verb

• (transitive) To make (the head, skin etc.) bald or (the hair) shorter by using a tool such as a razor or electric clippers to cut the hair close to the skin.
• (transitive) To cut anything in this fashion.
  "The Lab'rer vvith the bending Scythe is ſeen / Shaving the Surface of the vvaving Green; […]"
• (intransitive) To remove hair from one's face by this means.
  "I had little time to shave this morning."
• (transitive) To cut finely, as with slices of meat.

noun

• (US, slang, dated) An exorbitant discount on a note.
  "yea, tis knowable that the paper money of some of them would not pass, comparatively speaking, much, if any, beyond the smoke of the chimney from whence 'twas issued and circulated before you, or those who had it would have to take a broker's shave on it , at the rate of from a ¼, to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, or more per cent, before it could be used as solvently available means of payment."
• (US, slang, dated) A premium paid for an extension of the time of delivery or payment, or for the right to vary a stock contract in any particular.
  "If this were a dishonest transaction, why did the companies settle? If it were not, why did the heirs submit to a shave of one-half their claims?"
• (informal) A narrow miss or escape; a close shave.
  ""[…] I had an awful shave getting into the harbour," remarked Archie."