gyve

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English

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A woman's ankles gyved with gyves.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English *give, *gyve (found only in plural gives, gyves (shackles; fetters)). Of uncertain origin, possibly from low dialect taking from Celtic; compare Welsh gefyn (fetter, shackle), Irish geibbionn (fetters), geimheal (fetter, chain, shackle). The modern pronunciation with /dʒ/ is due to the spelling.[1]

The verb is from Middle English given, gyven (to shackle), from the noun.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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gyve (plural gyves)

  1. (literary) A shackle or fetter, especially for the leg.
    • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      [] I would have thee gone:
      And yet no further than a wanton’s bird;
      Who lets it hop a little from her hand,
      Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
      And with a silk thread plucks it back again,
      So loving-jealous of his liberty.
    • 1845, William Lloyd Garrison, “The Triumph of Freedom”, in The Liberty Bell[1], Boston: Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Fair, page 192:
      With head and heart and hand I’ll strive
      To break the rod, and rend the gyve,—
      The spoiler of his prey deprive,—
    • 1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, chapter 15, in Don’t Point That Thing at Me[2], New York: The Overlook Press, published 2004, page 126:
      Our gyves were removed and our possessions returned to us, except for my Banker’s Special.

Verb

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gyve (third-person singular simple present gyves, present participle gyving, simple past and past participle gyved)

  1. To shackle, fetter, chain.
    • 1856, Samuel Klinefelter Hoshour, Letters to Squire Pedant, in the East, page 13:
      Not gyved with connubial relations, I entered upon my migration entirely isolated, with the exception of a canine quadruped whose mordacious, latrant, lusorious, and venatic qualities, are without parity.
    • 1864, “A Fast-Day at Foxden”, in Atlantic Monthly Journal[3], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2006:
      "Say, rather, to melt the iron links which gyve soul to body," said Clifton ...
    • 2008, LD Brodsky, “A Devotee of the Southern Way of Making Love”, in Sheri L. Vadermolen, editor, The Complete Poems of Louis Daniel Brodsky: Volume Four, 1981-1985[4], Time Being Books, →ISBN, page 419:
      Gyved to a squeaky swivel seat in my office, …

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Gyve, sb.”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume IV (F–G), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1173, column 3.

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Verb

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gyve (present tense gyv, past tense gauv, supine gove, past participle goven, present participle gyvande, imperative gyv)

  1. Alternative form of gyva