shive

A parallel form of sheave, from a Proto-Germanic base which probably existed in Old English (though is not attested before the Middle English period). Cognate with German Scheibe, late Old Norse skífa (“slice”), brauðskífa (“slice of bread”) (whence Danish skive (“disc, slice”)), Dutch schijf (“disc, slice”).

• IPA^(key): /ʃaɪv/

shive (plural shives)

1. A slice, especially of bread.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

   • 1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers:

     In my cool room with the shutters shut and the thin shives of air and light coming through the slats, I cried myself to sleep in an overloud selfpitying transport.

2. (obsolete) A sheave.
3. A beam or plank of split wood.
4. A flat, wide cork for plugging a large hole or closing a wide-mouthed bottle.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

From Middle English schyfe, schyffe, from Proto-Germanic *skibō-; cognate with German Schäbe, Dutch scheef, and Low German Schääv, all ‘fragment of the woody core of flax or hemp’.[1]

• IPA^(key): /ʃaɪv/

shive (plural shives)

1. A splinter or fragment of the woody core of flax or hemp broken off in braking or scutching
2. A plant fragment remaining in scoured wool.
3. A piece of thread or fluff on the surface of cloth or other material.
4. (papermaking) A dark particle or impurity in finished paper resulting from a bundle of incompletely cooked wood fibres in the pulp.

• (wood fragment of the husk of flax or hemp): boon, shove

Variant of shiv.

• IPA^(key): /ʃɪv/

shive (plural shives)

1. Alternative form of shiv
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day (Vintage 2007), page 50:

     So every alleyway down here, every shadow big enough to hide a shive artist with a grudge, is a warm invitation to rewrite history.

See shiva

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɪvə/

shive

1. Alternative spelling of shiva
   • 2010, William Labov, A Life of Learning

     There are some cultural details in Schissel’s story that are specific to the Jewish community: the family sits shive (seven days of mourning for the dead), and the preference for silence at that time.

• sit shive

• hives