eaves
UK /iːvz/ · US /ivz/ noun, proper noun
Forms eave
- noun (architecture) The underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building.
- noun (by extension) Something that extends over or projects beyond.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A hamlet in Woodplumpton parish, city of Preston district, Lancashire, England (OS grid ref SD4937).
Etymology
From Middle English eves (“projecting lower edge of a roof”) [and other forms], 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).
From eave + -s, from a misinterpretation of the -s ending of eaves as forming a plural.
English surname, from Middle English atte evese (“at the border, edge”), from Old English efes. Compare Reeves. Also sometimes a variant of Eve.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The edges or lower borders of the roof of a building, which overhang the walls, and cast off the water that falls on the roof.
- noun Brow; ridge. [Obs.] "Eaves of the hill." Wyclif.
Etymology [OE. evese, pl. eveses, AS. efese eaves, brim, brink; akin to OHG. obisa, opasa, porch, hall, MHG. obse eaves, Icel. ups, Goth. ubizwa porch; cf. Icel. upsar-dropi, OSw. opsä-drup water dropping from the eaves. Probably from the root of E. over. The s of eaves is in English regarded as a plural ending, though not so in Saxon. See Over, and cf. Eavesdrop.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “eaves”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details