lave
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
to wash; bathe.
-
(of a river, sea, etc.) to flow along, against, or past; wash.
-
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
When Boris was questioned by police about the large cache of diamonds discovered in his possession, :the name of a close friend is said to lave come up: Brezhnev's daughter Galina.
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
To prepare the quadruped idols for the worshiping throng, handlers laved them in exotic ceremonies.
From Time Magazine Archive
Catherine the Great, Jonathan Swift, John Wesley and a score of other 18th century movers and shapers are laved in the warm glow of idiosyncrasy rather than the cold light of 100% accuracy.
From Time Magazine Archive
The moon, the slender candles, the eternal flame at John's memorial—47 feet away and the floodlights laved Robert Kennedy's resting place beneath a magnolia tree.
From Time Magazine Archive
As for Treebeard, he first laved his feet in the basin beyond the arch, and then he drained his bowl at one draught, one long, slow draught.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Grandson!" grunted Tom, heaving up, "I've got no grandson, or he wouldn't be laving me to smoke a dry pipe.
From The Manxman A Novel - 1895 by Sir Hall Caine
These were quiet days in the little white house, with only the narrow quay underneath, and the changing groups of washerwomen, bare-armed, lilac-bloused, laving and lifting in the tremulous heat-haze of the afternoon.
From The White Plumes of Navarre A Romance of the Wars of Religion by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
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
It must be remembered that at table persons of all ranks used their fingers instead of forks, and the laving of the hands during the meals was important for comfort and cleanliness.
From Women of England by Bartlett Burleigh James
Before it—I might say through it—wimples the Gala, almost laving its thresholds.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 12 by Various
Definitions 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.
