heavy vs ponderous what difference
what is difference between heavy and ponderous
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English hevy, heviȝ, from Old English hefiġ, hefeġ, hæfiġ (“heavy; important, grave, severe, serious; oppressive, grievous; slow, dull”), from Proto-West Germanic *habīg (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Germanic *habīgaz (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to take, grasp, hold”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: hevʹi
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈhɛ.vi/
- (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈhe.vi/
- Rhymes: -ɛvi
Adjective
heavy (comparative heavier, superlative heaviest)
- (of a physical object) Having great weight.
- (of a topic) Serious, somber.
- Not easy to bear; burdensome; oppressive.
- The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod.
- 1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion
- Sent hither by my Husband to impart the heavy news.
- (Britain, slang, dated) Good.
- (dated, late 1960s, 1970s, US) Profound.
- (of a rate of flow) High, great.
- 1998, Stanley George Clayton, “”Menstruation” in Encyclopedia Britannica
- The ovarian response to gonadotropic hormones may be erratic at first, so that irregular or heavy bleeding sometimes occurs
- 1998, Stanley George Clayton, “”Menstruation” in Encyclopedia Britannica
- (slang) Armed.
- (music) Louder, more distorted.
- (of weather) Hot and humid.
- (of a person) Doing the specified activity more intensely than most other people.
- (of food) High in fat or protein; difficult to digest.
- Of great force, power, or intensity; deep or intense.
- 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV
- The surf was not heavy, and there was no undertow, so we made shore easily, effecting an equally easy landing.
- 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV
- Laden to a great extent.
- Laden with that which is weighty; encumbered; burdened; bowed down, either with an actual burden, or with grief, pain, disappointment, etc.
- 1613, William Browne, Britannia’s Pastorals
- Seating himselfe within a darkesome cave, / (Such places heavy Saturnists doe crave,) / Where yet the gladsome day was never seene […]
- 1613, William Browne, Britannia’s Pastorals
- Slow; sluggish; inactive; or lifeless, dull, inanimate, stupid.
- a heavy, dull, degenerate mind
- Neither [is] his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.
- Impeding motion; cloggy; clayey.
- a heavy road; a heavy soil
- Not raised or leavened.
- (of wines or spirits) Having much body or strength.
- (obsolete) With child; pregnant.
- (physics) Containing one or more isotopes that are heavier than the normal one.
- (petroleum) Having high viscosity.
Synonyms
- sweer/swear
Antonyms
- light
Derived terms
Pages starting with “heavy”.
Related terms
- heave
- heft
Translations
Adverb
heavy (comparative more heavy, superlative most heavy)
- In a heavy manner; weightily; heavily; gravely.
- heavy laden with their sins
- (colloquial, nonstandard) To a great degree; greatly.
- (India, colloquial) very
Derived terms
- hang heavy
- heavy-laden
Noun
heavy (plural heavies or heavys)
- A villain or bad guy; the one responsible for evil or aggressive acts.
- With his wrinkled, uneven face, the actor always seemed to play the heavy in films.
- (slang) A doorman, bouncer or bodyguard.
- A fight started outside the bar but the heavies came out and stopped it.
- (journalism, slang, chiefly in the plural) A newspaper of the quality press.
- 1973, Allen Hutt, The changing newspaper (page 151)
- The comment may be offered here that the ‘heavies’ have been the Design Award’s principal scorers, both in the overall bronze plaque days and, since, in the Daily/Sunday Class 1.
- 2006, Richard Keeble, The Newspapers Handbook
- Reviewers in the heavies aim to impress with the depth of their knowledge and appreciation.
- 1973, Allen Hutt, The changing newspaper (page 151)
- (Should we move, merge or split(+) this sense?) (aviation) A large multi-engined aircraft. (The term heavy normally follows the call-sign when used by air traffic controllers.)
Derived terms
- brain heavy
- dog heavy
Translations
Verb
heavy (third-person singular simple present heavies, present participle heavying, simple past and past participle heavied)
- (often with “up”) To make heavier. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- To sadden. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (Australia, New Zealand, informal) To use power or wealth to exert influence on, e.g., governments or corporations; to pressure.
- The union was well known for the methods it used to heavy many businesses.
- 1985, Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives Weekly Hansard, Issue 11, Part 1, page 1570,
- […] the Prime Minister sought to evade the simple fact that he heavied Mr Reid to get rid of Dr Armstrong.
- 2001, Finola Moorhead, Darkness More Visible, Spinifex Press, Australia, page 557,
- But he is on the wrong horse, heavying me. My phone′s tapped. Well, he won′t find anything.
- 2005, David Clune, Ken Turner (editors), The Premiers of New South Wales, 1856-2005, Volume 3: 1901-2005, page 421,
- But the next two days of the Conference also produced some very visible lobbying for the succession and apparent heavying of contenders like Brereton, Anderson and Mulock – much of it caught on television.
Etymology 2
heave + -y
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈhiːvi/
Adjective
heavy (comparative more heavy, superlative most heavy)
- Having the heaves.
- a heavy horse
See also
- heavy cake
References
- heavy at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams
- Havey, Yahve
German
Etymology
From English heavy.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈhɛvi/
Adjective
heavy (not comparable)
- (predicative, colloquial, probably slightly dated) heavy; intense; serious; shocking (extraordinary, especially in a bad way)
- Synonyms: heftig, krass, nicht ohne, ein starkes Stück
Spanish
Etymology
From English heavy (metal).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈxebi/, [ˈxe.β̞i]
Adjective
heavy (plural heavys)
- heavy (pertaining to heavy metal)
- heavy (intense)
- (Dominican Republic, informal) cool
English
Etymology
Ultimately from Latin ponderōsus (“weighty”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɒn.dəɹ.əs/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈpɑn.dɚ.əs/
Adjective
ponderous (comparative more ponderous, superlative most ponderous)
- Heavy, massive, weighty.
- 1879, Julian Hawthorne, Archibald Malmaison, ch. 5:
- [H]e saw, at the end of a shallow embrasure, a ponderous door of dark wood, braced with iron.
- c. 1920, Edgar B. P. Darlington, The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings, ch. 4:
- The great elephant, when the cage was being placed, would, at a signal from its keeper, place its ponderous head against one side of the cage and push.
- 1879, Julian Hawthorne, Archibald Malmaison, ch. 5:
- (figuratively, by extension) Serious, onerous, oppressive.
- 1781, Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets, “Dryden”:
- It was Dryden’s opinion . . . that the drama required an alternation of comick and tragick scenes; and that it is necessary to mitigate, by alleviations of merriment, the pressure of ponderous events, and the fatigue of toilsome passions.
- 1845, Charles Dickens, Pictures From Italy, ch. 11:
- In its court-yard—worthy of the Castle of Otranto in its ponderous gloom—is a massive staircase.
- 1915, Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out, ch. 19:
- For the time, her own body was the source of all the life in the world, which tried to burst forth here—there—and was repressed now by Mr. Bax, now by Evelyn, now by the imposition of ponderous stupidity.
- 1781, Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets, “Dryden”:
- Clumsy, unwieldy, or slow, especially due to weight.
- 1915, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Little Miss Grouch, ch. 10:
- Slowly, through an increasing glow that lighted land and water alike, the leviathan of the deep made her ponderous progress to the hill-encircled harbor.
- 1919, Virginia Woolf, “Kew Gardens”:
- Following his steps . . . came two elderly women of the lower middle class, one stout and ponderous, the other rosy cheeked and nimble.
- 1915, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Little Miss Grouch, ch. 10:
- Dull, boring, tedious; long-winded in expression.
- 1863, Elizabeth Gaskell, “Cousin Phillis”:
- Over supper the minister did unbend a little into one or two ponderous jokes.
- 1918, Gene Stratton-Porter, A Daughter Of The Land, ch. 2:
- [A]s certainly as any one said anything in her presence that she had occasion to repeat, she changed the wording to six-syllabled mouthfuls, delivered with ponderous circumlocution.
- 1863, Elizabeth Gaskell, “Cousin Phillis”:
- (rare) Characterized by or associated with pondering.
- c. 1660, Thomas Manton, “Sermon Upon John III” in Works of Thomas Manton (2002 edition), →ISBN, p. 464:
- Ponderous thoughts take hold of the heart; musing maketh the fire to burn, and steady sight hath the greatest influence upon us.
- 1804, The Literary Magazine and American Register, vol. 2, no. 7, p. 10:
- The acute and ponderous mind of Dr. Johnson was not always right in its decisions.
- 1850, Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, vol. 41, p. 242:
- They are the pleasantest of all companions, and perhaps the most affluent in correct opinions of men and things generally, although little addicted to ponderous consideration or deep research.
- c. 1660, Thomas Manton, “Sermon Upon John III” in Works of Thomas Manton (2002 edition), →ISBN, p. 464:
- (obsolete) Dense.
Synonyms
- (heavy, massive): heavy, massive
- (serious, onerous): oppressive, serious
Derived terms
- ponderously
- ponderousness
Translations
Anagrams
- neuropods