CARVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does carve mean? 

• CARVE (verb)
  The verb CARVE has 3 senses:

1. form by carving

2. engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface

3. cut to pieces

  Familiarity information: CARVE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CARVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they carve    ... he / she / it carves   
Past simple: carved   
Past participle: carved   
-ing form: carving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Form by carving

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

Carve a flower from the ice

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 2

Meaning:

Engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

carve; chip at

Context example:

carve one's name into the bark

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)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cut to pieces

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

carve; cut up

Context example:

Father carved the ham

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)

 Context examples 

Inside was a large room in which fifty workers were carving or moulding.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could see even in the dim light that the stone was massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and weather.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Most existing models that lay out the origin of Titan's lakes show liquid methane dissolving the moon's bedrock of ice and solid organic compounds, carving reservoirs that fill with the liquid.

(New Models Suggest Titan Lakes Are Explosion Craters, NASA)

According to researchers at the Smithsonian Institution and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, rain on Mars once carved river beds and created valleys much like rain on Earth has, and does.

(Heavy Rain May Have Once Fallen on Mars, VOA)

Upon the floor, close to the body, was lying a singular club of hard carved wood with a bone handle.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But she was too busy in her mind, carving out a career for him that would at least be possible, to ask what the ultimate something was which he had hinted at.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Meantime the master looked to see that the table was properly laid, and took the great knife, wherewith he was going to carve the chickens, and sharpened it on the steps.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The young planet is carving a path through the primordial disc of gas and dust around the very young star PDS 70.

(First Confirmed Image of Newborn Planet, ESO)

He went to a cupboard and reaching up to a high shelf took down a square green bottle, the contents of which he poured into a green-gold dish, beautifully carved.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

These cavities are carved out when jets from the supermassive black hole generate shock waves that push the gas outward and create huge holes.

(Chandra Finds Evidence for Serial Black Hole Eruptions, NASA)