nave
see also: Nave
Pronunciation Etymology 1

Ultimately from Latin nāvem, singular accusative of nāvis, possibly via a Romance source.

Noun

nave (plural naves)

  1. (architecture) The middle or body of a church, extending from the transepts to the principal entrances.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
      Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […] , down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
  2. (architecture) The ground-level middle cavity of a barn.
Translations Etymology 2

From Middle English nave, from Old English nafu, from Proto-West Germanic *nabu, from Proto-Germanic *nabō (compare Dutch naaf, German Nabe, Swedish nav), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nebʰ- (compare Latin umbō, Latvian naba, Sanskrit नभ्य).

Noun

nave (plural naves)

  1. A hub of a wheel.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene ii]:
      'Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods,
      In general synod take away her power;
      Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
      And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven […]
  2. (obsolete) The navel.
    • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene i]:
      Till he faced the slave; / Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, / Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, / And fix'd his head upon our battlements
Related terms Translations
Nave
Etymology
  • As an English surname, from the noun knave.
  • As a German - surname Näve, variant of Neff, see Neve.
  • As a Portuguese - surname, from nave, borrowed from Spanish nava, compare Nava.
Proper noun
  1. Surname.



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