Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) The handle of an ax, hatchet, or adze. 2. (n.) The lever at the end of which is the hammer head, in a forge hammer. 3. (n.) A forge hammer which is lifted by a cam acting on the helve between the fulcrum and the head. 4. (v. t.) To furnish with a helve, as an ax. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia HELVE helv (`ets "wood," "tree"): The handle or wooden part of an ax. "The head (margin "iron") slippeth from the helve" (margin "tree," Deuteronomy 19:5). The marginal reading suggests that "the ax is supposed to glance off the tree it is working on."

Multi-Version Concordance Helve (1 Occurrence) Deuteronomy 19:5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: (KJV JPS ASV WBS)