heave
n.a sudden, strong movement or a heavy push. In old books about the sea or the ground, it describes a violent shaking or a deep breath.
n.a sudden, violent movement or a heavy, forceful push. Often used in nautical or geological contexts to describe the violent motion of a ship or the shifting of earth.
“The ship gave a violent heave as the storm hit.”
“The miners felt a sudden heave in the ground as the tunnel collapsed behind them.”
“The ancient stone walls groaned with a deep heave, signaling the structural instability of the cathedral as the earthquake continued to shake the city.”
“As he strips down, we see the effort this is taking; his chest heaving, his body glistening.”
“Instead of relaxation we encounter heaving crowds, lumpy beds, the caprices of our loved ones and the grim truth that we can escape neither their worst failings nor our own, however far we travel.”
From Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-West Germanic habbjan, from Proto-Germanic habjaną (“to take up, lift”), from Proto-Indo-European kh₂pyéti, from the root kap-. See also have. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian heffe, Dutch heffen ("to raise", "to lift"), German heben ("to raise", "to lift"), Danish hæve ("to raise", "to lift"), Albanian kap (“I grasp, seize”), Old Irish cáin (“law, tribute”), cacht (“prisoner”), Latin capiō (“to take”), Latvian kàmpt (“to seize”), Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”), κώπη (kṓpē, “handle”)). (To lift, to raise): Compare typologically Russian поднима́ть (podnimátʹ), подня́ть (podnjátʹ) (akin to има́ть (imátʹ), име́ть (imétʹ) < Proto-Slavic jьmati, jьměti).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.