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more about heart
heart |
6 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Heart \Heart\, n. [OE. harte, herte, heorte, AS heorte; akin to OS herta, OFies hirte, D. hart, OHG. herza, G. herz, Icel. hjarta Sw hjerta Goth. ha['i]rt?, Lith. szirdis Russ. serdtse Ir cridhe L. cor, Gr ?, ? ????. Cf {Accord}, {Discord}, {Cordial}, 4th {Core}, {Courage}.] 1. (Anat.) A hollow, muscular organ, which by contracting rhythmically, keeps up the circulation of the blood. Why does my blood thus muster to my heart! --Shak. Note: In adult mammals and birds, the heart is four-chambered, the right auricle and ventricle being completely separated from the left auricle and ventricle; and the blood flows from the systematic veins to the right auricle, thence to the right ventricle, from which it is forced to the lungs, then returned to the left auricle, thence passes to the left ventricle, from which it is driven into the systematic arteries. See Illust. under {Aorta}. In fishes there are but one auricle and one ventricle, the blood being pumped from the ventricle through the gills to the system, and thence returned to the auricle. In most amphibians and reptiles, the separation of the auricles is partial or complete, and in reptiles the ventricles also are separated more or less completely. The so-called lymph hearts, found in many amphibians, reptiles, and birds, are contractile sacs, which pump the lymph into the veins. 2. The seat of the affections or sensibilities, collectively or separately, as love, hate, joy, grief, courage, and the like rarely, the seat of the understanding or will -- usually in a good sense when no epithet is expressed; the better or lovelier part of our nature; the spring of all our actions and purposes; the seat of moral life and character; the moral affections and character itself the individual disposition and character; as a good, tender, loving, bad hard, or selfish heart. Hearts are dust, hearts' loves remain. --Emerson. 3. The nearest the middle or center; the part most hidden and within; the inmost or most essential part of any body or system; the source of life and motion in any organization; the chief or vital portion; the center of activity, or of energetic or efficient action as the heart of a country, of a tree, etc Exploits done in the heart of France. --Shak. Peace subsisting at the heart Of endless agitation. --Wordsworth. 4. Courage; courageous purpose; spirit. Eve, recovering heart, replied. --Milton. The expelled nations take heart, and when they fly from one country invade another. --Sir W. Temple. 5. Vigorous and efficient activity; power of fertile production; condition of the soil, whether good or bad That the spent earth may gather heart again --Dryden. 6. That which resembles a heart in shape; especially, a roundish or oval figure or object having an obtuse point at one end and at the other a corresponding indentation, -- used as a symbol or representative of the heart. 7. One of a series of playing cards, distinguished by the figure or figures of a heart; as hearts are trumps. 8. Vital part secret meaning; real intention. And then show you the heart of my message. --Shak. 9. A term of affectionate or kindly and familiar address. ``I speak to thee, my heart.'' --Shak. Note: Heart is used in many compounds, the most of which need no special explanation; as heart-appalling, heart-breaking, heart-cheering, heart-chilled, heart-expanding, heart-free, heart-hardened, heart-heavy, heart-purifying, heart-searching, heart-sickening, heart-sinking, heart-stirring, heart-touching, heart-wearing, heart-whole, heart-wounding, heart-wringing, etc {After one's own heart}, conforming with one's inmost approval and desire; as a friend after my own heart. The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart. --1 Sam. xiii. 14. {At heart}, in the inmost character or disposition; at bottom; really; as he is at heart a good man. {By heart}, in the closest or most thorough manner; as to know or learn by heart. ``Composing songs, for fools to get by heart'' (that is to commit to memory, or to learn thoroughly). --Pope. {For my heart}, for my life; if my life were at stake. [Obs.] ``I could not get him for my heart to do it.'' --Shak. {Heart bond} (Masonry), a bond in which no header stone stretches across the wall, but two headers meet in the middle, and their joint is covered by another stone laid header fashion. --Knight. {Heart and hand}, with enthusiastic co["o]peration. {Heart hardness}, hardness of heart; callousness of feeling; moral insensibility. --Shak. {Heart heaviness}, depression of spirits. --Shak. {Heart point} (Her.), the fess point. See {Escutcheon}. {Heart rising}, a rising of the heart, as in opposition. {Heart shell} (Zo["o]l.), any marine, bivalve shell of the genus {Cardium} and allied genera, having a heart-shaped shell; esp., the European {Isocardia cor}; -- called also {heart cockle}. {Heart sickness}, extreme depression of spirits. {Heart and soul}, with the utmost earnestness. {Heart urchin} (Zo["o]l.), any heartshaped, spatangoid sea urchin. See {Spatangoid}. {Heart wheel}, a form of cam, shaped like a heart. See {Cam}. {In good heart}, in good courage; in good hope. {Out of heart}, discouraged. {Poor heart}, an exclamation of pity. {To break the heart of}. a To bring to despair or hopeless grief; to cause to be utterly cast down by sorrow. b To bring almost to completion; to finish very nearly; -- said of anything undertaken; as he has broken the heart of the task. {To find in the heart}, to be willing or disposed. ``I could find in my heart to ask your pardon.'' --Sir P. Sidney. {To have at heart}, to desire anything earnestly. {To have in the heart}, to purpose; to design or intend to do {To have the heart in the mouth}, to be much frightened. {To lose heart}, to become discouraged. {To lose one's heart}, to fall in love. {To set the heart at rest}, to put one's self at ease. {To set the heart upon}, to fix the desires on to long for earnestly; to be very fond of {To take heart of grace}, to take courage. {To take to heart}, to grieve over {To wear one's heart upon one's sleeve}, to expose one's feelings or intentions; to be frank or impulsive. {With all one's whole heart}, very earnestly; fully; completely; devotedly. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Heart \Heart\, v. t. To give heart to to hearten; to encourage; to inspirit. [Obs.] My cause is hearted; thine hath no less reason. --Shak. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Heart \Heart\, v. i. To form a compact center or heart; as a hearting cabbage. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: heart n 1: the locus of feelings and intuitions; "in your heart you know it is true"; "her story would melt your bosom" [syn: {bosom}] 2: the hollow muscular organ whose rhythmic contractions pump blood through the body; "he stood still his heart thumping wildly" [syn: {pump}, {ticker}] 3: the courage to carry on: "he kept fighting on pure spunk"; "you haven't got the heart for baseball" [syn: {mettle}, {nerve}, {spunk}] 4: an area that is approximately central within some larger region; "it is in the center of town"; "they ran forward into the heart of the struggle"; "they were in the eye of the storm" [syn: {center}, {centre}, {middle}, {eye}] 5: the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience: "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the nub of the story" [syn: {kernel}, {substance}, {core}, {center}, {essence}, {gist}, {inwardness}, {marrow}, {meat}, {nub}, {pith}, {sum}, {nitty-gritty}] 6: an inclination or tendency of a certain kind "he had a change of heart" [syn: {spirit}] 7: a plane figure with rounded sides curving inward at the top and intersecting at the bottom; conventionally used on playing cards and valentines; "he drew a heart and called it a valentine" 8: a firm rather dry variety meat (usually beef or veal); "a five-pound beef heart will serve six" 9: a positive feeling of liking; "he had trouble expressing the affection he felt"; "the child won everyone's heart" [syn: {affection}, {affectionateness}, {fondness}, {tenderness}, {warmheartedness}] 10: a playing card in the major suit of hearts; "he led the queen of hearts" From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Heart According to the Bible, the heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. Heart" and soul" are often used interchangeably (Deut. 6:5; 26:16; comp. Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33), but this is not generally the case. The heart is the "home of the personal life," and hence a man is designated, according to his heart, wise (1 Kings 3:12, etc.), pure (Ps. 24:4; Matt. 5:8, etc.), upright and righteous (Gen. 20:5, 6; Ps 11:2; 78:72), pious and good (Luke 8:15), etc In these and such passages the word soul" could not be substituted for "heart." The heart is also the seat of the conscience (Rom. 2:15). It is naturally wicked (Gen. 8:21), and hence it contaminates the whole life and character (Matt. 12:34; 15:18; comp. Eccl. 8:11; Ps 73:7). Hence the heart must be changed, regenerated (Ezek. 36:26; 11:19; Ps 51:10-14), before a man can willingly obey God. The process of salvation begins in the heart by the believing reception of the testimony of God, while the rejection of that testimony hardens the heart (Ps. 95:8; Prov. 28:14; 2 Chr. 36:13). "Hardness of heart evidences itself by light views of sin; partial acknowledgment and confession of it pride and conceit; ingratitude; unconcern about the word and ordinances of God; inattention to divine providences; stifling convictions of conscience; shunning reproof; presumption, and general ignorance of divine things." From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]: HEART, n. An automatic, muscular blood-pump. Figuratively, this useful organ is said to be the esat of emotions and sentiments -- a very pretty fancy which however, is nothing but a survival of a once universal belief. It is now known that the sentiments and emotions reside in the stomach, being evolved from food by chemical action of the gastric fluid. The exact process by which a beefsteak becomes a feeling -- tender or not according to the age of the animal from which it was cut; the successive stages of elaboration through which a caviar sandwich is transmuted to a quaint fancy and reappears as a pungent epigram; the marvelous functional methods of converting a hard-boiled egg into religious contrition, or a cream-puff into a sigh of sensibility -- these things have been patiently ascertained by M. Pasteur, and by him expounded with convincing lucidity. (See, also my monograph, _The Essential Identity of the Spiritual Affections and Certain Intestinal Gases Freed in Digestion_ -- 4to, 687 pp.) In a scientific work entitled, I believe, _Delectatio Demonorum_ (John Camden Hotton, London, 1873) this view of the sentiments receives a striking illustration; and for further light consult Professor Dam's famous treatise on _Love as a Product of Alimentary Maceration_.
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