greaves

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹivz/

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From Low German (compare German Low German Greev, Greve (“greaves”)), from Middle Low German grêve, from Old Saxon *griovo, from Proto-West Germanic *greubō (“roughage, brushwood, kindling”), perhaps related to *grubaz (“rough, coarse”), the root of German Griebe (“greaves, crackling”). Possibly related to gruff. Also compare Old High German grob (“coarse”) (modern German grob).

greaves pl (plural only)

1. The unmeltable residue left after animal fat has been rendered.
   • 2005, Carmen Ferreiro, Mad Cow Disease, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 13:

     Rendering is done by boiling the animal carcasses to separate the fat from the meat. At high temperatures, the fat floats as a creamy white substance called tallow, while the heavier protein sinks to the bottom, producing greaves, which can be fed to animals. Tallow is used to make candle wax or is mixed with ash and heated again to form soap.

• graves (noun), greven (noun), gribenes (noun)
• grave (verb), greave (verb)

greaves

1. plural of greave

• Gervase, servage