Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to attack (and cut) with a bladed weapon; thus carving n., such an attack.

[1869		Sportsman (London) 15 Apr. 2/1: Notes on News [...] [A] poor Greek sailor has been ‘carved,’ [and] hewn “as fit for hounds.” [...] Camburus had been attacked two men, and [...] beaten and kicked and knocked down, and [...] his head dashed upon tho pavement with great violence].
1871		J. Hay ‘Mystery of Gilgal’ Pike County Ballads 25: He went for his ’leven inch bowie knife: [...] They carved in a way that all admired.
1872		‘Mark Twain’ Innocents at Home 346: I would publish the name, but for the suspicion that he might come and carve me.
1875		‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1905) 120: ‘It ain’t comme il faut for a man of your rank / To be carving away like a private’.
1879		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 20 Dec. 10/3: [headline] Colored Waiters in a St Louis Hotel Engage is a little Carving Affair of Their Own — A Dusky Belle at the Bottom of It.
1889		‘Jack the Ripper’ letter July in Evans & Skinner Jack the Ripper (2001) 272: I have located one a scorcher [...] who will be found properly carved and his tool ears tongue and ears I shall cut off.
1899		‘May Irwin’s “Bully” Song’ 🎵 I’ll take ’long my razor, / I’se gwine to carve him deep.
1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 70: Before she’d done a little extemporaneous carvin’ on her own account. [...] three or four of the Malabistos needed some plain sewin’ done on ’em after the bell rang.
1918		R. Lardner Treat ’Em Rough 33: Nick the Blade is all wore out with them upsetting exercises and etc. and hasn’t got enough strength left to carve nobody.
1926		Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 85: If she don’t there’ll be some fancy carvin’ ... Adora cut a scar in the air.
1930		Burlington Dly Times (NC) 19 Dec. 1/7: [of hospital surgery] He showed them how he had been ‘carved’ in hospitals [...] His right kidney had been removed.
1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 157: If you’re a woman with a grudge in the Underworld it is all right to hit your man with a jagged, broken bottle [...] or carve him with a razor.
1947		F. Brown Fabulous Clipjoint (1949) 14: And there’s the jig found carved with a shiv in an areaway.
1959		F. Norman Fings I i: And who told yer where to find that geezer wot carved you the first time?
a.1968		‘My Lula Gal’ in G. Logsdon Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 157: If you monkey with my Lula gal, / I’ll tell you what I’ll do, / I’ll carve around your heart with a razor.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 109: If I hear you ever mention my name, I’ll carve you up so the coppers won’t know if it’s a corpse or a chunk of garbage.
1991		O.D. Brooks Legs 4: Takes a special kind to cut a man up, and yuh ain’t the breed. Most people think it takes guts to carve a man.
1999		(con. 1979–80) A. Wheatle Brixton Rock (2004) 4: Some guy gave you a funny look, so you decided to carve him?
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: Had a rep as a razor man back in the day [...] Apparently he enjoyed the carving so much that he still does the Christmas turkey with a cut-throat.
2014		M. Mellon ‘Death of a One-Percenter’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] Jack Bob pulled out a long bowie knife [...] ‘I’m going to carve you like a Thanksgiving turkey’.
2022		Digga D. ‘What You Reckon’ 🎵 Top ten with the skeng, I’ll blast him (Mm) / Top five with a knife, I’ll carve him.

2. to destroy, to annihilate completely, esp. in a financial or business context.

1883		in Life 8 Feb. 80: The [...] Drum-mer said [...] that if the Dea-con would give him one more Tray, he would carve the Stuf-fing out of Him [HDAS].
1964		R.S. Gold Jazz Lex. 48: Carve, v.t. [...] To defeat (someone) in musical competition, or simply to play better than one’s contemporaries. Some currency c.1920–c.1940.

3. to thrill, to excite; of playing music, to excel, to surpass.

1943		M. Shulman Barefoot Boy with Cheek 88: Next to T.D. [Tommy Dorsey] I like him [Benny Goodman] best. He carves me. Does he carve you? [W&F].
1958		J. Blake letter 19 June Joint (1972) 117: The cat sits in at all kinds of sessions and carves everybody.
1971		D. Wells Night People 23: If there was a guy sittin up there you wanted to carve [...] you’d take him off. [Ibid.] 117: Carve. To excel in playing.