greave

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: grēv, IPA^(key): /ɡɹiːv/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: grieve
• Rhymes: -iːv

Etymology 1

From Middle English greve, from Old English grǣfe, grǣfa (“bush, bramble, grove, thicket, copse, brush-wood (for burning), fuel”), probably related to Proto-Germanic *grōbō (“ditch, hole”).

Cognate with Scots greve, greave (“grove”). Compare also Proto-Germanic *grainiz (“twig”), of unknown origin, whence Old Norse grein (“branch, bough”). Closely related to Old English grāf, grāfa (“grove”). See grove.

Noun

greave (plural greaves)

1. (obsolete) A bush; a tree; a grove.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     she fled into that covert greave

2. (obsolete) A bough; a branch.

Etymology 2

From Middle English greve, greyve, from Old English grǣfa, grēfa (“pit, cave, hole, grave, trench”), from Proto-Germanic *grēbō, an ablaut variant of to *grōbō (“pit, ditch”) (whence doublet of groove) (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to dig, scratch, scrape”). Cognate with North Frisian groop (“pit, sewer, gutter”), Dutch groef (“pit, hole, gutter”), German Grube (“pit, hole”), Icelandic gröf (“pit, grave”). Also related to grave.

Noun

greave (plural greaves)

1. (obsolete) A ditch or trench.

Etymology 3

Italian greaves, c. 1570

From Middle English greve, grayve, from Old French greve (“shin”), of uncertain origin; possibly from Egyptian Arabic جورب (“stocking, leg cover”). Watkins suggests a connection with greve (“part in the hair”), due to the resemblance of the medial ridge to a part in the hair, from graver (“to part (the hair); engrave”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *graban (“to engrave”); if so, related to Etymology 2 above.

Noun

greave (plural greaves)

1. (historical) A piece of armour that protects the leg, especially the shin, and occasionally the tops of the feet.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:

     And through the stained windows bright, / From o'er the red-tiled eaves, / The sunlight blazed with colored light / On golden helms and greaves.

   • 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, The White Company, New York, N.Y.; Boston, Mass.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Company […], →OCLC:

     Then he cast off his breast-plate, thigh pieces, and greaves, while Alleyne followed his example.

Alternative forms

• greeve

Synonyms

• cnemid

Derived terms

• greaved

Translations

piece of armour that protects the leg, especially the shin

• Arabic: دِرْع لِلسَّاقِ
• Armenian: զանգապան (hy) (zangapan)
• Bulgarian: наколе́нник (nakolénnik)
• French: grève (fr) f
• Galician: caneleira (gl) f
• German: Schienbeinschutz m, Schienbeinschützer m, Schienbeinschoner (de) m, Beinschiene (de) f
• Irish:

  Old Irish: bróc f

• Latin: ocrea f
• Polish: nagolennik (pl) m, nagolenica (pl) f
• Portuguese: greva f
• Russian: поножи (ru) pl (ponoži)
• Serbo-Croatian: štitnik za potkoljenice m, štitnik za potkolenice m
• Spanish: greba (es) f
• Ukrainian: наголі́нники pl (naholínnyky)

Etymology 4

Back-formation from greaves (“residue left after animal fat has been rendered”).

Verb

greave (third-person singular simple present greaves, present participle greaving, simple past and past participle greaved)

1. (nautical, transitive) To clean (a ship's bottom); to grave.

See also

• greaves (“residue left after animal fat has been rendered”)

Anagrams

• regave