eve

nouncommon in dialogue

//iːv//

The day or night before, usually used for holidays, such as Christmas Eve.

noun

1
The day or night before, usually used for holidays, such as Christmas Eve.
She died on the eve of her 100th birthday.
2
archaicEvening, night.
on a cold winter's eve.
I love to see the shaking twig / Dance till the shut of eve
And has she tired of weeping / As she lies down at eve.
Sitting on the dockside at Oban, watching the to-ing and fro-ing in the harbour on a perfect summer's eve, I reflect on a trip which has taken me through our busiest cities to traverse the country's main lines, as well as explore some of the furthest extremities that were literally out on a limb.
3
figurativeThe period of time when something is just about to happen or to be introduced
the eve of a scientific discovery

Etymology

From a variant of the Middle English noun even (itself from Old English ǣfen), with a pre-1200 loss of the terminal '-n', which was mistaken for an inflection. See also the now archaic or poetic even (“evening”), from the same source. In medieval Europe, days were considered to extend from sunset to sunset rather than midnight to midnight, so the night before a holiday was considered part of it, hence its "eve".

Forms

plural: eves

Evan · A male given name from Welsh Ifan, equivalent to English John.Evans · A surname from Welsh [in turn originating as a patronymic]…evasive · Tending to avoid speaking openly or making revelations about…

eve · The day or night before, usually used for holidays, such as Christmas Eve.

Eve · The first woman and mother of the human race; Adam's wife.Evelyn · A female given name from the Germanic languages.even · Flat and level.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.