[ adj ] having the beard or hair cut off close to the skin <adj.all>
Shave \Shave\, v. t. [imp. {Shaved} (sh[=a]vd);p. p. {Shaved} or {Shaven} (sh[=a]v"'n); p. pr. & vb. n. {Shaving}.] [OE. shaven, schaven, AS. scafan, sceafan; akin to D. schaven, G. schaben, Icel. skafa, Sw. skafva, Dan. skave, Goth. scaban, Russ. kopate to dig, Gr. ska`ptein, and probably to L. scabere to scratch, to scrape. Cf. {Scab}, {Shaft}, {Shape}.] 1. To cut or pare off from the surface of a body with a razor or other edged instrument; to cut off closely, as with a razor; as, to shave the beard.
2. To make bare or smooth by cutting off closely the surface, or surface covering, of; especially, to remove the hair from with a razor or other sharp instrument; to take off the beard or hair of; as, to shave the face or the crown of the head; he shaved himself.
I'll shave your crown for this. --Shak.
The laborer with the bending scythe is seen Shaving the surface of the waving green. --Gay.
3. To cut off thin slices from; to cut in thin slices.
Plants bruised or shaven in leaf or root. --Bacon.
4. To skim along or near the surface of; to pass close to, or touch lightly, in passing.
Now shaves with level wing the deep. --Milton.
5. To strip; to plunder; to fleece. [Colloq.]
{To shave a note}, to buy it at a discount greater than the legal rate of interest, or to deduct in discounting it more than the legal rate allows. [Cant, U.S.]
They just shuffle." One man mailed his beard to the fire chief, but in the end there wasn't a whisker of real protest from the formerly hirsute Lynn firefighters forced to face the new year cleanly shaven.
Seated in the Academie Royale overseeing a student show earlier this month, Van Beirendonck cut an imposing figure with his shaven head, beard and fingers armour-plated in silver.
Lowry, a five-term representative, has calmed his bombastic rhetoric and trademark arm-flailing, shaven his Yasser Arafat-style beard, pressed his usually rumpled suits and sworn off beer for the campaign.
Researchers smeared the shaven backs of mice with tars from the cigarettes' condensed smoke.
He will carry a message addressed to the American administration." An-Nahar also received a color photograph of Reed in which he appeared neatly combed and clean shaven and wore a blue-and-white striped shirt.
I sat by the temple gate in the company of half a dozen heavily armed Legionnaires with blue berets on their shaven heads and bright, tricolour flashes on their shoulders.