'To carve out' definitions:

Definition of 'To carve out'

From: GCIDE
  • Carve \Carve\ (k[aum]rv), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Carved (k[aum]rvd); p. pr. & vb. n. Carving.] [AS. ceorfan to cut, carve; akin to D. kerven, G. kerben, Dan. karve, Sw. karfva, and to Gr. gra`fein to write, orig. to scratch, and E. -graphy. Cf. Graphic.]
  • 1. To cut. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • Or they will carven the shepherd's throat. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To cut, as wood, stone, or other material, in an artistic or decorative manner; to sculpture; to engrave. [1913 Webster]
  • Carved with figures strange and sweet. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To make or shape by cutting, sculpturing, or engraving; to form; as, to carve a name on a tree. [1913 Webster]
  • An angel carved in stone. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
  • We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone. --C. Wolfe. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To cut into small pieces or slices, as meat at table; to divide for distribution or apportionment; to apportion. "To carve a capon." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. To cut: to hew; to mark as if by cutting. [1913 Webster]
  • My good blade carved the casques of men. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
  • A million wrinkles carved his skin. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. To take or make, as by cutting; to provide. [1913 Webster]
  • Who could easily have carved themselves their own food. --South. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan. [1913 Webster]
  • Lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • To carve out, to make or get by cutting, or as if by cutting; to cut out. "[Macbeth] with his brandished steel . . . carved out his passage." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • Fortunes were carved out of the property of the crown. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]