heels


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heel 1

 (hēl)
n.
1.
a. The rounded posterior portion of the human foot under and behind the ankle.
b. The corresponding part of the hind foot of other vertebrates.
c. A similar anatomical part, such as the fleshy rounded base of the human palm or the hind toe of a bird.
2.
a. The part, as of a sock, shoe, or stocking, that covers the heel.
b. The built-up portion of a shoe or boot, supporting the heel.
3. One of the crusty ends of a loaf of bread.
4. The lower or rearward part, as:
a. The part of the head of a golf club where it joins the shaft.
b. The end of a violin bow where the handle is located.
5. Nautical
a. The lower end of a mast.
b. The after end of a ship's keel.
6. Botany The basal end of a plant cutting or tuber used in propagation.
7. Oppression; tyranny: under the heel of Stalinism; the heel of an autocrat.
8. Informal A dishonorable or unscrupulous person.
v. heeled, heel·ing, heels
v.tr.
1.
a. To furnish with a heel or heels.
b. To repair or replace the heels, as for shoes.
2. Slang To furnish, especially with money.
3. To arm (a gamecock) with gaffs.
4. To press or strike with the heel: heel a horse.
v.intr.
To follow at one's heels: The dog won't heel.
Idioms:
down at the heel/heels
1. With the heel worn down. Used of shoes.
2. Shabby or poor in appearance.
lay by the heels
To put in fetters or shackles; imprison.
on/upon the heels of
1. Directly behind.
2. Immediately following.
out at the heel/heels
1. Having holes in one's socks or shoes.
2. Rundown; shabby; seedy.
take to (one's) heels
To run away; flee.
to heel
1. Close behind: The hound followed his master to heel.
2. Under discipline or control: The army swiftly brought the rebels to heel.
[Middle English, from Old English hēla.]

heel 2

 (hēl)
intr. & tr.v. heeled, heel·ing, heels
To tilt or cause to tilt to one side.
n.
A tilt, as of a boat, to one side.
[Alteration of Middle English helden, from Old English hieldan.]

heel 3

 (hēl)
tr.v. heeled, heel·ing, heels
To cover the roots of (a plant) with soil temporarily, as while preparing for a more permanent planting. Often with in: heeled in the apple saplings until the orchard had been laid out.
[Middle English helen, partly from Old English helian, to cover, heel in, and partly from Old English helan, to hide, conceal; see kel- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

heels

(hiːlz)
pl n
(Clothing & Fashion) high-heeled shoes
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

heels

  • sparable - A headless nail used for soles and heels of shoes.
  • recalcitrant - Comes from Latin recalcitrare, "kick out with the heels," from calx, "heel."
  • heel - The crusty ends of a loaf of bread are its heels.
  • Dog Star - Named for its appearing to follow at the heels of Orion the hunter.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in classic literature ?
As to the first, you are to understand, that for about seventy moons past there have been two struggling parties in this empire, under the names of TRAMECKSAN and SLAMECKSAN, from the high and low heels of their shoes, by which they distinguish themselves.
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When we were nearly at the spot the pony put down his head and threw up his heels, and sent the boy neatly over into a broad quickset hedge, and with the rein dangling from his head he set off home at a full gallop.
The pony behaved well, sir, and showed no vice; but at last he just threw up his heels and tipped the young gentleman into the thorn hedge.
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Thus spake Zarathustra, and, laughing with eyes and entrails, he stood still and turned round quickly--and behold, he almost thereby threw his shadow and follower to the ground, so closely had the latter followed at his heels, and so weak was he.
A wanderer am I, who have walked long at thy heels; always on the way, but without a goal, also without a home: so that verily, I lack little of being the eternally Wandering Jew, except that I am not eternal and not a Jew.
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All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go."
Dorothy now took Toto up solemnly in her arms, and having said one last good-bye she clapped the heels of her shoes together three times, saying:
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He glided silently on one foot half across the room, and seeming not to notice the chairs was dashing straight at them, when suddenly, clinking his spurs and spreading out his legs, he stopped short on his heels, stood so a second, stamped on the spot clanking his spurs, whirled rapidly round, and, striking his left heel against his right, flew round again in a circle.
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As the blow fell the wiry Frenchman clicked his heels together, and throwing down his foil, he stood erect and rigid as a marble statue before his master.
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The Iron Heel (well named) we feel descending upon and crushing mankind.
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"Well, when I catched that glimpse of that boot heel, the idea that went smashing through my head was, I know where he's hid the di'monds!
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Some considerating touch of humanity was in him; for at times like these, he usually abstained from patrolling the quarter-deck; because to his wearied mates, seeking repose within six inches of his ivory heel, such would have been the reverberating crack and din of that bony step, that their dreams would have been of the crunching teeth of sharks.
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