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Vinony

lave

verb

  1. wash clean
  2. lap or flow against
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Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /leɪv/

adj

Etymology: The adjective is from Middle English lave (“of the ears: drooping, hanging down”), from Old Norse lafa, from Proto-Germanic *labēn- (“to dangle”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang down loosely (?)”). The verb is probably derived from the adjective.

  1. Chiefly in lave ears: of ears: drooping, hanging down.

    “And I ſvveare by the bloud of my codpiece, / An I vvere a vvoman I vvould lug off his laue eares, / Or run him to death vvith a ſpit: […]”

    “[C]omplexion here red, there tavvny, in another Country black vvins the prize: for proportion, here the tall, there the mean, here the ſlender, there the groſs, here the little Ear, there the lave Ear, here the thin Lip, there the Blubber-lip, here the ſtreight, there the die Neck are eſteemed moſt courtly.”

noun

Etymology: From Northern Middle English lave, Middle English love, Early Middle English lafe (“remainder, rest; legacy; relict, widow”), from Old English lāf (“remainder, rest; heirloom; legacy; relict, widow”), from Proto-West Germanic *laibu (“remainder”), from Proto-Germanic *laibō (“remainder, remnant”), from *lībaną (“to be left, to remain”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick; fat or sticky substance”). Doublet of belive (“(obsolete except UK, dialectal) to remain, stay”). Cognates * Old English belīfan (“to remain”) * Old High German leiba (“to lave”) * Old Norse leif (“to lave”)

  1. That which is left over; a remainder, a remnant, the rest.

    “Of prelates proud, a populous lave, / And abbots boldly there vvere known. / VVith Biſhop of St. Andrevv's brave, / VVho vvas King James's baſtard ſon.”

    “The Mother, vvi' a vvoman's vviles, can ſpy / VVhat makes the Youth ſae baſhfu' and ſae grave; / VVeel-pleas'd to think her bairn's reſpected like the lave.”

  2. A relict, a widow.

verb

Etymology: The adjective is from Middle English lave (“of the ears: drooping, hanging down”), from Old Norse lafa, from Proto-Germanic *labēn- (“to dangle”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang down loosely (?)”). The verb is probably derived from the adjective.

  1. Of ears: to droop, to hang down.

    “His mouth ſhrinks ſidevvard like a ſcornfull Playſe / To take his tired Eares ingratefull place; / His Eares hang lauing like a nevv-lug'd ſvvine / To take ſome counſell of his grieued eyne, […]”