shrift

[shrift] /ʃrɪft/
noun, Archaic.
1.
the imposition of penance by a priest on a penitent after confession.
2.
absolution or remission of sins granted after confession and penance.
3.
confession to a priest.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English scrift penance; cognate with German, Dutch schrift writing; see shrive, -th1
Can be confused
shift, shrift.
Examples from the web for shrift
  • The author gives short shrift to the heartbreak of social upheaval on such a huge scale.
  • She has been given short shrift by the intellectual establishment.
  • Most online music sites give the bands short shrift when slicing up the revenue pie.
  • Don't give short shrift to the budget and its justification.
  • Music gets short shrift, and the determination to cover the globe seems to have lapsed.
British Dictionary definitions for shrift

shrift

/ʃrɪft/
noun
1.
(archaic) the act or an instance of shriving or being shriven See also short shrift
Word Origin
Old English scrift, from Latin scriptumscript
Word Origin and History for shrift
n.

Old English scrift "confession to priest, followed by penance and absolution," verbal noun from scrifan "to impose penance," from an early Germanic borrowing of Latin scribere "to write" (see script (n.)) that produced nouns for "penance, confession" in Old English and Scandinavian (cf. Old Norse skrjpt "penance, confession"), but elsewhere in Germanic is used in senses "writing, scripture, alphabet letter;" see shrive. Short shrift originally was the brief time for a condemned criminal to confess before execution (1590s); figurative extension to "little or no consideration" is first attested 1814.

Idioms and Phrases with shrift

shrift

see: short shrift