Library / English Dictionary

SHAVING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of brushing against while passing

Synonyms:

grazing; shaving; skimming

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("shaving" is a kind of...):

touch; touching (the act of putting two things together with no space between them)

Derivation:

shave (touch the surface of lightly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of removing hair with a razor

Synonyms:

shave; shaving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("shaving" is a kind of...):

depilation; epilation (the act of removing hair (as from an animal skin))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shaving"):

tonsure (shaving the crown of the head by priests or members of a monastic order)

Derivation:

shave (remove body hair with a razor)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A thin fragment or slice (especially of wood) that has been shaved from something

Synonyms:

paring; shaving; sliver

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("shaving" is a kind of...):

fragment (a piece broken off or cut off of something else)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shaving"):

splint (a thin sliver of wood)

turning (a shaving created when something is produced by turning it on a lathe)

Derivation:

shave (make shavings of or reduce to shavings)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

-ing form of the verb shave

Credits

 Context examples: 

I remember that he frightened as well as fascinated me with his talk of battles, and I can recall as if it were yesterday the horror with which I gazed upon a spot of blood upon his shirt ruffle, which had come, as I have no doubt, from a mischance in shaving.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had hung my shaving glass by the window, and was just beginning to shave.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I fed it, shaving by shaving, and sliver by sliver, till at last it was snapping and crackling as it laid hold of the smaller chips and sticks.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

With his face turned towards me, as he finished, but without looking at me, he took his crooked thumb off the spot where he had planted it, and slowly and thoughtfully scraped his lank jaw with it, as if he were shaving himself.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then seizing the shaving glass, he went on: And this is the wretched thing that has done the mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

These I whittled into shavings or split into kindling.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He accompanied me into Mr. Wickfield's room, which was the shadow of its former self—having been divested of a variety of conveniences, for the accommodation of the new partner—and stood before the fire, warming his back, and shaving his chin with his bony hand, while Mr. Wickfield and I exchanged greetings.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)