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eve

noun
EEV/iːv/

Pluraleves

3 meanings of eve

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  1. 1
    nouncountable
    The day or night before a certain day, most often a holiday like Christmas.

    We always open one present on Christmas Eve and save the rest for the morning.

    She could hardly sleep on the eve of her birthday.

  2. 2
    nounfigurativelycountable
    The time just before something happens or begins.

    After years of work, the doctors believed they were on the eve of a cure.

    Back then, the world was on the eve of the computer age.

    Similarverge, brink, threshold, cusp

  3. 3
    nounarchaic
    The evening or the night.

    We sat on the porch and watched the stars on a warm summer's eve.

    And has she tired of weeping / As she lies down at eve.
    1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, A Shropshire LadHere, eve means evening, the end of the day.
    Note

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Origin

It comes from the old English word even, meaning evening, which lost its last letter. Long ago a day began at sunset, so the evening before a holiday counted as part of it.