hefted

Verb (1)

heft (third-person singular simple present hefts, present participle hefting, simple past and past participle hefted)

1. (UK, US, dialectal, informal, transitive) To lift or lift up (something, especially a heavy object).
   • He hefted the sack of concrete into the truck.

   Synonyms:

   hoist

2. (UK, US, dialectal, informal, transitive) To test the weight of (something) by lifting.
   • [H]e took up a root or two [potatoes] here and there, and "hefted it," (that is to say, poised it carefully to judge the weight, as one does a letter for the post) and then stroked the sleek skin lovingly, and put it down gingerly for fear of any bruise.1894, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, “The Potato-field”, in Perlycross: A Tale of the Western Hills, London: Sampson Low, Marston, & Company […], →OCLC, page 58
   1. (UK, US, dialectal, figuratively, informal, transitive) To evaluate or test (someone or something).
      • Sim's ben to college, and he's putty smart and chipper. Come to heft him, tho', he don't weigh much 'longside o' Parson Cushing.1878, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The Illumination”, in Poganuc People: Their Loves and Lives, New York, N.Y.: Fords, Howard, & Hulbert, →OCLC, pages 34–35
3. (UK, US, dialectal, informal, intransitive) To have (substantial) weight; to weigh.
   • "[I]t's yellow! is it gold?" / "My!" exclaimed his mother, weighing it in her hand, "I do believe it is. Brass never would heft so much, and would be green. Bless me, Wat, this is a find! Where ever did you come by it? In the gutters, do you say?"1893, Charlotte M[ary] Yonge, “The Hoard”, in The Treasures in the Marshes, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Whittaker, […], →OCLC, page 12

Verb (2)

heft (third-person singular simple present hefts, present participle hefting, simple past and past participle hefted)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, UK, US, dialectal, informal) To accustom (a flock or group of farm animals, chiefly cattle or sheep) to a piece of pastureland.
   • For I had been "hefting" (as the business is called in our Galloway land) a double score of lambs which had just been brought from a neighbouring lowland farm to summer upon our scanty upland pastures. Now it is the nature of sheep to return if they can to their mother-hill, or, at least, to stray...1898, S[amuel] R[utherford] Crockett, “The Year Terrible”, in The Standard Bearer, London: Methuen and Co. […], →OCLC, page 6
2. (Northern England, Scotland, UK, US, dialectal, figuratively) To establish or settle (someone) in an occupation or place of residence.
   • [I]t may be as well that Alan and you do not meet till he is hefted as it were to his new calling.1824 June, [Walter Scott], “Letter IX. Alexander Fairford, W.S. to Mr Darsie Latimer.”, in Redgauntlet, […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co....

See all 21 meanings of heft