to learn by heart
Preserved but no longer current.
The heart is the seat of understanding; thus the Scripture speaks of men "wise in heart"; and "slow of heart" means dull of understanding. To learn by heart is to learn and understand, but we com- monly employ the phrase as a synonym for committing to memory; to learn by rote is to learn so as to be able to repeat.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to learn by heart” mean?
The heart is the seat of understanding; thus the Scripture speaks of men "wise in heart"; and "slow of heart" means dull of understanding. To learn by heart is to learn and understand, but we com- monly employ the phrase as a synonym for committing to memory; to learn by rote is to learn so as to be able to repeat.
Is “to learn by heart” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.