heel

noun

1. The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.

   “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.

   “He drove the heel of his hand into the man's nose.”

5. (plural-normally)A high-heeled shoe.

   “She'd been wearing heels, and fell backward off her right heel and twisted or broke her ankle.”

   “Opting to improve her odds of making it up the stairs and into the privacy of her room, she kicked off her left heel, and then her right before leaning down to scoop them up.”

   “Flat shoes. As she pushed off her left heel and pressed the sole of her foot to the cold floor she looked forward to them.”

   “Oh mama, I'm just having fun On the stage in my heels It's where I belong down at the...”

6. The back, upper part of the stock.
7. The thickening of the neck of a stringed instrument where it attaches to the body.
8. The last or lowest part of anything.

   “the heel of a mast”

   “the heel of a vessel”

   “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”

9. (Australia, Ireland, Scotland, US)A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread.

   “the heel of the white loaf”

   “Boiled mutton was in one, and the heel of a damper in another.”

   “`Have ye seen,' said Uncle Jobson with basilisk severity, `what's become of the heel of to-day's loaf?'”

10. (US)The base of a bun sliced in half lengthwise.

    “The bottom half, or the bun heel is placed in the carton, and the pickle slices spread evenly over the meat or cheese.”

11. (informal)A contemptible, unscrupulous, inconsiderate, or thoughtless person.

    “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.”

    “She should be glad to have him on her side. So why did Godshawk's memories, grumbling again in that substrate of her brain, keep reminding her of heels he'd known, and tricksters?”

    “Douglas steams and stammers, a typical film noir heel, while Stone delivers her dialogue with the devilish gleam of a sly actor having a great time.”

12. (broadly, slang)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.

    “Freedman began his analysis by noting two important facts about professional wrestling: First, that heels triumph considerably more often than do babyfaces[…]”

13. The cards set aside for later use in a patience or solitaire game.
14. Anything resembling a human heel in shape; a protuberance; a knob.
15. The lower end of a timber in a frame, as a post or rafter.
16. (US, specifically)The obtuse angle of the lower end of a rafter set sloping.
17. (obsolete)A cyma reversa.

    “Of these there are two Kinds; in the one, that Part which has the greatest Projecture is Concave, and is term'd Doucine, or an Upright Ogee; in the other, the Convex Part has the greatest Projecture; and this is call'd the Heel, or Inverted Ogee.”

    “There are two kinds—the upright ogee, in which the concave part projects most, and the heel or inverted ogee, which has the convexity most prominent. This last, with its fillet above, is always the upper moulding of a classical cornice.”

    “Talon: Heel moulding or ogee”

18. The short side of an angled cut.
19. The part of a club head's face nearest the shaft.
20. The lower end of the bit (cutting edge) of an axehead, as opposed to the toe (upper end).
21. The part of a carding machine's flat nearest the cylinder.
22. The junction between the keel and the stempost of a vessel; an angular wooden join connecting the two.
23. Material stored in a smelting furnace between batches
24. The act of inclining or canting from a vertical position; a cant.

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

verb

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

   “She called to her dog to heel.”

2. To cause to follow at somebody’s heels (transitive).
3. To add a heel to, or increase the size of the heel of (a shoe or boot).
4. To kick with the heel.

   “she heeled her horse forward”

5. (transitive)To perform by the use of the heels, as in dancing, running, etc.

   “I cannot sing, Nor heel the high lavolt.”

6. (transitive)To arm with a gaff, as a cock for fighting.
7. (transitive)To hit (the ball) with the heel of the club.
8. (transitive)To make (a fair catch) standing with one foot forward, the heel on the ground and the toe up.
9. (US, intransitive)At Yale University, to work as a heeler or student journalist.
10. To incline to one side; to tilt.

    “The faster a ship sails, the better she will answer her helm; if she sail very slow, she will scarce steer at all. If she heel much, she won't answer the helm so well.”

11. (alt-of, alternative, especially, rare)Alternative form of hele (“cover; conceal”).

    “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 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.”

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

    “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.”

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

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

name

1. A part of Maasgouw in the Netherlands