haven

From Middle English haven, havene, from Old English hæfen (“haven; harbour; port”), from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō (compare Dutch haven, German Hafen, Norwegian/Danish havn, Swedish hamn), from Proto-Germanic *habą (“sea”) (compare Old English hæf, Middle Low German haf, Old Norse haf (“sea”), German Haff (“bay or lagoon behind a spit”), perhaps, in the sense of "heaving sea", etymologically identical with Old Norse haf (“heaving, lifting, uplift, elevation”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift, heave”)), or from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pnós (compare Old Irish cúan (“harbor, recess, haven”)). Doublet of abra.

• IPA^(key): /ˈheɪvən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvən

haven (plural havens)

1. (slightly dated) A harbour or anchorage protected from the sea.
   • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act 13, scene what ſhipping, and what ladings in our hauen,]:

   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “"Break, break, break,"”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 229:

     And the stately ships go on / To their haven under the hill;

2. (by extension) A place of safety.

   Synonyms: refuge, sanctuary, zoar

   • 2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, in the Guardian‎:

     Since its conception, the European Union has been a haven for those seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty in other parts of the world.

3. (by extension) A peaceful place.

haven (third-person singular simple present havens, present participle havening, simple past and past participle havened)

1. To put into, or provide with a haven.

• heav'n, nevah

haven c

1. definite singular of have

• IPA^(key): /ˈɦaːvə(n)/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ha‧ven
• Rhymes: -aːvən

From Middle Dutch havene, from Old Dutch *havana, from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō.

haven f (plural havens, diminutive haventje n)

1. harbour

   De schepen liggen veilig in de haven. ― The ships are safe in the harbour.

   We namen een wandeling bij het kleine haventje na het diner. ― We took a walk by the small harbour after dinner.

2. port

   Rotterdam heeft een van de grootste havens ter wereld. ― Rotterdam has one of the largest ports in the world.

- port types

- toponyms

• Afrikaans: hawe
• → Papiamentu: haf, haaf

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

haven

1. plural of have.

• hapene (dialectal)

From Proto-Finnic *habën, possibly a Baltic loan.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑʋen/, [ˈhɑ̝ʋe̞n]
• Rhymes: -ɑʋen
• Syllabification^(key): ha‧ven

haven (dialectal)

1. (single) hair

   Synonyms: hapsi, hius

• ahven

• have, haav, haf, hafe, haben, habben, heven, hawe
• (contracted) han, haan, ha

From Old English habban, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaːvən/, /ˈhavən/, /ˈhabən/
• (contracted) IPA^(key): /haːn/

haven

1. to own (to have ownership of):
   1. to possess (an abstraction; a quality)
   2. to include (as a part, ingredient, or feature).
      • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, James 2:17, page 110r, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

        ſo alſo feiþ if it haþ not werkis .· is deed in it ſelf

        So faith, if it doesn't incorporate works as well, is dead on its own.

   3. to hold; to have at disposal
2. to get, acquire, or obtain:
   • c. 1375, “Book I”, in Iohne Barbour, De geſtis bellis et uirtutibus domini Roberti de Brwyß […] (The Brus, Advocates MS. 19.2.2)‎, Ouchtirmunſye: Iohannes Ramſay, published 1489, folio 2, recto, lines 225-228; republished at Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, c. 2010:

     A fredome is a noble thing / fredome mayß man to haiff liking / fredome all ſolace to ma[n] giffis / He levys at eß [that] frely levys

     Oh, freedom is a noble thing: / it allows people to get enjoyment / and provides all of humanity's peace. / If you live free, you live at ease!

   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Joon 10:10, page 49v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     a nyȝt þeef comeþ not .· but þat he ſteele ſle ⁊ leeſe / and I cam þat þey haue lijf .· ⁊ haue more plenteuouſli.

     A stealthy thief doesn't come unless he can steal, kill, and ruin. But I came so they could have life, and have it more abundantly.

   1. to take (in); to be given
   2. to have (a child); to give birth
3. to do; to perform (an action):
   1. (with preposition) to take (away)
   2. to have (done); to cause to (do, be)
   3. to be obliged to do; to be scheduled to do.
4. (auxillary) Denotes completion; forms the perfect tense.
5. to keep; to maintain (in a condition)
6. to have (in a certain relationship)
7. to consider; to look upon
8. to experience; to undergo

• As in Modern English, haven may be used elliptically in auxiliary constructions if the main verb is implicit.
• The perfect progressive construction (modern have been + present) is known in Middle English, though rare and late.
• Some intransitive verbs may form the perfect with ben rather than haven.

• English: have (-'ve, -a)
• Scots: hae, ha, hiv, have, hawe (-a)
• Yola: ha, have

• “hā̆ven, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old High German hafan m (“pot”).

haven

1. pot

• Audio

  (file)

haven

1. definite plural of hav

From Old Frisian *hafen, *haven, from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō.

haven c (plural havens, diminutive haventsje)

1. harbour
2. haven, refuge

• havenhaad

• “haven (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011