calve

American  

[kav, kahv] / kæv, kɑv /

verb (used without object)

calved, calving

1. to give birth to a calf.

   The cow is expected to calve tomorrow.

2. (of a glacier, an iceberg, etc.) to break up or splinter so as to produce a detached piece.

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verb (used with object)

calved, calving

1. to give birth to (a calf ).

2. (of a glacier, an iceberg, etc.) to break off or detach (a piece).

   The glacier calved an iceberg.

calve British  

/ kɑːv /

verb

1. to give birth to (a calf)

2. (of a glacier or iceberg) to release (masses of ice) in breaking up

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Etymology

Origin of calve

before 1000; Middle English calven, Old English (Anglian) *calfian, derivative of calf calf ¹; cognate with Old English ( West Saxon ) cealfian

Example Sentences

The whales feast all summer long, and only then embark on a 6,000-mile journey south to Mexico, where females calve and nurse their young in the warm and protected inlets along the Baja Peninsula.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 14, 2024

"This rifting process is essentially how Antarctic ice shelves calve large icebergs."

From Science Daily • Feb. 28, 2024

These whales breed and calve along the Pacific coast of Mexico and feed from California to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 4, 2023

Over 35,000 cubic metres of ice calve from the glacier each year, and more icebergs spew into Disko Bay than anywhere else in the northern hemisphere.

From BBC • Oct. 12, 2022

There were three calves born when they corralled them, and two of the cows looked as if they would calve within a few days.

From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko