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Synonyms

heave-ho

American  
[heev-hoh] / ˈhivˈhoʊ /

noun

Informal.

  1. an act of rejection, dismissal, or forcible ejection.

    The bartender gave the noisy drunk the old heave-ho.
heave-ho British  

  1. a sailors' cry, as when hoisting anchor

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. informal dismissal, as from employment

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of heave-ho

Noun use of phrase heave ho, Middle English havehou, hevelow

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The man for whom the heave-ho had been the way to go experienced an ejection himself.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026

Cage doesn’t get a toe in the tide before he’s given the heave-ho by a pretentious group of quasi-spiritual surfers called the Bay Boys.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2025

When a landlord in Sag Harbor gave him the heave-ho, he moved into a storage unit, showering in an office building that kept its doors unlocked at night.

From New York Times • Jun. 24, 2023

"I tried to write poems to impress her but she wasn't terribly impressed because she gave me the heave-ho," he laughed.

From BBC • Jul. 3, 2022

He’d reach for me first, sit me up on one shoulder, then heave-ho Jude onto the other.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.