carve
VerbOpen English WordNet
Verb (3)carved, carving
- form by carving“Carve a flower from the ice”More general cut, shapeMore specific fret, hew, sculpt
- engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface“carve one's name into the bark”Synonyms: chip atMore general cutMore specific scratch, chisel, engrave
- cut to pieces“Father carved the ham”Synonyms: cut upMore general cutMore specific shave, fillet
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: 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. obsolete
Or they will carven the shepherd's throat.— Edmund 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.— Samuel T. 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.— Alfred Tennyson
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone.— Charles 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.” William Shakespeare
5. To cut: to hew; to mark as if by cutting.
My good blade carved the casques of men.— Alfred Tennyson
A million wrinkles carved his skin.— Alfred Tennyson
6. To take or make, as by cutting; to provide.
Who could easily have carved themselves their own food.— Robert South
7. To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.
Lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet.— William 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.” William Shakespeare
Fortunes were carved out of the property of the crown.— Thomas Babington Macaulay
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.
A carucate. obsolete Alexander Mansfield. Burrill
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54