Heat (h&ebreve;t),
imp. & p. p. of Heat. Heated; as, the iron though heat red- hot. [Obs. or Archaic]
Shak.
Heat , v. i. 1. To
grow warm or hot by the action of
fire or friction, etc., or the communication of heat; as, the iron or the water heats slowly.
2. To grow warm
or hot by fermentation, or the development of heat by chemical action; as, green hay
heats in a mow, and manure in the
dunghill.
Heat (hēt),
v. t. [imp. & p. p. Heated; p.
pr. & vb. n. Heating.]
[OE. heten, AS. h&aemacr;tan, fr. hāt hot. See
Hot.] 1. To make hot; to communicate heat to, or cause to grow
warm; as, to
heat an oven or furnace, an iron, or the like.
Heat me these irons hot.
Shak. 2. To excite or make hot by action or emotion; to make feverish.
Pray, walk softly; do not heat your blood.
Shak. 3. To excite ardor in; to rouse to action; to
excite to excess; to inflame, as the passions.
A noble emulation heats your
breast.
Dryden.
Heat (hēt),
n. [OE. hete, hæte, AS. h&aemacr;tu, h&aemacr;to, fr. hāt hot; akin
to OHG. heizi heat, Dan. hede, Sw. hetta. See Hot.]
1. A force
in nature which is recognized in various effects, but especially in the phenomena of fusion and
evaporation, and which, as manifested in fire, the sun's rays, mechanical action, chemical combination,
etc., becomes directly known to us through the sense of feeling. In its nature heat is a mode of motion, being in general a
form of molecular disturbance
or vibration. It was formerly supposed to be a subtile,
imponderable fluid, to which was
given the name caloric.
&fist; As affecting the human body, heat produces different
sensations, which are called by different names, as heat or sensible heat, warmth, cold, etc., according to its degree or
amount relatively to the normal
temperature of the body.
2.
The sensation caused
by the force or influence of heat when excessive, or above that which is normal to the
human body; the bodily feeling experienced on exposure to fire, the sun's rays, etc.; the reverse of cold.
3. High temperature, as distinguished from low temperature, or cold; as, the heat of summer and
the cold of
winter; heat of the skin or body in fever, etc.
Else how had
the world . . .
Avoided pinching cold and scorching heat!
Milton.
4. Indication of high temperature; appearance, condition,
or color of
a body, as
indicating its temperature; redness; high color; flush; degree of temperature to which something is heated, as indicated by appearance, condition, or otherwise.
It has raised
. . . heats in their
faces.
Addison. The heats smiths take of their iron
are a blood-red heat, a white-flame heat, and a
sparkling or welding heat.
Moxon.
5. A single complete operation of heating, as at a forge or in a furnace; as, to make a horseshoe in a certain number of heats.
6. A violent action unintermitted;
a single effort; a single course in a race that consists of two or more
courses; as, he won two heats out of three.
Many causes . . . for refreshment betwixt the heats.
Dryden.
[He] struck off at one heat the matchless tale of "Tam o' Shanter."
J. C. Shairp.
7. Utmost violence; rage; vehemence; as, the heat of battle or
party. "The heat of their division."
Shak.
8. Agitation of mind; inflammation or excitement; exasperation. "The
heat and hurry of his
rage." South.
9. Animation, as in discourse; ardor; fervency.
With all the
strength and heat of eloquence.
Addison.
10. Sexual excitement in
animals.
11. Fermentation.
Animal heat, Blood heat, Capacity for heat, etc. See under Animal, Blood, etc. -- Atomic heat (Chem.),
the product obtained by multiplying the atomic weight of any element by its specific heat. The atomic heat of all solid
elements is nearly a constant, the mean value being 6.4. --
Dynamical theory of heat, that theory of heat which assumes it to be, not a peculiar kind of matter, but a peculiar motion of the ultimate particles of matter. Heat engine, any apparatus by which a heated substance, as a heated fluid, is made to perform work by giving motion to mechanism, as a hot-air engine, or a steam engine. -- Heat producers. (Physiol.) See under Food. -- Heat
rays, a term formerly applied to the rays near the red end of the spectrum, whether within or beyond the visible spectrum. --
Heat weight
(Mech.), the product of any quantity of heat by the mechanical equivalent of heat divided by the absolute temperature;
-- called also thermodynamic function, and entropy. -- Mechanical equivalent
of heat. See under Equivalent. -- Specific heat of a substance (at any temperature), the number of
units of heat required to raise the
temperature of a unit mass of the substance at that temperature one degree. -- Unit of heat, the quantity of heat required to raise, by one
degree, the temperature of a unit mass of water, initially at a certain standard temperature.
The temperature usually
employed is that of 0° Centigrade, or 32° Fahrenheit.
Hear it pronounced