Eve Meaning
/iːv/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe day or night before, usually used for holidays, such as Christmas Eve.
nounEvening, night.
Sentence Examples
It looked as if we were on the eve of a revolution.
Peter and Eve make a handsome couple.
He was very anxious on the eve of the exam.
CEFR Practice Quiz
On the ____ of the wedding, the bride felt very nervous.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We traditionally host a large dinner for all our relatives on New Year's ____.
Word Origin & History
From a variant of the Middle English noun even (itself from Old English ǣfen), with a pre-1200 loss of the terminal '-n', which was mistaken for an inflection. See also the now archaic or poetic even (“evening”), from the same source. In medieval Europe, days were considered to extend from sunset to sunset rather than midnight to midnight, so the night before a holiday was considered part of it, hence its "eve".
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I love to see the shaking twig / Dance till the shut of eve"
— Mid-19th century, John Clare, Autumn:
"And has she tired of weeping / As she lies down at eve."
— 1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, chapter XXVII, in A Shropshire Lad, lines 42–43:
"Sitting on the dockside at Oban, watching the to-ing and fro-ing in the harbour on a perfect summer's eve, I reflect on a trip which has taken me through our busiest cities to traverse the country's main lines, as well as explore some of the furthest extremities that were literally out on a limb."
— 2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 79:
"And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:20:
"After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her."
— 1904, Mark Twain, Extracts from Adam's Diary:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
On the ____ of the wedding, the bride felt very nervous.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We traditionally host a large dinner for all our relatives on New Year's ____.