whelve, v. Obs. exc. dial.
(hwɛlv)
Forms: 1 hwylfan, 3 hwelfen, 5– whelve, (9 whilve).
[Late OE. hwylfan = *hwielfan, Anglian *hwelfan (also in compounds á-, be-, ofhwylfan) = OS. bihwelƀian to cover over, (M)Du., (M)LG. welven, OHG., MHG. welben, welwen (G. wölben) to vault, arch, ON. hvelfa to arch, turn upside down:—OTeut. *χwalƀjan, causative vb. f. χwalƀ- (: χwelƀ-, χulƀ-), whence OE. hwealf n., arch, vault, adj. vaulted, OHG. walbe (MHG. walbe), curved object, gutter-tile, roof-gutter, walbî ‘volubilitas’, walbên to roll, ON. hvalf vault, concavity, hvalfa, holfa to capsize (see whauve); further related to Goth. hwilftri coffin, Gr. κόλπος bosom: the radical notion being ‘rounded, arched’.]
1. trans. To turn (a vessel, etc.) upside down so as to cover something; gen. to turn or roll over, overturn; to upheave. to whelve over, to overwhelm: = overwhelve.
| c 1000 in Techmer's Zeitschr. (1885) II. 125 Ðonne þu hlid habban wylle, þonne hafa þu þine wynstran hand samlocene and eac swa þa swyþran and hwylf hy syþþan ofer þa wynstran eal swylce þu cuppan hlide. [c 1000 Regius-Psalter etc. (Roeder) 276 Cneoris min alæd & ofhwylfed [Vulg. conuoluta] is fram me.] c 1275 Passion our Lord 513 in O.E. Misc. 51 He hwelfde at þare sepulchre-dure enne grete ston. [c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. met. iii. (1868) 39 Þe horrible wynde aquilon moeueþ boylyng tempestes and ouer whelweþ þe see.] c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 161 For harm & stryf of that vpon thy selue May rise, yhe & perchaunce ouer thee whelue [v.r. the overwhelve]. 1854 Trans. Philol. Soc. 84 (Surrey) I'll whelve a pot over 'em, to keep off the sun. 1854 N. & Q. 1st Ser. X. 479 (Cornwall) Whelve or Whilve, to turn upside down any hollow vessel. |
† 2. To cover over with anything; to hide, bury.
| c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 393 Ek whelue a seriol ther⁓out that haue Grauel vp to the myddes. 1566 W. P. tr. Curio's Pasquine in Traunce To Rdr., The candell whelued vnder the Busshell wil burne a hole throughe. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Whelm or Whelve, to cover. |