heed

heed

See also: Heed

English

Etymology

From Middle English heden, from Old English hēdan (“to heed, take care, observe, attend, guard, take charge, take possession, receive”), from Proto-West Germanic *hōdijan (“to heed, guard”), from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to heed, protect”). Cognate with West Frisian hoedje (“to heed”), Dutch hoeden (“to heed”), German hüten (“to heed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hiːd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːd
• Homophone: he'd

Noun

heed (uncountable)

1. Careful attention.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 4, in Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934:

     Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, being terribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long in one place.

Synonyms

• (careful attention): attention, notice, observation, regard; see also Thesaurus:attention

Collocations

Verbs often used with "heed"

give, pay or take

Translations

attention

Bulgarian: внимание (bg) n (vnimanie), предпазливост (bg) f (predpazlivost) Czech: pozornost (cs) f Dutch: aandacht (nl) m or f, hoede (nl) f, quivive m French: attention (fr) f Hungarian: figyelem (hu), odafigyelés Irish: aoidh f Italian: considerazione (it) f, riguardo (it) m, cura (it) f, ossequio (it) m Latin: audientia (la) f Macedonian: внима́ние n (vnimánie), претпа́зливост f (pretpázlivost) Occitan: atencion (oc) f Polish: baczenie (pl) n (archaic), czujność (pl) f, uwaga (pl) f Russian: внима́ние (ru) (vnimánije), забо́та (ru) (zabóta) Scottish Gaelic: aire f Serbo-Croatian: pažnja (sh) f, pozornost (sh) f, obaziranje n, uzimanje u obzir n Swedish: uppmärksamhet (sv) c, andakt (sv) c

Verb

heed (third-person singular simple present heeds, present participle heeding, simple past and past participle heeded)

1. (obsolete) To guard, protect.
2. (transitive) To mind; to regard with care; to take notice of; to attend to; to observe.
   • 1567, John Dryden translating Ovid, Metamorphoses Book 1

     With pleasure Argus the musician heeds.

   • 1913, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Poison Belt‎:

     "It comes back to me that I wanted to say something to the driver and that I couldn't make him heed me."

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, OCLC 1023879857, page 168:

     The help tended to be officious, the rules, if heeded, restrictive, and the management meddlesome.

   • 2013 September 23, Masha Gessen, "Life in a Russian Prison," New York Times (retrieved 24 September 2013):

     Tolokonnikova not only tried to adjust to life in the penal colony but she even tried to heed the criticism levied at her by colony representatives during a parole hearing.

   • 2020 July 29, David Clough, “AC/DC: the big switch in power supply”, in Rail, page 65:

     Barker's proposal to try out new equipment before mass introduction should also have been heeded, because traction components bought without trialling for the Glasgow and Great Eastern schemes gave trouble.

3. (intransitive, archaic) To pay attention, care.

Translations

to mind

Bulgarian: обръщам внимание (obrǎštam vnimanie) Czech: dbát (cs) Dutch: behartigen (nl), gade slaan French: observer (fr) German: beherzigen (de), beachten (de) Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌿𐌼𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gaumjan), 𐌿𐍆𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (ufhausjan) Greek: Ancient: ὑπακούω (hupakoúō) Hungarian: figyelembe vesz (hu), megszívlel, fejben tart Italian: importare (it), avere cura, accudire (it) Maori: manatu Portuguese: importar-se Serbo-Croatian: obraćati pažnju, paziti (sh), obraćati pozornost Spanish: importar (es) Swedish: uppmärksamma (sv), observera (sv)

to pay attention

Bulgarian: внимавам (bg) (vnimavam) Czech: věnovat pozornost Dutch: aandacht besteden, French: surveiller (fr), prêter attention (fr) Gothic: 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍉𐌽 (mundōn) Hungarian: figyel (hu), odafigyel (hu), ügyel (hu), törődik (hu) Irish: tabhair aird Italian: fare attenzione Latin: attendō Maori: manatu Occitan: far atencion (oc), prestar atencion Polish: baczyć (pl) impf (literary) Portuguese: prestar atenção Russian: внима́ть (ru) (vnimátʹ) Serbo-Croatian: obraćati pozornost, obraćati pažnju, paziti (sh), uzimati u obzir Spanish: prestar atención (es), poner atención, tener en cuenta Swedish: uppmärksamma (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: (please verify) surveiller (fr) Ido: (please verify) atencar (io)

Anagrams

• ehed, hede

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Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English hēafod, from Proto-West Germanic *haubud, from Proto-Germanic *haubudą (“head”).

Alternative forms

• hed, hede, heede, hedde, had, hade, head, heid, hiede, hide, heyd, hyede, hyde, het, heved, haved, hefed, hewed, hafed, haphed, hived, hyved, hefd, hefde, hevd, efd, hevid, hevyd
• heid, heifd, heyd, heyfd (Northern)
• hevod, heveð, heaved, heaveð, eaved, heafod, heafoð, heafad, hæved, hæfed, hæfedd, hæfved, hafved, heofod, hevet, hefet, heavet, hæfet, havet, heafd, heafde, hæfd, hæfde, heifd, heyfd, hafd, hafde, hifde, hyfde (early)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛːd/, /ˈhɛvəd/, /ˈhɛːvəd/, /hɛvd/, /hɛːvd/

Noun

heed (plural heedes)

1. The head (top portion of a human or animal):
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Apocalips 1:14, page 117v; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     ⁊ þe heed of him ⁊ his heeris weren whiyt as whiyt wolle .· ⁊ as ſnow / ⁊ þe iȝen of him as flawme of fier .·

     And his head and his hairs were white, like white wool or snow, and his eyes were like fire's flame.

   1. A headrest; a place for the head.
   2. A head-covering; headwear or hair.
   3. The head as the origin of thought; intellect or one's brain.
   4. The horns or antlers of a cervid.
2. A start or origin:
   1. The top of a waterbody or geographical feature.
   2. One of the lengthwise ends of a geographical feature.
   3. The source of a river; the headwater.
   4. The uppermost point of something; the top.
   5. The outermost extremity of something.
3. The useful end of a tool.
4. A rounded bump or boil.
5. One's ability to survive.
6. Lack of consideration; impetuousness, rashness.
7. (by extension) An individual; someone or somebody
8. (rare) A military force or troop.

Related terms

• forheed
• heedles
• hoggeshed
• spere-hed

Descendants

• English: head
  • → Japanese: ヘッド (heddo)
  • Sranan Tongo: ede
• Scots: heid
• Yola: haade, heade, hade

References

• p. 1, Arthur; A Short Sketch of his Life and History in English Verse of the First Half of the Fifteenth Century, Frederick Furnivall ed. EETS. Trübner & Co.: London. 1864.
• “hēd, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-07-12.

Etymology 2

From Old English hēafod-, from Proto-West Germanic *haubida- (“main”), derived from the noun *haubid (“head”).

Adjective

heed

1. main; head, chief, principle

Descendants

• English: head
• Scots: heid

Noun

heed (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of hed (“heed”)

Verb

heed

1. Alternative form of hadde: simple past/past participle of haven (“to have”)

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Yola

Etymology

From Middle English hede.

Noun

heed

1. heed
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     Taake heed.

     Take heed.

References

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 71