different between heed vs watchfulness

English

Etymology

From Middle English h?den, from Old English h?dan (“to heed, take care, observe, attend, guard, take charge, take possession, receive”), from Proto-Germanic *h?dijan? (“to heed, guard”), from Proto-Indo-European *kad?- (“to heed, protect”). Cognate with West Frisian hoedje (“to heed”), Dutch hoeden (“to heed”), German hüten (“to heed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hi?d/
• Rhymes: -i?d
• Homophone: he'd

Noun

heed (uncountable)

1. Careful attention.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, being terribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long in one place.

Usage notes

• Often used with give, pay or take.

Synonyms

• (careful attention): attention, notice, observation, regard; see also Thesaurus:attention

Translations

Verb

heed (third-person singular simple present heeds, present participle heeding, simple past and past participle heeded)

1. (obsolete) To guard, protect.
2. (transitive) To mind; to regard with care; to take notice of; to attend to; to observe.
   • 1567, John Dryden translating Ovid, Metamorphoses Book 1

     With pleasure Argus the musician heeds.

   • 2013 September 23, Masha Gessen, "Life in a Russian Prison," New York Times (retrieved 24 September 2013):

     Tolokonnikova not only tried to adjust to life in the penal colony but she even tried to heed the criticism levied at her by colony representatives during a parole hearing.
3. (intransitive, archaic) To pay attention, care.

Translations

Anagrams

• ehed, hede

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English h?afod, from Proto-Germanic *haubud? (“head”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h??d/, /?h?v?d/, /?h??v?d/, /?h?vd/, /?h??vd/

Noun

heed (plural heedes)

1. head (top portion of a human or animal, connected to the neck):
   1. The place where one's head rests (on a bed or when buried)
   2. That which covers the head; headwear or hair.
   3. The head as the origin of thought; intellect or one's brain.
   4. horns, antlers (of a cervid)
2. The chief, most renowned or most prominent thing or person in a group:
   1. boss, leader, executive
   2. capital city
3. start, origin
   1. The topmost end of a body of water or a geographical feature.
   2. One of the lengthwise ends of a geographic feature having more length than width.
   3. headwater
   4. The top end or peak of something; the uppermost point of something.
   5. The outermost extremity, point or projection of something.
4. The functional or useful end of a tool or device.
5. A rounded or head-shaped bump, boil, or similar protrusion.
6. One's ability to live (presumably as decapitation kills)
7. impetuousness, rashness, impatience; being unconsidered.
8. (by extension) individual; someone or somebody
9. (rare) military force or troop

Alternative forms

• hed, hede, heede, hedde, had, hade, head, heid, hiede, hide, heyd, hyede, hyde, het, heved, haved, hefed, hewed, hafed, haphed, hived, hyved, hefd, hefde, hevd, efd, hevid, hevyd
• heid, heifd, heyd, heyfd (Northern)
• hevod, heveð, heaved, heaveð, eaved, heafod, heafoð, heafad, hæved, hæfed, hæfedd, hæfved, hafved, heofod, hevet, hefet, heavet, hæfet, havet, heafd, heafde, hæfd, hæfde, heifd, heyfd, hafd, hafde, hifde, hyfde (early)

Related terms

• forheed
• heedles
• hoggeshed
• spere-hed

Adjective

heed

1. head

Descendants

• English: head
• Scots: heid
• Yola: haade, heade

References

• p. 1, Arthur; A Short Sketch of his Life and History in English Verse of the First Half of the Fifteenth Century, Frederick Furnivall ed. EETS. Trübner & Co.: London. 1864.
• “h?d, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-07-12.

Etymology 2

Noun

heed (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of hed (“heed”)

Etymology 3

Verb

heed

1. Alternative form of hadde: simple past/past participle of haven (“to have”)

English

Etymology

watchful +? -ness

Noun

watchfulness (countable and uncountable, plural watchfulnesses)

1. The state or quality of being watchful; alertness, vigilance or wakefulness.

   Continuous watchfulness is maintained around the clock.

   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, Preface,^[1]

     The first thing to be undertaken in this weighty work, is a watchfulness over the failings and an inlargement of the dominion, of the Senses.

   • 1784, Samuel Johnson, letter addressed to Mr. Langton dated 25 August, 1784, cited in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, 1791, Volume 2, p. 545,^[2]

     Nights of watchfulness produce torpid days […]

   • 1896, H. G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau, New York: Stone & Kimball, Chapter 9, p. 82,^[3]

     Every dark form in the dimness had its ominous quality, its peculiar suggestion of alert watchfulness.

   • 1944, Neville Shute, Pastoral, London: Heinemann, Chapter 4,

     The steady rhythm of the engines, the fact that he had been sleeping badly, the boredom of a flight that he had done so many times before and did not want to do again, the long humiliation and unhappiness that was always in the background of his mind, all fought against his watchfulness.

Related terms

• watchful

Translations