I. heel 1 /hiːl/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: hæla ]
1 . OF YOUR FOOT the curved back part of your foot ⇨ toe
2 . OF A SHOE the raised part on the bottom of a shoe that makes the shoe higher at the back:
black boots with high heels
high-heeled/low-heeled/flat-heeled etc
her low-heeled blue shoes
3 . OF A SOCK the part of a sock that covers your heel
4 . OF YOUR HAND the part of your hand between the bottom of your thumb and your wrist:
Using the heel of your hand, press the dough firmly into shape.
5 . heels [plural] a pair of women’s shoes with high heels:
Whenever she wore heels she was taller than the men she worked with.
6 . at sb’s heels if a person or animal is at your heels, they are following closely behind you:
He could hear the dog trotting at his heels.
7 .
a) (hard/hot/close) on the heels of something very soon after something:
The decision to buy Peters came hard on the heels of the club’s promotion to Division One.
b) (hard/hot/close) on sb’s heels following closely behind someone, especially in order to catch or attack them:
With the enemy army hard on his heels, he crossed the Somme at Blanche-Taque.
8 . bring somebody to heel to force someone to behave in the way that you want them to
9 . come to heel British English
a) if a dog comes to heel, it comes back to its owner when the owner calls it
b) if someone comes to heel, they start to behave in the way that you want them to
10 . take to your heels written to start running away:
As soon as he saw me he took to his heels.
11 . turn/spin on your heel written to suddenly turn away from someone, especially in an angry or rude way:
Before anyone could say a word, he turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
12 . under the heel of somebody/something completely controlled by a government or group:
a people under the heel of an increasingly dictatorial regime
13 . BAD MAN old-fashioned a man who behaves badly towards other people
⇨ ACHILLES’ HEEL , ↑ down-at-heel , ↑ well-heeled , ⇨ click your heels at ↑ click 1 (1), ⇨ cool your heels at ↑ cool 2 (4), ⇨ dig your heels in at ↑ dig 1 (4), ⇨ drag your heels at ↑ drag 1 (8), ⇨ be/fall head over heels in love at ↑ head 1 (36), ⇨ kick your heels at ↑ kick 1 (9)
II. heel 2 BrE AmE verb
1 . heel! spoken used to tell your dog to walk next to you
2 . [transitive] to put a heel on a shoe
heel over phrasal verb
if something heels over, it leans to one side as if it is going to fall:
The ship was heeling over in the wind.