Verb

(contriv)

To form by an exercise of ingenuity; to devise; to plan; to scheme; to plot.

* Hawthorne

Neither do thou imagine that I shall contrive aught against his life.

* 1813 , Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice , Modern Library Edition (1995), page 154

I cannot bear the idea of two young women traveling post by themselves. It is highly improper. You must contrive to send somebody.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=10 citation , passage=With a little manœuvring they contrived to meet on the doorstep which was […] in a boiling stream of passers-by, hurrying business people speeding past in a flurry of fumes and dust in the bright haze.}}

To invent, to make devices; to form designs especially by improvisation.

To project, cast, or set forth, as in a projection of light.

Verb

(archaic) To cut.

* Tennyson

My good blade carved the casques of men.

To cut meat in order to serve it.

You carve the roast and I'll serve the vegetables.

To shape to sculptural effect; to produce (a work) by cutting, or to cut (a material) into a finished work.

to carve a name into a tree

* {{quote-book, year=1920, year_published=2008 , edition=HTML, author=Edgar Rice Burroughs

, title=Thuvia, Maiden of Mars citation , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , passage=The facades of the buildings fronting upon the avenue within the wall were richly carven

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. To display them the walls had been tinted a vivid blue which had now faded, but the carpet, which had evidently been stored and recently relaid, retained its original turquoise.}}

(snowboarding) To perform a series of turns without pivoting, so that the tip and tail of the snowboard take the same path.

(figuratively) To take or make, as by cutting; to provide.

* South

who could easily have carved themselves their own food.

* {{quote-news, year=2010

, date=December 29 , author=Sam Sheringham , title=Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=The Reds carved the first opening of the second period as Glen Johnson's pull-back found David Ngog but the Frenchman hooked wide from six yards. }}

To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.

* Shakespeare

Lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet.