = OFris. herte, hirte, OS. herta (MLG. herte, MDu. hert(e, hart(e, Du. hart), OHG. herza (MHG. herze, Ger. herz), ON. hjarta (Sw. hjerta, Da. hjerte), Goth. hairtô:OTeut. *herton-; orig. a weak neuter, which became in OE. and OFris. a weak fem., in MLG. and MDu. fem. or neuter. Radically related to L. cor, cord-, Gr. jaqd-¬a, jqad-¬a (also jžq from jgqd-); OIr. cride, Lith. szird-ìs, OSlav. srVdV-tse, srEdV-tse (Russ. serd-tse, Boh. srd-ce) heart; root kerd-, k>d-.]    
   General arrangement. I. The simple word. *The bodily organ, its function, etc., 14. **As the seat of feeling, etc., 513. ***Put for the person, 1416. ****Something having a central position, 1719. *****The vital part or principle, 2022. ******Something of the shape of a heart, 2330. II. Phrases. *With governing preposition, 3139. **With verb and preposition, 4044. ***With governing verb, 4549. ****With another noun, 5052. *****In exclamations, 53. ******Proverbial phrases, 54. III. Attributive uses and Combinations, 5556.


   I. The simple word.


   * The bodily organ, its function, region, etc.


   1. a. The hollow muscular or otherwise contractile organ which, by its dilatation and contraction, keeps up the circulation of the blood in the vascular system of an animal.

   c1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 42 Gif þin heorte ace.  c1175 Lamb. Hom. 121 He wes+mid speres orde to þere heorte istungen.  a1300 K. Horn 872 He smot him þureŠ þe herte.  1382 Wyclif 2 Kings ix. 24 The arewe is sent out thoruŠ his hert.  c1440 Promp. Parv. 237/2 Hert, ynwarde parte of a beste.  1483 Cath. Angl. 177/1 A Harte, cor, cordialis, corculum.  1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 183 [He] stacke the erle to ye hart with his dagger.  154877 Vicary Anat. vii. (1888) 56 The Hart+is the principal of al other members, and the beginning of life.  1607 Shakes. Cor. i. i. 140, I send it through the Riuers of your blood Euen to the Court, the Heart.  1615 Crooke Body of Man 357 The vse of this Mediastinum or bound-hedge is first to hold the hart vp suspended.  1664 Power Exp. Philos. 58 Perfect Animals have an incessant motion of their Heart, and Circulation of their Bloud.  1812 Morn. Chron. in Examiner 25 May 336/2 After the body of Bellingham was opened, it was noticed that his heart continued to perform its functions+for four hours.  184171 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 556 A heart is present in all the Brachiopoda.  1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. i. 4 The Heart+is rhythmically contractible and propulsive.  1887 H. S. Cunningham Cœruleans I. 145 Camilla's heart went pit-a-pat.  1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 297, I saw a sight that made my heart stand still.  a1822 Shelley Ode to Heaven 44 Drops which Nature's mighty heart Drives through thinnest veins.  1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 140 Tho' the deep heart of existence beat for ever like a boy's.  1866 Longfellow Killed at Ford i, The heart of honor, the tongue of truth.  

1897
1887
1872
1866
1842
1664 184171
1382 1483 154877 1615 a1822
c1000 c1175 a1300 c1440 1548 1607 1812


   b. right (left) heart, the right (or left) side of the heart.

   1886 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Nov. 722 Those who suffer from chronic rheumatism have often weak right hearts.  

1886


   c. A diseased or disordered heart: often with defining word; as athletic heart, simple hypertrophy of the heart with no disease of the valves; fatty heart (see fatty a. 5); smoker's heart, a disordered condition of the heart due to excessive tobacco-smoking.

   1862 W. H. Walshe Pract. Treat. Dis. Heart (ed. 3) ii. 320 Patients+often express themselves, they have a heart, (the mildest form of cardiac paræsthesia).  1871 Da Costa in Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. LXI. 17, I noticed cases of a peculiar form of functional disorder of the heart, to which I gave the name of irritable heart.  1886 Fagge & Pye-Smith Princ. Med. II. 41 Rather more than a century ago Haller described the hairy heart as occurring especially in bold and adventurous men.  1888 Science (N.Y.) 9 Nov. 223/2 The frequent existence of what is known as smoker's heart in men whose health is in no other respect disturbed.  1902 Daily Chron. 3 Nov. 8/4 [He] has been forbidden to row again+owing to his having developed a heart.  1908 Westm. Gaz. 29 Oct. 14/1 [He] failed to qualify before the Medical Board of the police on the ground that he had an athletic heart.  1929 E. Bowen Joining Charles 125 Cottesby the cow-herd, a greyish-faced man, had a heart.  1965 W. Haggard Hard Sell i. 4 He's got a heart, by the way, and I'm afraid this might finish him.  1971 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) VI. 6 Slow down or you'll give me a heart.  

1971
1888 1965
1886 1929
1871 1908
1862 1902


   2. Considered as the centre of vital functions: the seat of life; the vital part or principle; hence in some phrases = life. Obs. or arch.

   c825 Vesp. Psalter xxi[i]. 27 Her¼að dryhten ða soecað hine leofað heorte heara in weoruld weorulde.  a1325 Prose Psalter ciii[i]. 15 And wyn glade mannes hert.  1382 Wyclif Ps. ci[i]. 5, I am smyten as heiŠ, and myn herte driede.  1382 I Gen. xviii. 5, I shal sett a morsel of breed, and Šoure herte be coumfortid.  1535 Coverdale Ibid., A morsell of bred, to comforte youre hertes withall.  1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 213 Commaundyng, upon pein of the harte, that no man should once passe the sea with hym.  c1601 Sir C. Hatton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 2 Beecause hee hath nothinge deerer then his harte.  1611 Bible Ps. civ. 15 Bread which strengtheneth man's heart.  a1618 Raleigh Lett. (1651) 109 That the King (though I were not pardoned) had granted my heart under the Great Seal.  1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 97 Desiring no more than to go off Heart in Hand from this Place to the Southward.  [1871 Speaker's Comment. Gen. xviii. 5 The heart considered as the centre of vital functions, is put by the Hebrews for the life itself. To support the heart therefore is to refresh the whole vital powers and functions.]  

1382 a1618
1382 1548 1611
c825 a1325 1535 c1601 1743 [1871]


   3. transf.  a. The region of the heart; breast, bosom.

   c1450 Holland Howlat 477 He+it hyng About his hals full hende, and on his awne hart.  1535 Coverd. Exod. xxviii. 29 Thus shall Aaron beare the names in ye brestlappe of iudgment vpon his hert.  1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 26 He+ever held his hand upon his hart.  1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. v. 192 Lay hand on heart, aduise.  1611 Bible Exod. xxviii. 30 The Urim and the Thummim+shall bee vpon Aarons heart, when he goeth in before the Lord.  1717 Pope Eloïsa 123 Let me+Pant on thy lip, and to thy heart be press'd.  1887 H. S. Cunningham Cœruleans II. 226 He pressed her to his heart.  

1592
1590
c1450 1535 1611 1717 1887


   b. Hence in fig. expressions.

   1886 Dowden Shelley I. vi. 280 Godwin+had indeed taken the young disciple to his heart.  1887 Edna Lyall Knt.-Errant xviii. 162 He hugged his old conviction to his heart.  

1887
1886


   4. The stomach. Obs. or dial. Chiefly in phr. next the heart: on an empty stomach, fasting (obs. or dial.). Cf. Fr. avoir mal au cœur: to be sick (bilious).

   1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. (1877) 359 (D.) A newe founde diete, to drink wine in the morning nexte the harte.  1589 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 189, I have knowne some maidens to drinke vinegar next their heart to abate their colour.  1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal vi. 637 (D.) The Romans held it ominous to see a Blackamoore next their hearts in a morning.  1674 R. Godfrey Inj. & Ab. Physic 116 So much is it the mode still to call the Stomach the Heart, that people frequently say their Hearts were at their Mouths, when on a sudden fright or surprisal their Stomach's have been mov'd.  a1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Heart, the stomach. A pain at the heart means the stomach-ache.  

1589 1674
1542 1647 a1825


   ** As the seat of feeling, understanding, and thought.


   5. a. = mind, in the widest sense, including the functions of feeling, volition, and intellect.

   c825 Vesp. Psalter lxxx. 13 [lxxxi. 12] Ne forleort hie efter lustum heortan heara.  c1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke ii. 51 His modor ¼eheold ealle þas word, on hyre heortan smea¼ende.  c1175 Lamb. Hom. 25 He seið mið þa muðe þet nis naut in his heorte.  a1225 Leg. Kath. 2142 Do nu þenne hihendliche þat tu hauest on heorte.  1390 Gower Conf. II. 225 His hert and tunge must accorde.  1558 Knox First Blast (Arb.) 36 A principle+depelie printed in the hart of man.  1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. i. 257 His Heart's his Mouth; What his Brest forges, that his Tongue must vent.  1611 Bible 1 Kings viii. 18 Thou diddest well that it was in thine heart.  1635 Sanderson Serm. II. 306 The heart+is+very often in Scripture+taken more largely, so as to comprehend the whole soul, in all its faculties, as well the apprehensive as the appetitive; and consequently taketh in the thoughts, as well as the desires, of the soul.  1729 Butler Serm., Love Neighbour Wks. 1874 II. 159 The whole system, as I may speak, of affections (including rationality), which constitute the heart, as this word is used in Scripture and on moral subjects.  1886 H. Conway Living or Dead II. ix. 180 Capable of any villainy that the heart of man could devise.  

1635
c1000 1611
c825 c1175 a1225 1390 1558 1607 1729 1886


   b. In this relation spoken of as having ears, eyes, etc., meaning those faculties of the mind, understanding, or emotional nature, that have some analogy to these bodily organs. Cf. heart of heart(s.

   c1025 Rule St. Benet (Logeman) 1 Ahyld eare heortan þinre.  c1200 Ormin 3899 Wiþþ innwarrd heorrtess tunge.  c1230 Hali Meid. 3 Opene to vnderstonde þe ehne of þin heorte.  c1400 Apol. Loll. 36 Wiþ þe eeris and een of his hert, he schuld vnderstond hem.  1604 Act 1 Jas. I, c. 1 Vpon the knees of our hearts to agnize our most constant faith, obedience and loyaltie to your Maiestie.  1620 Sir T. Matthews tr. St. Augustine's Confess. i. v, Behould the eares of my hart, are set before thee; open thou them, O Lord.  17358 Bolingbroke On Parties 13 The Parliament acknowledged, on the Knees of their Hearts (such was the Cant of the Age) the indubitable Right, by which+the Crown descended to Him.  

c1230 1620
c1025 c1200 c1400 1604 17358


   6. a. The seat of one's inmost thoughts and secret feelings; one's inmost being; the depths of the soul; the soul, the spirit.

   c1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xii. 34 Soþlice of þære heortan willan se muþ spicþ.  a1300 Cursor M. 43 Vr dedis fro vr hert tas rote.  1382 Wyclif Matt. xii. 34 Sothely the mouth spekith of the grete plente of the herte.  1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 162, I sall a ragment reveil fra [the] rute of my hert.  15489 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer Communion, Vnto whom all hartes bee open.  1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Contre son cueur, dissemblingly, or against his heart.  1611 Bible Judg. v. 16 For the diuisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.  16278 Feltham Resolves (1636) 366 Rather than have poured out his heart with such indiscretion.  1794 Mann in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 440 Excuse my laying my heart open to you and exposing my feelings as they are.  1886 Baring-Gould Crt. Royal xviii. I. 283, I like you to speak out of your heart freshly what you think.  

1580
1382 15489 16278
c1000 a1300 1508 1611 1794 1886


   b. double heart, two hearts: phrases indicating duplicity or insincerity; see double a. 5, and cf. 51b.

   1382 Wyclif 1 Chron. xii. 33 Fyfty thousand camen in to help, not in double hert.  1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. Ep. to Rdr. 4 Men of two harts, or of a double heart.  1611 [see 51b].  

1382 1594 1611


   7. Intent, will, purpose, inclination, desire. Obs. exc. in phr. after one's own heart.

   c825 Vesp. Psalter xix. (xx.) 4 Selle ðe dryhten efter heortan ðinre.  c1175 Lamb. Hom. 3 Heo urnen on-Šein him+mid godere heorte and summe mid ufele þeonke.  c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 10/330 Muche aŠein heore heorte it was.  1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 437 He hadde þe money aŠenst herte.  c1470 Henry Wallace i. 386 Waith suld be delt, in all place, with fre hart.  c1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 47 Now have I told yow my hart.  1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xiii. 14 The Lorde hath soughte him out a man after his owne hert.  1568 Grafton Chron. II. 200 Mawgre the heart and minde of all his Barons.  1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xv. v. (1886) 330 They+may be forced to yeeld in spight of their harts.  1883 M. W. Hungerford Rossmoyne I. vi. 120, I am going to give you a mission after your own heart.  

1584
c1485 1568
c825 c1175 c1290 1387 c1470 1535 1883


   8. Disposition, temperament, character. Obs.

   a1225 Ancr. R. 384 Auh swote and schir heorte is god to alle þinges.  1307 Elegy Edw. 1, i, Alle that beoth of huerte trewe.  1402 Hoccleve Let. of Cupid 36 Fful herd yt is to know a manys hert.  c1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 205 They had the herte so fell that they wolde take none amendes.  1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII, 40 To whom at the fyrst he shewed his good hart.  1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 324 In faith Lady you haue a merry heart.  1603 I Meas. for M. v. i. 389 Not changing heart with habit.  1611 Bible Ecclus. iii. 27 An obstinate heart shall be laden with sorrowes.  

c1489 1599 1611
a1225 1307 1402 1548 1603


   9. a. The seat of the emotions generally; the emotional nature, as distinguished from the intellectual nature placed in the head.
   In earlier use often referring to the physical organ; in later mostly fig.

   Beowulf (Z.) 2463 Heortan sor¼e.  c1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 317 Him mæ¼ beon þe glædre his heorte.  c1275 Passion Our Lord 6 in O.E. Misc. 37 Heore heorten weren so colde.  c1350 Leg. Rood (1871) 88 Vp he rase with hert ful light.  1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. iii. (1859) 4 The syght+gladyd moche my harte.  1548 Latimer Ploughers (Arb.) 20 Breakynge their stonie hertes.  1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 64 Tell me where is fancie bred, Or in the heart, or in the head.  c1600 I Sonn. xlvi. 1 Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war How to divide the conquest of thy sight.  a1700 Dryden tr. Ovid's Art Love i. Wks. 1808 XII. 252 Tears will pierce a heart of adamant.  1735 Pope Ep. Lady 250 To raise the Thought, and touch the Heart be thine!  1784 Cowper Tiroc. 897 One comfort yet shall cheer thine aged heart.  1824 Scott St. Ronan's xvi, With zeal honourable to his heart and head.  1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. l. 71 Her heart was too full to speak.  1884 Ouida P'cess Napraxine vi. (1886) 67 In her it was a thirst of the mind, in him it was a hunger of the heart.  1886 H. Conway Living or Dead II. ix. 193 If the man had a soft place in his heart I felt sure I was finding it.  

1886
1784 1884
1596 1735 1867
c1050 c1275 c1350 1413 1548 c1600 a1700 1824


   b. The feeling or sentiment which one has in regard to a thing. Obs.

   1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. ii. 141 If I could bid the fift welcome with so good heart as I can bid the other foure farewell, I should be glad of his approach.  1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 356 Above others, his heart was greatest against the Hungarians.  

1596 1603


   10. a. More particularly, The seat of love or affection, as in many fig. phrases: to give, lose one's heart (to), to have, obtain, gain a person's heart. Hence = Affection, love, devotion. near, nearest, one's heart, close or closest to one's affection.

   c1175 Lamb. Hom. 5 We sulen habben ure heorte and habben godne ileafe to ure drihten.  1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 24 Kyng Locryne's herte was al clene vp hire y went+[He] thoŠte hire to spouse, so ys herte to hire droŠ.  c1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 253 Sir Edward+His herte gaf tille dame Blanche, if hir wille wer þerto.  1382 Wyclif Prov. xxiii. 26 Gif, sone myn, thin herte to me.  c1450 Merlin 24 So hadde Vortiger the hertys of the peple.  1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 40 Thrise happy man+Possessed of his Ladies hart and hand.  1610 Shakes. Temp. iii. i. 65 The verie instant that I saw you, did My heart flie to your seruice.  1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer ii. i. (1735) 43, I have an Ambition+of losing my Heart before such a fair Enemy.  1711 Addison Spect. No. 18 34 The Lover+gained the Heart of his Princess.  1884 Edna Lyall We Two xxv, Lady Caroline will quite lose her heart to you.  1886 Baring-Gould Crt. Royal xxxiii. II. 195 In matters of the heart+I am confused.  1887 Edna Lyall Knt.-Errant ix. 69 She+won all hearts.  1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men I. Pref. 28 Important for the cause which was nearest to his heart.  

1888
1887
1382 1676 1886
c1175 1297 c1330 c1450 1590 1610 1711 1884


   b. Kindly feeling; cordiality, heartiness. rare.

   a1656 Bp. Hall Life in Sat. (1824) p. lv, His welcome to Waltham could not but want much of his heart without me.  1827 Scott Jrnl. 7 Mar., I must say, too, there was a heart,a kindly feeling prevailed over the party.  

a1656 1827


   c. Susceptibility to the higher emotions; sensibility or tenderness for others; feeling. (Often qualified by indef. article or no.)

   1735 Pope Ep. Lady 159 With ev'ry pleasing, ev'ry prudent part, Say, what can Chloe want?She wants a Heart.  1839 C. L. H. Papendiek Crt. Time Q. Charlotte (1887) II. 55 A total want of heart or filial affection.  a1845 Hood Lady's Dream xvi, But evil is wrought by want of Thought, As well as want of Heart!  1847 Tennyson Princ. vi. 218 Our Ida has a heart.  1886 Mrs. Alexander By Woman's Wit II. viii. 266 Which would have been pain and humiliation to a woman of real heart and delicacy.  

1886
1847
a1845
1735 1839


   d. to have a heart (colloq.), to be merciful. Freq. in imp.: come off it, be reasonable, show some pity!

   1917 Wodehouse & Bolton (play title) Have a heart.  1928 Observer 1 Jan. 4 We only sigh for old delights, and in homely phrase beseech him+to have a heart.  1936 P. Bottome Level Crossing xviii. 225 Have a heart! Nelly told her crossly.  1950 W. Stevens Let. 28 June (1967) 683 If you use the things+I shall have to go out and drown myself.+ Have a heart.  1967 J. B. Priestley It's Old Country xix. 209 You haven't made any plans for him, have you? How could I?+ Have a heart!  1970 New Yorker 12 Sept. 50/3 Spare us a reefer, beautiful. Have a heart.  

1970
1967
1950
1936
1928
1917


   11. a. The seat of courage; hence, Courage, spirit. Especially in to pluck up, gather, keep (up), lose heart. See also 48, 49, to have the heart, take h.

   c825 Vesp. Psalter cxi[i]. 8 Getrymed is heorte his.  a1000 Cædmon's Gen. 2348 (Gr.) Heortan strange.  c1250 Gen. & Ex. 3253 On and on kin, als herte hem cam, ðat folc ilc in his weiŠe nam.  1375 Barbour Bruce i. 28 King Robert+That hardy wes off hart and hand.  1390 Gower Conf. II. 12 He hath the sore, which no man heleth, The whiche is cleped lacke of herte.  a140050 Alexander 470 Nay, quod þe comly kyng cache vp þine hert.  1450 W. Somner in Four C. Eng. Lett. 4 Thanne his herte faylyd him.  1481 Caxton Godfrey cxlix. 221 They ran on them with grete herte, and slewe them som of them.  1530 Palsgr. 661/2 Plucke up thy herte, man, thou shalte be set at large to morowe.  1596 Spenser State Irel. (Globe) 659 To give harte and encouradgement to all such bold rebells.  1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. iii. 212 Why, had your Bodyes No heart among you?  a1700 Dryden Hector & Androm. 48 Thy dauntless heart+will urge thee to thy fate.  1776 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 107 You have, however, heart to the last.  1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) I. x. 435 The Germans lost heart.  1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. (1877) 247 Now, good-by+and keep a good heart.  1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. v. 376 Æthelred seems to have plucked up a little heart.  1885 Sat. Rev. 24 Jan. 103/2 Its younger members, if brainless, are not without heart and pluck.  1886 F. L. Shaw Col. Cheswick's Camp. II. i. 14 You put heart into me again.  

1886
1885
1481 1867
a1000 1390 1450 1596 1776 1863
c825 c1250 1375 a140050 1530 1607 a1700 1850


   b. The source of ardour, enthusiasm, or energy. So to have one's heart in, put one's h. into (a thing).

   1780 F. Burney Lett. 22 Jan., I have so little heart in the affair, that I have now again quite dropped it.  1853 Lytton My Novel i. xii, His whole heart was in the game.  1886 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Paston Carew I. x. 181 A man who puts his heart into all he does.  

1886
1780 1853


   12. The seat of the mental or intellectual faculties. Often = understanding, intellect, mind, and (less commonly) memory. arch. exc. in phrase by heart: see 32.

   c950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xii. 40 Ofblindade e¼o hiora & onstiðade hiora hearta þæte ne ¼eseað mið e¼um & ongeattað mið hearta.  c1175 Lamb. Hom. 121 Þe deofel ablende heore heortan þet heo ne cunnan icnawen ure helend.  a1200 Moral Ode 285 Ne mai non heorte it þenche, ne no tunge ne can telle.  c1300 Beket 1199 His hurte him Šaf that hit was he.  1415 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 85/1 As free mak I the, as hert may thynk, or eygh may see.  1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 50 And me they found+Whose harmelesse hart, perceivde not their deceipt.  1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 121 Would heart of man once think it?  1611 Bible Hosea vii. 11 Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart [1885 R.V. understanding].  I Luke xxiv. 25 O fooles, and slow of heart to beleeue all that the Prophets haue spoken.  

1611
c950 c1175 a1200 c1300 1415 1576 1602


   13. The moral sense, conscience. Now only in phrase my (his, etc.) heart smote me (him, etc.).

   1382 Wyclif 2 Sam. xxiv. 10 Forsothe the herte of Dauid smoot hym, aftir that the puple is noumbred.  1382 I 1 John iii. 20 For if oure herte shal reproue us, God is more than oure herte.  a1699 A. Halkett Autobiog. (1875) 3 That my owne Hart cannott challenge mee.  

1382
1382 a1699


   *** Put for the person.


   14. a. Used as a term of endearment, often qualified by dear, sweet (see sweetheart), etc.; chiefly in addressing a person.

   c1305 St. Kenelm 142 in E.E.P. (1862) 51 Allas, heo seide+Þat mie child, mie swete hurte, scholde such þing bitide.  c1350 Will. Palerne 1649 Whi so, mi dere hert?  Ibid. 1655 Mi hony, mi hert, al hol þou me makest.  c1374 Chaucer Compl. Mars 138 Alas whan shall I mete yow, herte dere?  c1440 Partonope 792 As ye byn hir hert swete.  1494 Will of Combe (Somerset Ho.), My last derest hart & lady.  c1500 Melusine xlv. 318 Adieu, myn herte, & al my joye.  a1553 Udall Royster D. i. iii. (Arb.) 25 Howe dothe sweete Custance, my heart of gold, tell me how?  1676 Beale Pocket-bk. in H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 139 My dear heart and self and son Charles saw at Mr. Walton's the lady Carnarvon's picture.  1677 Epist. to Yng. Maidens, Sweet Hearts+I have+composed this little Book, as a Rich Storehouse for you.  1719 Hamilton Ep. to Ramsay 24 July x, Do not mistake me, dearest heart.  1855 Tennyson Maud i. xviii. viii, Dear heart, I feel with thee the drowsy spell.  

c1374
c1350 1494 a1553 1677
c1305 c1440 c1500 1676 1719 1855


   b. dear heart: a boon companion. Obs.

   1663 Dryden Wild Gallant i. i, He's one of your Dear Hearts, a debauchee.  Ibid. ii. i, That you were one of the errantest Cowards in Christendom, though you went for one of the dear Hearts.  

1663


   15. a. As a term of appreciation or commendation: Man of courage or spirit. Often in nautical language: cf. hearty C. 2.

   c1500 Melusine xxi. 141 Whan the noble hertes herde hym saye thoo wordes they held it to grete wysedome of hym.  1600 Nashe Summer's Last Will Wks. (18834) VI. 104 What cheere, what cheere, my hearts?  1610 Shakes. Temp. i. i. 6 Heigh my hearts, cheerely, cheerely my harts.  1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xiii. 61 Courage my hearts for a fresh charge.  1684 Meriton Praise Yorksh. Ale (1697) 14 Come here my Hearts, Said he.  1780 Cowper Table T. 23 History+Tells of a few stout hearts that fought and died.  a1845 Hood Storm iv, Come, my hearts, be stout and bold.  1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. vii, They were all true English hearts; and they came to their end like good knights-errant.  

1684
1627
1610 1863
c1500 1600 1780 a1845


   b. Hearts of Steel: the name of an agrarian organization formed by the Protestant tenants in Ulster in 1770.

   1772 Petition in Froude Irel. 18th C. v. ii. (1881) II. 133 It is not wanton folly that prompts us to be Hearts of Steel, but the weight of oppression.  1780 A. Young Tour Irel. I. 217 The hearts of steel lasted 3 years; began in 1770 against rents and tythes.  1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 468 The insurgent banditti of Tories, Hearts of Steel, Peep-o'day Boys, White Boys, etc.  1882 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. IV. 393 In the North the disturbances of the Hearts of Steel had just broken out.  

1780 1882
1772 1807


   16. As a term of compassion: poor heart! (cf. poor soul, poor body). Obs.

   1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. i. 123 A poore heart, hee is so shak'd of a burning quotidian Tertian.  1668 Pepys Diary 27 Dec., My wife and I fell out a little+she cried, poor heart! which I was troubled for.  1682 Bunyan Holy War (Cassell) 91 Wherefore the town of Mansoul (poor hearts!) understood him not.  1749 Fielding Tom Jones xi. ii, The poor little heart looked so piteous, when she sat down.  

1682
1599 1668 1749


   **** Something having a central position.


   17. a. The innermost or central part of anything; the centre, middle.

   a1310 in Wright Lyric P. viii. 31 That ys in heovene hert in-hyde.  a1325 Prose Psalter xlv[i]. 2 Þe mounteins shul be born in-to þe hert of þe see.  1530 Palsgr. 34 The herte of Fraunce.  1581 Mulcaster Positions xl. (1887) 228 In the hart of a great towne.  1658 Cokaine To W. Dugdale Poems 112 Our Warwick-shire the Heart of England is.  1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 71 A bore through the heart or centre of the earth.  1722 De Foe Plague (1884) 30 The Heart of the City.  1855 C. Brontë Villette vi. 44, I got into the heart of city life.  1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Europe v, We soon found ourselves in the very heart of the glacier.  

a1325 1581 1674 1871
a1310 1530 1658 1722 1855


   b. The part of any time or season when its character becomes most intense (usually the middle part); the height, depth.

   1764 Mem. G. Psalmanazar 168 To send me away in the heart of a severe winter.  1844 Disraeli Coningsby viii. i, It was the heart of the London season.  

1764 1844


   18. esp. A central part of distinct conformation or character, as  a. The pith of wood, the white tender part of a cabbage or the like, the core of an apple, etc., the receptacle or other central part of a flower;  b. The central strand of a hawser-laid rope, round which the other strands are twisted;  c. The central solid portion or core of a twisted column (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875).

   1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. lxi. 402 The Roote+hauing in the middle a little white, the whiche men call the Harte of Osmunde.  1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 102 A goodly apple rotten at the heart.  1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 715 The heart or pith of a tree, medulla.  1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 45 A Flower is compos'd of+the Cup+the Leaves, and the Heart.  1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 155/2 Ropes formed in the most common manner, with three strands, do not require a heart, or central strand.  1866 Treas. Bot. 166/1 Cabbage+eaten in a young state+before the heart has become firm and hard.  Ibid. 166/2 The heart, or middle part of the plant [Large-ribbed Cabbage] has+been found very delicate.  1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. x. (ed. 2) 360 Shroud-laid rope, 4 strands and a heart.  

1875
1596 1866
1578 1681 1707 1841


   19. a. spec. The solid central part of a tree without sap or alburnum. Cf. heartwood.

   c1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) ix. 35 Treesse+failed in þaire hertes and become holle within.  1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §126 Get the stakes of the hert of oke.  1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 103 The Elme+(as it is all hart) it maketh good tymber.  1659 Willsford Scales Comm., Archit. 16, 3 kinds, viz. heart of Oak, sap and Deal lath.  1760 New Song in Universal Mag. Mar. 152 Heart of oak are our ships, heart of oak are our men.  

1577
c1400 1523 1659 1760


   b. Hence fig. heart of oak: a stout, courageous spirit; a man of courage or valour; a man of sterling quality, capable of resistance or endurance. (Cf. F. cœur d'or; also sense 15.) Also attrib.

   1609 Old Meg of Herefordsh. (N.), Yonkers that have hearts of oake at fourescore yeares.  1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 221 He was+a heart of oke, and a pillar of the Land.  1760 [see 19].   1832 Tennyson Buonaparte 1 He thought to quell the stubborn hearts of oak.  1870 Dickens E. Drood xii, A nation of hearts of oak.  1895 Q. Rev. Oct. 320 Thrashers, Whiteboys, Heart-of-Oak-boys+and other off~spring of agrarian and political discontent.  

1895
1691 1870
1609 1760 1832


   ***** The vital part or principle.


   20. The vital, essential, or efficacious part; essence. (Often combined with other notions.)

   c1533 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 237 God looketh not to the work of praying, but to the heart of the prayer.  1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 233 Now (Sir John) here is the heart of my purpose.  1653 Baxter Meth. Peace Consc. 44 The Heart of saving faith is this Acceptance of Christ.  1840 Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile Poems 1844 I. 52 And from the top of sense, looked over sense, To the significance and heart of things.  1871 Darwin Life & Lett. (1887) III. 147 Mr. Huxley's unrivalled power in tearing the heart out of a book.  1889 Jessopp Coming of Friars iii. 122 The church of a monastery was the heart of the place.  

1889
1598 1871
c1533 1653 1840


   21. a. Of land, etc.: Strength, fertility; capacity to produce or effect what is required of it; proof (of grass, etc.). in (good, strong, etc.) heart: in prime condition. out of heart: in poor condition, unproductive.

   1573 Tusser Husb. xix. (1878) 49 Land out of hart, Makes thistles a number foorthwith to vpstart.  1594 Plat Jewell-ho. i. 59 A fruitfull molde, and such as giueth hart vnto the earth.  1620 Markham Farew. Husb. ii. xi. (1668) 49 This+shall maintain and keep the earth in good heart.  1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 139 To Till it forth of heart is just as if you work an Ox off his legs.  1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 108 That the spent Earth may gather heart again.  1704 Swift Batt. Bks. Misc. (1711) 231 Their Horses large, but extreamely out of Case and Heart.  172751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Hops, If the hops be in good heart, manuring and pruning is most adviseable.  1805 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. I. 263 The soil being kept in heart, or rich+by superior agriculture.  1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 212 The produce of upland hay varies according to the season, the heart, and condition, the land may be in.  1856 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XVII. ii. 528 Such grass affords, as the farmers say, no heartno proof in it.  1895 W. Rye Ibid. Mar. 5 In 1787 the heart of the land was so improved that Coke began to sow wheat.  

1895
1697 1856
1594 1649 172751 1807
1573 1620 1704 1805


   b. Hence, generally, in heart: in good or sound condition.

   1626 Bacon Sylva §305 The Lees+keepe the Drinke in Heart, and make it lasting.  1703 Art & Myst. Vintners 11 The Lee, tho' it makes the Liquor turbid, doth yet keep the Wine in heart.  

1626 1703


   22. The best, choicest, or most important part.

   1589 Cogan Haven Health cxcv. (1636) 179 Creame+is indeed the very head or heart of Milke.  1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 528 To deliver into his power the castle with the heart of the citizens.  

1589 1603


   ****** Something of the shape of a heart.


   23. A figure or representation of the human heart; esp. a conventionalized symmetrical figure formed of two similar curves meeting in a point at one end and a cusp at the other. Also, an object, as a jewel or ornament, in the shape of a heart.

   1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 35 The seid broche herte of gold to be hange, naylyd, and festnyd vpon the shryne.  1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 107, I tooke a costly Iewell from my necke, A Hart it was bound in with Diamonds.  1720 Mrs. Manley Power of Love i. (1741) 20 The Justs ended with his receiving a Heart of Diamonds from the Dutchess.  1766 Porny Heraldry (1787) 150 A Man's Heart Gules, within two equilateral triangles braced Sable.  182840 Berry Encycl. Her., Hearts are+met with in coat-armour, borne in several ways.  1834 L. Ritchie Wand. by Seine 104 At the foot of the tomb was another heart in white marble.  

1766 1834
1463 1593 1720 182840


   24. a. A playing card bearing one or more conventionalized figures of a heart; one of the suit marked with such figures; pl. the suit of such cards.

   1529 Latimer 1st Serm. on Card (1886) 27 Now turn up your trump, your heart (hearts is trump, as I said before), and cast your trump, your heart, on this card.  1599 Hist. Pope Joan Ajb in Singer Hist. Cards 259 Like the ace of hearts at Mawe.  1648 Herrick Hesper., Oberon's Palace (1869) 177 With peeps of hearts, of club and spade.  171214 Pope Rape Lock iii. 79 Clubs, diamonds, hearts, in wild disorder seen.  Mod. I couldn't follow suit; I hadn't got a heart.  

1599
1529 1648 171214


   b. Hearts, a card-game for three or four players, similar in principle to whist but without partners or a trump suit: the object of the game is to avoid taking a trick containing a Heart or the Queen of Spades.

   1886 The Major (title) The game of hearts. Rules of the game. How to play hearts.  1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 361/1 Invitation Cards.+ At Home, Progressive Hearts I o'clock. R.S.V.P.  1930 W. S. Maugham Writer's Notebk. (1949) 231 In the evening the guests collect and play hearts for infinitesimal sums.  1943 C. Dickson She died a Lady viii. 67 You don't call playing bridge or hearts on Saturday night a very Bohemian sort of life, do you?  1946 A. Christie Hollow viii. 75 Do you think Hearts or Bridge or Rummy?  1959 J. D. Salinger in New Yorker 6 June 101 At all card games, without exceptionGo Fish, poker, cassino, hearts, old maid+he was absolutely intolerable.  

1959
1946
1943
1930
1886 1907


   25. The sole of a horse's foot. Obs.

   1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §100 Morfounde+appereth vnder the houe in the hert of the fote.  1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 210 He has got a Prick thro' the Sole or Heart of the Foot (as it is called).  

1523 1737


   26. Naut. A triangular wooden block pierced with one large hole through which a lanyard is reeved, used for extending the stays; a kind of dead-eye.

   1769 Falconer Dict. Marine, Heart, a peculiar sort of dead-eye, somewhat resembling the shape of a heart+only furnished with one large hole in the middle, whereas the common dead-eyes have always three holes.  1804 A. Duncan Mariner's Chron. Pref. 17.   1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 37 Lanyards, rove through iron-bound hearts.  

1882
1769 1804


   27. Mach. A heart-shaped wheel or cam used for converting a rotary into a reciprocating motion.

   1875 in Knight Dict. Mech.  

1875


   28. Short for heart-shell (see 56).

   1750 R. Pococke Trav. (1888) 153, I found in the Quarries several of those bivalve petrifyed shells, call'd hearts.  

1750


   29. Short for heart-net (see 56).


   30. In names of trees and plants.
   black-heart, white-heart, varieties of cultivated Cherry (see black a. 19, white a.). bleeding-heart (see bleeding ppl. a. 5). floating heart, an American name for Limnanthemum (Treas Bot. 1866).

   1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 219 Black Cherry, Morellos, Black Heart, all good.  1803 J. Abercrombie Ev. Man his own Gardener (ed. 17) 674/1 Cherries+White heart, Black heart, Bleeding heart.  

1664 1803


   II. Phrases.


   * With governing preposition.


   31. at heart. In one's inmost thoughts or feelings; in one's actual character or disposition; inwardly, secretly; at bottom; in reality.

   1735 Pope Ep. Lady 216 But every Woman is at heart a Rake.  1780 Cowper Table T. 191 Patriots, who love good places at their hearts.  1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 222 It was certain that the King at heart preferred the Church~men to the Puritans.  1855 Ibid. xii. III. 153 Rice was charged to tell James that Mountjoy was a traitor at heart.  1855 Prescott Philip II, ii. viii. (1857) 296 One cannot doubt that Philip was at heart an inquisitor.  

1855
1780 1855
1735 1849


   32. by heart. In the memory; from memory; by rote; so as to be able to repeat or write out correctly what has been learnt. Cf. F. par cœur.

   c1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1494 She told ek al þe prophesies by herte.  1528 Gardiner in Pocock Rec. Ref. I. l. 103 [We] rehearsed by heart the chapter Veniens.  157380 Baret Alv. H202 To learne by harte, or without booke+To say by harte.  1645 Fuller Good Th. in Bad T. (1841) 15, I had said them [prayers] rather by heart than with my heart.  1682 Wheler Journ. Greece v. 367 The Tragedians gat their Plays by heart.  1709 Prior Hans Carvel 13 Whole Tragedies she had by Heart.  1739 Chesterfield Lett. (1792) I. xliii. 138 Pray get these verses by heart against the time I see you.  1885 Law Times LXXIX. 339/2 Few lawyers know by heart the complicated statutes relating to Church matters.  

157380 1682 1739
c1374 1528 1645 1709 1885


   33. for one's heart. For one's life; to save one's life. See for prep. A. 9c. Obs.


   34. from one's heart. Out of the depths of one's soul; with the sincerest or deepest feeling.

   1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 93 And wee know+that hee speakes from his heart.  1651 Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) I. 249, I wish from my hart Mr. Attorney had come away.  1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iii. vi. (1845) 159 In such kind of Sermons, there is little spoken, either from the Heart, or to the Heart.  1840 Carlyle Heroes ii. (1858) 234 If a book come from the heart, it will contrive to reach other hearts.  

1665
1594 1651 1840


   35. inheart.  a. in (one's) heart: in one's inmost thoughts or feelings; inwardly; secretly; at heart.

   c1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxiv. 48 ºyf se yfela þeowa ðencþ on hys heortan and cwyþ, min hlafurd uferað hys cyme.  a1175 Cott. Hom. 219 [He] cweð an his herto, þat he wolde and eaðe mihte bien his sceoppende Šelic.  a1300 Cursor M. 2959 (Gött.) Abraham syhid in his hert ful sare.  a1325 Prose Psalter lii[i]. 1 Þe vnwys seid in his hert, God nis nouŠt.  1390 Gower Conf. I. 64 Many one Which speketh of Peter and of John And thenketh Judas in his herte.  1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 127b, Whiche thyng in his harte, he moste coveted and desired.  1611 Bible Transl. Pref. 2 They+wish in their heart the Temple had neuer bene built.  1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 105 Julian had+pretended to abhor idolatry, while in heart an idolater.  

1390
a1325
c1000 a1175 a1300 1548 1611 1849


   b. in all one's heart (transl. L. in toto corde): with all one's heart (39a). Obs.

   c825 Vesp. Psalter ix 1 Ic ondetto ðe dryhten in alre heortan minre.  1382 Wyclif Ibid., I shal knoulechen to thee, Lord, in al myn herte.  1382 I Jer. xxiv. 7 Thei shal turne aŠeen to me in al ther herte.  

1382
c825 1382


   c. in heart: in good spirits. So in phr. to put in (or into) heart: to restore to good spirits.

   1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. v. 78 Well, Petruchio, this has put me in heart.  1614 Raleigh Hist. World II. v. iii. §15. 442 His Armie must have somewhat to keep it in heart.  1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. v, Whether they were still in heart to fight.  1832 H. Martineau Ella of Gar. viii. 100 To put you in heart again.  

1596 1614 1719 1832


   d. In good condition: see 21.


   36. near, next one's heart: see 10, 4.


   37. of (all one's) heart. With all one's heart; sincerely, earnestly. Obs. (Cf. F. de tout mon cœur.)

   c1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 431 To holde religioun of Crist and love hym of hert siþ+Cristis religioun stondiþ in love of God of al our herte.  c1400 Apol. Loll. 47, I cnowlech of mowþ & hert, me to hold þe same feiþ of þe sacrament of þe Lordis bord.  

c1380 c1400


   38. out of heart.  a. In low spirits; discouraged, disheartened.

   1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. viii. in Holinshed II. 9/2 Perceuung them to be somewhat dismaied and out of heart.  1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 234 After he had lost his boy, he grew quite out of heart.  1711 tr. Werenfels' Disc. Logomachys 143 Pray, dear Good Sir, don't be out of Patience, or out of Heart.  1882 Tennyson Promise of May iii. Wks. (1894) 300/1 What is it Has put you out of heart?  1891 Spectator 11 Apr. 497 The Regent is evidently out of heart.  

1891
1586 1690 1711 1882


   b. In poor condition: see 21.


   39. withheart.  a. with (OE. mid) all one's heart, with one's whole heart, with heart: with great sincerity, earnestness, or devotion; now chiefly in weakened sense, with the utmost goodwill or pleasure.

   971 Blickl. Hom. 13 Herede heo hine+mid ealre heortan.  c1000 Ælfric Hom. I. 420 ºelyfst ðu mid ealre heortan?  c1220 Bestiary 171 To helden wit herte ðe bodes of holi k[i]rke.  c1470 Henry Wallace iv. 20 He luffyt him with hart and all hys mycht.  1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxvii. xxxix, With all my herte I wyll, quod he, accepte Hym to my servyce.  1535 Coverdale Jer. xxiv. 7 They shal returne vnto me with their whole herte.  1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. i. 86, I thank you alwaies with my heart, la: with my heart.  1606 I Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 294 God buy you with all my heart.  1653 Walton Angler ii. 44 Take one with all my heart.  1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. vii. 60 That I will promise you, with all my heart.  

1598
c1000 1535 1653
971 c1220 c1470 1509 1606 1851


   b. with a heart and a half: with great pleasure, willingly. with half a heart: half-heartedly, with divided affection or enthusiasm.

   1636 Massinger Gt. Dk. Florence iv. ii, Such junkets come not every day. Once more to you With a heart and a half, i faith.  1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III 587 Some naval officers+though they served the new government, served it sullenly and with half a heart.  1885 Tennyson Let. to S. Cox 5 Aug., I thank you, as the Irishman says, with a heart and a half, for your volume of Expositions.  

1885
1636 1855


   ** With verb and preposition.


   40. find in one's heart. To feel inclined or willing; to prevail upon oneself (to do something): now chiefly in negative and interrogative sentences.

   c1440 [see find v. 10c].   1530 Palsgr. 687/1 Thoughe you can nat fynde in your herte to honour hym for his owne sake.  1638 F. Junius Paint. of Ancients 316 Yet can these men finde in their hearts to boast.  1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. viii, [One] that can find in his Heart to destroy Armies, and ruine Provinces.  1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge vii. 122 Neither of us could find it in our hearts to speak.  1883 E. Blackwell Booth iv. 45 They could hardly find in their heart to disturb its peaceful surface.  

1665 1883
c1440 1530 1638 1834


   41. a. have at heart. To have as an object in which one is deeply interested.

   1711 Steele Spect. No. 20 31 The Correction of Impudence is what I have very much at Heart.  1712 Addison Italy Wks. 1721 II. 138 The Pope has this design extremely at his heart.  1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) I. v. 199 The Romans had no object more at heart than to obtain possession of this key to Gaul.  1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 206 A matter which we have very much at heart.  

1712 1875
1711 1850


   b. So, conversely, to be at the heart of.

   1824 Scott St. Ronan's iii, The interests of the establishment being very much at the heart of this honourable council.  

1824


   42. lay to heart. To take into one's serious consideration, as a thing to be kept carefully in mind; to think seriously about; to be deeply affected by or concerned about (a thing); rarely, to impress it seriously upon another.

   1602 Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 234 Captaine, I'm sorry that you lay this wrong so close unto your heart.  1605 Shakes. Macb. i. v. 15 Lay it to thy heart, and fare~well.  1611 Bible Mal. ii. 2 If yee will not lay it to heart, to giue glory vnto my name.  1802 Beddoes Hygëia II. v. 21 Many writers+have laid it to the heart of mothers not to commit to hirelings the task of nurse.  1853 Trench Proverbs 141 It contains+a lesson which I should do wisely and well at this present time to lay to heart.  1884 Century Mag. Oct. 942/2 Do not lay it to heart, my child.  

1611 1884
1605 1853
1602 1802


   43. put or set to or on the heart: earlier equivalents of prec. Obs.

   1382 Wyclif Mal. ii. 2 if Še woln not putte on the herte, that Še Ševe glorie to my name.  c1400 Apol. Loll. 24 If Še wil not sett to þe hert to Šef glory to my name.  Ibid. 34 Son of man, putt to hert, and see wiþ þin een+alle þings þat I spek to þe.  

1382 c1400


   44. take to heart. To take seriously; to be much affected by; to grieve over; to be zealous, solicitous, or ardent about (obs.).

   a1300 Cursor M. 24010 Þat mast i tok til hert.  1535 Coverdale Eccl. vii. 2 There is the ende of all men, and he that is lyuinge taketh it to herte.  1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed (1808) VI. 299 Whose death he is said to haue taken greatlie to hart.  1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. vii. (1651) 352 But why shouldst thou take thy neglect, thy canvass so to heart?  a1626 Bacon (J.), If he would take the business to heart, and deal in it effectually, it would succeed well.  a1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. viii. §257 It was very vehemently pressed by many persons+and amongst those who took it most to heart, sir John Stawel was the chief.  1822 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Dream Children, Though I did not cry and take it to heart as some do+yet I missed him all day long.  1865 Trollope Belton Est. vi. 60 She had no idea when she was refusing him that he would have taken it to heart as he had done.  

a1647
1586 a1626 1865
a1300 1535 1621 1822


   *** With governing verb.


   45. break the heart of.  a. To kill, crush, or overwhelm with sorrow. See break v. 7c.


   b. To accomplish the hardest part of (a task), to break the back of.

   1684 J. Scott Chr. Life (ed. 3) 383 You must by this time have broken the Heart of the Difficulty of your Warfare.  1828 Craven Dial. s.v., To break the heart of a business, to have almost finished it.  

1684 1828


   46. cry (eat, fight, plague, slave, tease, tire, weary, weep, etc.) one's heart out: to cry (etc.) violently or exhaustingly: see the verbs.

   1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. ii. 54 Nay, you shall fight your hearts out ere I part you.  1712 Swift Let. to Mrs. Dingley 25 Jan. (Seager), They have never paid him a groat, though I have teazed their hearts out.  1885 Edna Lyall In Golden Days III. vii. 142, I could weep my heart out.  1886 C. M. Yonge Mod. Telemachus I. i. 15 Making him weary his very heart out.  

1886
1606 1712 1885


   47. eat one's heart: to suffer or pine away from vexation or longing. See eat v. 8c.

   1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 47b, If you thinke to stoppe everie ones mouth: Which were to eate up your heart, as they say.  1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 904 To eate thy heart through comfortlesse dispaires.  1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 15 Eat not thy heart, that is to say, offend not thine owne soule, nor hurt and consume it with pensive cares.  1890 W. A. Wallace Only a Sister? xviii. 155 Why, there's poor Aikone+eating his heart out and getting no further.  

1591
1581 1603 1890


   48. a. haveheart. to have the heart: to be courageous or spirited enough, to prevail upon oneself (to do something); also (in mod. use and chiefly in negative sentences), to find it in one's heart, to be hard-hearted enough.

   a1300 Cursor M. 11805 Hu had he hert to sced þair blod?  1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) iv. xxxviii. (1859) 63, I am soo full of sorow, and of heuynes, that I haue no herte to speke to yow.  1489 Caxton Faytes of A. i. vi. 12 All thoost shold haue the better herte to fyghte.  1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 15 Cursed the Heart, that had the heart to do it.  1657 North's Plutarch Add. Lives (1676) 44 The Turks being discouraged+had not the heart to defend themselves.  1716 Addison Freeholder No. 30 (Seager) One cannot have the heart to be angry at this judicious observer.  1780 F. Burney Diary 6 Dec., I had no heart to leave+Mr. Thrale in a state so precarious.  1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xlviii, Have you the heart to say this of your own son, unnatural mother!  1882 Tennyson Promise of May iii. Wks. (1894) 798/2, I hadn't the heart or face to do it.  

1489 1780 1882
a1300 1413 1594 1657 1716 1840


   b. have, put (one's) heart in, into: see 11b.


   49. take heart. To pluck up courage. (Also with qualifying adj.) to take heart of grace, etc.: see heart of grace.

   13+ Coer de L. 5757 They wer bolde, her herte they tooke.  1530 Palsgr. 748/1, I take herte, je prens couraige.  1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. x. 26 Take good hart, And tell thy griefe.  1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. iii. 174 Take a good heart, and counterfeit to be a man.  1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 35 Took heart again and fac'd about, As if they meant to stand it out.  1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge (Libr. ed.) II. ix. 76 Take heart, take heart. We'll find them.  

1590 1663
13+ 1530 1600 1840


   **** With another noun.


   50. heart and hand. (Also with h. and hand.) With will and execution; readily, willingly.

   a1547 Surrey Poems, Lover describeth (Aldine) 79 And all the planets as they stand, I thank them too with heart and hand.  184778 Halliwell s.v., To be heart and hand, to be fully bent.  1884 Times (weekly ed.) 19 Sept. 5/3 The woman said she would have admitted me heart and hand, only that her orders were peremptory.  

1884
a1547 184778


   51. heartheart.  a. heart of hearts (orig. more correctly, heart of heart, heart's heart): the heart's core; the centre or depth of one's heart; one's inmost heart or feelings. Usually in one's heart of hearts.

   1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 78, I will weare him In my hearts Core: I, in my Heart of heart.  1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. iii. Law 1287 O Israel+in thy heart's-heart (not in Marble) beare His ever-lasting Law.  1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 171 From heart of very heart, great Hector welcome.  a1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 39/1 Him deep engrave In your heart's heart, from whom all good ye have.  1806 Wordsw. Intim. Immort. 190 Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might.  1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. lxxiii. 293 That she should be admitted to his heart of hearts.  1895 Q. Rev. Oct. 298 In his heart of heart Froude would have admitted that.  

a1649
1606 1895
1605 1867
1602 1806


   b. a heart and a heart, a Hebraism = duplicity, insincerity. (Cf. 6b.)

   c825 Vesp. Psalter xi. 3 [xii. 2] Welure faecne in heortan and heortan spreocende.  1382 Wyclif Ps. xi[i]. 2 Ther treccherous lippis in herte and herte speeken.  1583 Harsnet Serm. Ezek. (1658) 137 God doth abhor a Heart and a Heart, and his soule detesteth a double minded Man.  1611 Bible 1 Chron. xii. 33 They were not of double heart [Heb. without a heart and a heart].  1633 Earl of Manchester Al Mondo (1636) 86 A heart and a heart God cannot abide.  

1633
c825 1382 1583 1611


   [heart and part: error for art and part: art 16.]


   c. heart-to-heart: used to denote conversation, discussion, etc. of real frankness and sincerity; usually attrib. but also absol. as n.

   1867 Mission Life 1 Mar. 190 The visitation of an Australian Bishop+is a hand-to-hand and heart-to-heart visit to each Clergyman, and to his people with him.  1894 Advance 11 Oct., A kind of public religious orphanage, where no true heart-to-heart mothering+was possible.  1902 A. H. Lewis Wolfville Days xi. 152 He don't own no real business to transact; he's out to have a heart-to-heart interview with the great Southwest.  1902 Kipling Traffics & Discov. (1904) 22 He began by a Lydia Pinkham heart-to-heart talk about my health.  1906 Daily Chron. 5 Mar. 6/4 A heart-to-heart discussion of the solar plexus and its part in the emotional economy of man.  1910 S. E. White Rules of Game v. xvi. 444 Let's have a heart-to-heart, and find out how we stand.  1918 E. M. Roberts Flying Fighter 201 After a heart-to-heart talk, I induced him to let me remain in the Flying Service.  1925 Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves ix. 221 He and Jeeves had had a heart-to-heart chat in the kitchen.  1934 J. E. Neale Queen Eliz. ii. 31 Parry came back to have heart-to-heart talks with Mistress Ashley and to probe Elizabeth's mind.  1948 A. Waugh Unclouded Summer xv. 252, I have the girls up there in the evenings for heart-to-hearts.  1951 L. MacNeice tr. Goethe's Faust 50 All this needs a little explaining And will keep till our next heart-to-heart.  1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions i. v. 180 Baby, I just make a few notes on them and write these heart-to-heart confessions.  

1955
1951
1948
1934
1925
1918
1910
1906
1894 1902
1867 1902


   52. heart and soul.  a. The whole of one's affections and energies; one's whole being.

   1883 Rita After Long Grief xxvi. 160, I saw that you were mine, heart and soul, as ever.  1884 Times (Weekly ed.) 26 Sept. 6/2 The earnest actor who has heart and soul in his work.  

1884
1883


   b. advb. With all one's energy and devotion.

   1798 Coleridge Lett. (1895) 261 Read it heart and soul.  1845 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 4 Entering heart and soul into the dust and heat of the Church's war with the world.  1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. xi. 329 He threw him~self, heart and soul, into every requirement of the time.  

1888
1798 1845


   c. attrib. Devoted and enthusiastic.

   1836 Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) I. 275 The heart-and-soul manner in which he put himself in my place.  

1836


   ***** In ejaculations of surprise and exclamatory invocations.


   53. God's heart!, Ods heart!, 's heart, or simply heart! (obs.). Also, for God's heart, heart of God!, Ads my heart!, my heart! (obs.), dear heart! The commonest expressions now are: Lord (God) bless my (your, etc.) heart! elliptically, bless my (etc.) heart! See bless v.1 9 and cf. life, soul.

   c1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 629 Help, water! water, help! for goddes herte.  1573 New Custom ii. iii. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 37 Heart of God, man, be the means better or worse, I pass not.  1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 252 Heart! you swear like a comfit-maker's wife.  1605 Tryall Chev. iii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 306 S'hart, what a name's that!  1681 Dryden Sp. Friar ii. i, Heart! you were hot enough, too hot, but now.  1701 Cibber Love makes Man ii. i. 27, I can't bear this! 'Sheart, I could cry for Madness!  1728 Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. ii. i. 42 Odsheart! this was so kindly done of you naw.  1732 Fielding Miser v. i, Bless her heart! good lady!  1741 Richardson Pamela I. 84 Ad's my Heart! I think it would be the best Thing.  1844 Dickens Christmas Carol 161 Dear heart alive, how his niece by marriage started!  1862 Mrs. Sewell Patience Hart xxv. 166 Bless your heart, child; you are a good girl.  1886 R. Broughton Dr. Cupid II. vii. 164 She can no longer look upon me as a child, bless her old heart!  

1741
1732 1886
1596 1681 1728 1862
c1386 1573 1605 1701 1844


   ****** Proverbial phrases and locutions.


   54. a. one's heart is in (at) one's heel(s or hose, is at the bottom of, or turns into, one's hose, sinks in one's shoes, etc.; ludicrous intensifications of the heart sinks, connoting extreme fear or dejection. (See boot n.3 1b.)  b. to have one's heart in one's mouth, one's heart leaps into one's mouth (throat), referring to the violent beating and apparent leaping of the heart under the influence of a sudden start. So, to bring one's h. into one's mouth, make one's h. leap out of one's mouth.  c. to wear one's h. in one's mouth, to have one's h. at one's tongue's end: to be always ready to speak what is in one's mind. to carry one's mouth in one's h.: to do the opposite of this, to conceal one's thoughts, keep silence.  d. one's h. is in its right place: one's sympathies are rightly engaged, one means well.  e. to have one's h. upon one's pouch: to be set upon one's private profit.  f. to wear one's h. upon one's sleeve: to expose one's feelings, wishes, intentions, etc. to every one.  g. to do one's heart good: to make one feel better, gladdened, strengthened, etc. (see also good).

   a. c1430 Hymns Virg. 91 Myn herte fil doun vnto my too.  1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 30 Your hert is in your hose all in dispaire.  1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xxii. 174b, Petur beeyng feared with this saiyng of a woman+as if his herte had been in his hele clene gon.  156387 Foxe A. & M. (1631) III. xi. 253/2 When the Bishop heard this, by and by his heart was in his heeles, and+he with the rest of the Court betooke them to their legges.  c1600 Timon i. v, My hart is at the bottome of my hose.  1642 [see boot n.3 1b.]   1682 N. O. tr. Boileau's Lutrin. ii. 174 Chear up, and pluck thy Heart out of thy Hose!  1888 Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere II. 153 An expression which sent the sister's heart into her shoes.  1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xxiii. 199 Hauyng their herte at their verai mouth for feare, they did not belieue that it was Iesus.  1601 W. Parry Trav. Sir A. Sherley 16 It had been an easie matter to have found a company of poore hearts neere their maisters mouthes.  1716 Addison Drummer i. i. (D.), I fell across a beam that lay in the way, and faith my heart was in my mouth; I thought I had stumbled over a spirit.  1809 W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 154 Antony+sounded a charge with such a tremendous outset+that it was enough to make one's heart leap out of one's mouth only to be within a mile of it.  1856 G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Cov. xiii, A ring at the door-bell brings everybody's heart into everybody's mouth.  1887 Edna Lyall Knt.-Errant xviii. 158 Francesca's heart leapt into her mouth.  c1590 Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. Ciib, I will carrie my mouth in my hart+there is a time for speech, and a time for silence.  1592 I P. Penilesse Wks. 18834 II. 5 A hare braind little Dwarfe+that hath his hart at his tongues end.  1809 Malkin tr. Gil Blas (K. O.), Heart lies in the right place.  1886 Schmitz tr. Stinde's Buchholtz Fam. 51 Your heart is in its right place; if only you had the right words on your tongue.  1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. clxxxviii. 1171 Hee was such a one as had his tongue to sale, and his heart vppon his powche.  1604 Shakes. Oth. i. i. 64 'Tis not long after But I will weare my heart vpon my sleeue For Dawes to pecke at.  1862 Sala Seven Sons II. xi. 282 A+ready-tongued man, wearing+his heart upon his sleeve.  1891 Smiles J. Murray II. xxxiv. 449 He did not wear his heart upon his sleeve.  1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. ii. 73, I will roare that I will doe any mans heart good to heare me.  1824 Scott St. Ronan's vii, It's done me muckle heart's good.  

1891
1592 1888
c1590 1887
1590 1886
1583 1682 1862
156387 1642 1856
1548 1604 1824
1548 1601 1809
c1430 1546 c1600 1716 1809


   III. Attributive uses and Combinations.


   55. a. attrib. Of, for, or pertaining to  (a) the physical heart, as heart-action, attack, -beating, condition, -disease, failure, -murmur, -pulse, rate, -shape, -shock, -strain, -stroke, -tube, -valve, -wall;  (b) the heart as the seat of emotion, etc., as heart-agony, -anguish, -brest (=burst), -burst, -corruption, -grief, -grudge, -hardness, -hate, -heaviness, -ill, -lift (so -lifter), -religion, -service, -sorrow, -springs, -worship, -wound, etc., etc.; also, with vbl. ns.: heart-bleeding, -heaving, -longing, -pining, -rising, -sinking, etc.

   1887 Cassell's Fam. Mag. July 467/2 A belladonna plaister+to quieten pain and *heart-action.


  1807 Wordsw. White Doe Rylstone ii. 102 That dimness of *heart-agony.
  1710 Philips Pastorals iv. 162 Who can relieve *Heart-anguish sore.
  1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night xxi. 444 She's had rather a nasty *heart-attack, but she's better now.
  1593 Nashe Christ's T. Wks. 18834 IV. 248 This holy Father (with no little commiserate *hart-bleeding) beholding [etc.].
  c1340 Cursor M. 4283 (Trin.) What is more *herte brest Þen want of þing þat men loue best.
  1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 258 Like a horse Put to his *heart-burst speed, sobbing up hill.  1896 A. Morrison Child of Jago xiii. 134 Dicky+had been afflicted to heart-burst by his father's dodging and running.
  a1711 Ken Psyche Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 211 To temper all the Sisters *Heart-complaints.
  1946 Mod. Lang. Notes Nov. 442 *Heart condition.  1958 Listener 13 Nov. 778/2 Before cleaning a car+be certain you haven't a heart condition.  1971 D. O'Connor Eye of Eagle viii. 53 He has a heart conditionnothing very serious.
  1878 Browning La Saisiaz 116 From the *heart-deeps where it slept.
  1868 Milman St. Paul's xi. 275 Elizabeth had no+comprehension of the *heart-depth of that Puritanism which thus opposed or slighted her mandates.
  1864 Tennyson Sea Dreams 264 He suddenly dropt dead of *heart disease.
  1894 O. Henry Compl. Wks. (1928) 797 Read this, he said, here is proof that Marie Cusheau died of *heart failure.  1906 Lancet 13 Jan. 96/2 Dr. C. Bolton+read a paper entitled The Treatment of Heart Failure in Diphtheria.  1960 I. A. Stanton Dict. for Med. Secretaries 68/1 Occasionally heart failure denotes a sudden cessation of heart action, but generally it merely means insufficient circulation.
  1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Tristesse et douleur de cueur, sorowe, or *hartgriefe.  1671 Milton Samson 1339 In my midst of sorrow and heart-grief To show them feats, and play before their god.
  157787 Holinshed Chron. I. 53/2 Which+was to them an occasion of *hartgrudge.
  c1550 Cheke Matt. xix. 8 Moosees did suffer iou to loos iour~selves from yor wiifes for iour *harthardnes.  1863 A. B. Grosart Small Sins (ed. 2) 50 note, The gushing lip-kindness with heart-hardness of many.
  1875 Tennyson Q. Mary iii. iv, A fierce resolve and fixt *heart-hate.
  a1806 Fox Hist. Jas. II, iii. 210 (Jod.) With a *heart-hatred of popery, prelacy, and all superstition.
  1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. v. ii. 51 The more shall I to morrow be at the height of *heart heauinesse.
  1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) I. viii. 65 Frequent palpitations, *heart-heavings, and alterations of countenance.
  1678 Bunyan Pilgr. 115 A life of holiness, *heart-holiness.
  1892 G. E. Woodberry Introd. Lamb's Elia p. xiii, That mournful fancy, that affection for things unrealized, which betray *heart-hunger.
  a1605 Montgomerie Flyting w. Polwart 302 The hunger, the *hart-ill, and the hoist still thee hald.
  1893 Mark Twain in Cosmopolitan Nov. 61/2 Oh, the *heart-lift that was in those words!  1967 La Meri Sp. Dancing (ed. 2) 7 Yet who can reflect in the immutable phrase the heartlift in watching emotion in motion?
  1901 Kipling Kim x. 260 You will find one small silver amulet+a *heart-lifter.  1959 New Statesman 25 Apr. 576/3 The heart-lifter that I chanced to hear was well up to her standard.
  1884 Hudson Stud. Wordsw. 243 The head-logic grows so out of proportion as to stifle and crush the *heart-logic.
  1742 Young Nt. Th. vi. 263 *Heart-merit wanting, mount we ne'er so high, Our Height is but the Gibbet of our name.
  1798 W. Sotheby tr. Wieland's Oberon (1826) II. 21, I, who in every *heart-pulse feel her glow.
  1936 Discovery 291/2 Adrenalin, by increasing the *heart rate+facilitates the passage of the current.  1961 Lancet 22 July 190/1 An increase in heart~rate may also increase potassium efflux.
  1758 S. Hayward's Serm. p. viii, How truly his mind was bent in pursuit of *heart-religion.
  1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. xxxvii. 222 Ye must looke whether ye haue not some *hartrisings and eagernesse in you.
  1668 Phil. Trans. III. 859 The Interception of the *Heart-sap may have an effect analogous to the boring at the Heart.
  1842 W. Howitt Rural & Dom. Life Germany v. 62 The gingerbread was all made up into *heart-shapes.  1863 G. Seton Law Her. Scotl. v. 192 This form+tending to the pear-shape and heart-shape.
  1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. vi. (1864) 95 The man who has received the *heart-shock from which+he will not recover.
  1660 Baxter Call Unconverted 158 They charge them with *heart-sins, which none can see but God.  1842 Manning Serm. (1848) I. 38 A heart-sin, indulged in secret, which eats into their whole spiritual life.
  1743 D. Brainerd Let. 30 Apr. in J. Edwards Life D. B. (1765) 265 There seems to be little of the special workings of the divine Spirit among them yet; which gives me many a *heart-sinking hour.  1879 C. Rossetti Seek & F. 312 Moments of keenest fear and utmost heart-sinking.
  1903 B. Harraden Kath. Frensham xviii. 278 She, with+perseverance, dug a hole in their frozen *heart-springs.  1907 Kipling Bk. of Words (1928) 36 A people+whose heart-springs go down deep into the fabric.
  1906 Med. Ann. 241 *Heart-strain in growing boys.  1909 Daily Chron. 21 Aug. 6/2 Heartstrain and contraction of the joints.
  1887 T. Hardy Woodlanders III. xxi, They could read each other's *heart-symptoms like books.
  1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. xxii, To devyde my joye and my *hert torment.
  1881 Trans. Obstetr. Soc. Lond. XXII. 78 An abnormal amount of tension on the primitive *heart-tube.
  1932 Gray's Anat. (ed. 25) 1437 *Heart valves.  1963 Daily Tel. 21 Sept. 9/5 (heading) Heart valve operation.  Ibid., The limited number of heart valve replacement operations so far carried out.
  1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 21 *Heart-weariness, the languishing longing for repose.
  c1400 Destr. Troy 10979 Pantasilia+Hit hym so heturly with a *hert wille, Þat he hurlit down hedlonges to the hard erthe.
  1630 Sanderson Serm. II. 262 The lip-worship they may have+but the *heart-worship they shall never have.
  1839 P. J. Bailey Festus 269 Her *heart-wound.  1902 Temple Bar CXXVI. 111 It rained upon his bleeding heart-wound like balm.  1906 Westm. Gaz. 3 Aug. 10/2 The faint, fine smell of new-mown grass Stabs like a heart-wound as I pass.
  


   b. objective and obj. gen., as heart-biting, -conner, -disposer, -searcher, -wringing ns.; heart-affecting, -cheering, -dulling, -easing, -freezing, -fretting, -hardening, -holding, -melting, -moving, -purifying, -shaking, -sickening, -stirring, -swelling, -tearing, -warming, -wounding, -wringing, etc., etc., adjs.

   1829 I. Taylor Enthus. v. (1867) 101 The *heart-affecting elements of piety and virtue.


  1587 Golding De Mornay xii. 166 Consider+the *hart~bitings+which he indureth.
  1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 304 One of the dreadfullest, and *heart-bleedingest conditions that can bee seen.
  1644 Vicars Jehovah-Jireh 5 The Suns+*heart-cheering bright beams.
  1781 Cowper Hope 714 In darkness and *heart-chilling fears.
  1563 J. Man Musculus' Commonpl. 45a, He that made man+is aptly called Cardiognostes, that is, The *hart-conner.
  1645 Quarles Sol. Recant. v. 67 The *heart-corroding Fangs Of griping Care.
  1654 Trapp Comm. Esther v. 2 God the great *Heart-disposer so ordered it.
  1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1782 *Heart-easing words.  1632 Milton L'Allegro 13 In Heav'n ycleap'd Euphrosyne, And by men, heart-easing Mirth.
  1621 Burton Anat Mel. i. ii. iv. v, Sequestred from all company, but *heart-eating melancholy.
  173046 Thomson Autumn 40 A gayly-checker'd *heart-expanding view.
  1596 spenser F.Q. iv. v. 45 Disquiet and *hart-fretting payne.
  1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. lxi. (1804) 439 *Heart-gnawing cares corrode my pensive breast.
  1607 Shakes. Cor. iv. i. 25 Thou hast oft beheld *Heart-hardning spectacles.
  1897 J. L. Allen Choir Invisible xvi. 240 Universal fellowship with seeding grass and breeding herb and every *heart-holding creature of the woods.  1913 E. F. Benson Thorley Weir iv, Things fairer and more heart-holding.
  a1711 Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 112 *Heart-melting Zeal.  1784 Burns Commonpl. Bk. Sept., There is+a heart-melting tenderness, in some of our ancient ballads.
  1593 Drayton Essex Wks. 1753 II. 590 *Heart-moving music.
  1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 23 This *hart-rauishing knowledge.
  1594 Spenser Amoretti xxxix, A melting pleasance+me revived with *hart-robbing gladnesse.
  1907 Tatler 22 May 132/2 A *heart-shaking tragedy.  1911 Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 130 The heart-shaking jests of Decay.  1918 V. Woolf in Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Jan. 55/1 Effective and heart-shaking ghost stories.  1945 W. S. Churchill Victory (1946) 223 The decision+remained nevertheless a heart-shaking risk.
  1814 Scott Wav. xxvii, The long and *heart~sickening griefs which attend a rash and ill-assorted marriage.  1820 Edin. Monthly Rev. Apr. 449 Can anything be more heart-sickening to such a philanthropist?  1902 London Mag. VIII. 432/2 It was heart-sickening, as his great form with its yellow skin and black stripes, as his blazing eyes, his flashing teeth and his outspread claws rose toward us through the air.
  1848 R. Blakey Free-w. 91 These *heart~stirring and delightful emotions.
  1814 Jane Austen Mansf. Park III. vi, Her happiness was of a quiet, deep, *heart-swelling sort.  1884 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 258 In listening to poetry+we are often surprised at the+heart-swelling and the lachrymal effusion that unexpectedly catch us.
  1916 Boyd Cable Action Front 149 Thirty-six solid hours of physical stress and *heart-tearing strain.  1920 Glasgow Herald 21 Oct. 6 The latest phases of the heart-tearing Irish tragedy.
  1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 5 With *hart-thrilling throbs and bitter stowre.
  1580 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1724) II. 431 What a *heart~tickling joy it is.
  1899 Daily News 20 Apr. 5/7 They are a *heart-warming cordial.  1966 Times (Austral. Suppl.) 28 Mar. p. viii/4 Perth+friendly enough to give+migrants+a heartwarming impression of their new country.
  1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xxiii. 327 What bitterness and grievous *heart-wringing.  1932 H. Crane Let. 12 Apr. (1965) 408 The Mexican singer+is generally shrill but capable of heart-wringing vibrations.
  


   c. locative and instrumental. In, at, from, with the heart; as to the heart: as heart-blow; heart-angry, -burdened, -chilled, -deadened, -dear, -deep, -drawn, -free, -full, -happy, -hardened, -heavy, -hungry, -sorrowing, -true, -weary, -wounded, -wrung, etc., adjs.; heart-eat vb.

   1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman D'Alf. ii. 160, I was *heart-angry with my selfe, that I had told him so much.


  1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope I. 362 The coup-de-grace, or *heart-blow, as it is called, not being given them, they were taken alive from the wheel.
  1646 Crashaw Delights Muses (1652) 102 The *heart-bred lustre of his worth.
  1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iii. 12 My *heart-deere-Harry.
  1609 R. Armin Maids of More-Cl. (1880) 100 It is my loue+that makes me step *Heart-deepe in disobedience to my mother.  1871 Swinburne Songs bef. Sunrise, Blessed among Women 106 Heavens own heart-deep blue.
  1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xi. 111 A deep, *heart-drawn sigh broke from him.
  1630 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlem. (1641) 197 They+cannot see+anything which likes them, but with a greedy eye they *heart-eat it.
  1830 I. Taylor Unitar. 111 *Heart-fallen and sick of the profitless usages of devotion.
  1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) II. 167 If indeed she be hitherto innocent and *heart-free.  1886 W. S. Gilbert Ruddigore (1887) 4 Rose is still heart-free.
  1876 T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 168 She was *heartfull of many emotions.
  1623 Penkethman Handf. Hon. iv. i, If thou would'st be *heart-happy, wealth despise.
  1661 R. Davenport City Night-cap i. in Hazl. Dodsley XIII. 107 She that is lip-holy Is many times *heart-hollow.
  1591 Greene Maiden's Dreame xlii, *Heart-holy men he still kept at his table.
  1880 W. S. Gilbert Patience 15 Do you know what it is to be *heart-hungry?
  172746 Thomson Summer 892 The *heart-shed tear, th' ineffable delight Of sweet humanity.
  1594 Shakes. Rich. III, ii. ii. 112 You clowdy Princes, and *hart-sorowing-Peeres.
  1601 Chester Love's Mart., K. Arth. xcvii, *Heart swolne heauinesse.
  1602 Warner Alb. Eng. xi. lxviii, And theare did him the *heart trew King most kindly intertaine.
  1840 Mrs. Norton Dream 12 Sinking *heart-weary, far away from home.
  1791 Burns Ae Fond Kiss in Wks. (1871) 294 Deep in *heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee.  1820 Ellen Fitzarthur 93 Floods of heart-wrung tears.  1948 C. Day Lewis Poems 194347 70 One heart-wrung phantom still+Shadows my noontime still.
  


   d. similative, as heart-fashioned, -leaved adjs. Also heart-shaped.

   1756 Sir J. Hill Brit. Herbal 359 The lower lip+is short, broad, and heart-fashioned.  182234 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 630 The three species of cinchona+the lance~leaved+heart leaved+and oblong leaved.  

1756 182234


   56. a. Special Combs.: heart-bag, the pericardium; heart-balm, (a) something that soothes a person's emotions; (b) U.S. slang, alimony; heart-bearer, (a) a name of the Franciscan friars; (b) a name of the moth Anorta cordigera; heart-bird, the Turnstone, Strepsilas interpres (U.S.); heart-block [block n. 19d] Med. (see quot. 1906); heart brass, a brass sepulchral tablet in which a heart is represented (see quot. 1912); heart-cake, a heart-shaped cake; heart-cam (see quot.); heart-clot, a clot of blood or fibrin formed in the heart, usually after death; heart-cockle, a bivalve mollusc, Isocordia cor, so called from its shape; heart-hurry Med., tachycardia (see also quot. 1897); heart-lath, a lath made from the heartwood of the oak; heart-line Palmistry = line of the heart (line n.2 8b); heart-lung attrib., involving or consisting of the heart and the lungs, esp. when removed together for physiological experimentation; heart-lung machine, a machine to which a patient's blood supply is connected during an operation and which by-passes and takes over the functions of the heart and the lungs; heart-moth, the moth Dicycla Oo; heart-motion, the motion generated by a heart-cam; heart-net, -piece (see quots.); heart-pit, the hollow in the middle of the breast at the bottom of the breast-bone; heart-purse, heart-sac, the pericardium; heart-rot, a disease which causes decay in the heart of a tree; also, a fungous disease of beetroots etc.; hearts-and-flowers orig. U.S., undue sentimentality, cloying sweetness; also attrib.; heart-seine, -shake (see quots.); heart-shell = heart-cockle; heart-side, the left side; heart-sound (see quots.); heart-strand, the central strand of a rope: cf. 18b; heart-strength, the central strength or fortress; heart-stroke, (a) the impulse of the contraction of the heart, apex-beat; (b) = angina pectoris; heart-talk, a heart-to-heart talk; heart-thimble (Naut.), a heart-shaped thimble; heart-throb, (a) lit. a pulsation of the heart; (b) colloq. (orig. U.S.) something or (esp.) someone that thrills the heart, a lover: freq. used of film stars and other entertainers; also attrib.; heart-trace, the record on smoked paper made by the needle of a cardiograph (Syd. Soc. Lex.); heart transplant, an operation in which a heart from one person is transplanted into the body of another; similarly of two animals; a heart so transplanted; also attrib. and fig.; heart-urchin, a sea-urchin of the genus Spatangus, being heart-shaped; a spatangoid; heart-warm a., warm-hearted, genuinely affectionate; heart-wheel = heart-cam; heart-white, the white spot on a butt or target; heart-worm, a parasitic nematode worm which infests the hearts of some carnivores, or the disease caused by this worm; also transf.; heart-yarn, the soft yarn in the centre of a rope.

   1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. ii. vi. 100 The Watry Vapors of both the Ventricles, are congealed into the water of the *Heart-bag.


  1922 Joyce Ulysses 352 There were wounds that wanted healing with *heartbalm.  1938 Wodehouse Summer Moonshine x. 126 This Miss Prudence Whittaker is suing this T. P. Vanringham for breach of promise and heart balm.
  1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 116b, The secte of the Fryers Minors (otherwyse called *hartbearers).
  1844 J. E. De Kay Zool. N. York ii. 216 Known under the name of Brant-bird, *Heart-bird, Horse~foot Snipe, and Beach-bird.
  1903 Lancet 22 Aug. 523/1 The jugular pulsations correspond to independent auricular contractions which are not propagated to the ventriclesa state of *heart-block.  1906 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 27 Oct. 1107/1 The term heart-block is applied to that condition where the stimulus for contraction passing from auricle to ventricle, is stopped or blocked on account of some defect in those muscle fibres.  1966 Lancet 31 Dec. 1441/1 Patients who had partial heart block while on P.G.I. therapy alone+reverted to sinus rhythm.  1971 Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. Jan. 13 Magnesium sulphate was superior to sodium amytal and ether. Its main drawback was its tendency to produce heart block.
  1907 H. W. Macklin Brasses of England viii. 205 The typical form of a *heart brass is seen when this device is placed by itself in the midst of a monumental slab.  1912 J. S. M. Ward Brasses 80 Heart brasses proper fall into two main divisions: (a) plain, sometimes inscribed or with scrolls, (b) held by hands, usually coming out of a cloud.  1956 A. C. Bouquet Church Brasses vii. 114 There is a large heart brass at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.
  1756 F. Brooke Old Maid No. 36 (1764) 294 Delicate *heart-cakes, a penny a-piece.  1885 Old Lond. Cries 29 Spanish Chestnuts; Ripe Turkey Figs; Heart Cakes.
  1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Heart-cam, a form of cam which serves for the conversion of uniform rotary motion into uniform rectilinear reciprocating motion.
  1874 Dunglison Med. Dict. s.v. Polypus, Fibrinous concretions found in the heart, *Heart clots.
  1854 Woodward Mollusca ii. 300 The *heart-cockle burrows in sand by means of its foot.
  1891 Lancet 18 July 118/2 (title) Paroxysmal *heart hurry associated with visceral disorders.  1897 Med. Times & Hosp. Gaz. XXV. 33/2 By acceleration of the heart or heart-hurry, is meant a persistent increase of the pulse above eighty in a woman, well above seventy beats per minute in a man, and above ninety in a child. Heart-hurry is divided into two kinds; they are tachycardia and palpitation.
  1479 Churchw. Acc. St. Mary Hill, Lond. (Nichols 1797) 94 For 4 cwts. of *Hertlaths.  1617 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 205 The studies to bee lathed with hart lath.  1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Building, Heart Laths of Oak are one shilling and ten pence a bundle or hundred.
  1893 Beerbohm Let. 14 Oct. (1964) 76 He has no *heart-line on his right hand.  1894 Mark Twain in Century Mag. Feb. 554/2 Wilson began to study Luigi's palm, tracing life lines, heart lines, head lines, and so on.  1956 N. D. Ford Life in your Hands v. 40 The Head and Heart lines join in forming one straight line.+ The Fate line begins well clear of the Heart line.
  1912 Jrnl. Physiol. XLV. 213 The *heart-lung preparation should serve therefore for investigations on the normal gaseous metabolism of the heart.  Ibid. 214 The apparatus consisted of the heart-lung circulation apparatus as described by Knowlton and Starling, and of a respiration apparatus.  1925 Ibid. LX. 103 (title) A closed circuit heart lung preparation.  1945 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. CXLIV. 191 No details of the experiments on the heart-lung preparation need be presented.  Ibid., The results of the thirty-two heart lung experiments can be summarized as follows.  1959 Daily Tel. 24 Apr. 13/3 In the party is Dr. Denis Melrose, inventor of the heart-lung machine which bears his name. This makes possible the by-passing of heart and lungs, and enables the operating surgeon to work on a heart which is bloodless, clear and stopped.  1961 Lancet 22 July 187/1 (heading) Variable atrial venting for the Melrose heart-lung machine.  1968 J. H. Burn Lect. Notes Pharmacol. (ed. 9) 37 Another way of demonstrating the action of ouabain on the ventricular contraction is in the heart-lung preparation of the dog.
  1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths 381 The *Heart Moth+ appears on the wing in July, and has occurred in the New Forest.
  1829 E. Irving Tales Times Mart. in Anniversary 283 Her spinning wheel was of the upright construction, having no heck, but a moveable eye which was carried along the pirn by a *heart-motion.
  1884 Knight, Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Heart-Net, a [fishing] net with a leader and a bowl or pound, between which is a heart-shaped funnel.
  1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. (ed. 4) 121 *Heart Piece, a heart-shaped cam used in chronographs to cause the chronograph hand to fly back to zero.
  13+ K. Alis. 2250 He hit him thorugh theo *heorte put.
  1615 Crooke Body of Man 426 Hee thinketh that the water which is found in the *heart purse is a portion of our drinke.
  1847 J. Brown Forester v. 193 That disease, now so prevalent among our larch plantations, generally termed the *heart-rotor, as some writers term it, dry-rot.  1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 311/2 A far more formidable enemy [of larches] is the disease known as the heart-rot.  1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. 571/2 Heart-rot+of beets.  1919 W. E. Hiley Fungal Dis. Common Larch v. 80 Heart-rot of trees is caused by fungi which grow saprophytically on the dead wood.  1945 New Biol. I. 52 Heart rot of swedes.  1955 Auden Shield of Achilles i. 19 An oak with heart-rot.  1968 Gloss. Terms Timber Preservation (B.S.I.) 10 Heart rot, a type of decay characteristically confined to the heart-wood.
  1896 Daily News 29 Dec. 3/2 The heart had been slowly bleeding into the pericardium or *heart-sac+and no help would have availed to save her life.
  [1908 A. Woollcott Lett. (1946) 13 Taking dinner with the mother of the girl I hope to marry some day, and she played *Hearts and Flowers for me.]   1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §265.1 Sentimentality, hearts and flowers.  1964 Times 16 Apr. 6/7 We are nearly betrayed into a hearts-and-flowers ending in domestic compromise.  1967 Listener 11 May 626/2 Hearts-and-flowers confrontations between+pop singer+and a girl friend.
  1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Heart Seine (Fishing), a species of seine, with a leader, heart, and pound secured by stakes so that the upper edge is floated at the surface and the lower touches the bottom.
  1875 T. Laslett Timber 25 Timber having much *heart-shake.  1884 Spon's Mech. Own Bk. (1886) 167 Heartshakes: splits or clefts in the centre of the tree; common in nearly every kind of timber.
  1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Heart-shells+always expressing what we call the figure of a Heart.
  1580 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1724) II. 664 Closing her eyes, and turning upon her *heart-side.
  1876 Clin. Soc. Trans. IX. 111 *Heart-sounds were clean and free from murmur.  1886 Syd. Soc. Lex., H[eart] sounds+are two in number, one dull and prolonged, the other shorter, sharper, and terminating more abruptly. They have been likened to the syllables tEb, dEp.
  c1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 52 The standing rigging is often made with four strands and a *heart strand.
  1618 Bolton Florus iii. x. (1636) 205 Then assaulting the *heart-strengths of the Warre, he destroyed Avaricum.
  1860 Chambers's Encycl. I. 254 Subject to fits of the *heart-stroke.  1874 Dunglison Med. Dict. s.v. Heart, The Beating or Impulse of the heart, Heart-stroke, Apex beat+against the parietes of the chest is mainly caused by the systole of the heart, which tends to project forwards.
  1912 F. M. Hueffer Panel i. ii. 31, I want a regularwhat you might call*heart-talk with Miss Delamere.
  1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 37 The shroud is turned in round a *heart thimble.
  1839 P. J. Bailey Festus 62 We should count time by *heart-throbs.  1846 Whittier Lines 2 He+felt the heart-throb of the free.  1908 Modern Song Favorites: High Voices 2 (title) Heart-Throbs.  1912 J. London Let. 19 Nov. (1966) 368 I've not much heart-throb left for my fellow beings.  1914 G. Burgess Burgess Unabridged 7 The jacket of the latest fiction+tells of thrills and heart-throbs.  1926 Atlantic Monthly Mar. 390/1 Word has gone out to the writers+that the heart throb is what the reading world now pulsates to.  1928 J. P. McEvoy Show Girl (title-p.), Cast.+ Also+the Heart-throb Poet.  1930 Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves ix. 227 She has got that way+from a lifetime of writing heart-throb fiction for the masses.  1943 A. A. Fair Double or Quits (1949) vii. 72 She's easy on the eyes, but she's a little too anxious to have it understood I'm her heart throb.  1958 G. Mitchell Spotted Hemlock ii. 16 He was quite a heart-throb, you know.  1959 D. du Maurier Breaking Point 202 A heart-throb, a lover, someone with wide shoulders and no hips.  1966 Listener 23 June 911/2 Rudolph Valentino was the great heart-throb of the silent screen in the nineteen-twenties.
  1952 Surg. Forum 1951 217 An arterial supply from the host was anastomosed to a pulmonary vein of the *heart transplant and an outlet for the left ventricular output of the heart transplant was provided.  1960 Ibid. X. 103 Forty-eight puppy heart transplants are reported.  1963 Surg. Gynecol. & Obstetrics CXVII. 361/2 If a renal graft fails to function for several days after transplantation, the host can be supported by dialysis. A heart transplant at the present time enjoys no such privilege and must function vigorously immediately.  1967 Times 4 Dec. 1/7 The heart transplant operation, the first in the world, took Groote Schuur's surgical team five hours.  1968 Guardian 11 Sept. 1/5 Some of the gravest criticisms yet were yesterday levelled against the over~eagerness of heart-transplant surgeons to get hold of donors.  1973 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 21 Jan. 2 It is a real heart-transplant into English of the great Alexandrian love-poet and voluptuary.
  1843 Embleton in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 11. 51 Amphidotus cordatus. Common *Heart Urchin.  1855 Kingsley Glaucus (1878) 167 The great purple heart-urchin (Spatangus purpureus), clothed in pale lilac horny spines.
  1787 Burns Farew. Brethren St. James's Lodge, Adieu! a *heart-warm, fond adieu!  1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge (1863) 200 A shout of heartwarm and heart~felt gratitude.
  1806 O. Gregory Mech. (1807) II. 203 *Heart wheel is the name given in England to a well-known method of converting a circular motion into an alternating rectilinear one+contrived we believe by Sir Samuel Morland about the year 1685.  1875 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 997 The periphery of the heart-wheel+is seen to bear upon friction wheels.
  1600 Look about You xiv. in Hazl. Dodsley VII. 426 Ay, there's the But, whose *heart-white if we hit, The game is ours.
  1888 J. S. Stallybrass tr. J. Grimm Teut. Mythol. IV. 1659 Stories of the *heart-worm.  Ibid. 1660 The miser's heart-worm.  1955 W. W. Denlinger Compl. Boston 94 Heart worms+in dogs are rare.  1957 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 207/2 Dirofilaria immitis (cause of heartworm in dogs).  1959 Listener 5 Nov. 796/1 The professional intimate, the confidential heart-worm with the hypodermic technique, is one of the horrors of television.  1965 E. J. L. Soulsby Textbk. Vet. Clin. Path. I. iv. 100 Dirofilaria immitis is the heartworm and is parasitic in the+dog, fox, wolf and various other wild carnivores.
  1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., The *heart-yarn or centre, on which four-stranded rope is formed.
  


   b. In names of trees and plants: heart-cherry, a heart-shaped variety of the cultivated cherry; heart-clover, Medicago maculata; heart-leaf, (a) = prec.; (b) an American species of Limnanthemum, also called floating heart; heart-liver = heart-clover; heart-nut, a name for the Cashew-nut, Anacardium; heart of the earth, a popular name of Self-heal, Prunella vulgaris; heart-pea, heart-seed, a name for plants of the genus Cardiospermum, especially of C. Helicacabum, from the heart-shaped scar which marks the attachment of the seed; heart-trefoil = heart-clover.

   1596 Gerarde Catal. Arborum (1876) 29 C[erasus] cordata maiora. Great *hart Cherrie.  1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 294 Heart-Cherries, because they are made like a Heart+are the firmest of all other.


  c1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 16 Herba chamedris þæt is *heortclœfre.  1794 Heart-clover [see clover n. 2].
  1854 Thoreau Walden ix. (1886) 178 A few small *heart-leaves and potamogetons.
  1794 Martyn Flora Rustica III. lxxvi, Heart Medick+others call it Heart Claver or Clover, which has been corrupted into *Heart Liver.
  1568 Turner Herbal iii. 51 Anacardium maye be called in Englishe *Hartnut of the likenes that it hath with an hart.
  1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. lii. §2. 271 The blacke winter Cherrie is called+in English the Indian hart, or *hart Pease.  173168 Miller Gard. Dict., Cardiospermum, Hart Pea; by the inhabitants of America called Wild Parsley.
  Ibid., *Heart~seed with smooth leaves.  1866 Treas. Bot. 222 The common Heartseed+sometimes called also Winter Cherry, or Heart Pea.
  1597 Gerarde Herbal (1633) 1189 The *Hart Trefoile hath+leaues ioined together by three on little slender foot~stalks, euery little leafe of the fashion of a heart, whereof it took his name.  1656 W. Coles Art of Simpling 89 Heart Trefoyle is so called+also because each Leafe containes the perfect Icon of an Heart, and that in its proper colour, viz. a flesh colour.