bivious

English

WOTD – 29 November 2018

Etymology

From Latin bivius (“two-way, having two approaches”) + English -ous.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɪ.vɪ.əs/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbi.vi.əs/
Hyphenation: bi‧vi‧ous

Adjective

bivious (comparative more bivious, superlative most bivious)

(rare) Having, or leading, two ways.
- 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC, page 37:
  If publique Aſſemblies of Divines cannot agree upon a right vvay, private Conventicles of illeterate men, vvill ſoon finde a vvrong. Bivious demurres breed devious reſolutions. Paſſengers to heaven are in haſte, and vvill vvalk one vvay or other.
- 1647, G[eorge] T[ooke], “[Annæ-Dictata, or, A Miscelaine of Some Different Cansonets, […]] Funerall Teares”, in The Belides […], London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 112:
  Even ſtrange to tell, / I now ſo clung an Individium was, / So fix at home, and yet ſo bivious / At the ſame time, and far abroad; […]
- 1649, Fra[ncis] Quarles, The Virgin Widow: A Comedie, London: Printed for R[ichard] Royston, […], →OCLC, pages 41–43; quoted in George Villiers, edited by Edward Arber, The Rehearsal. […] (English Reprints; 10), London: Alex. Murray & Son, […], 2 November 1868, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 88:
  Pulchrellas breaſt encloſes / A ſoft Affection wrapt in Beds of Roſes. / But in the rare Pantheas noble lines, / Truth Worth and Honour, with Affection joynes. / I ſtand even-balanc'd, doubtfully oppreſt, / Beneathe the burthen of a bivious breaſt.
- 1716, Thomas Browne, “Part the Third”, in Christian Morals, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] University-Press, for Cornelius Crownfield; and are to be sold by Mr. Knapton; and Mr. [John] Morphew, →OCLC; reprinted in Simon Wilkin, editor, Sir Thomas Browne’s Work including His Life and Correspondence, volume IV, London: William Pickering; Norwich, Norfolk: Josiah Fletcher, 1835, →OCLC, section III, page 94:
  In bivious theorems, and Janus-faced doctrines, let Virtuous considerations state the determination. Look upon opinions as thou dost upon the moon, and choose not the dark hemisphere for thy contemplation.
- 1718, [John Aubrey], “Reygate Hundred. Reygate, or Rhie-gate.”, in The Natural History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey, volume IV, London: […] E[dmund] Curll, →OCLC, page 189:
  The Caſtle of this Place was built in the Saxon Times, […]: In the Area of it is an Entrance into a large Cave, or Vault, that runs under Ground ſeveral Perches, to a ſmall Portal or Door that opens into the Graſſe without the Caſtle. This Vault is bivious, and cut out of the Sand, ſeveral Paces broad, and 5 Yard high, at the End which opens into the Graſſe, or dry Ditch.
- 2016, Jan Assmann, “Inscriptional Violence and the Art of Cursing: A Study of Performative Writing”, in Ernst van den Hemel, Asja Szafraniec, editors, Words: Religious Language Matters (The Future of the Religious Past), New York, N.Y.: Fordham University Press, →ISBN, part I (What are Words?), page 58:
  […] Deuteronomy places the reader in a dilemma, a "bivious" position. He must choose between two ways that the text opens before him: "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" (30:19). A treaty is a text that structures reality in a bivious form.

Coordinate terms

quadrivious

Related terms

Translations

having, or leading, two ways

References

^ James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Bivious, a.”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume I (A–B), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 887, column 3.