Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - heart

(hearts) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. Your heart is the organ in your chest that pumps the blood around your body. People also use heart to refer to the area of their chest that is closest to their heart. The bullet had passed less than an inch from Andrea’s heart... N-COUNT 2. You can refer to someone’s heart when you are talking about their deep feelings and beliefs. (LITERARY) Alik’s words filled her heart with pride... N-COUNT: usu with poss 3. You use heart when you are talking about someone’s character and attitude towards other people, especially when they are kind and generous. She loved his brilliance and his generous heart... N-VAR: usu adj N in sing c darkgreen]approval 4. The heart of something is the most central and important part of it. The heart of the problem is supply and demand... = crux N-SING: N of n 5. The heart of a place is its centre. ...a busy dentists’ practice in the heart of London’s West End. N-SING: usu N of n 6. A heart is a shape that is used as a symbol of love: ¦. ...heart-shaped chocolates. N-COUNT 7. Hearts is one of the four suits in a pack of playing cards. Each card in the suit is marked with one or more red symbols in the shape of a heart. N-UNCOUNT-COLL • A heart is a playing card of this suit. N-COUNT 8. If you feel or believe something with all your heart, you feel or believe it very strongly. My own family I loved with all my heart. PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR with cl c darkgreen]emphasis 9. If you say that someone is a particular kind of person at heart, you mean that that is what they are really like, even though they may seem very different. He was a very gentle boy at heart. PHRASE: PHR with cl 10. If you say that someone has your interests or your welfare at heart, you mean that they are concerned about you and that is why they are doing something. PHRASE: usu have n PHR 11. If someone breaks your heart, they make you very sad and unhappy, usually because they end a love affair or close relationship with you. (LITERARY) PHRASE: V and N inflect 12. If something breaks your heart, it makes you feel very sad and depressed, especially because people are suffering but you can do nothing to help them. It really breaks my heart to see them this way. PHRASE: V and N inflect, oft PHR to-inf 13. If you say that someone has a broken heart, you mean that they are very sad, for example because a love affair has ended unhappily. (LITERARY) She never recovered from her broken heart. PHRASE: N inflects 14. If you know something such as a poem by heart, you have learned it so well that you can remember it without having to read it. Mack knew this passage by heart. PHRASE: PHR after v 15. If someone has a change of heart, their attitude towards something changes. Several brokers have had a change of heart about prospects for the company... PHRASE: change inflects 16. If something such as a subject or project is close to your heart or near to your heart, it is very important to you and you are very interested in it and concerned about it. Animal welfare is a subject very close to my heart. PHRASE: N inflects, oft v-link PHR 17. If you can do something to your heart’s content, you can do it as much as you want. I was delighted to be able to eat my favorite dishes to my heart’s content. PHRASE: PHR after v 18. You can say ‘cross my heart’ when you want someone to believe that you are telling the truth. You can also ask ‘cross your heart?’, when you are asking someone if they are really telling the truth. (SPOKEN) And I won’t tell any of the other girls anything you tell me about it. I promise, cross my heart. CONVENTION 19. If you say something from the heart or from the bottom of your heart, you sincerely mean what you say. He spoke with confidence, from the heart... = sincerely PHRASE: PHR after v 20. If something gives you heart, it makes you feel more confident or happy about something. It gave me heart to see one thug get what he deserves. PHRASE: V inflects 21. If you want to do something but do not have the heart to do it, you do not do it because you know it will make someone unhappy or disappointed. We knew all along but didn’t have the heart to tell her. PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR to-inf 22. If you believe or know something in your heart of hearts, that is what you really believe or think, even though it may sometimes seem that you do not. I know in my heart of hearts that I am the right man for that mission. PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR with cl 23. If your heart isn’t in the thing you are doing, you have very little enthusiasm for it, usually because you are depressed or are thinking about something else. I tried to learn some lines but my heart wasn’t really in it. PHRASE: V and N inflect, PHR n/-ing 24. If you lose heart, you become sad and depressed and are no longer interested in something, especially because it is not progressing as you would like. He appealed to his countrymen not to lose heart. PHRASE: V inflects 25. If your heart is in your mouth, you feel very excited, worried, or frightened. My heart was in my mouth when I walked into her office. PHRASE: V and Ns inflect 26. If you open your heart or pour out your heart to someone, you tell them your most private thoughts and feelings. She opened her heart to millions yesterday and told how she came close to suicide. PHRASE: V and N inflect, usu PHR to n 27. If you say that someone’s heart is in the right place, you mean that they are kind, considerate, and generous, although you may disapprove of other aspects of their character. He is a bit of a tearaway but his heart is in the right place. PHRASE: heart and V inflect 28. If you have set your heart on something, you want it very much or want to do it very much. He had always set his heart on a career in the fine arts. PHRASE: V and N inflect, PHR n/-ing 29. If you wear your heart on your sleeve, you openly show your feelings or emotions rather than keeping them hidden. PHRASE: V and N inflect 30. If you put your heart and soul into something, you do it with a great deal of enthusiasm and energy. PHRASE c darkgreen]emphasis 31. If you take heart from something, you are encouraged and made to feel optimistic by it. PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR from n 32. If you take something to heart, for example someone’s behaviour, you are deeply affected and upset by it. If someone says something critical I take it to heart. PHRASE: V inflects