shrive
/ˈʃɹaɪv/ verb, proper noun
Forms shrives shriving shrove shrived shriven shrieve
- verb (religion, transitive and intransitive) To hear or receive a confession (of sins etc.).
- verb (transitive) To free from guilt, to absolve.
- verb (religion, transitive) To prescribe penance or absolution.
- verb (religion, intransitive or reflexive) To confess, and receive absolution.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
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.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To hear or receive the confession of; to administer confession and absolution to; --said of a priest as the agent.
- verb To confess, and receive absolution; --used reflexively.
- verb To receive confessions, as a priest; to administer confession and absolution. Spenser.
Etymology [OE. shriven, schriven, AS. scrivan to shrive, to impose penance or punishment; akin to OFries. skriva to impose punishment; cf. OS. biskriban to be troubled. Cf. Shrift, Shrovetide.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “shrive”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details