Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A handle of a tool, such as an ax, chisel, or hammer.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The handle of an ax, adz, or hatchet.
- n. The shank of a forge-hammer or trip-hammer: also used for the whole hammer.
- To furnish with a helve or handle, as an ax.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The handle of an ax, hatchet, or adze.
- n. The lever at the end of which is the hammer head, in a forge hammer.
- n. A forge hammer which is lifted by a cam acting on the helve between the fulcrum and the head.
- v. To furnish with a helve, as an ax.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the handle of a weapon or tool
Etymologies
- From Old English helfe. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English hielfe. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In the helve, which is pretty thick, is made a hole into which the stone is fixed.”
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 14
“See that the handle or "helve" is perfectly straight and true in line with the head and the edge.”
Young Knights of the Empire : Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns
“His hands were playing with a pickaxe helve, as if he longed to have me under it.”
“Out of curiosity, I lay down on the ice and looked through the hole, until I saw the axe a little on one side, standing on its head, with its helve erect and gently swaying to and fro with the pulse of the pond; and there it might have stood erect and swaying till in the course of time the handle rotted off, if I had not disturbed it.”
“Carpalin, this helve and this hatchet are well matched.”
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel
“Presently two great miracles were seen: up springs the hatchet from the bottom of the water, and fixes itself to its old acquaintance the helve.”
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel
“The helve and quillons (she knew these terms courtesy of Bruce, the show's swordmaster, who was a real bug on all things edged and pointy) were of the same color metal as the blade, though glossier, and very fancy in a curved and scrolled fashion.”
“We told them in 1993 helve the reforms but they would not listen to us.”
“At the anvil™s foot lay what seemed to be the helve of a giant™s hammer.”
“Telemark returned the greeting, then stepped clear, his axe rested helve downward in the moss.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘helve’.
-
phrontistery - h
from phrontistery.info
hysteresis, hyrax, hyoid, hymnody, hymnal, hylicism, hydric, hyalopterous, hyaloid, hyalography, hyaline, hyacinthine and 568 more...
-
Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
-
Blood Meridian: The Words
Words from Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian"
argosy, ossuary, thaumaturge, devonian, ristras, chartvail, catafalque, suzerain, argonauts, unrectified, surbated, pyrolatrous and 86 more...
-
It Has a Name??
Yes. Yes it does.
aglet, armsaye, scroop, rowel, ferrule, rasceta, chanking, philtrum, frenulum, keeper, agelast, punt and 285 more...
-
That's right, another list
muck-a-muck, ipse dixit, solipsism, anticlinal, analogical, amoral, alogical, synclinal, disinclined, iconological, studly, flitch and 179 more...
-
logophile
viresce, infinitum, transient, nonpareil, anon, therianthropy, lycomania, halcyon, unblinkered, seraphim, nephilim, moros and 160 more...
-
bloodworm's list
These are words that I enjoy because they are unique, rare, long, or just cool.
circumlocution, hysteresis, schadenfreude, quixotic, loquacious, ennui, sesquipedalian, defenestrate, obfuscate, syzygy, ubiquitous, superfluous and 231 more...
-
Words I Learned on FreeRice.com
A place for me to keep all these weird words, whether I guessed them correctly or not.
pennoncel, serval, tautological, redact, ganef, candent, shaitan, bifid, osteal, ensiform, helve, ecdysis and 100 more...
-
Ute
Durable items invented by Hom. Sap.
alpenhorn, matchbox, plinth, pillow, cantilever, fulcrum, troika, cloverleaf, nib, wheelbarrow, dictabelt, cockpit and 184 more...
-
Awesome
Awesome words
mimsy, concupiscence, tumescent, ophidian, houri, vorpal, cyprian, Delphic, incipient, effete, existential, loam and 289 more...
-
new acquisitions
found in the wild (i.e., not on Wordie!)
samara, indehiscent, paschal, rogation, wen, rete, diriment, epicene, duramen, euhemerism, objurgate, canaille and 429 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for helve.
whichbe The Keebler Helves? Aug 13, 2008
sionnach Or a Cockney version of Legolas Apr 9, 2008