▪ I. helve, n.
(hɛlv)
Forms: 1 hielf, helfe, 3 Orm. hellfe, 4–5 hilve, 6 healve, 4– helve.
[OE. hięlfe (hylfe, helfe) masc. or neut.:—*halƀjo-, corresp. in stem to MDu. helf n., helve n. and fem., MLG. helf, helve n., OHG. halb, halp masc., MHG. halp, pl. helbe:—OTeut. type *halƀi- neut., from a root which appears also in halter.]
1. A handle of a weapon or tool, as an axe, chisel, hammer, etc.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xxi. 166 ᵹif..sio æcs ðonne awint of ðæm hielfe. c 1000 ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 142/21 Manubrium, hæft and helfe. c 1200 Ormin 9948 Þatt bulaxess hellfe. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 4655 A mayl of Ire..þe hilues lengþe was viij fet. 1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 117 Halberdes with blak helves. 1574 R. Scot Hop Gard. (1578) 27 Made with a rounde hole to receive a helue like to the helue of a Mattock. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. iii. 134 These iron tooles are to haue handles, and healues. 1609 F. Grevil Mustapha iii. ii, Vile Caine! that (like the Axe) do'st goe about, To cut thy selfe an helve to weare thee out. 1785 H. Marshall in Darlington Mem. (1849) 544 By twisting a withe of Hickory round the stone, they make a helve, and so cut and bruised the bark round the trees. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 85 The shaft or helve is nine feet in length. |
b. Phrases. to throw the helve after the hatchet: after losing or risking so much, to risk all that is left; to go the whole length regardless of loss or damage. Also, by confusion, to throw the hatchet after the helve. to put the axe in the helve: see axe n.1 5.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 80 Here I sende thaxe after the helue awaie. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. (1807–8) IV. 338 Rather throw the helve after the hatchet, and leave your ruines to be repared by your prince. a 1610 Healey Theophrastus (1636) 59 Wel come on, hatchet after helve, Ile even loose this too. 1685 Cotton tr. Montaigne (1711) 222, I abandon myself through despair..and as the saying is, throw the Helve after the Hatchet. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xxvi, Monsieur Martigny will be too much heartbroken to make further fight, but will e'en throw helve after hatchet. |
2. (Also helve-hammer.) A tilt-hammer, the helve of which oscillates on bearings, so that it is raised by a cam carried by a revolving shaft, and falls by its own weight.
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Helve-hammer. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 410 Before the introduction of Nasmyth's patent, the only assistance which steam had given to human labour in forging was the helve or tilt-hammer..It is..a lever of the first order. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Helve, a lift-hammer for forging blooms. 1894 Harper's Mag. Jan. 422 The helve-hammer and the trip⁓hammer are essentially the same—each consists of a heavy head attached to a beam mounted on gudgeons, which is lifted at..intervals by a cam carried by a revolving shaft. |
▪ II. helve, v. Now rare.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To furnish or fit with a helve.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 235/1 Helvyn, or heftyn, manubrio. 1542 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., For helving the mattok jd. 1633 T. James Voy. 66 The 2 hatchets to be new helu'd. 1861 Lowell P.-&-S. Rebell. Prose Wks. 1890 V. 78 To edge it with plan and helve it with direction. |
▪ III. helve
obs. form of half n.