Definition
adjHaving great weight., Heavyset: overweight.
Sentence Examples
I'm glad we didn't go there because there were some localized heavy rain showers.
I was drenched to the skin because of the heavy rain.
He was carrying a heavy bag of groceries.
Word Origin & History
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 *kap- (“to take, grasp, hold”). Equivalent to heave + -y. Related to have.
Cognate with Scots hevy, havy, heavy (“heavy”), Saterland Frisian heeuwich, häwich (“violent, angry”), West Frisian hevich (“violent”), Dutch hevig (“violent, severe, intense, acute”), German Low German hevig (“violent, fierce, intense, angry”), German hebig (compare heftig (“fierce, severe, intense, violent, heavy”)), Icelandic höfugur (“heavy, weighty, important”), Latin capāx (“large, wide, roomy, spacious, capacious, capable, apt”).
Compare typologically Russian объёмный (obʺjómnyj), ёмкий (jómkij) (akin to име́ть (imétʹ), взять (vzjatʹ)).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.[…]A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"But now, ten years later, after his recent shipwreck, he cannot compete as a runner, though he can outthrow the slighter Phaeacians with the heaviest discus."
— 2002, Eva Brann, Homeric Moments, page 48:
"In other research, scientists have found that people who kept cereal out in the open were often about 20 pounds heavier than people who kept cereal behind closed doors."
— 2015 May 18, Angus Chen, How We Store Food At Home Could Be Linked To How Much We Eat:
""We're still in an existential-stakes war with the Pa'anuri, and possibly with our own destructive tendencies." ' "Sorry. That was pretty heavy for someone who just woke up." "Oh, I'm fine. Waking up alive has ALWAYS meant spending the day trying not to be dead.""
— 2020 January 8, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2025:
"The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 5:6: