shrive
verb/ˈʃɹaɪv/
Etymology From Middle English schryven, 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.
Lifestyle, Religion 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.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]:
- Doubtless he shrives this woman, […] / Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech.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]:
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— […]1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:
- 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!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:
Lifestyle, Religion To prescribe penance or absolution.
Lifestyle, Religion 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
- shriver, shriving-time, shrove, Shrove Monday, Shrove Sunday, Shrovetide, Shrove Tuesday, unshrived
- Related terms
- scribe, shrift, Shrove Tuesday