calve

From Middle English calven, from Old English *calfian, cealfian, from Proto-West Germanic *kalbōn, from Proto-Germanic *kalbōną (“to calve”), from *kalbaz (“calf”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian koolvje, Dutch kalven, German Low German kalven, German kalben, Swedish kalva, Icelandic kálfa.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɑːv/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kæv/
• Rhymes: -ɑːv, -æv
• Homophone: carve (some non-rhotic accents, e.g. Received Pronunciation)

calve (third-person singular simple present calves, present participle calving, simple past and past participle calved)

1. (intransitive) To give birth to a calf.

   The farmer could tell Bessie was about to calve.

2. (intransitive) To assist in a cow’s giving birth to a calf.

   The farmer calved Bessie for almost two hours.

3. (transitive) To give birth to (a calf).
4. (intransitive, figuratively, especially of an ice shelf, a glacier, an ice sheet, or even an iceberg) To shed a large piece, e.g. an iceberg or a smaller block of ice (coming off an iceberg).

   The glacier was starting to calve even as we watched.

5. (intransitive, figuratively, especially of an iceberg) To break off.

   The sea was dangerous because of icebergs calving off the nearby glacier.

6. (transitive, figuratively, especially of an ice shelf, a glacier, an ice sheet, or even an iceberg) To shed (a large piece, e.g. an iceberg); to set loose (a mass of ice), e.g. a block of ice (coming off an iceberg).

   The glacier was starting to calve an iceberg even as we watched.

• clave

• IPA^(key): /ˈkal.ve/
• Rhymes: -alve
• Hyphenation: càl‧ve

calve

1. feminine plural of calvo

calve f

1. plural of calva

• clave

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key):
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key):

calve

1. vocative masculine singular of calvus