helve

Etymology

From Middle English helfe, helve; from Old English hielfe, from Proto-Germanic *halbiją.

noun

1. The handle or haft of a tool or weapon.
   It was the bad ax-helve someone had sold me— / “Made on machine,” he said, plowing the grain […] 1917, Robert Frost, "The Ax-helve"
   Happily they were only sketchily armed, the group-leaders carried pistols and pick-helves. 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 847
2. A forge hammer lifted by a cam acting on the helve between the fulcrum and the head.

verb

1. (transitive) To furnish (an axe, etc.) with a helve.