lave

[leyv]

verb (used with object), laved, lav·ing.

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), laved, lav·ing.

Archaic. to bathe.

Origin of lave

before 900; Middle English laven, partly < Old French laver < Latin lavāre to wash; partly representing Old English lafian to pour water on, wash, itself perhaps < Latin lavāre

Related formsun·laved, adjectiveun·lav·ing, adjective

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

Related Words for laving

bathe, float, bath, sponge, slosh, imbue, soak, swab, cleanse, douse, wet, bubble, soap, shine, moisten, hose, scrub, launder, scour, lap

Examples from the Web for laving

Historical Examples of laving

Tunder-an-ouns, is it laving him that way you are afther—let me at him!'
The Ned M'Keown Stories
William Carleton
They had sacked Urumtsi, and were laving close siege to Manas.
The Life of Yakoob Beg
Demetrius Boulger
Oh, Kathleen, I can't be laving the children at all, at all.
The White Christmas and other Merry Christmas Plays
Walter Ben Hare
He had come on foot, and fancied that we were laving out Fleete.
Life's Handicap
Rudyard Kipling
More than anything else he loved to swim in the laving waters of Byrons Pool, at night or in the magic half-light of dawn.
Heroes of To-Day
Mary R. Parkman

British Dictionary definitions for laving

lave

verb

an archaic word for wash

Word Origin for lave

Old English lafian, perhaps from Latin lavāre to wash

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 laving

lave

c.1200, from Old English gelafian "wash by pouring, pour (water)," possibly an early English or West Germanic borrowing (cf. Dutch laven, German laben) of Latin lavare "to wash," or its Old French descendant, laver. Latin lavare is from PIE *leu(e)- "to wash" (cf. Latin luere "to wash," Greek louein "to wash, bathe," Old Irish loathar "basin," Breton laouer "trough," Old English leaþor "lather").