eaves: [OE] The etymological meaning of eaves appears to be ‘going over the edge, projecting’. It comes from a prehistoric Germanic *obaswa, which was probably formed on *ob-, the base from which English over ultimately derives. The eavesdrip or eavesdrop is, or was, the area of ground on which rainwater thrown off by the eaves falls, so that somebody who stood within this area, with his or her ear to the door or window trying to listen in on private conversations, became known as an eavesdropper [15]. => over