calve

English

Etymology

From Middle English calven, from Old English *calfian, cealfian, from Proto-West Germanic *kalbōn, from Proto-Germanic *kalbōną (“to calve”), from *kalbaz (“calf”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian koolvje, Dutch kalven, German Low German kalven, German kalben, Swedish kalva, Icelandic kálfa.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɑːv/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kæv/
• Rhymes: -ɑːv, -æv
• Homophone: carve (some nonrhotic accents, e.g. RP)

Verb

calve (third-person singular simple present calves, present participle calving, simple past and past participle calved)

1. (intransitive) to give birth to a calf
2. (intransitive) to assist in a cow's giving birth to a calf
3. (transitive) to give birth to (a calf)
4. (intransitive, figuratively, especially of an ice shelf, a glacier, an ice sheet, or even an iceberg) to shed a large piece, e.g. an iceberg or a smaller block of ice (coming off an iceberg)

   The glacier was starting to calve even as we watched.

5. (intransitive, figuratively, especially of an iceberg) to break off

   The sea was dangerous because of icebergs calving off the nearby glacier.

   When an iceberg breaks off from a large ice shelf along an existing fissure, it looks like a large, flat rectangle. Typically, only 10 percent of an iceberg is visible above the water. As it calved, the iceberg may have been smooth and flat underneath, but ocean currents would have quickly changed it.

6. (transitive, figuratively, especially of an ice shelf, a glacier, an ice sheet, or even an iceberg) to shed (a large piece, e.g. an iceberg); to set loose (a mass of ice), e.g. a block of ice (coming off an iceberg)

   The glacier was starting to calve an iceberg even as we watched.

Related terms

• calf
• calves

 

Translations

to give birth to a calf

• Bulgarian: отелвам се (otelvam se)
• Catalan: vedellar (ca)
• Czech: otelit se pf, telit se impf
• Danish: kælve (da)
• Dutch: kalven (nl)
• Esperanto: naski bovidon
• Faroese: kálva
• Finnish: vasikoida (fi), poikia (fi)
• French: vêler (fr), mettre bas (fr)
• German: kalben (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kalve (no)

  Nynorsk: kalva, kalve

• Polish: cielić się impf, ocielić się pf
• Russian: тели́ться (ru) (telítʹsja)
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: ćelić, woćelić so, ćelećić (rare)

• Swedish: kalva (sv)

to assist in a cow's giving birth to a calf

• Dutch: helpen met het kalven
• Finnish: vasikoida (fi)
• French: aider le vêlage

to give birth to (a calf)

• Dutch: ter wereld brengen
• French: mettre bas (fr)
• German: werfen (de)

to shed a large piece

• Danish: kælve (da)
• Dutch: afkalven (nl)
• Finnish: poikia (fi)
• French: se fragmenter, se scinder (fr), se morceler, se casser (fr), se fractionner (fr), se briser (fr)
• German: kalben (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kalve (no)

to break off

• Danish: kælve (da)
• Dutch: loskomen (van) (nl)
• French: se détacher (de) (fr)
• German: sich lösen (von)

to shed, set loose (a mass of ice)

• Danish: kælve (da)
• French: perdre (fr), abandonner (fr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} făta (ro)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} buzağılamak (tr)
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} bubülimotön (vo)
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} bwrw llo, ^{(please verify)} dod â llo

Anagrams

• clave

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkal.ve/
• Rhymes: -alve
• Hyphenation: càl‧ve

Adjective

calve

1. feminine plural of calvo

Noun

calve f

1. plural of calva

Anagrams

• clave

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkal.u̯e/, [ˈkäɫ̪u̯ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkal.ve/, [ˈkälve]

Adjective

calve

1. vocative masculine singular of calvus