■ noun
1》 a hollow muscular organ that pumps the blood through the circulatory system by rhythmic contraction and dilation.
2》 the central, innermost, or vital part of something.
3》 a conventional representation of a ~ with two equal curves meeting at a point at the bottom and a cusp at the top.
4》 ( ~s ) one of the four suits in a conventional pack of playing cards, denoted by a red figure of such a shape.
↘a card of this suit.
5》 a person's feeling of or capacity for love or compassion.
↘mood or feeling: they had a change of ~.
↘courage or enthusiasm: you may lose ~ as the work mounts up.
6》 the close compact head of a cabbage or lettuce.
7》 the condition of agricultural land as regards fertility.
Phrases
after one's own ~ sharing one's tastes.
at ~ in one's real nature, in contrast to how one may appear.
break someone's ~ overwhelm someone with sadness.
by ~ from memory.
close (or dear ) to one's ~ of deep interest and concern to one.
from the (or the bottom of one's ) ~ with sincere feeling.
have a ~ show pity.
have a ~ of gold have a generous or compassionate nature.
have one's ~ in one's mouth be greatly alarmed or apprehensive.
have one's ~ in the right place be sincere or well intentioned.
one's ~'s desire something that one greatly wishes for.
one's ~strings used in reference to one's deepest feelings of love or compassion.
in one's ~ of ~s in one's innermost feelings.
take something to ~ take criticism seriously and be affected by it.
wear one's ~ on one's sleeve make one's feelings apparent.
Derivatives
-~ed adjective
Origin
OE heorte , of Gmc origin.