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
"I'd lave to study a cat, learn where he fed, where he went to water, where his scent stations were."
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
But let a Silver Shadow come humming along, and our hollow faces will suddenly be laved in an involuntary beatific glow, like the Ancient Mariner just before the bird dropped.
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
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
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
“Little fear of their laving widout me, so nothing will be done till I arrive, as Brian O’Lynn said when he was walking forth to be hanged.”
From The Launch Boys' Adventures in Northern Waters by Burton Donnel Hughes
"No use; I'm laving you; I'm going on my long journey," said Bridget, while Granny used a shovel as a fan to relieve her gusty breathing.
From The Manxman A Novel - 1895 by Sir Hall Caine
A palm-leaf sail that stretches wide, A sea that's running strong, A boat that dips its laving side, The forefoot's rippling song.
From In Court and Kampong Being Tales and Sketches of Native Life in the Malay Peninsula by Sir Hugh Charles Clifford
The red sunset stung him: the rocks frowned at him; the sweet wind that had been laving his face as he walked up the hill, dropped—as if he wasn't fit to be kissed any more.
From The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
The adjoining village of Ascoli has also suffered:—32 houses laving fallen in, and the church being levelled with the ground.
From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 4, November 1, 1851 by Various
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