eaves
(iːvz)
Forms: 1 efes, 3–5 eouesen (pl.), ouese, -ise, 4 euez, euese, 4–8 eves(e, (4 hevese), (6 ease, 6 pl. esen), 7 eaues, (eeves, heaves), dial. eize, 7– eaves.
[OE. efes, fem. = OFris. ose, Flem. (Kilian) oose, OHG. obasa (MHG. obse, mod. dial.G. obsen) eaves, porch (:—WGer. *obis(w)a, *obas(w)a) = ON. ups (Sw. dial. uffs), Goth. ubizwa porch; prob. f. same root as over. The final -s has been mistaken for the sign of the pl., and in mod. Eng. the word is commonly treated as pl., eave being occas. used as the sing. The forms ME. ovese, WSomerset office (Elworthy), point to an OE. form *ofes:—WGer. *obas(w)a.]
1. a. The edge of the roof of a building, or of the thatch of a stack, which overhangs the side.
| a 1000 Lamb. Psalter ci[i]. 7 (Bosw.) Geworden ic eom swa swa spearwa..anwuniende on efese. c 1205 Lay. 29279, I þan eouesen he [þa sparwen] grupen. c 1220 Bestiary 462 Ðe spinnere..festeð atte hus rof hire fodredes o rof er on ouese. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 144 Evese, or evesynge of a house, stillicidium. c 1500 Partenay 5504 Allso thys chambre well depeynted was Ffro foote of wallure the ouise vnto. 1570 Levins Manip. 211 Y⊇ ease or eues of a house. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 91 The Swallow which in the summer creepeth under the eues of euery house. 1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 17 His teares runs downe his beard like winters drops From eaues of reeds. 1611 Coryat Crudities 323 The pentices or eauisses of their houses. 1629 S'hertogenbosh 48 It..ruined some houses; of some the heaues and tops were damnified very much. 1632 Milton Penseroso 130 Ushered with a shower still..With minute-drops from off the eaves. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 104 The Birds under the Eeves of his Window call him up in the morning. 1751 W. Halfpenny New Designs Farm Ho. 5 Thence to the Eves of the Roofs one Brick and half. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 161 The best form of corn stacks is circular, with..a conical top, diverging a little towards the eaves. 1819 Shelley Ros. & Helen 367 Like twinkling rain-drops from the eaves. 1849 Freeman Archit. 178 The eaves..rest commonly on small arcades or corbel-tables. |
| fig. 1675 Crowne City Polit. ii. i, I hang on the eves of life, like a trembling drop, ready every minute to fall. |
† b. Of a wood: The edge, margin.
Obs.| 898 O.E. Chron. an. 894 Þa foron hie..bi swa hwaþerre efes swa hit þonne fierdleas wæs. c 1325 Gloss. W. de Biblesw. in Wright Voc. 159 Desouz l'overayl, under the wode-side wode-hevese. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1178 Þus laykez þis lorde by lynde wodez euez. |
2. transf. Anything that projects or overhangs slightly, as
† the brow of a hill,
† the flaps of a saddle, the edge of a cloud or precipice, the brim of a hat; also
poet. the eyelids.
| 1382 Wyclif Job xi. 5 Anne forsothe sat beside the weye eche dai in the euese [1388 cop; Vulg. supercilio] of the hil. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 412 He got up to the saddle eaves, From whence he vaulted into th' seat. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lxvi, Closing eaves of wearied eyes I sleep. 1855 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea xi. §511 The southern eaves of the cloud plane. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 21 Overhanging eaves of snow. 1862 Borrow Wales I. 4 A leather hat..with the side eaves turned up. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. as
eave(s)-shoot,
eaves-spout,
eaves-trough (designating various forms of gutter or spout to catch the drip from eaves); also
eaves-troughing;
eaves-board (also
eave-board; see
eave),
eaves-catch,
-lath (see
quot. 1875);
† eaves-knife, a knife for cutting thatch at the eaves;
eaves-martin, the House Martin (
Hirundo urbica). Also eaves-drop
n. and v., -dropper, -dropping.
| 1399 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 131 Tabulas quæ vocantur *Esborde. |
| c 1505 Church-w. Acc. St. Dunstan's Canterb., For xlv fote of *evys borde xvd. 1627 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp. Canterb., To the Sawyers for cutting of evesboord. 1809 R. Langford Introd. Trade 88 The eave-boards project..16 inches. |
| 1875 Gwilt Archit., Arris fillet. When..used to raise the slates, at the eaves of a building, it is then called the eaves' board, eaves' lath, or *eaves' catch. |
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 139 A thatchers tooles are..an *eize-knife for cutting the eize. |
| 1422–3 Archives Christ Ch. Canterb. in Archæol. Cantiana XIII. 561 Item payd for Caryyng of the Schretherris *Evys-lathe, lathe, and tyle..iiis. iiijd. |
| 1833 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1858) II. 307 The *eaves-martin very plentiful. |
| 1889 ‘Herring’ & ‘Ross’ Irish Cousin II. iii. iv. 207 The noisy splashing of the water that fell from a broken *eaveshoot on to the gravel. 1899 Somerville & ‘Ross’ Exper. Irish R.M. i, The rain sluiced upon me from a broken eaveshoot. |
| 1846 in N. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 270 Put up smart of the *eve spout. 1865 Mrs. Stowe House & Home P. 103 The water-barrel which stood under the eaves-spout. 1889 R. T. Cooke Steadfast xxxv. 369 A wild November storm shrieked and wailed in the eave-spout. |
| 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick III. xxxv. 211 Same with cocked hats; the cocks form gable-end *eave-troughs. 1878 B. F. Taylor Between Gates 176 Every day a wooden spout, a great eaves-trough was laid from the top of the steps. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 53/3 (Advt.), Roofing & Eavestroughing. Chimney, eavestrough, roof repairs, free estimates, guaranteed. |