Wiktionary

shave

English

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Pronunciation

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  • enPR: shāv, IPA(key): /ʃeɪv/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪv

Etymology 1

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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 scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, form, carve”).

Cognate with West Frisian skave, Dutch schaven (“to shave, plane”), Low German schaven (“to scrape, scratch, shave”), German schaben (“to scrape, shave”), Danish skave, Norwegian Nynorsk skava, Swedish skava (“to scrape, chafe”), Icelandic skafa, Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (skaban, “to shear, shave”).

Verb

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shave (third-person singular simple present shaves, present participle shaving, simple past shaved or (obsolete) shove, past participle shaved or shaven)

  1. (transitive) 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.
    Coordinate terms: shear, fleece, trim
  2. (transitive) To cut anything in this fashion.
    • 1713, [John] Gay, Rural Sports. A Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 10:
      The Lab'rer vvith the bending Scythe is ſeen / Shaving the Surface of the vvaving Green; […]
  3. (intransitive) To remove hair from one's face by this means.
    I had little time to shave this morning.
  4. (transitive) To cut finely, as with slices of meat.
  5. To skim along or near the surface of; to pass close to, or touch lightly, in passing.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      Now shaves with level wing the deep.
    • 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:
      […] I watched for sunken stones; I was learning to clap my teeth smartly before my heart flew out, when I shaved by a fluke some infernal sly old snag that would have ripped the life out of the tin–pot steamboat and drowned all the pilgrims; […]
  6. To reduce in size, weight, time taken etc., usually by a small amount.
    • 2017 September 19, Gwilym Mumford, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle review – spy sequel reaches new heights of skyscraping silliness”, in the Guardian‎[1]:
      Kingsman’s two-hour 20-minute running time could have been shaved by around a fifth, without losing a great deal.
    • 2023 April 19, Pip Dunn, “Jack of all trades... and master of most”, in RAIL, number 981, page 57:
      The acceleration was impressive, and these trains should allow TfW to look at shaving a few minutes off schedules here and there in the fullness of time, […] .
  7. (archaic, transitive) To be hard and severe in a bargain with; to practice extortion on; to cheat.
  8. (US, slang, dated, transitive) 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.
Derived terms
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Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English shave, from Old English sceafa, from Proto-Germanic *skabô.

Noun

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shave (plural shaves)

  1. An instance of shaving.
    I instructed the barber to give me a shave.
  2. A thin slice; a shaving.
    • 1859, Guillaume Sulpice Chevallier, Albert Richard Smith, Sketches of London life & character:
      a jolly mealy 'tator, with a shave of butter, and a shake of pepper
  3. (US, slang, dated) An exorbitant discount on a note.
    • 1838, Levin Lawrence, No. I. of a series of Letters addressed to N. Biddle, page 13:
      yea, tis knowable that the paper money of some of them would not pass, comparatively speaking, much, if any, beyond the smoke of the chimney from whence 'twas issued and circulated before you, or those who had it would have to take a broker's shave on it , at the rate of from a ¼, to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, or more per cent, before it could be used as solvently available means of payment.
    • 1854, Horace E. Carter, Albert Gallatin Porter, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of Indiana; Volume 4, page 192:
      Being unable to pay the note at maturity, Laws went with Starr to one Snyder, to whom the note was sold at a “shave,” as the parties called it, of 10 per cent.
  4. (US, slang, dated) 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.
    • 1874, The Insurance Journal: A Review of Fire and Life Insurance:
      If this were a dishonest transaction, why did the companies settle? If it were not, why did the heirs submit to a shave of one-half their claims?
    • 1877, William Wait, A Digest of New York Reports: From 1872 to 1876:
      Where S made a note to raise money upon, and H, agreeing to discount it for a shave of six dollars, received the note and soon returned with the check of V for the amount of such note, less legal discount, payable to the order of S, and he drew the money thereon and having no knowldge of the agreement or of the payment,–Held, that V was not guilty of usury, but was entitled to recover on the note.
    • 1878, Court of Appeals, page 7:
      He expected to pay the expenses of examining the titles, yet claims that the whole sum paid was a shave.
  6. A hand tool, mainly for woodworking, consisting of a sharp blade with a handle at each end.
    Hyponyms: drawshave, spokeshave
  7. (informal) A narrow miss or escape; a close shave.
    • 1919, Edward Frederic Benson, Across the Stream:
      " […] I had an awful shave getting into the harbour," remarked Archie.
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Noun

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shave (plural shaves)

  1. Alternative form of schave

Etymology 2

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Verb

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shave

  1. Alternative form of schaven
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