There's the muscle that beats every second or so, which helps circulate the blood, the one that's subject to attack.
Then there's the romantic notion of love as represented by a symbol. Related, there's the center of one's feelings and emotion, such as a heartwarming tale. One fears that heart breaking.
There's the middle, the core: the heart of the city, the heart of the matter, the heartland. Above is Into the Heart of the Crab Nebula. Here's a blogpost meditation called Heart of the Matter.
There's courage and resolve, to hearten. Sometimes they give the Purple Heart to stouthearted people like that.
Many heart words are combinations of these and other meanings. Heartthrob, for instance is the literal pulsing of the muscle, or an infatuation.
Here's one of my favorite heart songs, from Damn Yankees.
A whole bunch of idioms which you could learn by heart.
As I think back on the hearts games I played this weekend - really - perhaps it's time for the obvious conclusion, the Wilson sisters:
ROG
