shave

present singular third person shaves · participle present shaving · past shaved · obsolete past shove · participle past shaved · obsolete participle past shove · participle past shaven

1. transitiveTo 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.
2. transitiveTo 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

3. intransitiveTo remove hair from one's face by this means.

   I had little time to shave this morning.

4. transitiveTo cut finely, for example slices of meat.
5. 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 as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   1 more example

   […] 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

6. 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

   1 more example

   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

7. archaictransitiveTo be hard and severe in a bargain with; to practice extortion on; to cheat.
8. USdatedslangtransitiveTo 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.
9. Multicultural London EnglishslangtransitiveTo 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 zoot

   2021 June 26, Rackz LC, “War” (1:45 from the start)

   Synonyms: stab, chef, ching, juice, shiv, jook, shank

plural shaves

1. An instance of shaving.

   I instructed the barber to give me a shave.

2. A thin slice; a shaving.

   a jolly mealy 'tator, with a shave of butter, and a shake of pepper

   1859, Guillaume Sulpice Chevallier, Albert Richard Smith, Sketches of London life & character

3. USdatedslangAn exorbitant discount on a note.

   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

   1 more example

   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, 10, 15, 20, or more per cent, before it could be used as solvently available means of payment.

   1838, Levin Lawrence, No. I. of a series of Letters addressed to N. Biddle, page 13

4. USdatedslangA premium paid for an extension of the time of delivery or payment, or for the right to vary a stock contract in any particular.

   He expected to pay the expenses of examining the titles, yet claims that the whole sum paid was a shave.

   1878, Court of Appeals, page 7

   2 more examples

   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 agreement or of the payment,–Held, that V was not guilty of usury, but was entitled to recover on the note.

   1877, William Wait, A Digest of New York Reports: From 1872 to 1876

5. A hand tool, mainly for woodworking, consisting of a sharp blade with a handle at each end.
6. informalA 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

   1 more example

   "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

1. A surname.