heel

1 noun (C)

1 OF YOUR FOOT the back part of your foot

body, foot 1

2 OF A SHOE the raised part of a shoe that is under the back of your foot

3 high-heeled/low-heeled etc high-heeled or low-heeled shoes have high or low heels

4 OF A SOCK the part of a sock that covers your heel

5 OF YOUR HAND the raised part of your hand near your wrist: I pressed the paper down firmly with the heel of my hand.

6 heels (plural) a pair of women's shoes with high heels

7 be on/at sb's heels to be following closely behind someone, especially in order to catch or attack them: The gang were at his heels.

8 on the heels of very soon after something: Kinnock's resignation came on the heels of the party's fourth defeat.

9 bring sb to heel to force someone to behave in the way that you want them to

10 call sth to heel

a) if you call a dog to heel, you tell it to come back to you

b) if someone comes to heel they obey you again

11 come to heel if a dog comes to heel, it comes back to its owner when the owner calls it

12 take to your heels to start running as fast as possible: As soon as he saw me he took to his heels.

13 turn/spin on your heel to suddenly turn away from someone, especially in an angry or rude way

14 under the heel of completely controlled by a government or group: The whole country was under the heel of a tyrannical dictatorship.

15 BAD MAN old-fashioned a man who behaves badly towards other people

—see also: well­heeled, Achilles' heel, click your heels click (1), cool your heels cool 2 (4), dig your heels in dig 1, down­at­heel, drag your heels drag 1 (8), hard on sb's heels hard 2 (9), head over heels in love head 1 (51), hot on sb's heels hot 1 (15), kick your heels kick 1 (11) 2 verb

1 (T) to put a heel on a shoe

2 heel! spoken used when telling a dog to walk next to you

3 (T) to send the ball backwards in rugby by hitting it with your heel

heel over phrasal verb (I) if something heels over, it leans to one side as if it is going to fall: The ship was heeling over in the wind.