shrive

American  

[shrahyv] / ʃraɪv /

verb (used with object)

shrove, shrived, shriven, shrived, shriving

1. to impose penance on (a sinner).

2. to grant absolution to (a penitent).

3. to hear the confession of (a person).

---

verb (used without object)

Archaic.

shrove, shrived, shriven, shrived, shriving

1. to hear confessions.

2. to go to or make confession; confess one's sins, as to a priest.

shrive British  

/ ʃraɪv /

verb

1. to hear the confession of (a penitent)

2. (tr) to impose a penance upon (a penitent) and grant him sacramental absolution

3. (intr) to confess one's sins to a priest in order to obtain sacramental forgiveness

---

Other Word Forms

• shriver
  noun
• unshrived
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of shrive

First recorded before 900; Middle English shriven, schrifen, Old English scrīfan “to prescribe, impose a penance on (a penitent),” cognate with German schreiben “to write,” ultimately from Latin scrībere “to write, draw”; see scribe ¹

Explanation

To shrive is to hear someone's confession and forgive them. It's not easy, but once your brother has admitted to reading your diary and apologized, it's best to shrive him and move on. Though this verb is mainly considered to be archaic, you may occasionally come across it in the context of a Catholic priest absolving someone of sin. You can also shrive yourself by laying your sins or misdeeds on the table, in hopes of absolution and forgiveness: "After my friend was blamed for stealing those cookies, I decided to shrive myself and promise never to do it again."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shrive shrived shriven shriving shrove

No play to make first-night audiences shrive themselves for past sins is American Landscape.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Franciscans of Eperies are sent to shrive the Catholics, the pastors of Great Leta to comfort the Protestants.

From Pretty Michal by Jókai, Mór

But,' he said, 'is it not needful to the lay people that cannot thus do, to go shrive them to priests?'

From Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse by Various

Then he kneeled, and prayed the bishop to shrive and absolve him, beseeching that he might accept him as his brother in the faith.

From Historic Tales, Vol 14 (of 15) The Romance of Reality by Morris, Charles

At the same time he entreated that a Catholic priest should be sent for to shrive him—that he had been brought up in the Catholic faith, but that he had neglected religion when in health.

From The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry With Legends of the Surrounding Country by Barry, Joseph

The dying man's ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet by holy unction were shrived.

From Time Magazine Archive

His mother, searching for him some time after the storm had passed, found her repentant little boy almost smothered under a quilt in this closet, and as he confessed his sin, he was tenderly shrived.

From Whittier-land A Handbook of North Essex, Containing Many Anecdotes of and Poems by John Greenleaf Whittier Never Before Collected. by Pickard, Samuel T. (Samuel Thomas)

I've shrived a thousand souls—I cannot now absolve my own.

From Debris Selections from Poems by Wagner, Madge Morris

The next year, when the earl found himself in the power of his foes at Evesham, the aged bishop of Worcester again shrived his host before the battle.

From The English Church in the Middle Ages by Hunt, William

And I believe my love is shrived in heaven, And I believe that I shall soon be free.

From Poems by Hay, John

Then I grab the lever, record myself with a manly fling, and walk out, shriven, to go to work.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018

I mean the midlife crisis story, in which a man suddenly finds himself shriven of the beliefs that have hitherto defined him.

From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2017

But 30,000ft above the Atlantic, he is seized by the need to be shriven, and makes his confession to a cassette recorder he addresses as "Father Sony".

From The Guardian ● Feb. 21, 2011

She died, still pregnant, but properly shriven, and within a minute Dr. Corbit had her abdomen open and a 34-lb. girl in an incubator.

From Time Magazine Archive

“I swear by heaven, though now I must be shriven for doing so! Therefore come, let us go and together lose our sins.”

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

There are those who suggest irreverently that Miss Nichols is shriving herself before the critics by importing accredited Art.

From Time Magazine Archive

For Italy's 45,000,000 people, surrender came as a national shriving, a chance for national redemption.

From Time Magazine Archive

My shriving of his sins was a speedy rite!

From Captain Canot or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver by Mayer, Brantz

It seemed as if the trees were shriving after all the green riot of summer, and making ready for sackcloth and ashes.

From D'Ri and I by Bacheller, Irving

But see, stay not thy shriving, for the time is short, and the Lord ever ready to pardon.”

From Gathering of Brother Hilarius by Fairless, Michael

Shrovetide was, in times gone by, a season of such mirth that shroving, or to shrove, signified to be merry.

From Folk-lore of Shakespeare by Thiselton-Dyer, Thomas Firminger

It was I who shrove him when he lay dying of his wounds, and a nobler soul never passed from earth to heaven.

From The Brethren by Haggard, Henry Rider

To be shriven, or shrove, means to obtain absolution from one's sin.

From Old English Sports, Pastimes and Customs by Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)

But the neighbouring wives, Who ne'er shrove in their lives,— Such wickedness Sathanas whispers!—

From The Baron's Yule Feast: A Christmas Rhyme by Cooper, Thomas