heart

Everyday

1. The organ in your chest that pumps blood around your body. tree →
2. Your feelings, kindness or love: a kind heart, a broken heart. tree →
3. The centre or most important part: the heart of the city, the heart of the problem. tree →
4. The shape ♥, and one of the four suits in playing cards (hearts). tree →
5. Courage: «Don't lose heart». tree →

In the lessons

In science: the heart is a muscle about the size of your fist; it beats about 70–100 times a minute at rest in children, faster when you run; exercise keeps it healthy; you feel your pulse at your wrist. In stories and feelings: heart stands for love and feelings. Phrases: by heart (from memory), heartbeat, heart rate, learn by heart, break someone's heart, heart of gold, with all my heart, take heart, lose heart.

Examples

• Your heart pumps blood all day and all night. tree →
• My heart beats fast after I run. tree →
• We learned the poem by heart. tree →
• She has a kind heart. tree →
• The museum is in the heart of the city. tree →
• I drew a red heart on the card. tree →
• He played the queen of hearts. tree →
• Don't lose heart — try again. tree →
• And now my heart is broken." tree →

Note

Countable: hearts. Spelling «hear + t»; say it like «art» with an h. «Learn by heart» means learn so well you can say it without looking. The heart shape ♥ does not look like a real heart. Myth: the heart is not on the far left — it is near the middle, leaning left.

In Jewish tradition

In the Torah, the heart is the center of thinking, feeling and choosing, not only feelings. A heart can be "hardened" or "circumcised."

Interpretation. The Shema says to love God with "all your heart." The rabbis say this means with both urges, good and bad. "Circumcise the foreskin of your heart" is read as a call to remove whatever blocks a person from God.

Examples

• Thou shalt be whole-hearted with the LORD thy God. (Torah DEU.18.13, JPS 1917) tree →
• Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. (Torah DEU.10.16, JPS 1917) tree →
• But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. (Torah EXO.10.27, JPS 1917) tree →
• Why doth thy heart carry thee away? (Writings JOB.15.12, JPS 1917) tree →
• For He knoweth the secrets of the heart. (Writings PSA.44.22, JPS 1917) tree →
• Harlotry, wine, and new wine take away the heart. (Prophets HOS.4.11, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable: hearts. Spelling «hear + t»; say it like «art» with an h. «Learn by heart» means learn so well you can say it without looking. The heart shape ♥ does not look like a real heart. Myth: the heart is not on the far left — it is near the middle, leaning left.