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shave

Pronunciation: /ˈʃeɪ̯v/

The English word “shave” has 15 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To make (the head, skin etc.) bald or (the hair) shorter by using a tool such as a razor or electric clippers to cut the hair close to the skin.
  2. To cut anything in this fashion.
  3. To remove hair from one's face by this means.
  4. To cut finely, for example slices of meat.
  5. To skim along or near the surface of; to pass close to, or touch lightly, in passing.
  6. To reduce in size, weight, time taken etc., usually by a small amount.
  7. To be hard and severe in a bargain with; to practice extortion on; to cheat.
  8. To buy (a note) at a discount greater than the legal rate of interest, or to deduct in discounting it more than the legal rate allows.
  9. To injure by employing a knife.

noun

  1. An instance of shaving.
  2. A thin slice; a shaving.
  3. An exorbitant discount on a note.
  4. A premium paid for an extension of the time of delivery or payment, or for the right to vary a stock contract in any particular.
  5. A hand tool, mainly for woodworking, consisting of a sharp blade with a handle at each end.
  6. A narrow miss or escape; a close shave.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English shaven, schaven, from Old English sċafan (“to shave, scrape, shred, polish”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaban, from Proto-Germanic *skabaną (“to scrape”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, form, carve”). Cognate with West Frisian skave, Dutch schaven, Low German schaven, German schaben, Danish skave, Norwegian Nynorsk skava, Swedish skava, Icelandic…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.