verb
[with object]1 literary Wash.
‘she ran cold water in the basin, laving her face and hands’- ‘As one laved one's chest one could conjure up images of bowler hats on the coat rack, well-thumbed Police Gazettes, shoe polish and cigars.’
wash, cleanse, wipe, sponge, scrub, mop, rinse, scour, swab, hose down, sluice, sluice down, flush, polish, disinfect- 1.1(of water) wash against or over (something)‘the sea below laved the shore with small, agitated waves’
- ‘But in Salzburg, a land laved by mists and mountain air, all the star-power in the world fades away before the glory of Mozart, its most illustrious son.’
- ‘He passes the time by visiting bathhouses, where he writhes in licentious congress soapy enough to lave his sins and conceal the nether regions forbade by Japanese censorship.’
- ‘Took Nat to the beach, and as we approached the shore I caught the Most Holy Whiff, the perfume of fish and weeds and sun-laved water.’
Origin
Old English lafian, from Latin lavare ‘to wash’; reinforced in Middle English by Old French laver.
Are You Learning English? Here Are Our Top English Tips