Forms: 3–7 aue, 7 auee, 5– ave. [a. L. avē, 2nd sing. imp. of avēre to be or fare well, used as an expression of welcome or farewell. (In earliest use = Ave Maria.)]
A. int. Hail! welcome!—Farewell! adieu!
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVI. 151. Aue raby, quod þat ribaude … And kiste hym.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., lvii. And ‘Ave, Ave, Ave,’ said, ‘Adieu, adieu’ for evermore.
B. sb.
1. a. A shout of welcome. b. A farewell.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., I. i. 71. Their lowd applause, and Aues vehement.
1611. Heywood, Gold. Age, I. i. Wks. 1874, III. 8. The people … Have shrild their Auees high.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 191. And for her Ave her sacrifice is bettered with … Jewels her kindred throw upon her.
2. Short for AVE MARY, q.v.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 18. Wendeð ou to vre Leafdi onlicnesse, & cneoleð mid fif auez.
c. 1330. Kyng of Tars, 1116. Ur ladi with an avè he grette.
c. 1430. Freemasonry, 622. Say thy pater noster and thyn ave.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 13. Every day … thrise nine hundred Aves, she was wont to say.
1808. Scott, Marm., I. xxvi. He sleeps before his beads Have marked ten aves.
b. Ave-bell: that rung at the hours when Aves are to be said.
1635. Pagitt, Christianogr., III. (1636), 88. Dayly after three toulings of the Ave Bell.
1849. Rock, Ch. of Fathers, III. ix. 336. The Ave bell, morning and evening, was instituted by Constitutions of 1347.
3. a. The time of ringing the Ave-bell. b. The beads on a rosary corresponding to the number of Aves repeated.
1463. Bury Wills (1850), 29. The seid chymes to goo also at the avees. Ibid., 42. A peyre bedys of sylvir wt x. avees and ij. patern[oste]ris of sylvir and gilt.
