tave

T1A1V4E1

verb

To sprawl with the arms and legs; kick or fidget with the feet.

OriginMiddle English taven ← Old Norse *tafa ← Proto-Germanic *tabōną →
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Meanings

verbtave (third-person singular simple present taves, present participle taving, simple past and past participle taved)

present singular third person taves · participle present taving · participle past taved · past taved · alternative teave

  1. intransitiveTo sprawl with the arms and legs; kick or fidget with the feet.
  2. intransitiveTo toss or tumble oneself about; act violently, rage, throw a fit.
  3. intransitiveTo struggle, toil, strive, labour.
  4. intransitiveTo trudge, walk heavily.
  5. ambitransitiveTo wrestle.
  6. dialectalintransitiveTo hurry along; gad about.
  7. dialectaltransitiveTo distress, overtire.
nountave (plural taves)

plural taves · alternative teave

  1. dialectalA difficulty, struggle.
  2. dialectalA hurry, stir, commotion.

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*tabōną“to grope, feel”
  2. Old Norse*tafa
  3. Middle Englishtaven
  4. Englishtave

From Middle English taven, from Old Norse *tafa, from Proto-Germanic *tabōną (“to grope, feel”). Cognate with Faroese tava (“to endeavour, exert oneself”), Norwegian Nynorsk tava (“to toil in vain”), German zabeln (“to move convulsively, sprawl, flounder”).

More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

veta
Cite this entry
APA

tave. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tave

MLA

“tave.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tave. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tave,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tave.

Source: tave on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.