[syn: cleave, split, rive]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Rive \Rive\, v. t. [imp. Rived; p. p. Rived or Riven; p.
pr. & vb. n. Riving.] [Icel. r[imac]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.
[1913 Webster]
I shall ryve him through the sides twain. --Chaucer.
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The scolding winds have rived the knotty oaks. --Shak.
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Brutus hath rived my heart. --Shak.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Rive \Rive\, v. i.
To be split or rent asunder.
[1913 Webster]
Freestone rives, splits, and breaks in any direction.
--Woodward.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Rive \Rive\, n.
A place torn; a rent; a rift. [Prov. Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
rive
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]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
73 Moby Thesaurus words for "rive":
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