# carve

Pronunciation: US say "KAHRV" /kɑɹv/; UK say "KAHV" /kɑːv/

## Verb

1. To cut cooked meat into slices or portions for serving.
   - Simple: To cut cooked meat into slices or pieces so it can be served.
   - _Could you carve the chicken while I set the table?_
   - _The chef carved the ham at the table while guests watched._
2. To produce a sculpture or finished object by cutting into wood, stone, or similar material, often with curved rather than straight cuts.
   - Simple: To make a shape or object by cutting away wood, stone, or other material.
   - _Sculptors carve marble into lifelike figures._
   - _He carved an intricate pattern along the lid of the wooden box._
3. To create or secure something for oneself through deliberate effort, as if by cutting it out.
   - Simple: To get or make something for yourself through hard, steady effort.
   - _Immigrants carve new lives in unfamiliar cities._
   - _He carved a successful career out of a modest hobby._
5. To lay out, contrive, design, or plan something.
   - Simple: To plan or design something carefully.
   - _Strategists carve detailed plans well before any action begins._
   - _The architects carved an ambitious design for the city center._
6. To link turns on a snowboard without pivoting or skidding, so the board's tip and tail follow the same continuous path.
   - Simple: To turn smoothly on a snowboard so the board follows one clean curved line instead of sliding sideways.
   - _Experienced snowboarders carve cleanly across the slope without skidding._
   - _He carved through the fresh powder all the way down to the lift._

## Noun

4. An act or instance of cutting, slicing, or shaping something.
   - Simple: A single act of cutting or shaping something.
   - _A single carve of the blade separated the joint cleanly._
   - _Her first carve into the clay set the shape of the whole piece._

## Verb

7. To cut into or through something with a sharp blade. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To cut something with a blade.
   - _With one stroke he carved the cord clean in two._
   - _Sharp scythes carve a wide swath through the standing grain._

## Noun

8. An old measure of land equal to a carucate: roughly the area a single plow team could work in a year. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An old unit of farmland, about as much as one team of oxen could plow in a year.
   - _The manor was assessed at two carves in the old survey._
   - _A single carve supported one family and its plow team._

## Origin

From Middle English kerven, from Old English ceorfan, tracing back through Proto-Germanic *kerbaną to the Proto-Indo-European root *gerbʰ- ("to scratch"). It is related to Dutch kerven and German kerben ("to notch"), and also to Ancient Greek gráphein ("to scratch, etch").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/carve (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).