rive

Etymology

From Middle English riven (“to rive”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse rífa (“to rend, tear apart”), from Proto-Germanic *rīfaną (“to tear, scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)reip- (“to crumble, tear”). Cognate with Danish rive (“to tear”), Old Frisian rīva (“to tear”), Old English ārǣfan (“to let loose, unwrap”), Old Norse ript (“breach of contract, rift”), Norwegian Bokmål rive (“to tear”) and Albanian rrip (“belt, rope”). More at rift.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ɹaɪv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪv

Verb

rive (third-person singular simple present rives, present participle riving, simple past rived or rove, past participle rived or riven)

1. (transitive, archaic except in past participle) To tear apart by force; to split; to cleave.
   • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)

     I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds / Have rived the knotty oaks […]

2. (transitive, archaic) To pierce or cleave with a weapon.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter vj, in Le Morte Darthur, book II:

     And therwith she toke the swerd from her loue that lay ded and fylle to the ground in a swowne / And whan she aroos she made grete dole out of mesure / the whiche sorowe greued Balyn passyngly sore / and he wente vnto her for to haue taken the swerd oute of her hād but […] sodenly she sette the pomell to the ground / and rofe her self thorow the body

3. (intransitive) To break apart; to split.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queen, II.vi:

     The varlet at his plaint was grieu'd so sore, / That his deepe wounded hart in two did riue […].

   • John Woodward (1665-1728)

     Freestone rives, splits, and breaks in any direction.

   • 2012, David W. Phillipson, Foundations of an African Civilisation. Aksum & the northern Horn, 1000 BC–AD 1300, Woodbridge, Suffolk: James Currey, page 10:

     One of [the] defining characteristics of [the northern Horn of Africa] is its separateness, and this is partly due to its physical diversity. A detailed description of physical geography falls outside the scope of this book. It may simply be noted that the region comprises highlands that are bounded on the east by the precipitous escarpment bordering the Danakil lowlands and the Red Sea. To the west, the country descends more gradually to the extensive plains of the Nile Valley but is riven by the rugged valleys of the Takezze and other Nile tributaries. In the north, with decreasing altitude, the terrain becomes progressively more arid as the Sudanese lowlands converge with the Red-Sea coast. It is only to the south that the highlands continue, linking them with the principal mass of the Ethiopian plateau, near the western edge of which lies Lake Tana and the source of the Blue Nile.

4. (transitive, rare) To burst open; explode; discharge.
   • 1821, William Shakespeare, ‎James Boswell, ‎Richard Farmer, The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare:

     Ten thousand French have ta'en the sacrament, To rive their dangerous artillery

5. (woodworking) To use a technique of splitting or sawing wood radially from a log (e.g. clapboards).

Noun

rive (plural rives)

1. A place torn; a rent; a rift.

Anagrams

• iver, vier, vire

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hrífa.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse rífa, from Proto-Germanic *rīfaną.

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin rīpa, from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“to cut, tear, scratch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁiv/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

rive f (plural rives)

1. bank (of a river)

Further reading

• “rive” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• ivre, vire, viré

Etymology

From Latin rīpa.

Noun

rive f (plural rivis)

1. slope, ascent
2. shore

Etymology

From French arriver (“happen”)

Verb

rive

1. happen

Noun

rive f

1. plural of riva

Anagrams

• veri

Noun

rīve

1. vocative singular of rīvus

References

• rive in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hrífa.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse rífa.

References

• “rive” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hrífa.

Verb

rive (present tense riv, past tense reiv, past participle rive, present participle rivande, imperative riv)

1. Alternative form of riva

References

• “rive” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.