heavel
/ˈhiːvl/Weaving. In later use English regional (now historical )
noun
A device on a loom which lifts and separates the warp to allow passage of the shuttle. Also: each of the looped cords or (later) wires forming part of this device.
- In Old English also apparently occasionally used more generally to denote a (type of) thread or cord, perhaps of the kind used for heddles..
Origin
Old English; earliest use found in The Epinal Glossary. Cognate with Middle Dutch hevelt (early modern Dutch hevelt; compare Dutch hevel), Old Saxon hevild (Middle Low German hēvelte), Icelandic hafald from the Germanic base of Old English hebban to lift + a Germanic suffix forming nouns of action or instrument.