calve

American  

[kav, kahv] / kæv, kɑv /

verb (used without object)

calved, calving

1. to give birth to a calf.

   The cow is expected to calve tomorrow.

2. (of a glacier, an iceberg, etc.) to break up or splinter so as to produce a detached piece.

---

verb (used with object)

calved, calving

1. to give birth to (a calf ).

2. (of a glacier, an iceberg, etc.) to break off or detach (a piece).

   The glacier calved an iceberg.

calve British  

/ kɑːv /

verb

1. to give birth to (a calf)

2. (of a glacier or iceberg) to release (masses of ice) in breaking up

---

Etymology

Origin of calve

before 1000; Middle English calven, Old English (Anglian) *calfian, derivative of calf calf ¹; cognate with Old English ( West Saxon ) cealfian

Example Sentences

Don’t forget Canada’s zombie wildfires, the Texas floods, the late autumn Southwest heat waves, the calving Doomsday glacier and on and on.

From Salon

The retreat of calving glaciers further affects the ecosystems within Greenland's fjords.

From Science Daily

What followed was further loss of floating ice from the front of Hektoria, as large, flat-topped icebergs broke off or "calved", and the ice behind sped up and thinned.

From BBC

Some of the cows were “dried off” and wouldn’t be milked again until after the calving season.

From Literature

The icebergs are comparable in size to some of the smaller icebergs found off present-day Antarctica, such as blocks that calved from the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002.

From BBC