wharve

Meanings

wharve¹

verbwharve (third-person singular simple present wharves, present participle wharving, simple past wharved or whorf, past participle wharved or whorf or whorven)

present singular third person wharves · participle present wharving · past wharved · past whorf · participle past wharved · participle past whorf · participle past whorven

Northern EnglandScotlandTo turn, turn over (especially of mown grass).
1898, “Junda” Klingrahoolː It wharves the wair and stirs the sand.

wharve²

nounwharve (plural wharves)

plural wharves · alternative wherve

The whorl of a spindle.
The Warve or small Pullas.
1688, Holme, Armoury III, xxi, page 266
5 more examples
a wherue, whyche is a rounde thyne of stone, or wodde, or leadde, put on a spyndell to make it runne rounde.
1538, Elyot, Spondilus
He did lay […] a thick round peece of lead like vnto a wherue.
1590, Barrough, Meth. Phisick, volume xxiv, published 1596, page 339
So fine […] a thread she [a spider] spinnes, hanging thereunto her self, and using the weight of her owne bodie in stead of a wherve.
1601, Pliny, Holland, xi. xxiv, I. page 323
Wouldst thou […] joynt the Wherves, slander the Spinning Quills, […]
1693, Urquhart's Rabelais, III. xxviii, page 237
The wharve, B, together with sliding tube, C, runs loosely on the spindle and carries the bobbin.
1884, W. S. B. McLaren, Spinning, second edition, page 171

Origin

wharve · verb

Proto-Germanic*hwerbaną“to turn”
Proto-West Germanic*hwerban“to turn”
Old Englishhweorfan“to turn”
Middle Englishwharven“to turn”
Englishwharve

From Middle English wharven (“to turn”), from Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwerban (“to turn”), from Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną (“to turn”). Cognate with Dutch werven (“to recruit”), Icelandic hverfa (“to turn”), Faroese hvørva (“to disappear”), German werben (“to recruit, advertise”).

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

Full word history & related roots →

wharve · noun