shave
/ˈʃeɪ̯v/
shave verb: 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.
Verb
shave (third-person singular simple present shaves, present participle shaving, simple past shaved or (obsolete) shove, past participle shaved or (obsolete) shove or shaven)
- 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.
- To cut anything in this fashion.
- The Lab'rer vvith the bending Scythe is ſeen / Shaving the Surface of the vvaving Green; […]1713, [John] Gay, Rural Sports. A Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 10
- To remove hair from one's face by this means.
- I had little time to shave this morning.
- To cut finely, for example slices of meat.
- To skim along or near the surface of; to pass close to, or touch lightly, in passing.
- Now shaves with level wing the deep.1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- […] I watched for sunken stones; I was learning to clap my teeth smartly before my heart flew out, when I shaved by a fluke some infernal sly old snag that would have ripped the life out of the tin–pot steamboat and drowned all the pilgrims; […]1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II
- To reduce in size, weight, time taken etc., usually by a small amount.
- Kingsman’s two-hour 20-minute running time could have been shaved by around a fifth, without losing a great deal.2017 September 19, Gwilym Mumford, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle review – spy sequel reaches new heights of skyscraping silliness”, in the Guardian
- The acceleration was impressive, and these trains should allow TfW to look at shaving a few minutes off schedules here and there in the fullness of time, […].2023 April 19, Pip Dunn, “Jack of all trades... and master of most”, in RAIL, number 981, page 57
- To be hard and severe in a bargain with; to practice extortion on; to cheat.
- 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.
- To injure by employing a knife.
- Took one of the goons, the fuck they gonna do?
Shave him in the heart then the mandem smoke a zoot2021 June 26, Rackz LC, “War” (1:45 from the start)
- Took one of the goons, the fuck they gonna do?
Noun
shave (plural shaves)
- An instance of shaving.
- I instructed the barber to give me a shave.
- A thin slice; a shaving.
- a jolly mealy 'tator, with a shave of butter, and a shake of pepper1859, Guillaume Sulpice Chevallier, Albert Richard Smith, Sketches of London life & character
- An exorbitant discount on a note.
- yea, tis knowable that the paper money of some of them would not pass, comparatively speaking, much, if any, beyond the smoke of the chimney from whence 'twas issued and circulated before you, or those who had it would have to take a broker's shave on it , at the rate of from a ¼, to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...1838, Levin Lawrence, No. I. of a series of Letters addressed to N. Biddle, page 13
- Being unable to pay the note at maturity, Laws went with Starr to one Snyder, to whom the note was sold at a “shave,” as the parties called it, of 10 per cent.1854, Horace E. Carter, Albert Gallatin Porter, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of Indiana; Volume 4, page 192
- 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.
- If this were a dishonest transaction, why did the companies settle? If it were not, why did the heirs submit to a shave of one-half their claims?1874, The Insurance Journal: A Review of Fire and Life Insurance
- Where S made a note to raise money upon, and H, agreeing to discount it for a shave of six dollars, received the note and soon returned with the check of V for the amount of such note, less legal discount, payable to the order of S, and he drew the money thereon and having no knowldge of the...1877, William Wait, A Digest of New York Reports: From 1872 to 1876
- A hand tool, mainly for woodworking, consisting of a sharp blade with a handle at each end.
- A narrow miss or escape; a close shave.
- "[…] I had an awful shave getting into the harbour," remarked Archie.1919, Edward Frederic Benson, Across the Stream
- "Was it a near thing?" asked Carrados confidentially.
"Well, strictly between ourselves, I don't mind admitting that it might have been something of a shave," confessed Tulloch, with a cheerful grin.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
Proper noun capitalized: Shave
Shave
- A surname.
shave meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
shave in Hindi
- to remove hair from
- दाढ़ी बनाना dāṛhī banānā
shave in Tamil
- to shave, cut off in slices, pare off
- ஊசு ūcu
shave in Marathi
- मुंडण करण्यासाठी, मुंडण करायला
shave in Urdu
- shave, shaving
- شیو śev
More languagesFewer languages
- shave in Bengali
- কামানো kamanō
- shave in Telugu
- గొరుగు gorugu
- shave in Malayalam
- വടിക്കുക vaṭikkuka
- shave in Kannada
- ಕ್ಷೌರ, ಹಜಾಮತಿ, ವಪನ, ಕೂದಲು ತೆಗೆ
- shave in Punjabi
- ਸ਼ੇਵ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ, ਸ਼ੇਵ ਕਰਨਾ
- shave in Gujarati
- દાઢી કરવું dāḍhī karvũ
- shave in Odia
- କ୍ଷୌର କରିବା ପାଇଁ
- shave in Sanskrit
- वपति vápati
- shave in Assamese
- খুৰা khura
- shave in Nepali
- मुण्डन गर्न, शेभ गर्न, शेभ गर्नका लागि
- shave in Arabic
- حَلَقَ ḥalaqa
- shave in Malay
- cukur, bercukur, mencukur
- shave in Indonesian
- cukur, bercukur
- shave in Persian
- تراشیدن tarâšidan
- shave in Thai
- โกน goon, โกนหนวด
- shave in Vietnamese
- cạo, cạo mặt, cạo râu
- shave in Myanmar
- ရိတ် rit, တုံး tum:
Examples of shave in a sentence
- After ten days of hiking, I needed a shower and a shave.
- The decision to shave or not is a somewhat personal one.
- He used a new razor blade for a good close shave.
Synonyms of shave
Forms of shave
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | shaves |
| present participle | shaving |
| past | shaved |
| past participle | shaved |
| past participle | shaven |
| past (obsolete) | shove |
| past participle (obsolete) | shove |
| Noun | |
| plural | shaves |
Origin of shave
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 skafa, Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (skaban), all roughly “to scrape, chafe, shave, plane, remove the outer lay of”.
From Middle English shave, from Old English sceafa, from Proto-Germanic *skabô.
Words formed from shave
- aftershave
- God Shave the Queen
- inshave
- overshave
- reshave
- shaveable
- shave brush
- shave cream
- shave down
- shavee
- shave foam
- shavegrass
- shavehook
- shaveling
- shave off
- shaver
- shavetail
- shave up
- shaving brush
- shaving bump
- shaving cream
- shaving foam
- unshaved
- preshave
- close shave
- green shave
- midshave
- near shave
- permanent shave
- point-shave
- shave and a haircut
- shave hook
- shave-hook
- shave horse
- shave ice
- shaveless
- shave soap
- shave stick
Phrases with shave
Words that rhyme with shave
Questions about shave
- What does shave mean?
- Shave means 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.
- What is shave in Hindi?
- Shave in Hindi is दाढ़ी बनाना (dāṛhī banānā). See Shave meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is shave?
- Shave can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce shave?
- Shave is pronounced /ˈʃeɪ̯v/.
- What is the past tense of shave?
- The past tense of shave is shaved.
Words near shave in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shave (page history and authors); Shave (page history and authors); ஊசு (Tamil) (page history and authors); shave (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); شیو (Urdu) (page history and authors); কামানো (Bengali) (page history and authors); shave (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shave (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); દાઢી કરવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); shave (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); वपति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); shave (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-shave.ogg.
Cite this entry: “shave.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shave. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.