nave

1 of 2

noun (1)

ˈnāv 

: the hub of a wheel

nave

2 of 2

noun (2)

: the main part of the interior of a church

especially : the long narrow central hall in a cruciform church that rises higher than the aisles flanking it to form a clerestory

Examples of nave in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

There were many rooms of acoustic interest, but the one of lasting musical influence is the nave. —Lynn Whidden, Scientific American, 26 July 2024

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, Philippe Petit will walk a highwire across the nave of St. John the Divine in New York City, the world's largest cathedral. —Martha Teichner, CBS News, 4 Aug. 2024

Fencers will compete under the nave and glass roof of the Grand Palais. —Adam Kilgore, Washington Post, 27 July 2024

With the sun having only just set outside, the fencing piste lay beneath the palace nave, a 150-foot, vaulted dome held up by 6,000 tons of steel. —Alexander Smith, NBC News, 28 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English nave, naff, going back to Old English nafu (also nafa, masculine n-stem), going back to Germanic *naƀō- (whence also Old Saxon nava "nave, hub," Middle Dutch nave, Old High German naba, Old Icelandic nǫf "fastening by which beams of a log house are held together at the corner, nave of a wheel"), going back to Indo-European *h₃nob^h-eh₂, whence also Latvian naba "navel, nave of a wheel," Sanskrit nābhā- (in the personal name Nā́bhānédiṣṭaḥ "one closely related"), and with variant stem formations Old Prussian nabis "navel, nave," Sanskrit nábhyam "nave of a wheel" (Indo-European *h₃nob^h-i̯o-), Old Danish naff, neuter, "nave," Danish, Swedish & Norwegian nav, Avestan nāfa- "navel, origin, blood relationship" (Indo-European *h₃nob^h-o-), Sanskrit nā́bhiḥ "nave, navel, midpoint, origin, kinship (Indo-European *h₃nob^h-i-)

Note: Compare navel.

Noun (2)

Medieval Latin navis, from Latin, ship; akin to Old English nōwend sailor, Greek naus ship, Sanskrit nau

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1673, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

nave

1 of 2 noun

ˈnāv 

: the hub of a wheel

nave

2 of 2 noun

: the long central main part of a church