carve

English [edit]

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Carving

Etymology [edit]

Middle English kerven, from Old English ċeorfan, from Proto-Germanic *kerbanan (cf. West Frisian 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’).

Pronunciation [edit]

IPA: /kɑːv/
Rhymes: -ɑː(r)v

Verb [edit]

carve (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.
- 1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maiden of Mars^[1], edition HTML, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:
  
  The facades of the buildings fronting upon the avenue within the wall were richly carven […]
(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.
- 2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, 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.