Definition of "calve" [calve]

To give birth to a calf. (verb-intransitive)
To break at an edge, so that a portion separates. Used of a glacier or iceberg. (verb-intransitive)
To give birth to (a calf). (verb-transitive)
To set loose (a mass of ice). Used of a glacier or iceberg. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "calve" in a sentence

"As Brinkley reminds us early on, Alaska is a land of wonderful verbiage - a place where glaciers "calve" shed hunks of ice, where the countryside is "the bush," where you can visit Misty Fiords and Gates of the Arctic, the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and the Island of the Standing Stone."
"They'd quickly begin to "calve," sending babies out on shoots that would break off when the baby got big enough, and naturalize in their new home."
"Similarly like in the Arctic, the outer sections of ice break off or "calve" from these shelves and form icebergs."

Words like "calve"

bear birth calf

calved calves calving

deliver divide give birth

have part separate