hefts

Noun

heft (countable and uncountable, plural hefts)

1. The feel of the weight of something; heaviness.
   • A high quality hammer should have good balance and heft.

   Synonyms:

   heftiness

2. (US, dialectal, dated except UK) The force exerted by an object due to gravitation; weight.
   • The man had been carried out of the yard while the fire was still burning; […] Public opinion was much divided, some holding that it would go hard with a man of his age and heft; but the common belief seemed to be that he was of that sort "as'd take a deal o'killin'," and that he would be none the...1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “Englebourn Village”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 1st, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 302
3. (figuratively) Graveness, seriousness; gravity.
   • He's got a good voice, and reads well; but come to a sermon—wal, ain't no gret heft in't.1878, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The Illumination”, in Poganuc People: Their Loves and Lives, New York, N.Y.: Fords, Howard, & Hulbert, →OCLC, page 35
4. (figuratively) Importance, influence; weight.
   • Put more baldly, the reason why Republicans and British Conservatives started giving each other copies of Atlas Shrugged in the 80s was that [Ayn] Rand seemed to grant intellectual heft to the prevailing ethos of the time.2017 April 10, Jonathan Freedland, “The new age of Ayn Rand: How she won over Trump and Silicon Valley”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC...
5. (US, dated, informal) The greater part of something; the bulk, the mass.
   • The turkey's nest was islanded with a fragrant swath,—the "heft" of the crop noted and rejoiced over,—[…]1865, [Adeline Dutton Train Whitney], “The Secret at the Hartshornes”, in The Gayworthys: A Story of Threads and Thrums. […], Boston, Mass.: [A. K.] Loring, […], →OCLC, page 49
6. (UK, dialectal) An act of lifting; a lift.
   • Deigning no answer, the sturdy parson seized the bigger of the two ash staves, and laying the butt of the other for a fulcrum, gave the stuck wheel such a powerful heft, that the whole cart rattled, and the crates began to dance.1882, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, “Parson Short”, in Christowell. A Dartmoor Tale. […], volume I, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 35

See all 21 meanings of heft