Dictionary.net

the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story"

a plane figure with rounded sides curving inward at the top and intersecting at the bottom; conventionally used on playing cards and valentines; "he drew a heart and called it a valentine"

a playing card in the major suit of hearts; "he led the queen of hearts"

a firm rather dry variety meat (usually beef or veal); "a five-pound beef heart will serve six"

the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story"

a plane figure with rounded sides curving inward at the top and intersecting at the bottom; conventionally used on playing cards and valentines; "he drew a heart and called it a valentine"

a playing card in the major suit of hearts; "he led the queen of hearts"

a firm rather dry variety meat (usually beef or veal); "a five-pound beef heart will serve six"

A hollow, muscular organ, which, by contracting rhythmically, keeps up the circulation of the blood.

The seat of the affections or sensibilities, collectively or separately, as love, hate, joy, grief, courage, and the like; rarely, the seat of the understanding or will; -- usually in a good sense, when no epithet is expressed; the better or lovelier part of our nature; the spring of all our actions and purposes; the seat of moral life and character; the moral affections and character itself; the individual disposition and character; as, a good, tender, loving, bad, hard, or selfish heart.

Courage; courageous purpose; spirit.

Vigorous and efficient activity; power of fertile production; condition of the soil, whether good or bad.

One of a series of playing cards, distinguished by the figure or figures of a heart; as, hearts are trumps.

Vital part; secret meaning; real intention.

A term of affectionate or kindly and familiar address.

To give heart to; to hearten; to encourage; to inspirit.

To form a compact center or heart; as, a hearting cabbage.

That which resembles a heart in shape; especially, a roundish or oval figure or object having an obtuse point at one end, and at the other a corresponding indentation, - used as a symbol or representative of the heart.

A hollow, muscular organ, which, by contracting rhythmically, keeps up the circulation of the blood.

The seat of the affections or sensibilities, collectively or separately, as love, hate, joy, grief, courage, and the like; rarely, the seat of the understanding or will; -- usually in a good sense, when no epithet is expressed; the better or lovelier part of our nature; the spring of all our actions and purposes; the seat of moral life and character; the moral affections and character itself; the individual disposition and character; as, a good, tender, loving, bad, hard, or selfish heart.

Courage; courageous purpose; spirit.

Vigorous and efficient activity; power of fertile production; condition of the soil, whether good or bad.

One of a series of playing cards, distinguished by the figure or figures of a heart; as, hearts are trumps.

Vital part; secret meaning; real intention.

A term of affectionate or kindly and familiar address.

To give heart to; to hearten; to encourage; to inspirit.

To form a compact center or heart; as, a hearting cabbage.

That which resembles a heart in shape; especially, a roundish or oval figure or object having an obtuse point at one end, and at the other a corresponding indentation, - used as a symbol or representative of the heart.

The hollow, muscular organ that maintains the circulation of the blood.

The organ in animals which causes the blood to circulate through the arteries, etc.; the vital, inner, or chief part of anything; the often assumed seat of the affections and passions; emotion; tenderness; affection; courage; will; spirit; energy; power; resolution; secret thoughts; consclence; one of a suit of cards marked with one or more red hearts.

The organ receiving and sending forth the blood; the circulatory system center.

The organ that circulates the blood: the vital, inner, or chief part of anything: the seat of the affections, etc., esp. love: courage: vigor: secret meaning or design: that which resembles a heart.

Muscular organ that propels the blood; inner or chief part; affection; feeling; courage.

The muscular organ that propels the blood.

The emotional nature; tenderness; sympathy.

Courage.

Vital part; center; core.

A hollow muscular organ with a varying number of chambers which by rhythmic contraction keeps up the circulation of the blood; the core or central portion of a tree or fruit.

An azygous muscle, of an irregularly pyramidal shape; situate obliquely and a little to the left side, in the chest ;-resting on the diaphragm by one of its surfaces :-suspended by its base from the great vessels; free and movable in the rest of its extent, and surrounded by the pericardium. The right side of the body of the heart is thin and sharp, and is called Margo acutus: the left is thick and round, and termed Margo obtusus. It is hollow within, and contains four cavities: two of which, with thinner and less fleshy walls, receive the blood from the lungs and the rest of the body, and pour it into two others, with thick and very fleshy parietes, which send it to the lungs and to every part of the body. Of these cavities, the former are called auricles, the latter ventricles. The right auricle and right ventricle form the Pulmonic or right or anterior heart. Cor venosum seu pulmonale, (F.) Coeur du poumon. C. du sang noir, C. droit, C. anterieur: and the left auricle and ventricle, the systemic, corporeal, left, Dr aortic heart, Cor arteriosum seu aorticum, (F.) Coeur du corps, C. gauche, C. aortique ou C. rouge. In the adult, these are totally distinct from each other, being separated by a partition ;-the septum cordis. Into the right auricle, the venae cavae,-superior and inferior,-and the coronary vein, open. The pulmonary artery arises from the right ventricle; the four pulmonary veins open into the left auricle, and the aorta arises from the left ventricle. The mean weight of the heart, in the adult, from the twenty-fifth to the sixtieth year, is, according to Bouillaud, from eight to nine ounces. The dimensions, according to Lobsteln and Bouillaud, are as follows: - Length, from base to apex, five inches six lines; breadth, at the base, three inches; thickness of the walls of the left ventricle, seven lines; at a finger's breadth above the apex, four lines; thickness of the walls of the right ventricle, two and a quarter lines; at the apex, half a line; thickness of right auricle, one line; of the left auricle, half a line. The heart is covered, externally, by a very thin, membranous reflection from the pericardium. The muscular structure of which it is constituted is much thicker in the parietes of the ventricle than in those of the auricles. Its cavities are lined by a very delicate membrane, the endocardium, which is continuous with the inner membrane of the arteries, as regards the left cavities, and with that of the veins, as regards the right. Its arteries- the coronary- arise from the commencement of the aorta. Its nerves proceed, chiefly, from the pneumogastric and the cervical ganglions of the great sympathetic. The heart is the great agent in the circulation. By its contraction, the blood is sent over every part of the body. Its action does not seem to be directly owing to nervous influence received from the brain or spinal marrow, or from both. The circulation may, indeed, be kept up, for some time, if both brain and spinal marrow be destroyed. When the ear is applied to the chest, a dull, lengthened sound is heard, which is synchronous with the arterial pulse. This is instantly succeeded by a sharp, quick sound, like that of the valve of a bellows or the lapping of a dog, and this is followed by a period of repose. The first sound appears to be mainly produced by the contraction of the ventricles; the second, by the reflux of the blood against the semilunar valves. These are what are called the Sounds of the Heart, (F.) Bruits du Coeur. Dr. C. J. B. Williams thinks that the word lubb-dup conveys a notion of the two sounds. The Beating or Impulse of the heart, Heart-Stroke, Pulsus seu Ictus cordis, (F.) Impulsion du Coeur, against the parietes of the chest, is mainly caused, perhaps, by the systole of the heart, which tends to project It forwards. It is doubted, however, by some, whether the impulsion be produced by the dilatation or the contraction of the ventricles. The following table exhibits the different actions of the heart, and their coincidence with its sounds and impulse. It presumes, that the period from the commencement of one pulsation to that of another is divided into eight parts; and if the case of a person, whose pulse beats sixty times in a minute, be taken, each of these parts will represent the eighth of a second. The heart is subject to different organic diseases; the chief of which are aneurism, contraction of the apertures, and rupture of its parietes.

Muscular viscus which maintains the circulation of the blood.

The organ which propels the blood through the vascular system of all vertebrates and of the higher invertebrates. In its simplest form it consists of a specialized pulsating portion of the vascular system, and in its most complex form of an organ with four distinct chambers, each provided with a set of valves.

The central part of anything.

n. [Anglo-Saxon, Icelandic, German, Latin, Greek] A hollow, muscular organ, contracting rhythmically, and serving to keep up the circulation of the blood;—the vital part; the seat or source of life;—the inner part; the centre; kernel; pith; marrow;—the vigorous or efficacious part;—the seat of the affections and passions;—the seat of love; hence, warmth of affection; geniality; cordiality;—the seat of the will; hence, secret purpose, design, or intention;—disposition;—strength; courage; spirit; vigour; fertility;—a roundish or oval figure like a heart in shape;—a playing-card distinguished by that figure.

The muscle which by its contraction and dilatation propels the blood through the course of circulation, and is therefore considered as the source of vital motion; the chief part, the vital part; the inner part of any thing; courage, spirit; feat of love; affection, inclination; memory; secret meaning, hidden intention; conscience, sense of good or ill; it is much used in composition for mind or affection.