To heave means ‘to lift with great effort’ and also ‘to lift and then throw with effort.’ To utter with effort is also to heave and so is to rise and fall with a swelling motion. In physiology, sometimes followed by up it means ‘to retch, to attempt to vomit’ or ‘to vomit.’ As a nautical term, to heave means…
You probably know a dart is a small slender object with a sharp point that can be used as a weapon or as a missile in a game. Darts, used with a singular verb, is the name of the game in which you throw darts at a circular board stuck to a wall. Figuratively, a dart is also a sudden, swift movement. Related to this…
A bristle is, most commonly, a short, stiff coarse hair of certain animals like hogs, which are used in making brushes. A short, stiff hair on other animals or humans, like the hairs that make up the stubble on a man’s chin, can also be called a bristle and, generally, anything resembling such a hair can be called a bristle too. As a verb, and when we are talking about hair, to bristle means ‘to stand or rise stiffly.’ Figuratively,…
A rim is the outer edge of border of something, especially of a circular object such as a glass, bowl, vase, or pan. Any edge or frame added to a circular object for decoration or other purposes is also a rim and so is the outer circle of a wheel, attached to the hub by spokes. In basketball, the rim is the metal ring from which the net is suspended to form the basket. As a verb, to rim means…
A skid is a low moveable platform on which goods are placed so that they’re easy to move or handle or a plank or bar, especially one of a pair, on which something heavy may be slid along. A skid is also an unexpected slide on a smooth surface and this is why the verb to skid means ‘to slip or slide’ mostly sideways, like vehicles sometimes do because of ice or wet, slippery…
