Forms: 1 efes, 35 eouesen (pl.), ouese, -ise, 4 euez, euese, 48 eves(e, (4 hevese), (6 ease, 6 pl. esen), 7 eaues, (eeves, heaves), dial. eize, 7 eaves. [OE. efes, fem. = OFris. ose, Flem. (Kilian) oose, OHG. obasa (MHG. obse, mod. dial.G. obsen) eaves, porch (:WGer. *obis(w)a, *obas(w)a) ON. ups (Sw. dial. uffs), Goth. ubizwa porch; prob. f. same root as OVER. The final -s has been mistaken for the sign of the pl., and in mod. Eng. the word is commonly treated as pl., EAVE being occas. used as the sing. The forms ME. ovese, WSomerset office (Elworthy), point to an OE. form *ofes:WGer. *obas(w)a.]
1. The edge of the roof of a building, or of the thatch of a stack, which overhangs the side.
a. 1000. Lamb. Psalter ci[i]. 7 (Bosw.). Geworden ic eom swa swa spearwa anwuniende on efese.
c. 1205. Lay., 29279. I þan eouesen he [þa sparwen] grupen.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 462. Ðe spinnere festeð atte hus rof hire fodredes o rof er on ouese.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 144. Evese, or evesynge of a house, stillicidium.
c. 1500. Partenay, 5504. Allso thys chambre well depeynted was Ffro foote of wallure the ouise.
1570. Levins, Manip., 211. Ye ease or eues of a house.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 91. The Swallow which in the summer creepeth under the eues of euery house.
1610. Shaks., Temp., V. i. 17. His teares runs downe his beard like winters drops From eaues of reeds.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 323. The pentices or eauisses of their houses being much broader then I haue obserued in other cities.
1629. Shertogenbosh, 48. It ruined some houses; of some the heaues and tops were damnified very much.
1632. Milton, Il Penser., 130. Ushered with a shower still With minute-drops from off the eaves.
1663. Cowley, Verses & Ess. (1669), 104. The Birds under the Eeves of his Window call him up in the morning.
1751. W. Halfpenny, New Designs Farm Ho., 5. Thence to the Eves of the Roofs one Brick and half.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 161. The best form of corn stacks is circular, with a conical top, diverging a little towards the eaves.
1819. Shelley, Rosal. & Helen, 367. Like twinkling rain-drops from the eaves.
1849. Freeman, Archit., 1789. The eaves rest commonly on small arcades or corbel-tables.
fig. 1675. Crowne, City Polit., II. i. I hang on the eves of life, like a trembling drop, ready every minute to fall.
† b. Of a wood: The edge, margin. Obs.
898. O. E. Chron., an. 894. Þa foron hie bi swa hwaþerre efes swa hit þonne fierdleas wæs.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 159. Desouz loverayl, under the wode-side wode-hevese.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1178. Þus laykez þis lorde by lynde wodez euez.
2. transf. Anything that projects or overhangs slightly, as † the brow of a hill, † the flaps of a saddle, the edge of a cloud or precipice, the brim of a hat; also poet. the eyelids.
1382. Wyclif, Job xi. 5. Anne forsothe sat beside the weye eche dai in the euese [1388 cop; Vulg. supercilio] of the hil.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. I. 15.
He got up to the saddle eaves, | |
From whence he vaulted into th seat. |
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., lxvi. Closing eaves of wearied eyes I sleep.
1855. Maury, Phys. Geog. Sea, xi. § 511. The southern eaves of the cloud plane.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. ii. 21. Overhanging eaves of snow.
1862. Borrow, Wild Wales, I. i. 4. A leather hat with the side eaves turned up.
3. Comb. eaves-board (also eave-board; see EAVE), eaves-catch, -lath (see quot. 1875); † eaves-knife, a knife for cutting thatch at the eaves; eaves-martin, the House Martin (Hirundo urbica). Also EAVES-DROP sb. and v., -DROPPER, -DROPPING.
1399. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 131. Tabulas quæ vocantur *Esborde.
c. 1505. Church-w. Acc. St. Dunstans Canterb., For xlv fote of *evys borde xvd.
1627. MS. Acc. St. Johns Hosp. Canterb., To the Sawyers for cutting of evesboord.
1809. R. Langford, Introd. Trade, 88. The eave-boards project 16 inches.
1875. Gwilt, Archit., Arris fillet. When used to raise the slates, at the eaves of a building, it is then called the eaves board, eaves lath, or *eaves catch.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 139. A thatchers tooles are an *eize-knife for cutting the eize.
14223. Archives Christ Ch. Canterb., in Archæol. Cantiana, XIII. 561. Item payd for Caryyng of the Schretherris *Evys-lathe, lathe, and tyle iiis. iiijd.
1833. J. Hodgson, in J. Raine, Mem. (1858), II. 307. The *eaves-martin very plentiful.