lave
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to wash; bathe.
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(of a river, sea, etc.) to flow along, against, or past; wash.
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Obsolete. to ladle; pour or dip with a ladle.
verb (used without object)
noun
adjective
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lave1
First recorded before 900; Middle English laven “to wash, bathe, moisten,” partly from Old French laver, from Latin lavāre “to wash, bathe”; partly from Old English lafian “to pour water on, wash,” gelafian “to wash, lave, refresh,” itself perhaps from Latin lavāre
Origin of lave2
First recorded before 1000; Middle English love, lave, loave, Old English lāf “remnant, remains”; cognate with Old High German leiba, Old Norse leif, Gothic laiba; akin to leave 1
Origin of lave3
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; special use of lave 1
Vocabulary lists containing lave
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.
See Examples For:
In 2023 it brokered a deal between bitter rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, which lave long stood on opposing sides in proxy wars in the Middle East.
From BBC ● Apr. 1, 2026
The eruption eased pressure that had been building under a lave dome perched on the crater.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 5, 2021
Khalid Thomas, Elias Valtonen and walk-on Kyle Feit all played sporadically, but their transfers lave Hurley with a thin roster, particularly if White and Martin don’t return.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 1, 2020
In the bidding battle for Conoco alone, they note, the contestants lave lined up some $20 billion in standby bank credit.
From Time Magazine Archive
Despite the fact that I hated hem, Denna’s men taught me a lesson that I might never lave learned otherwise.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Back at the Aiden house, the Shabbat dinner guests have all laved their hands with a glass of water and returned to the sun deck for matzo-ball soup.
From Nature ● Jun. 22, 2011
At its Friday afternoon concerts in venerable Symphony Hall, bald, spade-bearded oldsters and their classically corseted wives sit complacently, laved in the patrician strains of Beethoven and Brahms.
From Time Magazine Archive
Pyro glosses over its terror with a sort of Hitchcock-and-bull story photographed in Spain in flamenco hues and laved in bucketfuls of blue butane gas.
From Time Magazine Archive
Catherine the Great, Jonathan Swift, John Wesley and a score of other 18th century movers and shapers are laved more in the warm glow of idiosyncrasy than in the cold light of 100% accuracy.
From Time Magazine Archive
He drained away the filthy water he sat in and laved fresh warm water over him from the pan and wrapped him shivering in a towel and wrapped him again in a blanket.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
As Leibgeber was laving that lion's breast of his with cold water, Firmian noticed that he pushed aside a little key, and asked what it opened.
From Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Wedded Life, Death, and Marriage of Firmian Stanislaus Siebenkaes, Parish Advocate in the Burgh of Kuhschnappel. by Jean Paul
As though laving the cross-street’s dirty feet, the East River shimmered dimly in the lights from shore and from passing steam craft.
From Lonesome Town by Ethel Dorrance
Gracious glory—no! why he was laving this for good and all this night.
From The Macdermots of Ballycloran by Anthony Trollope
There through the summer day Cool streams are laving: There, while the tempests sway, Scarce are boughs waving; There thy rest shalt thou take, Parted for ever, Never again to wake Never, O never!
From The Golden Treasury Selected from the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language and arranged with Notes by Various
The laving of all moveable property, and the aspersion of all immoveable, recommenced.
From Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Wedded Life, Death, and Marriage of Firmian Stanislaus Siebenkaes, Parish Advocate in the Burgh of Kuhschnappel. by Jean Paul
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