Adjacent Words

Rive definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

RIVE, v.t. pret. rived; pp. rived or riven. [L. rumpo, rupi. It may be allied to the family of L. rapio, reap, rip.]
To split; to cleave; to rend asunder by force; as, to rive timber for rails or shingles with wedges; the riven oak; the riven clouds.
The scolding winds have riv'd the knotty oaks.
RIVE, v.i. To be split or rent asunder.
Freestone rives, splits and breaks in any direction.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: tear or be torn violently; "The curtain ripped from top to bottom"; "pull the cooked chicken into strips" [syn: rend, rip, rive, pull]
2: separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument; "cleave the bone" [syn: cleave, split, rive]

Merriam Webster's

verb (rived; riven; also rived; riving) Etymology: Middle English, from Old Norse r?fa; akin to Greek ereipein to tear down Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to wrench open or tear apart or to pieces ; rend b. to split with force or violence <lightning rived the tree> 2. a. to divide into pieces ; shatter <nations riven by civil war> b. fracture intransitive verb to become split ; crack Synonyms: see tear

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. (past rived; past part. riven) archaic or poet. 1 tr. split or tear apart violently. 2 a tr. split (wood or stone). b intr. be split. Etymology: ME f. ON rífa

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rive Rive, v. t. [imp. Rived; p. p. Rived or Riven; p. pr. & vb. n. Riving.] [Icel. r[=i]fa, akin to Sw. rifva to pull asunder, burst, tear, Dan. rive to rake, pluck, tear. Cf. Reef of land, Rifle a gun, Rift, Rivel.] To rend asunder by force; to split; to cleave; as, to rive timber for rails or shingles. I shall ryve him through the sides twain. --Chaucer. The scolding winds have rived the knotty oaks. --Shak. Brutus hath rived my heart. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rive Rive, v. i. To be split or rent asunder. Freestone rives, splits, and breaks in any direction. --Woodward.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rive Rive, n. A place torn; a rent; a rift. [Prov. Eng.]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Rend, split, cleave, tear or rend asunder.

Moby Thesaurus

amputate, ax, bisect, breach, break, broach, butcher, carve, check, chink, chop, cleave, crack, crevasse, cut, cut apart, cut away, cut in two, cut off, cut open, dichotomize, dispart, dissever, ditch, divaricate, divide, excise, fissure, fly open, fracture, furrow, gap, gash, groove, hack, halve, hew, incise, jigsaw, lance, lay open, ope, open, open up, pare, part, prune, rend, rent, rift, rip, rupture, saw, scissor, separate, sever, slash, slice, slit, slot, snip, split, spread, spread out, spring open, sunder, swing open, tap, tear, tear open, throw open, trench, whittle