Other forms: heats
Heat is the warm energy that comes off a fire or the summer sun. The heat of the day, turn up the heat, a heatwave.
In physics heat is energy in transfer because of a temperature difference, which is why a physicist will say an object has energy rather than heat. In cooking, heat is the setting: a low heat, a fierce heat. A heat is also a qualifying round in a race. Note in the heat of the moment; take the heat; and if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
1nounheatThe warm energy that comes off a fire or the sun.
“The heat reached about thirty-nine degrees.”
2nounqualifyingA qualifying round in a race.
“She won her heat easily and went through to the final.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
heat is thermal energy.
Also accepted in games: warmth
Old English haetu comes from the same root as hot. The Germanic family all keep both words, and the pair has been in English since before there was an England.
Proto-Indo-European
*keHy- — heat; hot
Proto-Germanic
*haitį̄ — heat
Proto-West Germanic
*haitī
Old English
hǣtu
Middle English
hete
English, today
heat
From Middle English hete, from Old English hǣtu, from Proto-West Germanic haitī, from Proto-Germanic haitį̄ (“heat”), from Proto-Indo-European keHy- (“heat; hot”). Cognate with Scots hete (“heat”), stq Hatte (“heat”), Old High German heizī (“heat”). Related also to Dutch hitte (“heat”), German Hitze (“heat”), Swedish hetta (“heat”), Faroese and Icelandic hiti (“heat”). Related to hot.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA