greave
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English greve, from Old English grǣfe, grǣfa (“bush, bramble, grove, thicket, copse, brush-wood (for burning), fuel”), probably related to Proto-Germanic *grōbō (“ditch, hole”).
Cognate with Scots greve, greave (“grove”). Compare also Proto-Germanic *grainiz (“twig”), of unknown origin, whence Old Norse grein (“branch, bough”). Closely related to Old English grāf, grāfa (“grove”). See grove.
Noun
greave (plural greaves)
- (obsolete) A bush; a tree; a grove.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- she fled into that covert greave
- (obsolete) A bough; a branch.
Etymology 2
From Middle English greve, greyve, from Old English grǣfa, grēfa (“pit, cave, hole, grave, trench”), from Proto-Germanic *grēbō, an ablaut variant of to *grōbō (“pit, ditch”) (whence doublet of groove) (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to dig, scratch, scrape”). Cognate with North Frisian groop (“pit, sewer, gutter”), Dutch groef (“pit, hole, gutter”), German Grube (“pit, hole”), Icelandic gröf (“pit, grave”). Also related to grave.
Noun
greave (plural greaves)
Etymology 3
From Middle English greve, grayve, from Old French greve (“shin”), of uncertain origin; possibly from Egyptian Arabic جورب (“stocking, leg cover”).[1] Watkins suggests a connection with greve (“part in the hair”), due to the resemblance of the medial ridge to a part in the hair, from graver (“to part (the hair); engrave”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *graban (“to engrave”);[2] if so, related to Etymology 2 above.
Noun
greave (plural greaves)
- A piece of armour that protects the leg, especially the shin, and occasionally the tops of the feet.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:greave.
Alternative forms
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
piece of armour that protects the leg, especially the shin
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Etymology 4
From greaves (“residue left after animal fat has been rendered”).
Verb
greave (third-person singular simple present greaves, present participle greaving, simple past and past participle greaved)
- (nautical, transitive) To clean (a ship's bottom); to grave.
See also
- greaves (“residue left after animal fat has been rendered”)
References
- Klein, Dr. Ernest, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., 1971.
- “greave”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
Anagrams
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