Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ-der.
Proto-Germanic *kerbaną
Proto-West Germanic *kerban
Old English ċeorfan
Middle English kerven
English carve
From Middle English kerven, from Old English ceorfan, from Proto-West Germanic *kerban, from Proto-Germanic *kerbaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch”). Cognate with West Frisian kerve, Dutch kerven, Low German karven, German kerben (“to notch”); also Old Prussian gīrbin (“number”), Old Church Slavonic жрѣбии (žrěbii, “lot, tallymark”), Ancient Greek γράφειν (gráphein, “to scratch, etch”).
Meanings
(obsolete) A carucate.
... half a carve of arable land in Ballyncore, one carve of arable land in Pales, a quarter of arable land in Clonnemeagh, half a carve of arable land in Ballyfaden, half a carve of arable land in Ballymadran, ... 1862, Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland:
Whereof John de Ditton holds a moiety of the village for half a carve of land. 1868, John Harland (editor), Wapentake of West Derby, in Remains, Historical and Literary, Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester, (translating a Latin text c. 1320-46), page 31
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ-der.
Proto-Germanic *kerbaną
Proto-West Germanic *kerban
Old English ċeorfan
Middle English kerven
English carve
From Middle English kerven, from Old English ceorfan, from Proto-West Germanic *kerban, from Proto-Germanic *kerbaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch”). Cognate with West Frisian kerve, Dutch kerven, Low German karven, German kerben (“to notch”); also Old Prussian gīrbin (“number”), Old Church Slavonic жрѣбии (žrěbii, “lot, tallymark”), Ancient Greek γράφειν (gráphein, “to scratch, etch”).
Meanings
(archaic) To cut.
My good blade carves the casques of men, / My tough lance thrusteth sure, / My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure. 1834 September (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “Sir Galahad”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza I, page 174:
To cut meat in order to serve it.
You carve the roast and I’ll serve the vegetables.
To shape to sculptural effect; to produce (a work) by cutting, or to cut (a material) into a finished work, especially with cuts that are curved rather than only straight slices.
The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. To display them the walls had been tinted a vivid blue which had now faded, but the carpet, which had evidently been stored and recently relaid, retained its original turquoise. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter I, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
The facades of the buildings fronting upon the avenue within the wall were richly carven[…]. 1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maiden of Mars, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:
to carve a name into a tree
To perform a series of turns without pivoting, so that the tip and tail of the snowboard take the same path.
(figuratively) To take or make, as by cutting; to provide.
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. 2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC:
[…] who could easily have carved themselves their own food. 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.
Lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet. 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]: