carve

UK/kɑːv/US/kɑɹv/

verbB14 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,723 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: carved, carving, carves

To carve is to cut a shape out of something solid, taking bits away until the shape is there. A face carved in stone, initials carved into a bench, a wooden bird carved with a penknife on a winter evening.

At the table it means slicing a big cooked joint: someone carves the roast, using a carving knife and a carving fork, and the carvery is the restaurant built around it. Carve up means to divide something greedily — land, a company, a country — and on British roads it means cutting sharply in front of another driver. You carve out a career, a niche, a role for yourself, the picture being space chipped out of solid rock. Carved in stone is the phrase for a decision nobody can change, and it nearly always turns up in the negative: nothing is carved in stone yet.

Definitions of carve

1verbsculptTo cut a shape or pattern out of wood, stone or another hard material.B1
“He carved a small horse out of a block of pine.”
synonyms: sculpt, whittle, chisel
2verbcarveTo cut slices from a large piece of cooked meat.B2
“Her father always carved the turkey at the head of the table.”
- Said"Would you carve? You're better with the knife than I am."
- WrittenHe carved at the head of the meal, thin slices falling in perfect order.
- UsedCarve against the grain for the tenderest slices.
- ContrastCarve, not slice. Slicing is any division into pieces; carving is slicing a roast, at the table, with ceremony. slice →
- Not thisCutting up a steak on your plate is not carving. Carve means the whole joint, shared.
- Exchange"Who's carving?""Dad. Nobody else is allowed near it."
- SimplyCarve the meat. Give a piece to each person.
Patterncarve the turkey / joint / roast · a carving knife · carve sth into slices · carved
synonyms: slice
3verbwordsTo cut words or marks into a surface.B2
“Someone had carved their initials into the school desk.”
4verbyourselfTo make something for yourself through steady effort, especially with out.B2
“She carved out a career in local radio.”

Remember it

CARVE → a name in a tree, a slice off the chicken

You can carve your name into a tree, and you can carve the chicken at dinner: a sharp knife, slow careful cuts.

Phrases it lives in

carved in stone — fixed and impossible to change
carve up — to divide something into parts, especially in a greedy or unfair way

Also practised as

verbTo cut shapes out of wood or stone.

Where it comes from

Carve comes from Old English ceorfan and Proto-Germanic *kerbaną, from a Proto-Indo-European root *gerbʰ- meaning 'to scratch'. The same root gave Ancient Greek γράφειν, 'to scratch, etch', the ancestor of graphic and every English word ending in -graph. Writing and carving began as one act: dragging a mark into a hard surface.

Proto-Indo-European
*gerbʰ-
Middle English
kerven
English, today
carve

From Middle English kerven. From Middle English kerven, from Old English ceorfan, from Proto-West Germanic kerban, from Proto-Germanic kerbaną, from Proto-Indo-European gerbʰ- (“to scratch”). Cognate with West Frisian kerve, Dutch kerven, Low German karven, German kerben (“to notch”); also prg gīrbin (“number”), cu жрѣбии (“lot, tallymark”), Ancient Greek γράφειν (“to scratch, etch”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of carve

1verbsculptTo cut a shape or pattern out of wood, stone or another hard material.B1

“He carved a small horse out of a block of pine.”

synonyms: sculpt, whittle, chisel

2verbcarveTo cut slices from a large piece of cooked meat.B2

“Her father always carved the turkey at the head of the table.”

Said"Would you carve? You're better with the knife than I am."
WrittenHe carved at the head of the meal, thin slices falling in perfect order.
UsedCarve against the grain for the tenderest slices.
ContrastCarve, not slice. Slicing is any division into pieces; carving is slicing a roast, at the table, with ceremony. slice →
Not thisCutting up a steak on your plate is not carving. Carve means the whole joint, shared.
Exchange"Who's carving?""Dad. Nobody else is allowed near it."
SimplyCarve the meat. Give a piece to each person.

Patterncarve the turkey / joint / roast · a carving knife · carve sth into slices · carved

synonyms: slice

3verbwordsTo cut words or marks into a surface.B2

“Someone had carved their initials into the school desk.”

4verbyourselfTo make something for yourself through steady effort, especially with out.B2

“She carved out a career in local radio.”