Word of the Day: Eave and Eve

eave

 

eave  / ēv

 

noun

 

1. the edge of a roof which overhangs a building (usually eaves, plural)

The shivering birds beneath the eaves

Have sheltered for the night.

From “After the Winter” by Claude McKay, 1889 – 1948

 

adjective

 

1. pertaining to the edges of a roof which overhang a building

And the son of Tarzan skipped across the room, slipped through the open window, and slid to liberty by way of the down spout from an eaves trough.  From “The Son of Tarzan” by Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1875 – 1950

 

 

eve

 

eve  /  ēv

 

noun

 

1. the day or night before a special day

New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.

From “My Study Fire” by Hamilton Wright Mabie, 1846 – 1916

 

2. the time just prior to a specific event or crisis

We view ourselves on the eve of battle.

Sam Houston, 1793 – 1863

 

3. evening; the end of a day(archaic)

Abide with me from morn to eve,

For without Thee I cannot live:

Abide with me when night is nigh

For without Thee I dare not die.

From the hymn “Sun of my soul, Thou Savior dear” by John Keble, 1792 – 1866