carve

verb

1. 1

   archaicTo cut.

   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.

2. 2

   To cut meat in order to serve it.

   You carve the roast and I’ll serve the vegetables.

3. 3

   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

   The facades of the buildings fronting upon the avenue within the wall were richly carven[…].

   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. 4

   To perform a series of turns without pivoting, so that the tip and tail of the snowboard take the same path.

5. 5

   figurativeTo take or make, as by cutting; to provide.

   […] who could easily have carved themselves their own food.

   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. 6

   To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.

   Lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet.

noun

1. 1

   obsoleteA carucate.

   ... 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, ...

   Whereof John de Ditton holds a moiety of the village for half a carve of land.

2. 2

   The act of carving

   Give that turkey a careful carve.

Forms

plural

carves

past tense

carved

past participle

carved, carven

present participle

carving

third person singular

carves