int. (sb.) Also -oh, -o; yeo-heave-o’, -yeo. [See YO int. and HEAVE HO.] An exclamation of sailors when hauling at a rope or a capstan, heaving an anchor up, etc. Hence Yo-heave-hoing vbl. sb.
1803. Dibdin, Songs, II. 254. To the windlass let us go, With yo heave ho!
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xv. Yo, heave ho! Heave and pawl! Heave hearty ho!
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk, Yeo-heave-yeoing, the chant or noise made at the windlass and purchase-falls in a merchantman, to cheer and lighten labour, but not permitted in a man-of-war.
1872. Lowell, Milton, Wks. 1890, IV. 102. He offers a striking contrast with Wordsworth, who has to go through with a great deal of yo-heave-ohing before he gets under way.
1833. S. Ferguson, Forging of Anchor, v. Our Anchor soon must change the lay of merry craftsmen here, For the Yeo-heave-o’, and the Heave-away, and the sighing seaman’s cheer.
1893. S. Weir Mitchell, The Mother and Other Poems, 55, ‘Dreamland,’ 5.
| Yo, heave ho! | |
| Aloft and alow | |
| Elf sailors are singing, | |
| Yo, heave ho! |
