Shrive — Shrive, v. t. [imp. {Shrived}or {Shrove}; p. p. {Shriven}or {Shrived}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Shriving}.] [OE. shriven, schriven, AS. scr[=i]van to shrive, to impose penance or punishment; akin to OFries. skr[=i]va to impose punishment; cf. OS.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Shrive — Shrive, v. i. To receive confessions, as a priest; to administer confession and absolution. Spenser. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
shrive — ► VERB (past shrove; past part. shriven) archaic 1) (of a priest) hear the confession of, assign penance to, and absolve (someone). 2) (shrive oneself) present oneself to a priest for confession, penance, and absolution. ORIGIN Old English,… … English terms dictionary
shrive — index clear, excuse, forgive, palliate (excuse), purge (wipe out by atonement), redeem (satisfy debts) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. W … Law dictionary
shrive — O.E. scrifan assign, decree, impose penance, from W.Gmc. *skriban (Cf. O.S. scriban, O.Du. scrivan, Du. schrijven to write; O.N. skrjpt penance, confession ), an early borrowing from L. scribere to write (see SCRIPT (Cf. script)) … Etymology dictionary
shrive — [shrīv] vt. shrived or shrove, shriven [shriv′ən] or shrived, shriving [ME shriven < OE scrifan, akin to Ger schreiben, to write < early WGmc borrowing < L scribere, to write: see SCRIBE] Archaic 1. to hear the confession of and absolve… … English World dictionary
Shrive — This most interesting surname, with variant spellings Shreeve(s), Shreve, Shrive, Schrieve, Shireff, and Sheriff, originated as an occupational name for a sheriff, a word derived from the Old English scir , shire, administrative district, plus… … Surnames reference
shrive — [OE] Shrive ‘hear someone’s confession’ goes back ultimately to Latin scrībere ‘write’ (source of English scribe, script, etc). This was borrowed into prehistoric West Germanic as *skrīban, whose direct descendants are German schreiben and Dutch… … The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins
shrive — verb (shrived or shrove; shriven or shrived; shriving) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English scrīfan to shrive, prescribe (akin to Old High German scrīban to write), from Latin scribere to write more at scribe Date: before 12th century… … New Collegiate Dictionary
shrive — verb /ˈʃɹaɪv/ a) To hear or receive a confession (of sins etc.) Twas a good thought, boy, to come here and shrive , The Croppy Boy, trad Irish song. b) To prescribe penance or absolution See Also: scribe, shrift … Wiktionary
