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Webster 1913 Edition

Carve

Carve

(kärv)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Carved
(kärvd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Carving
.]
[AS.
ceorfan
to cut, carve; akin to D.
kerven
, G.
kerben
, Dan.
karve
, Sw.
karfva
, and to Gr.
γράφειν
to write, orig. to scratch, and E.
-graphy
. Cf.
Graphic
.]
1.
To cut.
[Obs.]
Or they will
carven
the shepherd’s throat.
Spenser.
2.
To cut, as wood, stone, or other material, in an artistic or decorative manner; to sculpture; to engrave.
Carved
with figures strange and sweet.
Coleridge.
3.
To make or shape by cutting, sculpturing, or engraving; to form;
as, to
carve
a name on a tree
.
An angel
carved
in stone.
Tennyson.
We
carved
not a line, and we raised not a stone.
C. Wolfe.
4.
To cut into small pieces or slices, as meat at table; to divide for distribution or apportionment; to apportion.
“To carve a capon.”
Shak.
5.
To cut: to hew; to mark as if by cutting.
My good blade
carved
the casques of men.
Tennyson.
A million wrinkles
carved
his skin.
Tennyson.
6.
To take or make, as by cutting; to provide.
Who could easily have
carved
themselves their own food.
South.
7.
To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.
Lie ten nights awake
carving
the fashion of a new doublet.
Shakespeare
To carve out
,
to make or get by cutting, or as if by cutting; to cut out.
“[Macbeth] with his brandished steel . . . carved out his passage.”
Shak.
Fortunes were
carved out
of the property of the crown.
Macaulay.

Carve

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To exercise the trade of a sculptor or carver; to engrave or cut figures.
2.
To cut up meat;
as, to
carve
for all the guests
.

Carve

,
Noun.
A carucate.
[Obs.]
Burrill.

Webster 1828 Edition

Carve

CARVE

, v.t.
1.
To cut into small pieces or slices, as meat at tale.
2.
To cut wood, stone or other material into some particular form, with an instrument, usually a chisel; to engrave; to cut figures or devices on hard materials.
3.
To make or shape by cutting; as, to carve an image.
4.
To apportion; to distribute; to provide at pleasure; to select and take, as to ones self, or to select and give to another.
5.
To cut; to hew.
To care out, is to cut out, or to lay out, by design; to plan.

CARVE

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To cut up meat; followed sometimes by for; as, to carve for all the quests.
2.
To exercise the trade of a sculptor.
3.
To engrave or cut figures.

CARVE

,
Noun.
A carucate.

Definition 2024

carve

carve

English

Verb

carve ‎(third-person singular simple present carves, present participle carving, simple past carved or (archaic) corve, past participle carved or carven or (archaic) corven)

  1. (archaic) To cut.
    • Tennyson
      My good blade carved the casques of men.
  2. To cut meat in order to serve it.
    You carve the roast and I'll serve the vegetables.
  3. 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, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:
      The facades of the buildings fronting upon the avenue within the wall were richly carven […] .
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess:
      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.
  4. (snowboarding) To perform a series of turns without pivoting, so that the tip and tail of the snowboard take the same path.
  5. (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”, 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.
  6. To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.
    • Shakespeare
      Lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

carve ‎(plural carves)

  1. (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, Remains, Historical and Literary, Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester, Wapentake of West Derby (translating a Latin text), page 31:
      Whereof John de Ditton holds a moiety of the village for half a carve of land.

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English kerven, from Old English ceorfan, from Proto-Germanic *kerbaną (compare West Frisian kerve, Low German karven, Dutch kerven, German kerben ‎(“to notch”)), from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‎(“to scratch”) (compare Old Prussian gīrbin ‎(“number”), Old Church Slavonic жрѣбии ‎(žrěbii, “lot, tallymark”), Ancient Greek γράφειν ‎(gráphein, “to scratch, etch”)).

Pronunciation

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