heel
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: derivation
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Etymology: Etymology tree
Middle English hele
English heel
From Middle English hele, from Old English hēla, from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄hilō, from Proto-Germanic *hanhilaz, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (“heel, hock”), equivalent to hock + -le. More at hock.
Compare North Frisian haiel, West Frisian hyl, Dutch hiel, German Low German Hiel, Danish and Norwegian hæl, Swedish häl.
Base: hock
Affixes: -le
Inflected forms:
form: heels
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: heels
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: heeling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: heeled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: heeled
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.
pos: noun
examples: He [the stag] calls to mind his strength and then his speed, / His winged heels and then his armed head.
gloss: The part of a shoe's sole which supports the foot's heel.
pos: noun
gloss: The rear part of a sock or similar covering for the foot.
pos: noun
gloss: The part of the palm of a hand closest to the wrist.
pos: noun
examples: He drove the heel of his hand into the man's nose.
gloss: A high-heeled shoe.
pos: noun
tags: plural-normally
examples: She'd been wearing heels, and fell backward off her right heel and twisted or broke her ankle.
Opting to improve her odds of making it up the stairs and into the privacy of her room, she kicked off her left heel, and then her right before leaning down to scoop them up.
Flat shoes. As she pushed off her left heel and pressed the sole of her foot to the cold floor she looked forward to them.
Oh mama, I'm just having fun
On the stage in my heels
It's where I belong down at the...
gloss: The back, upper part of the stock.
pos: noun
gloss: The thickening of the neck of a stringed instrument where it attaches to the body.
pos: noun
gloss: The last or lowest part of anything.
pos: noun
examples: the heel of a mast
the heel of a vessel
And then again the sportsmen would move at an undertaker's pace, when the fox had traversed and the hounds would be at a loss to know which was the hunt and which was the heel
gloss: A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread.
pos: noun
tags: Australia
Ireland
Scotland
US
examples: the heel of the white loaf
Boiled mutton was in one, and the heel of a damper in another.
`Have ye seen,' said Uncle Jobson with basilisk severity, `what's become of the heel of to-day's loaf?'
gloss: The base of a bun sliced in half lengthwise.
pos: noun
tags: US
examples: The bottom half, or the bun heel is placed in the carton, and the pickle slices spread evenly over the meat or cheese.
gloss: A contemptible, unscrupulous, inconsiderate, or thoughtless person.
pos: noun
tags: informal
examples: I grinned at him sneeringly. I was the heel to end all heels. Wait until the man is down, then kick him and kick him again. He's weak. He can't resist or kick back.
She should be glad to have him on her side. So why did Godshawk's memories, grumbling again in that substrate of her brain, keep reminding her of heels he'd known, and tricksters?
Douglas steams and stammers, a typical film noir heel, while Stone delivers her dialogue with the devilish gleam of a sly actor having a great time.
gloss: A headlining wrestler regarded as a "bad guy," whose ring persona embodies villainous or reprehensible traits and demonstrates characteristics of a braggart and a bully.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
slang
examples: Freedman began his analysis by noting two important facts about professional wrestling: First, that heels triumph considerably more often than do babyfaces[…]
gloss: The cards set aside for later use in a patience or solitaire game.
pos: noun
gloss: Anything resembling a human heel in shape; a protuberance; a knob.
pos: noun
gloss: The lower end of a timber in a frame, as a post or rafter.
pos: noun
gloss: The obtuse angle of the lower end of a rafter set sloping.
pos: noun
tags: US
specifically
gloss: A cyma reversa.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: Of these there are two Kinds; in the one, that Part which has the greatest Projecture is Concave, and is term'd Doucine, or an Upright Ogee; in the other, the Convex Part has the greatest Projecture; and this is call'd the Heel, or Inverted Ogee.
There are two kinds—the upright ogee, in which the concave part projects most, and the heel or inverted ogee, which has the convexity most prominent. This last, with its fillet above, is always the upper moulding of a classical cornice.
Talon: Heel moulding or ogee
gloss: The short side of an angled cut.
pos: noun
gloss: The part of a club head's face nearest the shaft.
pos: noun
gloss: The lower end of the bit (cutting edge) of an axehead, as opposed to the toe (upper end).
pos: noun
gloss: The part of a carding machine's flat nearest the cylinder.
pos: noun
gloss: The junction between the keel and the stempost of a vessel; an angular wooden join connecting the two.
pos: noun
gloss: Material stored in a smelting furnace between batches
pos: noun
gloss: To follow at somebody's heels; to chase closely.
pos: verb
examples: She called to her dog to heel.
gloss: To cause to follow at somebody’s heels (transitive).
pos: verb
gloss: To add a heel to, or increase the size of the heel of (a shoe or boot).
pos: verb
gloss: To kick with the heel.
pos: verb
examples: she heeled her horse forward
gloss: To perform by the use of the heels, as in dancing, running, etc.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I cannot sing,
 Nor heel the high lavolt.
gloss: To arm with a gaff, as a cock for fighting.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To hit (the ball) with the heel of the club.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To make (a fair catch) standing with one foot forward, the heel on the ground and the toe up.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: At Yale University, to work as a heeler or student journalist.
pos: verb
tags: US
intransitive
Synonyms: boot
butt
crust
ender
knob-end
outsider
Antonyms: babyface
toe
Derived words: Achilles' heel
Achilles heel
at someone's heels
backheel
back-heel
bootheel
bring someone to heel
bring to heel
cool one's heels
couldn't pour water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel
cowheel
Cuban heel
dig in one's heels
down-at-heel
down at heel
down at the heel
down-at-the-heel
down at the heels
down-at-the-heels
down in the heel
down in the heels
free-heel skiing
French heel
headless over heels
head over heels
heel-and-toe
heelball
heel bar
heel bone
heelbone
heel-dragger
heeler
heel-face turn
heel flip
heelflip
heelful
heel hook
heelie
heelies
heelish
heelless
heel lift
heel over
heel pad syndrome
heel palm
heel-palm
heelpath
heelpiece
heelplate
heelpost
heelprint
heelproof
heel ring
heelside
heel stick
heel strike
heelstrike
heeltap
heel turn
heelwork
high-heel
high heel
high heels
his heels
hot on somebody's heels
hot on someone's heels
iron heel
kick one's heels
kick up one's heels
kitten heel
larkheel
lark's-heel
lay by the heels
Louis heel
midheel
neck and heels
out at heels
out at the heels
Parliamentary heel
parliamentary heel
pencil heel
reheel
roundheels
rubber heels
shit heel
shitheel
shit-heel
show a clean pair of heels
sit back on one's heels
skyscraper heel
snap at someone's heels
spike heel
stiletto heel
stripper heel
take to one's heels
Tar Heel
toe-and-heel
to heel
turn on one's heel
upon the heels of
wedge heel
well-heeled
wire-heel
heel out
heel up
Translations: