Definitions for: Carve


[v] cut to pieces; "Father carved the ham"
[v] form by carving; "Carve a flower from the ice"
[v] engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface; "carve one's name into the bark"



Webster (1913) Definition: Carve, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Carved; p. pr. & vb. n.
Carving.] [AS. ceorfan to cut, carve; akin to D. kerven, G.
kerben, Dan. karve, Sw. karfva, and to Gr. ? to write, orig.
to scatch, and E. -graphy. Cf. Graphic.]
1. To cut. [Obs.]

Or they will carven the shepherd's throat.
--Spenser.

2. To cut, as wood, stone, or other material, in an artistic
or decorative manner; to sculpture; to engrave.

Carved with figures strange and sweet. --Coleridge.

3. To make or shape by cutting, sculpturing, or engraving; to
form; as, to carve a name on a tree.

An angel carved in stone. --Tennyson.

We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone.
--C. Wolfe.

4. To cut into small pieces or slices, as meat at table; to
divide for distribution or apportionment; to apportion.
``To carve a capon.'' --Shak.



5. To cut: to hew; to mark as if by cutting.

My good blade carved the casques of men. --Tennyson.

A million wrinkles carved his skin. --Tennyson.

6. To take or make, as by cutting; to provide.

Who could easily have carved themselves their own
food. --South.

7. To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.

Lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new
doublet. --Shak.

To carve out, to make or get by cutting, or as if by
cutting; to cut out. ``[Macbeth] with his brandished steel
. . . carved out his passage.'' --Shak.

Fortunes were carved out of the property of the
crown. --Macaulay.


Carve, v. i.
1. To exercise the trade of a sculptor or carver; to engrave
or cut figures.

2. To cut up meat; as, to carve for all the guests.


Carve, n.
A carucate. [Obs.] --Burrill.

Synonyms: chip at, cut up

See Also: break off, carve up, chip, chisel, cut, cut off, dissever, divide, engrave, filet, fillet, forge, form, fret, grave, hew, hew out, inscribe, knap, mold, mould, sculpt, sculpture, separate, shape, shave, split, split up, work

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