naves

Noun (1)

nave (plural naves)

1. The middle or body of a church, extending from the transepts to the principal entrances.
   • Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
2. The ground-level middle cavity of a barn.

Noun (2)

nave (plural naves)

1. A hub of a wheel.
   • 'Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods,
     In general synod take away her power;
     Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
     And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven[…]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
2. (obsolete) The navel.
   • Till he faced the slave; / Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, / Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, / And fix'd his head upon our battlementsc. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

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