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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Shaving

Shave \Shave\, v. t. [imp. Shaved (sh[=a]vd);p. p. Shaved or Shaven (sh[=a]v"'n); p. pr. & vb. n. Shaving.] [OE. shaven, schaven, AS. scafan, sceafan; akin to D. schaven, G. schaben, Icel. skafa, Sw. skafva, Dan. skave, Goth. scaban, Russ. kopate to dig, Gr. ska`ptein, and probably to L. scabere to scratch, to scrape. Cf. Scab, Shaft, Shape.]

  1. To cut or pare off from the surface of a body with a razor or other edged instrument; to cut off closely, as with a razor; as, to shave the beard.

  2. To make bare or smooth by cutting off closely the surface, or surface covering, of; especially, to remove the hair from with a razor or other sharp instrument; to take off the beard or hair of; as, to shave the face or the crown of the head; he shaved himself.

    I'll shave your crown for this.
    --Shak.

    The laborer with the bending scythe is seen Shaving the surface of the waving green.
    --Gay.

  3. To cut off thin slices from; to cut in thin slices.

    Plants bruised or shaven in leaf or root.
    --Bacon.

  4. To skim along or near the surface of; to pass close to, or touch lightly, in passing.

    Now shaves with level wing the deep.
    --Milton.

  5. To strip; to plunder; to fleece. [Colloq.]

    To shave a note, to buy it at a discount greater than the legal rate of interest, or to deduct in discounting it more than the legal rate allows. [Cant, U.S.]

Shaving

Shaving \Shav"ing\, n.

  1. The act of one who, or that which, shaves; specifically, the act of cutting off the beard with a razor.

  2. That which is shaved off; a thin slice or strip pared off with a shave, a knife, a plane, or other cutting instrument. ``Shaving of silver.''
    --Chaucer.

    Shaving brush, a brush used in lathering the face preparatory to shaving it.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
shaving

"act of removing hair with a razor," also "thin slice taken off," late 14c., verbal noun from shave (v.).

Wiktionary
shaving

n. A thin, shaved off slice of wood, metal, or other material. vb. (present participle of shave English)

WordNet
shaving
  1. n. the act of removing hair with a razor [syn: shave]

  2. a thin fragment or slice (especially of wood) that has been shaved from something [syn: paring, sliver]

  3. the act of brushing against while passing [syn: grazing, skimming]

Wikipedia
Shaving

Shaving is the removal of hair, by using a razor or any other kind of bladed implement, to slice it down—to the level of the skin or otherwise. Shaving is most commonly practiced by men to remove their facial hair and by women to remove their leg and underarm hair. A man is called clean-shaven if he has had his beard entirely removed.

Both men and women sometimes shave their chest hair, abdominal hair, leg hair, underarm hair, pubic hair or any other bodily hair. Head shaving is much more common among men. It is often associated with religious practice, the armed forces and some competitive sports such as swimming, running and extreme sports. Historically, head shaving has also been used to humiliate, punish and show submission to an authority, and also as part of fund-raising efforts, particularly for cancer research organizations and charitable organizations which serve cancer patients. The shaving of head hair is also sometimes done by cancer patients when their treatment may result in partial hair loss.

Usage examples of "shaving".

I whom fate selecteth for the shaving of Shagpat, and till now it was a beguilement, all emptiness.

They buttoned on pleated shirts, experimented with bow ties, and thought about when they were a boy and a young father and Randy had put shaving cream on his face and shaved with a bladeless razor, while his dad stood beside him and shaved with a real one.

A light scent of shaving soap and brilliantine came to the Inspector, followed by house smells of tea and a fry.

In the bathroom he carefully read the direction for using brushless shaving cream.

I carried it into the bathroom, took out a razor and a tube of brushless shaving cream, and hoped the blade would still cut whiskers.

Shaving a few minutes off my ice time from here until the Playoffs is acceptable.

He was bare-chested, sharpening his shaving knife on a stone, and he shrugged when he saw me notice the woven braid.

I left him shaving and went outside into the new sunshine where Agravain was sharpening a boar spear.

She waits for the shavings to catch before adding a shovelful of stove coal.

The vase had miraculously survived, unchipped, uncracked, for two centuries, and now all she could do was to pray and trust to cedar shavings that it would remain intact a few months more, through storms and war on the long voyage to England.

Steaming water now rose from the battered wash tin that Matt had used to effect the unvocal portion of his morning concert, and it was this water that the men used for shaving.

Spoon and Dirty Sock, she all ashiver, he irritated by a piece of wood shaving that had caught in his threads, perched on the ledge before the grate.

Many Dwarfs escaped in the great battles and lived on, shaving their beards and wearing highheeled shoes and pretending to be men.

He dipped a finger into my bowl of bloodroot shavings and dotted it thoughtfully on his blotter, leaving a chain of red fingerprints.

The Bostonian was stripped to the waist and had his chin and cheeks lathered with shaving soap plundered from a captured artillery limber.