Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To lift forcefully from beneath; heave upward.
  • intransitive verb To be lifted or thrust upward.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To heave or lift up; raise up or aloft.
  • To be lifted up; rise.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To heave or lift up from beneath; to raise.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To heave or lift up; raise up or aloft.
  • verb transitive To lift or thrust something upward forcefully, or be similarly lifted or thrust upward.
  • verb intransitive To be lifted up; rise.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb lift forcefully from beneath

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English upheven, from Old English ūphebban, ūpāhebban ("to lift up, raise up, exalt, rise in the air, fly"), equivalent to up- +‎ heave. Cognate with Dutch opheffen ("to lift, raise"), German aufheben ("to lift, raise, cancel, repeal").

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Examples

  • [T] here are many examples of the sublime which are independent of passion, such as the daring words of Homer with regard to the Aloadae, to take one out of numberless instances, "Yea, Ossa in fury they strove to upheave on Olympus on high,/With forest-clad Pelion above, that thence they might step to the sky."

    On the Sublime Hal Duncan 2010

  • [T] here are many examples of the sublime which are independent of passion, such as the daring words of Homer with regard to the Aloadae, to take one out of numberless instances, "Yea, Ossa in fury they strove to upheave on Olympus on high,/With forest-clad Pelion above, that thence they might step to the sky."

    Archive 2010-03-01 Hal Duncan 2010

  • In addition, by applying its algorithmic, datacentric approach to economics, Google had quietly begun a revolution that would transform and upheave the worlds of media and advertising.

    In the Plex Steven Levy 2011

  • In addition, by applying its algorithmic, datacentric approach to economics, Google had quietly begun a revolution that would transform and upheave the worlds of media and advertising.

    In the Plex Steven Levy 2011

  • And trafficking of the world, upheave existing institutions, and overturn all the social relations of life.

    Prager on the 2010 election 2010

  • I bought a pc a couple of years back that had “upheave to USB” on the door covering the USB ports. —

    Warning: Racially Offensive Furniture - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com 2007

  • It shows there can‘t be any snow in Rome because otherwise it would buckle and upheave the street, it shows this, it shows that.

    Patrick Rothfuss: „There will be sex“ « Memesis Virtualis 2009

  • It shows there can‘t be any snow in Rome because otherwise it would buckle and upheave the street, it shows this, it shows that.

    2009 Mai « Memesis Virtualis 2009

  • And your hesitant heart flutters, not wanting to upheave.

    Tamsin Rothschild: My Life and Poetry 2008

  • In this case, when I have really needed to mobilize myself in times of challenge or fear, I have found myself repeating "Your hesitant heart flutters, not wanting to upheave."

    Tamsin Rothschild: My Life and Poetry 2008

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