Dictionary

nave en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• nāv
• (Southern-England) audio
• /neɪv/

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin nāvem, singular accusative of nāvis, possibly via a Romance source. Doublet of nef and nau.

Meanings

1. The middle or body of a church, extending from the transepts to the principal entrances.
   • Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer. 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
2. The ground-level middle cavity of a barn.

Forms

Deriveds

double-nave · navelike · naved · naveless

Translations (62)

el ναυς (the middle or body of a church) · be неф (the middle or body of a church) · es nave (the middle or body of a church) · ko 신랑 (the middle or body of a church) · mk кораб (the middle or body of a church) · pt nave (the middle or body of a church) · ca nau (the middle or body of a church) · ml ഹൈക്കല (the middle or body of a church) · be нэф (the middle or body of a church) · hy նավ (the middle or body of a church) · ga corp na heaglaise (the middle or body of a church) · de Schiff (the middle or body of a church) · uk на́ва (the middle or body of a church) · io navo (the middle or body of a church) · fi päälaiva (the middle or body of a church) · tl nabe (the middle or body of a church) · sh ла̑ђа (the middle or body of a church) · sl ladja (the middle or body of a church) · it navata (the middle or body of a church) · he סְפִינָה (the middle or body of a church) · ro navă (the middle or body of a church) · sh brȏd (the middle or body of a church) · cy corff (the middle or body of a church) · la nāvis (the middle or body of a church) · sq anijatë (the middle or body of a church) · eo navo (the middle or body of a church) · hu templomhajó (the middle or body of a church) · pl nawa (the middle or body of a church) · nn midskip (the middle or body of a church) · lt nava (the middle or body of a church) · br nev (the middle or body of a church) · eu habearte (the middle or body of a church) · fi laiva (the middle or body of a church) · nl schip (the middle or body of a church) · da skib (the middle or body of a church) · sv skepp (the middle or body of a church) · hu hajó (the middle or body of a church) · gl nave (the middle or body of a church) · sh lȃđa (the middle or body of a church) · sq nef (the middle or body of a church) · nb midtskip (the middle or body of a church) · et lööv (the middle or body of a church) · bg неф (the middle or body of a church) · sh бро̑д (the middle or body of a church) · ga meánlann (the middle or body of a church) · uk неф (the middle or body of a church) · lv ratu rumba (the middle or body of a church) · ja 身廊 (the middle or body of a church) · fr nef (the middle or body of a church) · sk loď (the middle or body of a church) · ru кора́бль (the middle or body of a church) · ar صَحْن (the middle or body of a church) · cmn 中殿 (the middle or body of a church) · pl nawa główna (the middle or body of a church) · tr kilise ortası (the middle or body of a church) · ka ნეფი (the middle or body of a church) · ro naos (the middle or body of a church) · ru ладья́ (the middle or body of a church) · nn midtskip (the middle or body of a church) · ru неф (the middle or body of a church) · cs loď (the middle or body of a church) · mk брод (the middle or body of a church)

nave en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• nāv
• (Southern-England) audio
• /neɪv/

Etymology

From Middle English nave, from Old English nafu, from Proto-West Germanic *nabu, from Proto-Germanic *nabō (compare Dutch naaf, German Nabe, Swedish nav), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nebʰ- (“navel, hub”) (compare Latin umbō (“shield boss”), Latvian naba, Sanskrit नभ्य (nabhya)).

Meanings

1. A hub of a wheel.
   • 'Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods, In general synod take away her power; Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel, And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven[…] c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
   • In the original context of the World Wide Web the ’authorities’ are information sources, whereas herein the ’authorities’ are the material sinks. The hubs remain the ’naves’ in the link structure but are the sources of material. Continuing the wheel analogy, the authorities would be ‘spoke nipples’ 2024, Thérèse G. Lee Chan, David A. Janes, Kyle P. Joshua, “Filtering ‘3–2’ industrial symbiosis networks at a carbon-intensive cluster in a small island developing state to reuse CO₂ and water”, in Chemical Engineering Research and Design, volume 212, →DOI, page 45:
2. (obsolete) The navel.
   • Till he faced the slave; / Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, / Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, / And fix'd his head upon our battlements c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

Forms

Relateds

navel