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shrive

verb
/ˈʃɹaɪv/

Etymology

From Middle English shryven, shriven, schrifen, from Old English sċrīfan (“1. to decree, pass judgement, prescribe, 3. (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, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skrive (“to write”), Swedish skriva (“to write”), Icelandic skrifa (“to write”). More at scribe and scribble.

  1. derived from scrībō — “write”
  2. inherited from *skrībaną✻
  3. inherited from *skrīban✻
  4. inherited from sċrīfan
  5. inherited from shryven

Definitions

  1. To hear or receive a confession (of sins etc.).

    • If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me.
    • Doubtless he shrives this woman, […] / Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech.

  2. To free from guilt, to absolve.

    • I will not madly deem that power Of Earth may shrive me of the sin Unearthly pride hath revell’d in— […]
    • 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. To prescribe penance or absolution.

  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. To confess, and receive absolution.

      • c. 1798-1845, unknown author, The Croppy Boy 'Twas a good thought, boy, to come here and shrive.

    2. A surname.

The neighborhood

Derived

shriver, shriving-time, shrove, Shrove Monday, Shrove Sunday, Shrovetide, Shrove Tuesday, unshrived

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for shrive. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA