Eaves
[iːvz] or [ivz]
Definition
(n. pl.) The edges or lower borders of the roof of a building, which overhang the walls, and cast off the water that falls on the roof.
(n. pl.) Brow; ridge.
(n. pl.) Eyelids or eyelashes.
Editor: Spence
Definition
n.pl. the projecting edge of the roof: anything projecting.—ns. Eaves′drip Eaves′drop the water which falls from the eaves of a house: the place where the drops fall.—v.i. and v.t. Eaves′drop to stand under the eaves or near the windows of a house to listen: to listen for secrets.—ns. Eaves′dropper one who thus listens: one who tries to overhear private conversation; Eaves′dropping.
Checker: Micawber
Examples
- A few minutes later our driver pulled up at a neat little red-brick villa with overhanging eaves which stood by the road. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Cassy lit a small lamp, and creeping round under the eaves, they established themselves in it. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- It was lit within by slits under the eaves. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- From the portico, from the eaves, from the parapet, from every ledge and post and pillar, drips the thawed snow. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Let him take care also that he avoid in the darkness the drippings from the overhanging eaves or windows, and falling upon the slippery steps of the dim doorway he may be about to enter. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Ah, yes, he cried, here's the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- In comparing, too, the poor man's situation with that of the great, there is (always according to Mr. Eaves) another source of comfort for the former. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Take it as a rule, this sardonic old Eaves would say, the fathers and elder sons of all great families hate each other. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The drawing herewith presented shows an ideal two-room silo 16 feet wide, 32 feet long, and 16 feet to the eaves. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- Those intended for stairways, eaves, cornices, windows, doorways, etc. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Great snow-eaves weighed down the broad-roofed Tyrolese houses, that were sunk to the window-sashes in snow. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Clambering quickly aloft I grasped the edge of the eaves and drew myself to the surface of the roof above. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- The eaves projected nearly twenty feet from the wall to which I clung, and though I encircled the great building I could find no opening through them. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- The farmhouses were my delight, with thatched roofs, ivy up to the eaves, latticed windows, and stout women with rosy children at the doors. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
Typist: Loretta