• IPA: /hɛft/

heft

1. (uncountable) Weight.

   • a man of his age and heft

2. Heaviness, the feel of weight.

   A high quality hammer should have good balance and heft.

3. (Northern England) A piece of mountain pasture to which a farm animal has become hefted (accustomed).
4. An animal that has become hefted thus.
5. (West of Ireland) Poor condition in sheep caused by mineral deficiency.
6. The act or effort of heaving; violent strain or exertion.
   • c. 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The VVinters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene i]:

     He cracks his gorge, his sides, / With violent hefts.

7. (US, dated, colloquial) The greater part or bulk of anything.

   The heft of the crop was spoiled.

• French: poids
• German: Gewicht
• Italian: peso
• Russian: вес
• Spanish: peso

• German: Schwere
• Russian: тяжесть
• Spanish: pesadez

heft (hefts, present participle hefting; past and past participle hefted)

1. (transitive) To lift up; especially, to lift something heavy.

   He hefted the sack of concrete into the truck.

2. (transitive) To test the weight of something by lifting it.
3. (transitive, Northern England and Scotland) To make (a farm animal, especially a flock of sheep) accustomed and attached to an area of mountain pasture.
4. (obsolete) Past participle of heave

• (to lift up) hoist

• French: hisser
• Italian: sollevare
• Russian: поднимать

heft (plural hefts)

1. A number of sheets of paper fastened together, as for a notebook.
2. A part of a serial publication.

   • The size of hefts will depend on the material requiring attention, and the annual volume is to cost about 15 marks.