Heed vs Beware - What's the difference?

heed | beware |

As a noun heed

is heathen, pagan or heed can be heath.

As a verb beware is

(defective|ambitransitive) to use caution, pay attention (to) (if intransitive, construed with of ).

heed

English

Noun

(-)

Careful attention.

* 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4

Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, being terribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long in one place.

Usage notes

* Often used with give, pay or take.

Synonyms

* (careful attention) attention, notice, observation, regard

Verb

(en verb)

To mind; to regard with care; to take notice of; to attend to; to observe.

* Dryden

With pleasure Argus the musician heeds .

* 2013 September 23, Masha Gessen, " Life in a Russian Prison," New York Times (retrieved 24 September 2013):

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.

(archaic) To pay attention, care.

beware

English

Verb

(defective, ambitransitive) To use caution, pay attention (to) (if intransitive, construed with of ).

* Bible, Exodus xxiii. 20, 21

Behold, I send an Angel before thee. Beware of him, and obey his voice.

* , I.ii

Beware the Ides of March.

Usage notes

The verb beware'' has become a defective verb and now lacks forms such as the third-person singular simple present (bewares) and the simple past (bewared). It can only be used imperatively (''Beware of the dog!'') or as an infinitive (''You must beware of the dog'' or ''They told me to beware of the dog ). The inflected forms (bewares), (bewared), and (bewaring) are called obsolete in Fowler's , along with the simple indicative "I beware". The forms (bewares) and (bewared) are very rarely found in modern texts, though (bewaring) is slightly less rare. These inflections are more likely to be found in very old texts. The meanings conveyed by the obsolete inflected forms may be easily achieved by splitting "be" and "ware", conjugating "be", and possibly replacing "ware" with the more modern "wary"; thus, "bewares" > "is wary", "bewared" > "was wary", etc.