lave – English verb conjugation

English verb forms of lave

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to lave
Participle: laved
Gerund: laving

Cognates

See the 2 cognates of lave

Indicative

Present

Ilave
youlave
he;she;itlaves
welave
youlave
theylave

Perfect

Ihave laved
youhave laved
he;she;ithas laved
wehave laved
youhave laved
theyhave laved

Past

Ilaved
youlaved
he;she;itlaved
welaved
youlaved
theylaved

Pluperfect

Ihad laved
youhad laved
he;she;ithad laved
wehad laved
youhad laved
theyhad laved

Future

Iwill lave
youwill lave
he;she;itwill lave
wewill lave
youwill lave
theywill lave

Future Perfect

Iwill have laved
youwill have laved
he;she;itwill have laved
wewill have laved
youwill have laved
theywill have laved

Subjunctive

Present

Ilave
youlave
he;she;itlave
welave
youlave
theylave

Perfect

Ihave laved
youhave laved
he;she;ithave laved
wehave laved
youhave laved
theyhave laved

Imperfect

Ilaved
youlaved
he;she;itlaved
welaved
youlaved
theylaved

Pluperfect

Ihad laved
youhad laved
he;she;ithad laved
wehad laved
youhad laved
theyhad laved

Conditional

Present

Iwould lave
youwould lave
he;she;itwould lave
wewould lave
youwould lave
theywould lave

Perfect

Iwould have laved
youwould have laved
he;she;itwould have laved
wewould have laved
youwould have laved
theywould have laved

Imperative

youlave
weLet's lave
youlave

Progressive (Continuous) Forms

Indicative

Present

Iam laving
youare laving
he;she;itis laving
weare laving
youare laving
theyare laving

Perfect

Ihave been laving
youhave been laving
he;she;ithas been laving
wehave been laving
youhave been laving
theyhave been laving

Past

Iwas laving
youwere laving
he;she;itwas laving
wewere laving
youwere laving
theywere laving

Pluperfect

Ihad been laving
youhad been laving
he;she;ithad been laving
wehad been laving
youhad been laving
theyhad been laving

Future

Iwill be laving
youwill be laving
he;she;itwill be laving
wewill be laving
youwill be laving
theywill be laving

Future Perfect

Iwill have been laving
youwill have been laving
he;she;itwill have been laving
wewill have been laving
youwill have been laving
theywill have been laving

Conditional

Present

Iwould be laving
youwould be laving
he;she;itwould be laving
wewould be laving
youwould be laving
theywould be laving

Perfect

Iwould have been laving
youwould have been laving
he;she;itwould have been laving
wewould have been laving
youwould have been laving
theywould have been laving

Other

Verbs similar to 'lave'

cave, dave, fave, have, lace, lade, lage, lake, lame, lare,

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

clean
cleanse, launder, scrub, swab, wash, mob, rub

Antonyms

clean
dirty, filthy, defiled, impure

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

1. O.E. gelafian "wash by pouring, pour (water)," possibly an early Eng. or W.Gmc. borrowing of L. lavare "to wash," or its O.Fr. descendant, laver. L. lavare is from PIE *lou- "to wash" (cf. L. luere "to wash," Gk. louein "to wash, bathe," O.Ir. loathar "basin," Bret. laouer "trough," O.E. leaþor "lather").
2. The verb is derived from Middle English laven (“to bathe, wash; to bail or draw water, drain, exhaust; to dampen, wet; to pour; of water, etc.: to flow, stream”), and then partly:
3. * from Old French laver (“to be washed; to wash”) (modern French laver (“to wash (oneself)”)), from Latin lavāre, the present active infinitive of lavō (“to bathe, wash; to dampen, wet”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”); and
4. * from Old English lafian (“to bathe; to make wet; to ladle out; to pour”), from Proto-West Germanic *labōn (“to refresh, revitalize; to strengthen”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Latin lavō (see above) but this does not explain the change in meaning from “to wash; to wet” to “to refresh; to strengthen”. Perhaps Old English lafian is derived directly from the Latin word, and Proto-West Germanic *labōn and words in languages derived from it such as Dutch and German are coincidentally similar to the Old English word.
5. The noun is derived from the verb. See: Middle English 'laven', Old French 'laver', French 'laver', Old English 'lafian', Latin 'lavō', Old English 'lafian'.

Sample Sentences

  • [M]y houſe vvithin the City / Is richly furniſhed vvith plate and gold, / Baſons and evvers to laue her dainty hands: […] [c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 217, column 2:]
  • [W]e muſt laue / Our Honors in theſe flattering ſtreames, / And make our Faces Vizards to our Hearts, / Diſguiſing vvhat they are. [c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 140, column 2:]
  • VVith Nectar pure his oozy Lock's he laves. [1637 (date written; published 1638), John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 64:]
  • [F]rom my vveary'd limbs I lave / The foul pollution of the briny vvave: […] [1725, Homer, “Book VI”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 77, lines 259–260:]
  • Thanks be to God! He laveth the thirsty land! The waters gather; they rush along; they are lifting their voices. [1846 August 26 (first performance), [Julius Schubring, librettist]; Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, composer, translated by [William Bartholomew], Elijah: A Sacred Oratorio. […], Boston, Mass.: Oakes & Darling, […], published 1851, 1st part, page 3, column 2:]
  • Rita stripped in haste and padded out to the wash-basin and lathered her body all over and laved it several times in fresh water before feeling she had washed off it a contact with Mrs Dibble's dirty old carcass, which shocked the self-esteem of her own shapely body. [1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 31:]
  • VVith roomy decks, her Guns of mighty ſtrength, / (VVhoſe lovv-laid mouthes each mounting billovv laves:) / Deep in her draught, and vvarlike in her length, / She ſeems a Sea-vvaſp flying on the vvaves. [1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, stanza 153, page 39:]
  • Scamandrius vvas his name, vvhich Hector gave, / From that fair flood [the Scamander or Karamenderes River] vvhich Ilion's vvall did lave: […] [a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Last Parting of Hector and Andromache. From the Sixth Book of the Iliad.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 451:]
  • [M]ild Parthenope’s delightful Shore, / VVhere huſh'd in Clams the bord’ring Ocean laves / Her ſilent Coaſt, and rolls in languid VVaves; […] [1705, J[oseph] Addison, “Naples”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 215:]
  • Delicious is your Shelter to the Soul, / As to the hunted Hart the ſallying Spring, / Or Stream full-flovving, that his ſvvelling Sides / Laves, as He floats along the Herbag'd Brink. [1727, James Thomson, Summer. A Poem, […] J[ohn] Millan, […], →OCLC, page 34:]
  • Pleas'd I look back and vievv the tranquil tide / That laves the pebbled shore. [1789, W[illiam] L[isle] Bowles, “Sonnet I. Written at Tinemouth, Northumberland, after a Tempestuous Voyage.”, in Sonnets, […] with Other Poems, 3rd edition, Bath, Somerset: […] R. Cruttwell; and sold by C[harles] Dilly, […], published 1794, →OCLC, page 3:]
  • [S]o oft the flood, / Jove's offspring, laved his ſhoulders. [1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book XXI.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 560, lines 317–318:]
  • There, though the summer day, / Cool streams are laving; […] [1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Third. The Hostel, or Inn.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, stanza X, page 142:]
  • Wild sparkles crest the broken tides, / And, flashing round, the vessel's sides / With elvish lustre lave, […] [1815, Walter Scott, “Canto First”, in The Lord of the Isles, a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza XXI, page 29:]
  • O Isis! noble Isis [the Thames]! in thee quivers / Eternal Oxford's wondrous Gothic glory, / Poetic towers and pinnacles of pride: / And, loftier in thy power than classic rivers, / Changing thy name by some green promontory, / Thou lavest London with an ampler tide. [1855, Mortimer Collins, Idyls and Rhymes, Dublin: J. Mc Glashan, […]; London: W[illiam] S[omerville] Orr and Company, […], →OCLC, page 77:]
  • Then the Lead being melted, […] it is laved into the Pan, […] [1703, Richard Neve, “Lead”, in The City and Country Purchaser, and Builder’s Dictionary: Or, The Compleat Builders Guide. […], 2nd edition, London: […] D. Browne, […]; J. and B. Sprint […], G. Conyers […]; and Ch[arles] Rivington […], published 1726, →OCLC, column 2:]
  • And now, she sat down under the leafless tree, to weep; and in those bitter tears, childhood itself was laved from her soul for ever. [1843, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The Broken Gittern”, in The Last of the Barons, volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, book I (The Adventures of Master Marmaduke Nevile), page 36:]
  • [W]hen the midnight moon did lave / Her forehead in the silver wave, / How solemn on the ear would come / The holy mattin's distant hum, […] [1810, Walter Scott, “Canto I. The Chase.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza XV, page 19:]
  • Approach, encompassing Death—strong Deliveress! / When it is so—when thou hast taken them, I joyously sing the dead, / Lost in the loving, floating ocean of thee, / Laved in the flood of thy bliss, O Death. [1865 (indicated as 1865–1866), Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps. […] When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d. And Other Pieces, Washington, D.C.: Gibson Brothers, […], →OCLC, canto 16, stanza 21, page 10:]
  • "Who could resist such a temptation?" he drawled, and bent to lave each nipple with his tongue till the satin was wet and clinging. [1998, Miranda Lee, The Boss’s Baby, Richmond, Surrey: Harlequin Mills & Boon, →ISBN, page 102:]
  • Liam's mouth was so hot and wet on his cock, his tongue so wicked, laving his shaft expertly with smooth, slick strokes, delving into his slit and swiping away the fluid leaking from it. Why was Liam doing this? [2014 February 21, Scarlet Blackwell, Beached Hearts, Lincoln, Lincolnshire: Total-E-Bound Publishing, →ISBN:]
  • He continued to lave her with gentle laps, while his fingers caressed her until she cried out and her whole body convulsed. [2011, Karen Foley, chapter 8, in Devil in Dress Blues, Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin Enterprises, →ISBN, page 111:]
  • Thou haſt plaid muſique to my dolefull ſoule; / And vvhen my heart vvas tympaniz'd vvith griefe, / Thou lauedſt out ſome into thy heart from mine, / And kept it ſo from burſting; […] [c. 1613–1618 (first performance), Thomas Goffe, The Tragedy of Orestes, […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Richard Meighen, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act IIII, scene ii, signature F2, verso:]
  • [W]hen I haue laved the Sea dry, thou ſhalt vnderſtand the myſtery of the Trinity; […] [1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “An Heape of Other Accidents Causing Melancholy. Death of Friends, Losses, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 4, subsection 7, page 148:]
  • And now, as we were weary with pumping and laving out the water [from the boat], almost sinking, it pleas'd God on the suddaine to appease the wind, and with much ado and greate perill we recover'd the shore, which we now kept in view, […] [1644 October 24 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 15 October 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 73:]
  • Each in his vvay, officiously they vvrought; / Some ſtovv their Oars, or ſtop the leaky Sides, / Another bolder yet the Yard beſtrides, / And folds the Sails; a fourth vvith Labour, laves, / Th'intruding Seas, and VVaves ejects on VVaves. [1700, [John] Dryden, “Ceyx and Alcyone”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 365:]
  • Happy he that ſips Eternally ſuch Nectar dovvn, that unconfin'd may Lave, and VVanton there in ſateleſs Draughts of ever ſpringing Beauty— […] [1700 (date written), Colley Cibber, Love Makes a Man: Or, The Fop’s Fortune. A Comedy. […], London: […] Richard Parker […], Hugh Newman […], and E. Rumbal […], published 1701, →OCLC, Act II, page 19:]
  • The ſilver Stream her Virgin Coldneſs keeps, / For ever murmurs, and for ever vveeps; / […] / In her chaſt Current oft the Goddeſs laves, / And vvith Celeſtial Tears augments the VVaves. [1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 9:]
  • Alexander went from laving at her breasts to nuzzling her belly and then his mouth was on her bare thigh, nibbling at her flesh as his fingers delved inside her sheath. She felt herself stretch and squeeze against his long fingers. [2011, Eliza Knight, chapter 10, in A Lady’s Charade (The Rules of Chivalry; 1), [South Carolina]: CreateSpace Independent, →ISBN, page 122:]
  • He pressed them back down and continued licking, laving at her as her inner muscles contracted around his fingers and she panted out his name. He didn't relent until the last shudder rippled through her beautiful body. [2015, Melissa Foster, Healed by Love (Love in Bloom; The Bradens at Peaceful Harbor; 1), Los Gatos, Calif.: Smashwords, →ISBN:]
  • [I]t took only a few moments of his tongue laving at her core before she was exploding in a mind-drugging climax that made her throat sore from her cries. [2016 April 15, Elizabeth Lennox, chapter 9, in The Prince’s Forbidden Lover (The Samara Royal Family Series; 3), [S.l.]: Elizabeth Lennox Books, →ISBN:]