helve

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the handle or haft of a tool or weapon, especially an axe or hammer

   He shaped a new ash helve and fitted it securely to the axe head.

2. 2
   verb

   to fit a tool or weapon with a handle

   The blacksmith helved the hammer with a straight piece of seasoned wood.

From Middle English helve and Old English hielfe, 'handle,' with cognates in other West Germanic languages. Its deeper origin is uncertain, though it has sometimes been connected with the Germanic ancestor of half. The verb arose by conversion from the noun.

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