carved

1. 1
   adjective

   Made by cutting a design or shape into a solid material such as wood, stone, or bone.

   A finely carved stone lintel framed the cathedral doorway.

   The museum displayed an intricately carved ivory chess set from the twelfth century.

   Similarsculpted, chiseled, engraved

   Note

   The participle settled into a describing word, and it usually sits before the noun it praises: a carved ivory statue, carved oak doors. Unlike the verb form, it can be graded (more carved, most carved), which marks it as an adjective. Compare 'the door was carved by hand', where the verb's participle reports an action rather than describing an object.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of carve.

   The sculptor carved a falcon from a single block of marble.

   Generations of visitors had carved their names into the stone railing.

   Note

   One spelling serves both the simple past and the participle, so context decides which is meant: she carved the turkey; the turkey was carved; he has carved out a niche for himself. Every use of the verb carries over into these forms, from the carver at the table and the sculptor to the snowboarder holding a clean arc. The bare sense 'to cut' now survives only as an archaism.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2