SHAVING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Shaving

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/ʃˈeɪvɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Shave v. t. (past shaved; past part. shaved or shaven; pres. part. shaving)

1.

To cut or pare off from the surface of a body with a razor or other edged instrument; to cut off closely, as with a razor; as, to shave the beard.

2.

To make bare or smooth by cutting off closely the surface, or surface covering, of; especially, to remove the hair from with a razor or other sharp instrument; to take off the beard or hair of; as, to shave the face or the crown of the head; he shaved himself. "I'll shave your crown for this." "The laborer with the bending scythe is seen Shaving the surface of the waving green."

3.

To cut off thin slices from; to cut in thin slices. "Plants bruised or shaven in leaf or root."

4.

To skim along or near the surface of; to pass close to, or touch lightly, in passing. "Now shaves with level wing the deep."

5.

To strip; to plunder; to fleece. (Colloq.)

To shave a note, to buy it at a discount greater than the legal rate of interest, or to deduct in discounting it more than the legal rate allows. (Cant, U.S.)

Shave v. i. (past shaved; past part. shaved or shaven; pres. part. shaving) To use a razor for removing the beard; to cut closely; hence, to be hard and severe in a bargain; to practice extortion; to cheat.

noun

Shaving n.

1.

The act of one who, or that which, shaves; specifically, the act of cutting off the beard with a razor.

2.

That which is shaved off; a thin slice or strip pared off with a shave, a knife, a plane, or other cutting instrument. "Shaving of silver."

Shaving brush, a brush used in lathering the face preparatory to shaving it.

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Etymology of 'Shaving'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Shaving" Quotes from Famous Books

... be ever so many years older since yesterday. There was no mistake about it now. He was as much in love as the best hero in the best romance he ever read. He told John to bring his shaving water with the utmost confidence. He dressed himself in some of his finest clothes that morning: and came splendidly down to breakfast, patronising his mother and little Laura, who had been strumming her music lesson for hours before; and who after he had read the prayers (of which he ...

— The History of Pendennis • William Makepeace Thackeray

... shoulder; his brown breast glittering with sweat and oil: 'Talofa' - 'Talofa, alii - You see that white man? He speak for you.' 'White man he gone up here?' - 'Ioe (Yes)' - 'Tofa, alii' - 'Tofa, soifua!' I put on Jack up the steep path, till he is all as white as shaving stick - Brown's euxesis, wish I had some - past Tanugamanono, a bush village - see into the houses as I pass - they are open sheds scattered on a green - see the brown folk sitting there, suckling kids, sleeping on their stiff wooden pillows - ...

— Vailima Letters • Robert Louis Stevenson

... enactment was made about personal appearance, which widened the fatal breach still more between England and Ireland. This law declared that every man who did not shave[365] his upper lip, should be treated as an "Irish enemy;" and the said shaving was to be performed once, at ...

— An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 • Mary Frances Cusack

... other end of the shop to make a side bet with one of the other barbers on the outcome of the Autumn Handicap. In the barber-shops they knew the result of the Jeffries-Johnson prize-fight long before it happened. It is on information of this kind that they make their living. The performance of shaving is only incidental to it. Their real vocation in life is imparting information. To the barber the outside world is made up of customers, who are to be thrown into chairs, strapped, manacled, gagged with soap, and then given such necessary ...

— Literary Lapses • Stephen Leacock

... a birthday present for my wife," I said. "I want to buy her something that will bring great joy to her heart and which I might use afterwards as a pair of slippers or a shaving mug." ...

— Get Next! • Hugh McHugh

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