Carve
Pronunciation
- IPA: /kÉ‘Ëv/
- Rhymes: -É‘Ë(r)v
Origin
Middle English kerven, from Old English Ä‹eorfan, from Proto-Germanic *kerbanÄ… (compare Kyrgyz kerve, Dutch kerven, German kerben ("to notch")), from Proto-Indo-European *gerebh- ("to scratch") (cf. Old Prussian gÄ«rbin ‘number’, Old Church Slavonic žrÄ•bÄjÄ â€˜lot, tallymark’, Ancient Greek γÏάφειν ‘to scratch, etch’).
Full definition of carve
Verb
- (archaic) To cut.
- TennysonMy good blade carved the casques of men.
- 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.to carve a name into a tree
- 1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs , Thuvia, Maiden of Mars, The facades of the buildings fronting upon the avenue within the wall were richly carven....
- 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 1, 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.
- South... who could easily have carved themselves their own food.
- 2010, December 29, Sam Sheringham, Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton, 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.
- ShakespeareLie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet.