carve

Use carve in a sentence

A woman carves the Thanksgiving turkey.

verb

To carve is to slice, to divide up, or to make something smaller by cutting or chiseling.

An example of carve is to cut apart a turkey on Thanksgiving.
An example of carve is to break a large piece of property into smaller lots.
An example of carve is to create a wooden sculpture using wood tools.

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"carve." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/carve>.

APA Style

carve. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/carve

carve

transitive verb

carved, carv′ing

to make or shape by or as by cutting, chipping, hewing, etc.: carve a statue out of wood, carve out a career for oneself
to decorate the surface of with cut figures or designs
to divide by cutting; slice: to carve meat
to divide into portions, as land: with up

Origin of carve

Middle English kerven from Old English ceorfan from Indo-European base an unverified form gerebh-, to scratch: see graphic

to carve statues or designs
to carve meat

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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"carve." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/carve>.

APA Style

carve. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/carve

carve

verb

carved, carv·ing, carves

verb

transitive

a. To divide into pieces by cutting; slice: carved a roast.
b. To divide by parceling out: carve up an estate.
To cut into a desired shape; fashion by cutting: carve the wood into a figure.
To make or form by or as if by cutting: carve initials in the bark; carved out an empire.
To decorate by cutting and shaping carefully.
To make (a turn or turns) smoothly and without skidding, as when skiing or riding a snowboard, by leaning sharply into the direction of the turn.

verb

intransitive

To engrave or cut figures as an art, hobby, or trade.
To disjoint, slice, and serve meat or poultry.
To carve turns, as when skiing.

Origin of carve

Middle English kerven from Old English ceorfan ; see gerbh- in Indo-European roots.

Related Forms:

carv′er
noun

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"carve." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/carve>.

APA Style

carve. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/carve

Verb

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

(archaic) To cut.
To cut meat in order to serve it.
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
(snowboarding) To perform a series of turns without pivoting, so that the tip and tail of the snowboard take the same path.
(figuratively) To produce something using skill.

Noun

(plural carves)

(obsolete) A carucate.
half a carve of arable land

Origin

Middle English kerven, from Old English ċeorfan, from Proto-Germanic *kerbaną (compare Kyrgyz kerve, Dutch kerven, German kerben (“to notch”)), from Proto-Indo-European *gerebh- (“to scratch”) (cf. Old Prussian gīrbin ‘number’, Old Church Slavonic žrĕbĭjĭ ‘lot, tallymark’, Ancient Greek γράφειν (gráphein) ‘to scratch, etch’).