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rive

[rahyv]
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verb (used with object), rived, rived or riv·en, riv·ing.
  1. to tear or rend apart: to rive meat from a bone.
  2. to separate by striking; split; cleave.
  3. to rend, harrow, or distress (the feelings, heart, etc.).
  4. to split (wood) radially from a log.
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verb (used without object), rived, rived or riv·en, riv·ing.
  1. to become rent or split apart: stones that rive easily.
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Origin of rive

1225–75; Middle English riven < Old Norse rīfa to tear, split. See rift
Related formsun·rived, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

dividefrayrenddisintegratesplintershatterfracturewrestscratchripimpairslitextractseverfrazzleinjuredamagesplitslashcrack

Examples from the Web for rive

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • There was a lightning in his eyes which seemed to rive the spectator.

    Patrick Henry

    Moses Coit Tyler

  • I wouldna care if ye were to rive horse and beast and a' from me now.

    The Northern Iron

    George A. Birmingham

  • And he tugged at my tail-coat like to rive it off me, your honour.

  • It began at its northernly end in 1855 as boulevard Sbastopol, Rive Gauche.

    Historic Paris

    Jetta S. Wolff

  • On the Rive Gauche, the walks at nightfall are more difficult to indicate.

    Paris Vistas

    Helen Davenport Gibbons

British Dictionary definitions for rive

rive

verb rives, riving, rived, rived or riven (ˈrɪvən) (usually passive)
  1. to split asundera tree riven by lightning
  2. to tear apartriven to shreds
  3. archaic to break (the heart) or (of the heart) to be broken
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Word Origin

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for rive

v.

"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).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper