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Calve

//kɑːv// verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To give birth to a calf. intransitive

    "The farmer could tell Bessie was about to calve."

  2. 2
    give birth to (a calf) wordnet
  3. 3
    To assist in a cow’s giving birth to a calf. intransitive

    "The farmer calved Bessie for almost two hours."

  4. 4
    release ice wordnet
  5. 5
    To give birth to (a calf). transitive
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    To shed a large piece, e.g. an iceberg or a smaller block of ice (coming off an iceberg). especially, figuratively, intransitive

    "The glacier was starting to calve even as we watched."

  2. 7
    To break off. especially, figuratively, intransitive

    "The sea was dangerous because of icebergs calving off the nearby glacier."

  3. 8
    To shed (a large piece, e.g. an iceberg); to set loose (a mass of ice), e.g. a block of ice (coming off an iceberg). especially, figuratively, transitive

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

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.

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