heave-ho

alternative heave ho · alternative heave-o

1. An exclamation used when pulling, especially by sailors while pulling on a rope.

   Heave ho! up they hoisted their prize, dripping with moisture, and festooned with verdant water-moss.

   1837, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “A Bell's Biography”, in The Snow Image and Other Twice Told Tales

   Synonyms: yeave-ho

plural heave-hoes · plural heave-hos · alternative heave ho · alternative heave-o

1. A cry of heave-ho.

   The slow, rhythmic movement of the gang to the steady “Heave ho” began again.

   1898, Francis Hopkinson Smith, “The “Heave Ho” of Lonny Bowles”, in Caleb West, Master Diver, Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company

   1 more example

   Over the water came the clank and rattle of chains and the "Heave-ho!" of the sailors getting ready for departure.

   1878 September 7, Dorothy Boulger [as Theo Gift], “An Island Princess”, in All The Year Round, volume 21, number 510, page 240

2. informalAn ejection; a forced removal; a dismissal (as from a job or relationship).

   Why would you think I'm still seeing Colin Murphy? I gave him the heave-ho, remember?

   2002 August 8, Days of our Lives

   2 more examples

   When I was a kid—well, more of a kid than I am now—I used to believe he really was a bishop—unfrocked, of course, or ungaitered, or whatever they call it when they give a bishop the heave-ho.

   1961, Henry Beam Piper, Four-Day Planet, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 13

   "My sister, may she rest in peace, might have had a much better life if she had given her husband, Ernie, the heave-ho before she married him," Florence said.

   1993, Bette Pesetsky, The Late Night Muse, HarperPerennial, →ISBN, page 187

present singular third person heave-hoes · participle present heave-hoing · participle past heave-hoed · past heave-hoed · alternative heave ho · alternative heave-o

1. informalTo pull forcefully.

   They were heave-ho-ing, stopping and unstopping, pawling, catting, and fishing, for three hours;

   1840, Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast

   Synonyms: yeave-ho