greave

Meanings

Noun

• A bush; a tree; a grove.
• A bough; a branch.
• A ditch or trench.
• A piece of armour that protects the leg, especially the shin.

Verb

• To clean (a ship's bottom); to grave.

Origin

• From Middle English greve, from Old English grǣfe, græfe, probably related to Proto-Germanic *grōbō. Cognate with Scots greve, greave. Compare also Proto-Germanic *grainiz ("twig"), of unknown origin, whence Old Norse grein ("branch, bough"). Closely related to Old English grāf, grāfa. See grove.
• From Middle English greve, greyve, from Old English grǣfa, grēfa, from Proto-Germanic *grōbō ("pit, ditch"), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- ("to dig, scratch, scrape"). Cognate with North Frisian groop ("pit, sewer, gutter"), Dutch groef ("pit, hole, gutter"), German Grube ("pit, hole"), Icelandic gröf ("pit, grave").
• From Middle English greve, grayve, from Old French greve ("shin"), of uncertain origin; possibly from Egyptian Arabic جورب ("stocking, leg cover"). Watkins suggests a connection with greve, due to the resemblance of the medial ridge to a part in the hair, from graver, of Germanic origin, from Frankish *graban; if so, related to Etymology 2 above.
• From greaves.