dial. [Of uncertain standing and derivation. It is possible that (kāv) is merely an earlier pronunciation of cave retained locally; but it is notable that calve in coincides in form and sense with W.Flemish in-kalven (cf. de gracht kalft in ‘the ditch caves in’ De Bo), in which the root part is the same as in Du. af-kalven, to fall or break away, uit-kalven to fall or shoot out, said of the sides of a cutting or the like. De Vries refers this -kalven to kalve, kaluwe, surface of the ground, surface layer or soil (see CALLOW). In-kalven would thus signify the shooting in of the surface or earth above. Some, however, think that the word is, in its origin, identical with the preceding. The evidence is not decisive.
Calve (kāv, kǭv) in, is the vernacular form in Lincolnshire, Notts, Hunts, Norfolk, and adjacent parts of Suffolk, Cambridge, Leicester, Derby and Yorkshire. Wesley, who is quoted for it, was a native of Epworth, in the district covered by Mr. E. Peacock’s Gloss. of Manley and Corringham, North Lincolnshire. Assuming the word to be from Dutch, it has been suggested that it was ‘introduced by the Dutch navvies who came over for the large drainage works in the Lincolnshire fens’ (Wedgwood).]
To fall in as an undermined bank or side of a cutting; to CAVE in.
1755. Wesley, Wks. (1872), II. 323. The rock calved in upon him, with a concave surface, which just made room for his body. Ibid. (1788), VI. 521. Instantly part of the pit calved in, and crushed him to death.
1873. E. Peacock, in N. & Q., Ser. iv. XII. 274. In this part of the world we all say calved in, never caved in. Ibid. (1877), Manley & Corringham Gloss. (E. D. S.), Cauve, to slip down as earth does in a cutting or in a bank undermined by water.
