Gave Meaning
/ɡeɪv/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbsimple past of give
verbpast participle of give
Sentence Examples
What if you gave a speech and nobody came?
If I gave no answer, I would not have spoken.
The police gave the proposals their full backing.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She ____ him a birthday present wrapped in colorful paper.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She ____ me some very helpful advice on how to improve my public speaking skills for the presentation.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English gaf, yaf, ȝaf, from Old English ġæf, ġeaf.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I gaue thee Life, and rescu'd thee from Death."
— 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
"The superior degree of confidence towards Harriet, which this one article marked, gave her severe pain."
— 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:
"With the Oxford canal at the bottom of his garden, regular canoeing excursions gave him enormous pleasure."
— 2011 July 31, Bob Woffinden, The Guardian:
"Well I suppose you will wonder what has happened to change my mind and if somebody has gave me a birthday present of $600.00 or something."
— c. 1916, Ring W. Lardner, The Courtship of T. Dorgan; republished in George W. Hilton, The Annotated Baseball Stories of Ring W. Lardner, 1914-1919, Stanford University Press, 1995, →ISBN, page 297:
"Mr. Green. No; not to my recollection, Senator. I may have gave Frank Prince some for his wife, or something like that."
— 1951, “Influence in Government Procurement”, in Hearing before the Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee of Expenditures in the Executive Departments […] , U.S. Government Printing Office, page 678:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She ____ him a birthday present wrapped in colorful paper.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She ____ me some very helpful advice on how to improve my public speaking skills for the presentation.