eaves
Britishplural noun
Etymology
Origin of eaves
Old English efes; related to Gothic ubizwa porch, Greek hupsos height
Explanation
The part of a roof that sticks out past the side of a building is called the eaves. If you hear chirping outside your window, it may be birds nesting in the eaves of your house. Eaves are an architectural feature that look good aesthetically, but they also serve the important purpose of directing rainwater away from the house. The word stems from the Old English efes, meaning "edge of a roof" and also "edge of a forest." You'll almost always see this word in its plural form. In fact, some dictionaries list eaves as both the singular and plural.
Vocabulary lists containing eaves
Built To Last: Architectural Parlance
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Restart
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Charlotte's Web
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She said she felt pressured into agreeing to having her roof re-done and paid a total of £5,500, only for the original contractor to send his son instead, who left work in the eaves incomplete.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
“Immediately noticeable were the sagging eaves, the multitude of leaks from the roof, the dried out, splintered mahogany and the battered exterior woodwork, which had suffered seven decades of winds from the Sound.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
The heat risk in a studio apartment under the eaves with no through air -- windows on just one side for example -- was a negative point for Camille Couturier during a viewing with Denke.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
They include installing a Class-A fire-rated roof, establishing a 5-foot ember-resistant zone around a home and installing fire-resistant vents and closed eaves, among other measures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
In old suit boxes under the eaves we found folded clothes that went back before the war, way back.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
