calve

[ kav, kahv ]

verb (used without object),calved, calv·ing.
  1. to give birth to a calf: The cow is expected to calve tomorrow.

  2. (of a glacier, an iceberg, etc.) to break up or splinter so as to produce a detached piece.

verb (used with object),calved, calv·ing.
  1. to give birth to (a calf).

  2. (of a glacier, an iceberg, etc.) to break off or detach (a piece): The glacier calved an iceberg.

Origin of calve

1
before 1000; Middle English calven,Old English (Anglian) *calfian, derivative of calfcalf1; cognate with Old English (West Saxon ) cealfian

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use calve in a sentence

  • The red cow ha' calved, an' no one here to see 'un, an' mother had to carry her a hot mash hersel'.

    The World Before Them | Susanna Moodie
  • Money—gold calved no golden offspring, bills spawned no further bills as interest.

    Mountain | Clement Wood
  • A large section of the glacier—many thousands of tons—calved off into the sea.

    The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas Mawson
  • Half a dozen cows which had recently calved were now separated from the herd, and driven into the wide end of the enclosure.

    Out on the Pampas | G. A. Henty
  • The milk of the cow is not good when she is in season, near her time, or has lately calved.

    Buffon's Natural History. Volume V (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon

British Dictionary definitions for calve

calve

/ (kɑːv) /


verb
  1. to give birth to (a calf)

  2. (of a glacier or iceberg) to release (masses of ice) in breaking up

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012