rive Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb tear or be torn violently
    pull; rend; rip.
    • The curtain ripped from top to bottom
    • pull the cooked chicken into strips
  2. verb separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument
    cleave; split.
    • cleave the bone

WordNet

Rive transitive verb
Etymology
Icel. rifa, akin to Sw. rifva to pull asunder, burst, tear, Dan. rive to rake, pluck, tear. Cf. Reef of land, Rifle a gun, Rift, Rivel.
Wordforms
imperfect Rived ; past participle Rived or Riven ; present participle & verbal noun Riving
Definitions
  1. 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.
Rive intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To be split or rent asunder.
    Freestone rives, splits, and breaks in any direction. Woodward.
Rive noun
Definitions
  1. A place torn; a rent; a rift. Prov. Eng.

Webster 1913