eaves

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /iːvz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ivz/
• Homophone: eves
• Rhymes: -iːvz

 

From Middle English eves (“projecting lower edge of a roof”) [and other forms],^[1] from Old English efes, yfes, *ofes (“edge of a roof”), from Proto-West Germanic *ubisu (“hall”), from Proto-Germanic *ubiswō (compare Gothic 𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌶𐍅𐌰 (ubizwa), Old High German obasa (“hall; porch; roof”)), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *upér (“above; over”) (whence over).^[2][3]

eaves pl (plural only)

1. (architecture) The underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 16, column 2:

     Him that you term'd Sir, the good old Lord Gonzallo, / His teares runs downe his beard like winters drops / From eaues of reeds: […]

   • a. 1645, John Milton, “Il Penseroso”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 42:

     Thus night oft ſee me in thy pale career, / Till civil-ſuited morn appeer, / […] / Or uſher'd with a ſhower ſtill, / When the guſt hath blown his fill, / Ending on the ruſsling Leaves, / With minute drops from off the Eaves.

   • 1818 August, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Rosalind and Helen”, in Rosalind and Helen, a Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 22:

     By my window bowered round with leaves, / And down my cheeks the quick tears ran / Like twinkling rain-drops from the eaves, / When warm spring showers are passing o'er: […]

2. (by extension) Something that extends over or projects beyond.
   • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto I.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 14:

     But after many strains and heaves / He got up to the Saddle eaves.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto LXV, page 92:

     The mystic glory swims away; / From off my bed the moonlight dies; / And closing eaves of wearied eyes / I sleep till dusk is dipt in gray: […]

     Referring here to the eyelids.

• eave

From eave +‎ -s, from a misinterpretation of the -s ending of eaves as forming a plural.^[2]

eaves

1. plural of eave

•   eaves on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• seave