Library / English Dictionary

CARVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cut to pieces

Example:

Father carved the ham

Synonyms:

carve; cut up

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "carve" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "carve"):

shave (make shavings of or reduce to shavings)

filet; fillet (cut into filets)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Also:

carve up (separate into parts or portions)

Derivation:

carver (someone who carves the meat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Form by carving

Example:

Carve a flower from the ice

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "carve" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

forge; form; mold; mould; shape; work (make something, usually for a specific function)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "carve"):

hew; hew out (make or shape as with an axe)

grave; sculpt; sculpture (shape (a material like stone or wood) by whittling away at it)

fret (carve a pattern into)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

carver (an artist who creates sculptures)

carving (removing parts from hard material to create a desired pattern or shape)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface

Example:

carve one's name into the bark

Synonyms:

carve; chip at

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "carve" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "carve"):

chisel (carve with a chisel)

engrave; grave; inscribe; scratch (carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface)

engrave; etch (carve or cut a design or letters into)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

carver (makes decorative wooden panels)

carving (creating figures or designs in three dimensions)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Jupiter's magnetosphere — the volume carved out in the solar wind where the planet's magnetic field dominates —extends up to nearly 2 million miles (3 million kilometers).

(Juno Peers Inside a Giant, NASA)

This way, you can both enjoy being in a new setting, away from routine cares, and you can carve out quality time for one another.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Walrus ivory was a valuable medieval commodity, used to carve luxury items such as ornate crucifixes or pieces for games like chess and Viking favourite hnefatafl.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

He sat, with that carved grin on his face, looking at the fire, as I looked at him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Each had a yew or hazel stave slung over his shoulder, plain and serviceable with the older men, but gaudily painted and carved at either end with the others.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She advanced and examined it closely: it was of cedar, curiously inlaid with some darker wood, and raised, about a foot from the ground, on a carved stand of the same.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

There’s the Treasury on the left, and the Horse Guards, and the Admiralty, where the stone dolphins are carved above the gate.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The lack of sufficient water to carve gullies has resulted in a variety of theories for the gullies' creation, including different mechanisms involving evaporation of water and carbon dioxide frost.

(Mars Gullies Likely Not Formed by Liquid Water, NASA)

A pair of silk stockings, that pretty carved fan, and a lovely blue sash.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

After the sediment hardened, wind carved the layered rock into the towering Mount Sharp, which Curiosity is climbing today.

(NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds an Ancient Oasis on Mars, NASA)