To heave means to lift, pull, or throw something heavy with great effort. When you heave a full backpack onto your shoulders, you're using real muscle power to get it up there. Sailors heave on thick ropes to raise anchors or adjust sails. If you've ever tried moving a piece of furniture, you know the feeling of having to heave it across the room.

The word captures that sense of strain and exertion. You don't heave a pencil, you heave a boulder. You don't heave a piece of paper, you heave a stack of textbooks. There's always weight and effort involved.

Heave can also describe a rising and falling motion, like when your chest heaves after running hard, or when ocean waves make a boat heave up and down. When someone feels sick to their stomach, they might heave, meaning their body is trying to throw up.

In older sailing language, “heave ho!” was the command sailors shouted while pulling together on ropes, coordinating their effort with a rhythm. The phrase captures perfectly what heaving is all about: physical work that takes real strength.