calve

verb
/kɑːv//kæv/US

Etymology

From Middle English calven, from Old English *calfian, cealfian, from Proto-West Germanic *kalbōn, from Proto-Germanic *kalbōną (“to calve”), from *kalbaz (“calf”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian koolvje, Dutch kalven, German Low German kalven, German kalben, Swedish kalva, Icelandic kálfa.

  1. inherited from *kalbōną — “to calve
  2. inherited from *kalbōn
  3. inherited from *calfian
  4. inherited from calven

Definitions

  1. To give birth to a calf.

    • The farmer could tell Bessie was about to calve.
  2. To assist in a cow’s giving birth to a calf.

    • The farmer calved Bessie for almost two hours.
  3. To give birth to (a calf).

  4. + 3 more definitions
    1. To shed a large piece.

      • The glacier was starting to calve even as we watched.
    2. To break off.

      • The sea was dangerous because of icebergs calving off the nearby glacier.
    3. To shed (a large piece)

      To shed (a large piece); to set loose (a mass of ice).

      • The glacier was starting to calve an iceberg even as we watched.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at calve. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01calve02calf03bovid04cattle05cows06cow07calved

A definitional loop anchored at calve. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at calve

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA