Dictionary Definition
heft n : the property of being large in mass
[syn: heftiness,
massiveness,
ponderousness,
ponderosity]
Verb
2 test the weight of something by lifting
it
User Contributed Dictionary
see Heft
English
Etymology
From hefð.Alternative spellings
Pronunciation
- /hɛft/
- Rhymes with: -ɛft
Noun
Verb
- To lift
up; especially, to lift something heavy
- He hefted the sack of concrete into the truck.
- To test the weight of something by lifting it.
- transitive Northern England The process by which a farm animal becomes accustomed to an area of mountain pasture.
Synonyms
Translations
to lift
- Dutch: heffen, hijsen, opheffen, opheffen
- French: hisser
to test the weight of something by lifting it
- Dutch: wegen
Dutch
Verb
Kurdish
Cardinal number
Scots
Etymology
From hefð.Noun
Verb
- The process by which a farm animal becomes accustomed to an area of mountain pasture.
Extensive Definition
Robert G. (Bob) Heft (born in Saginaw,
Michigan
in 1941) is a designer of the
50-star flag, and one of the proposed designs for a 51-star
flag for the United States
of America. He spent his childhood in Lancaster,
Ohio, where he
created the flag as a school project.
He designed the current U.S. flag in 1958 while
living with his grandparents. He was 17 years old at the time and
did the flag design as a class project. He unstitched the blue
field from a family 48-star flag, sewed in a new field, and used
iron-on white fabric to add 100 hand-cut stars, 50 on each side of
the blue canton.
(Leepson, p.245)
He originally received a "B-" for the project.
After discussing the grade with his high school
teacher, Stanley Pratt, it was agreed that if the flag was accepted
by Congress, the grade would be reconsidered. Heft's flag design
was chosen and adopted by presidential proclamation after Alaska and before
Hawaii was
admitted into the union in 1959. According to
Heft, his teacher did keep to their agreement and changed his grade
to an "A" for the project.
Heft has also stated he has copyrighted designs for 52-
through 60-star American flags
When Alaska and Hawaii were being considered for
Statehood, more than 1,500 designs were spontaneously submitted to
President Dwight D. Eisenhower by Americans. Although some of them
were 49-star versions, the vast majority were 50-star proposals. At
least three, and probably more, of these designs were identical to
the present design of the 50-star flag. These designs are in the
Eisenhower Presidential Archives in Abilene, Kansas. Only a small
fraction of them have ever been published.
After graduating from college, Heft became a high
school teacher and also served as mayor of Napoleon,
Ohio for 28 years. After retiring from teaching, he currently
is a motivational speaker.
References
External links
- Designer of America's current flag, by Jim Sielicki (UPI), The Exchange, July-August 1988.
- Who Created the First US Flag of 50 Stars?
- The Official Bob Heft Website
Sources
- Leepson, Marc, Flag: An American Biography (Thomas Dunne Books, 2005) http://www.flagbiography.com
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
avoirdupois, balance, be heavy, beef, beefiness, boost, buoy up, carry weight, cast
up, counterbalance, deadweight, elevate, erect, escalate, fatness, gravity, gross weight, have
weight, heave, heaviness, heftiness, heighten, heist, hike, hoick, hoist, hold the scales, hold up,
jerk up, knock up, levitate, lie heavy, lift, lift up, liveweight, lob, loft, neat weight, net, net weight, overbalance, overweight, perk up, ponderability, ponderosity, ponderousness, poundage, raise, raise up, rear, rear up, rise, set up, sky, stick up, strike a balance,
throw up, tip the scales, tonnage, underweight, up, upbuoy, upcast, upheave, uphoist, uphold, uplift, upraise, uprear, upthrow, weigh, weigh heavy, weigh in,
weigh out, weight,
weightiness