Heel in Scrabble Dictionary

Valid words made from Heel

You can make 9 words from 'heel' in our Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

• 4 letters words from 'heel'
• 3 letters words from 'heel'
• 2 letters words from 'heel'

4 letters words from 'heel'

HEEL 7

HELE 7

3 letters words from 'heel'

EEL 3

LEE 3

2 letters words from 'heel'

EE 2	EH 5
EL 2	HE 5

Definitions and meaning of heel

heel

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hiːl/
• Rhymes: -iːl
• Homophones: heal, he'll, hill (in some dialects)

Etymology 1

From Middle English hele, heel, from Old English hēla, from Proto-Germanic *hanhilaz (compare North Frisian hael, Dutch hiel, Danish and Norwegian hæl, Swedish häl), diminutive of Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (“hock”), equivalent to hock +‎ -le. More at hock.

Noun

heel (plural heels)

1. (anatomy) The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.
   • 1709, John Denham, Coopers-Hill

     He [the stag] calls to mind his strength and then his speed, / His winged heels and then his armed head.

2. The part of a shoe's sole which supports the foot's heel.
3. The rear part of a sock or similar covering for the foot.
4. The part of the palm of a hand closest to the wrist.

5. (usually in the plural) A woman's high-heeled shoe.
6. (firearms) The back, upper part of the stock.
7. The last or lowest part of anything.
   • 1860, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage

     And then again the sportsmen would move at an undertaker's pace, when the fox had traversed and the hounds would be at a loss to know which was the hunt and which was the heel

8. (US, Ireland, Australia) A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread.
9. (US) The base of a bun sliced in half lengthwise.
10. A contemptible, unscrupulous, inconsiderate or thoughtless person.
    • 1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Chapter 29:

      I grinned at him sneeringly. I was the heel to end all heels. Wait until the man is down, then kick him and kick him again. He's weak. He can't resist or kick back.

11. (slang, professional wrestling) A headlining wrestler regarded as a "bad guy," whose ring persona embodies villainous or reprehensible traits and demonstrates characteristics of a braggart and a bully.
12. (card games) The cards set aside for later use in a patience or solitaire game.
13. Anything resembling a human heel in shape; a protuberance; a knob.
14. (architecture) The lower end of a timber in a frame, as a post or rafter.
15. (specifically, US) The obtuse angle of the lower end of a rafter set sloping.
16. (architecture, workman slang) A cyma reversa.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Gwilt to this entry?)

17. (carpentry) The short side of an angled cut.
18. (golf) The part of a club head's face nearest the shaft.
19. The lower end of the bit (cutting edge) of an axehead; as opposed to the toe (upper end).
20. In a carding machine, the part of a flat nearest the cylinder.

Synonyms

• (end of bread): ender, outsider (Scotland)

Antonyms

• (headlining wrestler): babyface
• (angled cut in carpentry): toe

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

heel (third-person singular simple present heels, present participle heeling, simple past and past participle heeled)

1. To follow at somebody's heels; to chase closely.

2. To add a heel to, or increase the size of the heel of (a shoe or boot).
3. To kick with the heel.
4. (transitive) To perform by the use of the heels, as in dancing, running, etc.
5. (transitive) To arm with a gaff, as a cock for fighting.
6. (golf, transitive) To hit (the ball) with the heel of the club.
7. (American football, transitive) To make (a fair catch) standing with one foot forward, the heel on the ground and the toe up.

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably inferred from the past tense of hield, from Middle English heelden, from Old English hyldan, hieldan (“to incline”), cognate with Old Norse hella (“to pour out”) (whence Danish hælde (“lean, pour”)).

Verb

heel (third-person singular simple present heels, present participle heeling, simple past and past participle heeled)

1. (chiefly nautical) To incline to one side; to tilt. [from 16th c.]

Translations

Noun

heel (plural heels)

1. (nautical) The act of inclining or canting from a vertical position; a cant. [from 17th c.]
   • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 14:

     [T]he boat, from a sudden gust of wind, taking a deep heel, I tumbled overboard and down I went […] .

Synonyms

• heeling

Etymology 3

See hele (“conceal, keep secret, cover”).

Verb

heel (third-person singular simple present heels, present participle heeling, simple past and past participle heeled)

1. (rare, now especially in the phrase "heel in") Alternative form of hele (“cover; conceal”).
   • 1911, Biennial Report of the State Geologist, North Carolina Geological Survey Section, page 92:

     They should be dug up with a sharp mattock or grub hoe, the roots being broken as little as possible, and they should be heeled in a a cool place and protected from the sun until ready to plant. When lifted for planting from the trench in which heeled the roots should be kept covered with a wet sack.

   • 1913, Indian School Journal, page 142:

     In the late fall the seedlings may be dug and heeled in very closely until all the leaves have dropped.

   • 1916, Transactions of the Indiana Horticultural Society, page 111:

     Member: Did you water the trees when you set them out?

     Walter Vonnegut: No; I heeled the trees in as soon as they were received.

   • 1937, Robert Wilson, Ernest John George, Planting and care of shelterbelts on the northern Great Plains, page 15:

     If trees are received from the nursery in the fall, they should be carefully heeled in until the planting season opens in the spring.

   • 1976, Keith W. Dorman, The Genetics and Breeding of Southern Pines, page 66:

     Place seedlings in the trench. Small-stemmed seedlings may be heeled-in in bunches of 25, but large seedlings should be heeled-in loose.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Brian Kerr, Lodge St Lawrence 144 Ritual, page 34:

     [I] of my own free will and accord, do hereby, here at and hereon, solemnly swear that I will always heel, conceal and never improperly reveal any of the secrets or mysteries of, or belonging to [the Masons].

Anagrams

• Ehle, Hele, hele

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Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /heːl/

Noun

héel m

1. cardamom

References

• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[1], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis), page 84

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɦeːl/
• Hyphenation: heel
• Rhymes: -eːl

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch hêel, from Old Dutch hēl, from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz.

Adjective

heel (comparative heler, superlative heelst)

1. complete, full, whole
2. unbroken, undamaged, untarnished
3. big, enormous, significant

Inflection

Synonyms

• gans
• volledig

Derived terms

• geheel
• helen

Related terms

• heil

Adverb

heel

1. very

Usage notes

Although an adverb, heel may be inflected as well (hele) to match the following adjective, by analogy with the inflection of adjectives in Dutch.

For example, both of these sentences are correct:

The latter form may be regarded as informal and less appropriate for formal writing.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

heel

1. first-person singular present indicative of helen
2. imperative of helen

Anagrams

• hele

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Luxembourgish

Verb

heel

1. second-person singular imperative of heelen

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Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch hēl, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz.

Adjective

hêel

1. whole, full
2. undamaged, unbroken
3. healthy, healed
4. honest, sincere, pure

Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: heel

Further reading

• “heel (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “heel (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

Source: wiktionary.org

• to supply with the raised part of a shoe.
  (source: Collins Scrabble Dictionary)

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