<B>heir, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person who has the right to someone's property or title after the death of its owner; person who inherits property. <BR> <I>Ex. The rich man adopted the boy and made him his heir.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>(Figurative.) a person who inherits anything; person who receives or has something from someone before him. <BR> <I>Ex. We are truly heirs of all the ages (John Tyndall).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(in civil law) a person who succeeds to the property, real and personal, and to the rights and obligations of a deceased person. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) offspring; product. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to inherit. <BR> <I>Ex. When falls a mate in battle broil, His comrade heirs his portion'd spoil (Scott).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>fall heir to,</B> </I>to inherit. <BR> <I>Ex. He fell heir to a small fortune. The new government fell heir to the problems of the old one.</I> adj. <B>heirless.</B> noun <B>heirship.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="heirapparent">
<B>heir apparent,</B> pl. <B>heirs apparent.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who will be heir if he lives longer than the one holding the property or title. <BR> <I>Ex. The king's oldest son is heir apparent to the throne.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a person who seems certain to succeed another. <BR> <I>Ex. Young Saint-Laurent ... had been Christian Dior's heir apparent (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="heiratlaw">
<B>heir at law,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who receives, or is legally entitled to receive, the real property of an intestate person at his death. </DL>
<B>heiress, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an heir who is a woman or girl. <BR> <I>Ex. His daughter was named in the will as his heiress.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a woman or girl inheriting great wealth. <BR> <I>Ex. an heiress to a great fortune.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="heirloom">
<B>heirloom, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a possession handed down from generation to generation. <BR> <I>Ex. This old grandfather clock is a family heirloom.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Law.) a personal chattel that is passed on with an inheritance to the heir. </DL>
<A NAME="heirpresumptive">
<B>heir presumptive,</B> pl. <B>heirs presumptive.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who will be heir unless someone with a stronger claim is born. </DL>
<A NAME="heisenbergeffect">
<B>Heisenberg effect,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a change in a subject under investigation due to the effect of the investigative process. <BR> <I>Ex. No one does or can do--the same things on stage that he does unobserved. It's the popularized Heisenberg effect: The act of observing inevitably changes the process under observation (Richard Reeves).</I> </DL>
<B>heist, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) <DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> to rob or steal. <BR> <I>Ex. He'd heist a round of his master's ... whiskey and disguise the drainage (New Yorker).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a robbery or theft. <BR> <I>Ex. a payroll heist.</I> noun <B>heister.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="heitiki">
<B>hei-tiki, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a greenstone ornament worn by the Maoris, representing the first man. </DL>
<A NAME="hejira">
<B>hejira, </B>noun. <B>=hegira.</B></DL>
<A NAME="hejira">
<B>Hejira, </B>noun. <B>=Hegira.</B></DL>
<A NAME="hekate">
<B>Hekate, </B>noun. <B>=Hecate.</B></DL>
<A NAME="hekistotherm">
<B>hekistotherm, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) a plant which needs very little heat, as the arctic and antarctic lichens and mosses. </DL>
<A NAME="hekistothermic">
<B>hekistothermic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with hekistotherms. </DL>
<A NAME="hekte">
<B>hekte, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an ancient Greek silver coin equal to a sixth of a stater. </DL>
<B>Hel, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Norse Mythology.) <DD><B> 1. </B>the goddess of death and of the lower world, daughter of Loki. <DD><B> 2. </B>the lower world, inhabited by those who died of disease or old age. </DL>
<A NAME="hela">
<B>Hela, </B>noun. <B>=Hel.</B></DL>
<A NAME="helacell">
<B>HeLa cell,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a cancerous cell originally obtained from the human uterus. It is raised in cultures for use in studying certain diseases, such as poliomyelitis. </DL>
<B>held, </B>verb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>verb </I> the past tense and past participle of <B>hold</B> (1). <BR> <I>Ex. Mother held the new baby. The swing is held by strong ropes.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> kept in; restrained; detained. <BR> <I>Ex. a held suspect.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="heldentenor">
<B>heldentenor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a tenor with a voice suited to heroic roles, especially in Wagnerian operas. </DL>
<A NAME="helenine">
<B>helenine, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a drug obtained from a penicillium mold, used to treat certain virus diseases. </DL>
<A NAME="helenium">
<B>helenium, </B>noun. <B>=sneezeweed.</B></DL>
<A NAME="helenoftroy">
<B>Helen of Troy,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek Legend.) a very beautiful Greek woman, the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. Her kidnaping by Paris caused the Trojan War. </DL>
<B>heli-,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (combining form.) the form of <B>helio-</B> before vowels, as in <I>helianthus.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="heliac">
<B>heliac, </B>adjective. <B>=heliacal.</B></DL>
<A NAME="heliacal">
<B>heliacal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Astronomy.) having to do with or occurring near the sun, as the risings and settings of stars that are most nearly coincident with those of the sun while yet being visible. adv. <B>heliacally.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="helianthus">
<B>helianthus, </B>noun. <B>=sunflower.</B></DL>
<A NAME="heliarcwelding">
<B>heliarc welding,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a type of electric arc welding in which helium is used to prevent burning or corroding. </DL>
<A NAME="heliborne">
<B>heliborne, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> carried or done by helicopter. </DL>
<A NAME="helical">
<B>helical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with, or having the form of, a helix; spiral. <BR> <I>Ex. At the end of a minute a dull splashing reverberated from the bottom of the well; the helical twist he had imparted to the rope had reached the grapnel below (Thomas Hardy)</I> adv. <B>helically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="helicalgear">
<B>helical gear,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a gearwheel whose teeth run at an angle to the shaft; spiral gear. </DL>
<A NAME="helicar">
<B>helicar, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a vehicle that is both a helicopter and an automobile. </DL>
<A NAME="heliced">
<B>heliced, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having helices; decorated with helices. <BR> <I>Ex. ... a foliated and heliced acroterium (Lewis and Street).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="helices">
<B>helices, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a plural of <B>helix.</B> </DL>
<B>helicity, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Nuclear Physics.) the direction of the spin of an elementary particle. </DL>
<A NAME="helicoid">
<B>helicoid, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Geometry.) <DD><I>noun </I> a surface in the form of a coil or screw; a warped surface generated by a straight line moving so that it always passes through or touches a fixed helix and is parallel to a fixed plane. <DD><I>adj. </I> like a helix; curved spirally, as certain univalve shells are; spiral. adv. <B>helicoidally.</B> </DL>
<B>Helicon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> poetry and poetic inspiration, regarded inlegend as flowing from two fountains on the side of Mount Helicon in southern Greece. </DL>
<A NAME="helicon">
<B>helicon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a large bass tuba, circular in form. </DL>
<A NAME="heliconian">
<B>Heliconian, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with or obtained from Helicon. </DL>
<B>helicopter, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> an aircraft that is lifted from the ground and kept in the air by horizontal propellers or rotors. Helicopters have no wings. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to travel by helicopter. <BR> <I>Ex. A Democratic Representative ... helicoptered over Tennessee (Harper's).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to send or carry by helicopter. </DL>
<A NAME="helicopterist">
<B>helicopterist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the pilot of a helicopter. </DL>
<A NAME="helictis">
<B>helictis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of small carnivorous animals of southern and eastern Asia belonging to the family that includes the weasels, badgers, and martens. </DL>
<A NAME="helictite">
<B>helictite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a twig-shaped formation of lime on the wall of a cave. </DL>
<A NAME="helilift">
<B>helilift, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to transport by helicopter, especially in an emergency. </DL>
<A NAME="helio">
<B>helio, </B>noun, pl. <B>-lios.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) a heliograph or heliogram. </DL>
<A NAME="helio">
<B>helio-,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (combining form.) the sun. <BR> <I>Ex. Helioscope = a device for looking at the sun.</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> Also, <B>heli-</B> before vowels. </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="heliocentric">
<B>heliocentric, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>viewed or measured from the center of the sun. <BR> <I>Ex. heliocentric latitude.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>having or representing the sun as a center. <BR> <I>Ex. Both the ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks preceded Galileo in postulating a heliocentric universe.</I> adv. <B>heliocentrically.</B> </DL>
<B>heliocentrism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the theory that the sun is the center of the solar system, with the earth and the other eight planets revolving about it. </DL>
