shrive

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

shrieve (obsolete)

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English shryven, shriven, schrifen, from Old English sċrīfan (“1. to decree, pass judgement, prescribe, 2. (of a priest) to prescribe penance or absolution”), from late Proto-Germanic *skrībaną, a borrowing from Latin scrībō (“write”). Compare West Frisian skriuwe (“to write”), Low German schrieven (“to write”), Dutch schrijven (“to write”), German schreiben (“to write”), Danish skrive (“to write”), Swedish skriva (“to write”), Icelandic skrifa (“to write”). More at scribe.

PronunciationEdit

enPR: shrīv, IPA^(key): /ˈʃɹaɪv/
Rhymes: -aɪv
- Audio (UK)
  (file)

VerbEdit

shrive (third-person singular simple present shrives, present participle shriving, simple past shrove or shrived, past participle shriven or shrived)

(religion, transitive and intransitive) To hear or receive a confession (of sins etc.)
- c. 1600, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene III
  If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me.
- c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:
  Doubtless he shrives this woman, […] / Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech.
- 1863 November 23, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Sicilian’s Tale. King Robert of Sicily.”, in Tales of a Wayside Inn, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, OCLC 840321886, page 67:
  My sins as scarlet are; let me go hence, / And in some cloister's school of penitence, / Across those stones, that pave the way to heaven, / Walk barefoot, till my guilty soul is shriven!
(religion, transitive) To prescribe penance or absolution.
(religion, intransitive or reflexive) To confess, and receive absolution.
- c. 1798-1845, unknown author, The Croppy Boy
  'Twas a good thought, boy, to come here and shrive.

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

hear or receive a confession

Czech: vyzpovídat (se) pf
German: die Beichte abnehmen

prescribe penance or absolution

German: die Vergebung der Sünden gewähren, die Absolution erteilen, eine Buße auferlegen

confess — see confess

AnagramsEdit

Shiver, hivers, shiver

Middle EnglishEdit

VerbEdit

shrive

Alternative form of shryven