carve

/kɑrv/

/kɑv/

Other forms: carved; carving; carves

When you cut a design into a piece of wood or marble, you carve it. Headstone engravers carve people's names and the dates of their births and deaths into gravestones.

You might carve your initials into the tree in your backyard, or carve a walking stick out of a large branch. Some artists work by carving shapes from clay or granite, and a chef learns to carve, or precisely cut up, large cuts of meat and poultry. The Old English root word is ceorfan, "to cut, slay, carve, or engrave."

Definitions of carve

1. verb

   engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface
   “carve one's name into the bark”

   synonyms: chip at

   types:

   chisel

   carve with a chisel

   engrave, grave, inscribe, scratch

   carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface

   engrave, etch

   carve or cut a design or letters into

   character

   engrave or inscribe characters on

   type of:

   cut

   separate with or as if with an instrument
2. verb

   form by carving
   “Carve a flower from the ice”

   types:

   hew, hew out

   make or shape as with an axe

   grave, sculpt, sculpture

   shape (a material like stone or wood) by whittling away at it

   fret

   carve a pattern into

   rough-hew, roughcast

   hew roughly, without finishing the surface

   honeycomb

   carve a honeycomb pattern into

   type of:

   cut

   separate with or as if with an instrument

   forge, form, mold, mould, shape, work

   make something, usually for a specific function
3. verb

   cut to pieces
   “Father carved the ham”

   synonyms: cut up

   types:

   shave

   make shavings of or reduce to shavings

   filet, fillet

   cut into filets

   type of:

   cut

   separate with or as if with an instrument