Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To give birth to a calf.
- v. To break at an edge, so that a portion separates. Used of a glacier or iceberg.
- v. To give birth to (a calf).
- v. To set loose (a mass of ice). Used of a glacier or iceberg.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To bring forth a calf or calves: sometimes used contemptuously of human beings, and by Milton of the earth at the creation of cattle, etc.
- To become separated from or lose a portion of itself: said of a glacier when icebergs are broken off from it.
- To become detached and fall inward, as earth or rock from the walls of a cutting: with in. Now cave in.
- To give birth to, as a cow to a calf; bring forth.
Wiktionary
- v. To give birth to a calf.
- v. To assist the giving of birth of a calf.
- v. figuratively To break off or shed a large piece.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To bring forth a calf.
- v. To bring forth young; to produce offspring.
- v. (Phys. Geog.) To throw off fragments which become icebergs; -- said of a glacier.
WordNet 3.0
- v. birth.
- v. release ice
Etymologies
- Verb form related to calf This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English calven, from Old English *calfian, from calf, calf. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“As Brinkley reminds us early on, Alaska is a land of wonderful verbiage - a place where glaciers "calve" shed hunks of ice, where the countryside is "the bush," where you can visit Misty Fiords and Gates of the Arctic, the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and the Island of the Standing Stone.”
“Similarly like in the Arctic, the outer sections of ice break off or "calve" from these shelves and form icebergs.”
“Periodically, fissures and cracks form in theice shelf behind its front to the Ross Sea and large slabs of the shelfbreak off or "calve" to create tablular icebergs that float away into the Ross Sea.”
“Shackleton considered this location, which he named the Bay of Whales, too risky because of the possibility that the Barrier would "calve" a new tabular ice berg and the entire base either would float away into the sea or worse.”
“They'd quickly begin to "calve," sending babies out on shoots that would break off when the baby got big enough, and naturalize in their new home.”
“A 300 meter long asteriod will almost certainly break up, or "calve", just prior to or upon entry in the upper atmosphere.”
“These glaciers will literally "calve" enormous ghunkc of ice before your very eyes, and the chunks will hit the waters below with a surprisingly loud sound.”
“Shackleton had deemed this base too risky because of the possibility that the Barrier would "calve" a new tabular ice berg and the entire base either would float away into the sea or worse would fall into the sea.”
“Ice shelves lose ice, and therefore mass, when icebergs 'calve' away from the seaward front of the shelf.”
“Icebergs frequently split or "calve" off Antarctica’s ice shelves, and they often get swept up in strong circumpolar currents that carry them around the icy continent.”
Giant Iceberg Still Heading for Australia (Satellite Images) | Universe Today
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘calve’.
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
vanish, number one, archangel, commodious, dominie, rubble, glisten, morose, spindle, ventilation, Blessed, christian and 503 more...
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Unknown
coalition, cabinet, tweet, defuse, steep, ancestral, mindset, breach, infraction, egregious, curb, backbite and 282 more...
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Cattle
cattle, cow, beef, steer, heifer, calf, bull, cattle call, Black Angus, Hereford, Holstein, Dwarf Lulu and 402 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3251 more...
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Verbs
divvy, rive, calve, surmise, forfeit, bandy, wade, trumpet, raze, stultify, jettison, dissimulate and 11 more...
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Ice Ice Baby
Geographical and weather-related ice formations and phenomena.
frazil, shuga, grease, brash, ice cake, finger rafting, lead, polynya, sea ice, pack ice, ice-blink, ice scour and 88 more...
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