English Explanatory Dictionary

shave

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To make (the head, skin etc.) bald or (the hair) shorter by using a tool such as a razor or electric clippers to cut the hair close to the skin.
  2. To cut anything in this fashion.
  3. To remove hair from one's face by this means.
  4. To cut finely, for example slices of meat.
  5. To skim along or near the surface of; to pass close to, or touch lightly, in passing.
  6. To reduce in size, weight, time taken etc., usually by a small amount.
  7. To be hard and severe in a bargain with; to practice extortion on; to cheat.
  8. To buy (a note) at a discount greater than the legal rate of interest, or to deduct in discounting it more than the legal rate allows.
  9. To injure by employing a knife.
noun
  1. An instance of shaving.
  2. A thin slice; a shaving.
  3. An exorbitant discount on a note.
  4. A premium paid for an extension of the time of delivery or payment, or for the right to vary a stock contract in any particular.
  5. A hand tool, mainly for woodworking, consisting of a sharp blade with a handle at each end.
  6. A narrow miss or escape; a close shave.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

shāv /ʃeɪv/ en-us-shave.ogg

Word forms

shave shaves shaving shaved shove shaven

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English shaven, schaven, from Old English sċafan (“to shave, scrape, shred, polish”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaban, from Proto-Germanic *skabaną (“to scrape”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, form, carve”). Cognate with West Frisian skave, Dutch schaven, Low German schaven, German schaben, Danish skave, Norwegian Nynorsk skava, Swedish skava, Icelandic skafa, Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (skaban), all roughly “to scrape, chafe, shave, plane, remove the outer lay of”.

Synonyms

stab chef ching juice shiv jook shank

Derived words

aftershave God Shave the Queen inshave overshave reshave shaveable shave brush shave cream shave down shavee shave foam shavegrass shavehook shaveling shave off shaver shavetail shave up shaving brush shaving bump shaving cream shaving foam unshaved preshave close shave green shave midshave near shave permanent shave point-shave shave and a haircut shave hook shave-hook shave horse shave ice shaveless shave soap shave stick
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on S Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary