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carve. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
carve, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
carve in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
carve you have here. The definition of the word
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carve, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English kerven, from Old English ceorfan, from Proto-West Germanic *kerban, from Proto-Germanic *kerbaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch”). Cognate with West Frisian kerve, Dutch kerven, Low German karven, German kerben (“to notch”); also Old Prussian gīrbin (“number”), Old Church Slavonic жрѣбии (žrěbii, “lot, tallymark”), Ancient Greek γράφειν (gráphein, “to scratch, etch”).
Pronunciation
Verb
carve (third-person singular simple present carves, present participle carving, simple past carved, past participle carved or (archaic) carven)
- (archaic) To cut.
1834 September (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “Sir Galahad”, in Poems. , volume II, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, stanza I, page 174:My good blade carves the casques of men, / My tough lance thrusteth sure, / My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure.
- To cut meat in order to serve it.
You carve the roast and I’ll serve the vegetables.
- To shape to sculptural effect; to produce (a work) by cutting, or to cut (a material) into a finished work, especially with cuts that are curved rather than only straight slices.
to carve a name into a tree
1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maiden of Mars, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:The facades of the buildings fronting upon the avenue within the wall were richly carven […] .
1963, Margery Allingham, chapter I, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. To display them the walls had been tinted a vivid blue which had now faded, but the carpet, which had evidently been stored and recently relaid, retained its original turquoise.
- (snowboarding) To perform a series of turns without pivoting, so that the tip and tail of the snowboard take the same path.
- (figuratively) To take or make, as by cutting; to provide.
1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: J Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, , published 1727, →OCLC:[…] who could easily have carved themselves their own food.
2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC:The Reds carved the first opening of the second period as Glen Johnson's pull-back found David Ngog but the Frenchman hooked wide from six yards.
- To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.
1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to shape to sculptural effect
- Albanian: latoj (sq), gdhend (sq)
- Arabic: نَحَتَ (ar) (naḥata)
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܓܵܠܹܦ (galep)
- Bulgarian: дялам (bg) (djalam), гравирам (bg) (graviram)
- Burmese: please add this translation if you can
- Catalan: tallar (ca)
- Cornish: kervya
- Czech: vyřezávat
- Danish: snitte
- Dutch: snijden (nl)
- Egyptian: (ḫtj)
- Esperanto: ĉizi
- Finnish: veistää (fi)
- Galician: tallar (gl), esculpir (gl), labrar (gl)
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: einkerben (de), kerben (de), schnitzen (de) (wood)
- Greek:
- Ancient: γλύφω (glúphō)
- Hawaiian: kuʻikepa
- Hebrew: גַלֵף (he) (galéf)
- Hungarian: farag (hu), vés (hu)
- Italian: intagliare (it), scolpire (it)
- Khmer: please add this translation if you can
- Korean: please add this translation if you can
- Ladin: ziplé
- Latin: sculpō
- Lao: please add this translation if you can
- Malay: please add this translation if you can
- Manchu: ᡶᠣᠯᠣᠮᠪᡳ (folombi)
- Maori: whao, whaowhao, whakairo
- Norwegian: snitte, spikke
- Old Norse: telgja, sníða
- Persian: کنده کاری (fa) (kande-kâri)
- Polish: ryć (pl) impf
- Portuguese: esculpir (pt), talhar (pt)
- Russian: выреза́ть (ru) impf (vyrezátʹ), высека́ть (ru) impf (vysekátʹ)
- Sanskrit: ताष्टि (tāṣṭi)
- Spanish: tallar (es), esculpir (es)
- Swedish: snida (sv), rista (sv), tälja (sv)
- Tamil: please add this translation if you can
- Telugu: please add this translation if you can
- Thai: please add this translation if you can
- Turkish: oymak (tr)
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to take or make, as by cutting; to provide
to lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan
Noun
carve (plural carves)
- (obsolete) A carucate.
1862, Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland:... half a carve of arable land in Ballyncore, one carve of arable land in Pales, a quarter of arable land in Clonnemeagh, half a carve of arable land in Ballyfaden, half a carve of arable land in Ballymadran, ...
- 1868, John Harland (editor), Wapentake of West Derby, in Remains, Historical and Literary, Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester, (translating a Latin text c. 1320-46), page 31
- Whereof John de Ditton holds a moiety of the village for half a carve of land.
- The act of carving
give that turkey a careful carve
Anagrams
Middle English
Verb
carve
- Alternative form of kerven