Wiktionary

verve

See also: Verve

English

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WOTD – 28 November 2021

Etymology

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Borrowed from French verve (“animation; caprice, whim; rapture; spirit; vigour; type of expression”),[1] probably from Late Latin verva, a variant of Latin verba (“words; discourse; expressions; language”),[2] the plural of verbum (“word”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *werh₁- (“to say, speak”). Doublet of verb and word.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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verve (uncountable)

  1. Enthusiasm, rapture, spirit, or vigour, especially of imagination such as that which animates an artist, musician, or writer, in composing or performing.
    Synonyms: brio, élan, liveliness, moxie, panache, vivacity; see also Thesaurus:enthusiasm
    • 1879–1880, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Stowaways”, in The Amateur Emigrant: From the Clyde to Sandy Hook, Chicago, Ill.: Stone and Kimball, published 18 January 1895, →OCLC, page 105:
      His hands were strong and elegant; his experience of life evidently varied; his speech full of pith and verve; his manners forward, but perfectly presentable.
    • 1920 April, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “Spires and Gargoyles”, in This Side of Paradise, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book I (The Romantic Egotist), page 63:
      They played through vacation to the fashionable of eight cities. […] Chicago he approved for a certain verve that transcended its loud accent—however, it was a Yale town, and as the Yale Glee Club was expected in a week the Triangle received only divided homage.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
      Normally, this [girl] presents to the world the appearance of one who is feeling that if it isn't the best of all possible worlds, it's quite good enough to be going on with till a better one comes along. Verve, I mean, and animation and all that sort of thing. But now there was a listlessness about her […]
    • 2012 April 9, Mandeep Sanghera, “Tottenham 1 – 2 Norwich”, in BBC Sport‎[1], archived from the original on 3 November 2017:
      After spending so much of the season looking upwards, the swashbuckling style and swagger of early season Spurs was replaced by uncertainty and frustration against a Norwich side who had the quality and verve to take advantage.
  2. (obsolete) A particular skill in writing.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “verve, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2018.
  2. ^ “verve, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Dutch

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Verb

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verve

  1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of verven

French

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Etymology

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Probably from Late Latin verva, a variant of Latin verba (“words; discourse; expressions; language”), the plural of verbum (“word”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wérdʰh₁om (“that which is said; utterance, word”), from the verb *wérdʰh₁eti (“to speak, say”), derived from the root *werh₁- +‎ *-dʰh₁eti. Doublet of verbe.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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verve f (plural verves)

  1. eloquence
  2. verve, brio

Descendants

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  • → English: verve
  • → German: Verve
  • → Italian: verve

Further reading

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Hungarian

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Etymology

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ver (“to beat”) +‎ -ve (adverbial-participle suffix)

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈvɛrvɛ]
  • Hyphenation: ver‧ve
  • Rhymes: -vɛ

Participle

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verve

  1. adverbial participle of ver

Italian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French verve.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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verve f (invariable)

  1. verve
    Synonyms: brio, estro, vivacità

References

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  1. ^ verve in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old Norse hverfa, with influence from Middle Low German werven. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hwarbijaną. Doublet of kverve.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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verve (present tense vervar, past tense verva, past participle verva, passive infinitive vervast, present participle vervande, imperative verve/verv)

  1. (transitive) to enlist
  2. (reflexive) to enlist, to join a cause or organization, especially military service

References

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Anagrams

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