carve

[ kahrv ]

/ kɑrv /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR carve ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), carved, carv·ing.

to cut (a solid material) so as to form something: to carve a piece of pine.

to form from a solid material by cutting: to carve a statue out of stone.

to cut into slices or pieces, as a roast of meat.

to decorate with designs or figures cut on the surface: The top of the box was beautifully carved with figures of lions and unicorns.

to cut (a design, figures, etc.) on a surface: Figures of lions and unicorns were carved on the top of the box.

to make or create for oneself (often followed by out): He carved out a career in business.

verb (used without object), carved, carv·ing.

to carve figures, designs, etc.

to cut meat.

Nearby words

carunculate, carus curve, caruso, caruso, enrico, carvacrol, carve, carve out, carve up, carvel, carvel-built, carven

Origin of carve

before 1000; Middle English kerven, Old English ceorfan to cut; cognate with Middle Low German kerven, German kerben, Greek gráphein to mark, write; see graph

Related forms

carv·er, nounre·carve, verb, re·carved, re·carv·ing.sem·i·carved, adjectiveun·carved, adjective

un·der·carve, verb (used with object), un·der·carved, un·der·carv·ing.well-carved, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for carve

Al Qaeda has never managed to carve out a large chunk of real estate to call its own—in Afghanistan it was a guest of the Taliban.
ISIS’s Futile Quest to Go Legit|Jamie Dettmer|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Her new paradigm leads her to carve up shibboleths and heroes alike.
Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’ Will Change Nothing|Michael Signer|November 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I sort of got lucky in that I was able to carve a niche for myself.
Juliette Lewis on Hollywood, Why the MSM Hates Scientology, and Masturbating to George Clooney|Marlow Stern|September 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In Brazil, there was a microcosmic slice of the kind of public role he is attempting to carve.
Prince Harry Should Be King: The Royal Family’s Ace Card|Tim Teeman|June 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Could it just be that prison itself conditions a sort of pavlovian reaction to carve chess pieces?
Reading Prison Novels In Prison|Daniel Genis|May 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He wanted to carve out for himself a place of position and power.
The Man Who Rose Again|Joseph Hocking
I wonder I never had sufficient wit to carve out one like this before.
Diane of the Green Van|Leona Dalrymple
I shudder when I see them brandish their knives in act to carve, and look on them as savages that devour one another.
Hours in a Library, Volume I. (of III.)|Leslie Stephen
These serve admirably to carve, and are very pretty when coloured or ivoried, bronzed in antique style, or otherwise ornamented.
A Manual of Wood Carving|Charles G. Leland
It is something to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so make a few objects beautiful.
The Call of the Twentieth Century|David Starr Jordan

British Dictionary definitions for carve

carve

/ (kɑːv) /

verb

(tr) to cut or chip in order to form somethingto carve wood

to decorate or form (something) by cutting or chippingto carve statues

to slice (meat) into piecesto carve a turkey

Word Origin for carve

Old English ceorfan; related to Old Frisian kerva, Middle High German kerben to notch

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for carve

carve

Old English ceorfan (class III strong verb; past tense cearf, past participle corfen) "to cut, cut down, slay; to carve, cut out, engrave," from West Germanic *kerfan (cf. Old Frisian kerva, Middle Dutch and Dutch kerven, German kerben "to cut, notch"), from PIE root *gerbh- "to scratch," making carve the English cognate of Greek graphein "to write," originally "to scratch" on clay tablets with a stylus.

Once extensively used, most senses now usurped by cut (v.). Meaning specialized to sculpture, meat, etc., by 16c. Related: Carved; carving. Original strong conjugation has been abandoned, but archaic carven lingers.

carve

verb (used with object), carved, carv·ing.

verb (used without object), carved, carv·ing.

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Origin of carve

Examples from the Web for carve

British Dictionary definitions for carve

carve

verb

Word Origin for carve

Word Origin and History for carve

carve