shrive

English

Alternative forms

• shrieve (obsolete)

Etymology

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 Proto-West Germanic *skrīban, 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 and scribble.

Pronunciation

• enPR: shrīv, IPA^(key): /ˈʃɹaɪv/
• Rhymes: -aɪv

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Verb

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

1. (religion, transitive and intransitive) To hear or receive a confession (of sins etc.).
   • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XXI, Chapter ii, leaf 421v:

     And thenne whan paper & ynke was broughte thenne Gawayn was set vp weykely by kynge Arthur for he was shryuen a lytel tofore and thenne he wrote thus as the Frensshe book maketh mencyon
     "And then when paper and ink was brought, then Gawaine was set up weakly by King Arthur, for he was shriven a little to-fore; and then he wrote thus, as the French book maketh mention"

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, 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 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Doubtless he shrives this woman, […] / Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech.

2. (transitive) To free from guilt, to absolve.
   • 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:

     I will not madly deem that power
     Of Earth may shrive me of the sin
     Unearthly pride hath revell’d in— […]

   • 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, 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!

3. (religion, transitive) To prescribe penance or absolution.
4. (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 terms

• shriving-time
• shrove
• Shrove Monday
• Shrove Sunday
• Shrovetide
• Shrove Tuesday

 

Related terms

• scribe
• shrift
• Shrove Tuesday

Translations

hear or receive a confession

• Bulgarian: изповядвам (izpovjadvam)
• Czech: vyzpovídat (se) pf
• German: die Beichte abnehmen
• Polish: spowiadać (pl) impf, wyspowiadać (pl) pf

prescribe penance or absolution

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

confess — see confess

Anagrams

• Shiver, hivers, shiver

Middle English

Verb

shrive

1. Alternative form of shryven