  We integrate out the Higgs boson in the electroweak standard model at one
loop and construct a low-energy effective Lagrangian assuming that the Higgs
mass is much larger than the gauge-boson masses. Instead of applying
diagrammatical techniques, we integrate out the Higgs boson directly in the
path integral, which turns out to be much simpler. By using the
background-field method and the Stueckelberg formalism, we directly find a
manifestly gauge-invariant result. The heavy-Higgs effects on fermionic
couplings are derived, too. At one loop the $\log\MH$-terms of the heavy-Higgs
limit of the electroweak standard model coincide with the UV-divergent terms in
the gauged non-linear $\sigma$-model, but vertex functions differ in addition
by finite constant terms. Finally, the leading Higgs effects to some physical
processes are calculated from the effective Lagrangian.
