heed

Etymology

From Middle English heden, from Old English hēdan (“to heed, take care, observe, attend, guard, take charge, take possession, receive”), from Proto-West Germanic *hōdijan (“to heed, guard”), from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to heed, protect”). Cognate with West Frisian hoedje (“to heed”), Dutch hoeden (“to heed”), German hüten (“to heed”).

noun

1. Careful attention.

verb

1. (obsolete) To guard, protect.
2. (transitive) To mind; to regard with care; to take notice of; to attend to; to observe.
   With pleasure Argus the musician heeds. 1567, Ovid, translated by John Dryden, Metamorphoses, Book 1
   Tolokonnikova not only tried to adjust to life in the penal colony but she even tried to heed the criticism levied at her by colony representatives during a parole hearing. September 23 2013, Masha Gessen, “Life in a Russian Prison”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-09-24
   Barker's proposal to try out new equipment before mass introduction should also have been heeded, because traction components bought without trialling for the Glasgow and Great Eastern schemes gave trouble. July 29 2020, David Clough, “AC/DC: the big switch in power supply”, in Rail, page 65
3. (intransitive, archaic) To pay attention, care.