▪ I. eve, n.1
(iːv)
Forms: (3 heve, 4 ave), 6–7 eeve, (7 eave, yeave), 3– eve.
[var. of even n. (orig. 2 syll.); for the loss of the final n cf. morrow.]
1. = evening n.1 lit. and fig. poet. or rhetorical.
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 432 Thu singest from eve fort a morȝe. c 1300 St. Brandan 214 The foweles tho hit eve was, bigonne here evesong. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vi. 117 On saterday at eue. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas ix. xxvii. (1554) 209 a, The fayre day men do prayse at eue. 1632 Milton L'Allegro 130 Such sights as youthful poets dream On summer eves by haunted stream. 1667 ― P.L. i. 743 From Noon to dewy Eve. 1642 Howell For. Trav. ix. (Arb.) 47 The yeaue of the Conquering of France, is the morning of the Conquest of England. 1728 Thomson Spring 19 Winter oft at Eve resumes the breeze. 1801 Southey Thalaba viii. ii, In the light of the setting eve. 1833 H. Martineau Charmed Sea i. 4 To tell the tale from eve to morning, and from morning to eve again. |
2. The evening, and hence usually the day before a Saint's day or other church festival. Hence gen. the evening, or the day, before any date or event.
| c 1290 Lives Saints (1887) 76 In þe monþe of Ieneuer: a-seint Fabianes eue. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 5391 The king ther stode with his meine On a palmesonnes aue. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxvi. 231 In the same yere (1340) on mydsomer eue kyng edward bygan to sayll toward fraunce. 1548 Hall Chron. 82 b, Christmas eve. 1571 Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 123, 23rd of August being Saint Bartholomewes Eeve. a 1662 Bp. B. Duppa Rules to Devotion (J.), Let the immediate preceding day be kept as the eve to this great feast. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 692 The tolling of bells..on the eve of the funeral, on the day of it, and the last day of the year. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth iii, A father's blessing and St. Valentine's, whose blessed eve this chances to be. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos II. viii. 102 On the eve of the New Year 1370 he [Chandos] set forth to retake the town of St. Salvin. 1884 Blunt Annot. Bk. Com. Prayer 118 All Festivals have Eves, including Sundays, but only some have Vigils. |
| fig. 1647 Clarendon Contempl. on Ps. Tracts (1727) 497 Our time in this world is but a short eve to an everlasting holiday. |
3. transf. The time immediately preceding some event, action, etc. Chiefly in phrase to be on or upon the eve of.
| 1780 T. Jefferson Corr. Wks. 1859 I. 269 We are upon the eve of a new arrangement as to our commissary's and quarter-master's departments. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §253 Being now arrived at the eve of October. 1806 A. Duncan Nelson 165 The hull on the eve of sinking. 1818 Marryat in Parl. Deb. 642 It was proposed to pass this bill just when they were upon the eve of a general election. 1875 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. ix. (ed. 5) 150 These regions seemed on the eve of being lost to Christendom. |
4. attrib. and Comb., chiefly in sense 1, as eve-repast, eve-time; also eve-feast a feast on the evening before a festival or holy day; eve-of-poll a., of, pertaining to, or occurring in the period immediately preceding the polling in an election; eve-tide = eventide; eve-weed (see quot.). Also eve-churr, -jar, -song, -star.
| 1711 Budgell Spect. No. 161 ¶2 A Country Wake, which you know in most Parts of England is the *Eve-Feast of the Dedication of our Churches. |
| 1960 D. Potter Glittering Coffin Postscript, p. iii, The most savagely controversial *eve-of-poll issue. 1960 Guardian 26 Feb. 6/3 A parliamentary candidate dying..while actually making his eve-of-poll speech. 1970 Ibid. 5 Nov. 2/5 Arguments..forcefully delivered by Senator Muskie, on an eve-of-poll television appearance. |
| 1725 Pope Odyss. xx. 466 They rise, and bid prepare An *everepast. |
| 1382 Wyclif Job xxxviii. 32 Thou bringist..the *euetid sterre [1388 euene sterre] vp on the sones of the erthe. c 1460 in Hearne R. Glouc. (1724) II. 484 Quene Alionore..childed a sone..in the Christesmasse eue [printed ene] In whiche euetid [printed ene-] appered in the West ii sterres, of fuyry colour. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 36 Y laye in the chaptur hows tyl the euetyde of saturday foloyng. |
| c 1275 Lay. 12858 Þo hit com to þan *eue-time. Ibid. 17860. |
| 1878 Britten & Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-n., *Eveweed, Hesperis matronalis, a name apparently invented by Dr. J. Hill in Herb. Brit. 1769, in reference to the fragrance of the blossoms in the evening. |
▪ II. eve, n.2 slang or dial.
(See quots.)
| 1725 New Cant. Dict., Eves, Hen-Roosts. 1847–78 Halliwell, Eve, a hen-roost. |
▪ III. † eve, v.1 Obs. rare.
[f. eve n.1]
trans. To be the eve (sense 2) of; to immediately precede.
| 1639 W. Berkeley Lost Lady i. ii. in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 557 The night that eves the day of marriage. |
▪ IV. eve, v.2 dial.
[repr. yeve, the regular (now obs.) southern form of give. In midl. dialects give is used in same sense.]
intr. To become moist or damp (cf. quots.).
| 1847–78 in Halliwell. 1863 W. Barnes Dorset Gloss. s.v., ‘We shall ha' rain: the stwones do eve.’ 1880 E. Cornw. Gloss. s.v., A stone floor is said to eve before wet weather. |
▪ V. eve
var. of eave.
| 1746 W. Horsley Fool (1748) I. 29 A Stone Cornice..which..would make a pretty Eve over the Kitchen Windows. |