Skip to content
Vinony

helve

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L321844 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /hɛlv/

noun

Etymology: From Middle English helfe, helve; from Old English hielfe, from Proto-Germanic *halbiją. Probably cognate to English half, although Etymonline claims relation from halter and helm.

  1. The handle or haft of a tool or weapon.

    “It was the bad ax-helve someone had sold me— / “Made on machine,” he said, plowing the grain […]”

    “Happily they were only sketchily armed, the group-leaders carried pistols and pick-helves.”

  2. A forge hammer lifted by a cam acting on the helve between the fulcrum and the head.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English helfe, helve; from Old English hielfe, from Proto-Germanic *halbiją. Probably cognate to English half, although Etymonline claims relation from halter and helm.

  1. To furnish (an axe, etc.) with a helve.