heat

• enPR: hēt, IPA^(key): /hiːt/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -iːt

From Middle English hete, from Old English hǣte, hǣtu (“heat, warmth; fervor, ardor”), from Proto-Germanic *haitį̄ (“heat”), from Proto-Indo-European *kayd-, a derived form of *kay- (“heat; hot”). Cognate with Scots hete (“heat”), North Frisian hiet (“heat”), Old High German heizī (“heat”). Related also to Dutch hitte (“heat”), German Hitze (“heat”), Swedish hetta (“heat”), Icelandic hiti (“heat”).

heat (countable and uncountable, plural heats)

1. (uncountable) Thermal energy.
   • 2007, James Shipman, Jerry Wilson, Aaron Todd, An Introduction to Physical Science: Twelfth Edition, pages 106–108:

     Heat and temperature, although different, are intimately related. [...] For example, suppose you added equal amounts of heat to equal masses of iron and aluminum. How do you think their temperatures would change? […] if the temperature of the iron increased by 100 C°, the corresponding temperature change in the aluminum would be only 48 C°.

   • 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

     Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.

   This furnace puts out 5000 BTUs of heat.   That engine is really throwing off some heat.   Removal of heat from the liquid caused it to turn into a solid.

2. (uncountable) The condition or quality of being hot.

   Stay out of the heat of the sun!

3. (uncountable) An attribute of a spice that causes a burning sensation in the mouth.

   The chili sauce gave the dish heat.

4. (uncountable) A period of intensity, particularly of emotion.

   Synonyms: passion, vehemence

   It's easy to make bad decisions in the heat of the moment.

5. (uncountable) An undesirable amount of attention.

   The heat from her family after her DUI arrest was unbearable.

6. (uncountable, slang) The police.

   The heat! Scram!

7. (uncountable, slang) One or more firearms.
   • 1983, Larry Niven; Jerry Pournelle, Lucifer's hammer‎, page 508:

     You carrying heat?" "You saw me unload the pistol," Hugo said. "It's in the waistband. And the kitchen knife. I need that for eating.

   • 2004, Tom Clancy, The Teeth of the Tiger‎, page 62:

     Evidently, he wasn't carrying heat with him at the time." "Civilized place like Rome, why bother?" Granger observed.

   • 2005, John Sayles, Pride of the Bimbos, page 187:

     Pogo Burns is not a guy who likes to be threatened with a rifle. Especially when it's for no good reason. You never show heat unless you plan to use it.

   • 2007, Brian Groh, Summer People, page 234:

     "I should have brought some heat for you." "Heat?" "A burner, man, a gun."

   • 2008, James Swain, The Night Stalker, page 92:

     Both were carrying heat, and I slipped their pieces into my pants pockets.

8. (countable, baseball) A fastball.

   The catcher called for the heat, high and tight.

9. (uncountable) A condition where a mammal is aroused sexually or where it is especially fertile and therefore eager to mate.

   The male canines were attracted by the female in heat.

10. (countable) A preliminary race, used to determine the participants in a final race

    The runner had high hopes, but was out of contention after the first heat.

11. (countable) One cycle of bringing metal to maximum temperature and working it until it is too cool to work further.

    I can make a scroll like that in a single heat.

12. (countable) A hot spell.

    The children stayed indoors during this year's summer heat.

13. (uncountable) Heating system; a system that raises the temperature of a room or building.

    I'm freezing; could you turn on the heat?

14. (uncountable) The output of a heating system.

    During the power outage we had no heat because the controls are electric.   Older folks like more heat than the young.

From Middle English heten, from Old English hǣtan (“to heat; become hot”), from Proto-Germanic *haitijaną (“to heat, make hot”).

heat (third-person singular simple present heats, present participle heating, simple past and past participle heated or (dialectal) het)

1. (transitive) To cause an increase in temperature of (an object or space); to cause to become hot (often with "up").

   I'll heat up the water.

2. (intransitive) To become hotter.

   There's a pot of soup heating on the stove.

3. (transitive, figuratively) To excite or make hot by action or emotion; to make feverish.
   • William Shakespeare

     Pray, walk softly; do not heat your blood.

4. (transitive, figuratively) To excite ardour in; to rouse to action; to excite to excess; to inflame, as the passions.
   • John Dryden

     A noble emulation heats your breast.

5. (transitive, slang) To arouse, to excite (sexually).

   The massage heated her up.

• stoke
• warm up
• heat up; hot up, hot

• Thea, eath, haet, hate, heta

From English heat.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhiːt/
• Homophone: hit

heat n

1. (sports) A heat, a preliminary race, used to determine the participants in a final race

   Johansson och Skoog går vidare från det första heatet.

   Johansson and Skoog are through from the first heat.