rive
[ rahyv ]
/ raɪv /
verb (used with object), rived, rived or riv·en, riv·ing.
to tear or rend apart: to rive meat from a bone.
to separate by striking; split; cleave.
to rend, harrow, or distress (the feelings, heart, etc.).
to split (wood) radially from a log.
verb (used without object), rived, rived or riv·en, riv·ing.
to become rent or split apart: stones that rive easily.
RELATED WORDS
divide, fray, rend, disintegrate, splinter, shatter, fracture, wrest, scratch, rip, impair, slit, extract, sever, frazzle, injure, damage, split, slash, crack
Nearby words
Origin of rive
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for rive
rive
/ (raɪv) /
verb rives, riving, rived, rived or riven (ˈrɪvən) (usually passive)
to split asundera tree riven by lightning
to tear apartriven to shreds
archaic to break (the heart) or (of the heart) to be broken
Word Origin for rive
C13: from Old Norse rīfa; related to Old Frisian rīva
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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rive
"tear in pieces, strike asunder," c.1200, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse rifa "to tear apart" (cf. Swedish rifva, Danish rive "scratch, tear"), from PIE root *rei- "to scratch, tear, cut" (see riparian).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper