carve

carve [ka:v US ka:rv] v

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1¦(make object or pattern)¦

2¦(cut something into a surface)¦

3¦(cut meat)¦

4¦(job/position/life)¦

5¦(water/wind)¦

6¦(reduce something)¦

Phrasal verbs

　carve somebody/something<=>up

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[: Old English; Origin: ceorfan]

1.) ¦(MAKE OBJECT OR PATTERN)¦ [T]

to make an object or pattern by cutting a piece of wood or stone

→↑carving carve sth out of/from sth

▪ a statue carved from a single block of marble

▪ carved wooden chairs

2.) ¦(CUT SOMETHING INTO A SURFACE)¦ [T]

to cut a pattern or letter on the surface of something

carve sth on/in/into sth

▪ Someone had carved their initials on the tree.

3.) ¦(CUT MEAT)¦ [I and T]

to cut a large piece of cooked meat into smaller pieces using a knife

▪ Carve the meat into slices.

▪ Who's going to carve?

4.) ¦(JOB/POSITION/LIFE)¦ [T]

also carve out

to succeed in getting the job, position, life etc that you want

▪ He had carved a niche for himself as a photographer.

▪ She carved out a very successful career in the film industry.

▪ He moved to San Francisco to carve out a new life for himself.

5.) ¦(WATER/WIND)¦ [T]

if a river, the wind etc carves land or rock, it removes some of it

▪ The river had carved channels in the limestone rock.

→not be carved in stone at ↑stone¹ (9)

6.) ¦(REDUCE SOMETHING)¦ [T always + adverb/preposition]

to reduce the size of something by removing some of it

carve sth from sth

▪ The company carved $1 million from its budget.

carve up [carve sb/sth<=>up] phr v

1.) to divide land, a company etc into smaller parts and share it between people - used especially to show disapproval

▪ The Ottoman Empire was carved up by Britain and France after World War I.

▪ The two companies are attempting to carve up a large slice of America's publishing industry between them.

2.) BrE informal to drive past someone in a car and then suddenly move in front of them so that you are too close