shrive

[shrahyv] /ʃraɪv/
verb (used with object), shrove or shrived, shriven or shrived, shriving.
1.
to impose penance on (a sinner).
2.
to grant absolution to (a penitent).
3.
to hear the confession of (a person).
verb (used without object), shrove or shrived, shriven or shrived, shriving. Archaic.
4.
to hear confessions.
5.
to go to or make confession; confess one's sins, as to a priest.
Origin
before 900; Middle English shriven, schrifen, Old English scrīfan to prescribe, cognate with German schreiben to write ≪ Latin scrībere; see scribe1
Related forms
unshrived, adjective
Examples from the web for shrive
  • Then he kneeled down, and prayed the hermit to shrive him, and besought that he might be his brother.
British Dictionary definitions for shrive

shrive

/ʃraɪv/
verb (mainly RC Church) shrives, shriving, shrove, shrived, shriven (ˈʃrɪvən), shrived
1.
to hear the confession of (a penitent)
2.
(transitive) to impose a penance upon (a penitent) and grant him sacramental absolution
3.
(intransitive) to confess one's sins to a priest in order to obtain sacramental forgiveness
Derived Forms
shriver, noun
Word Origin
Old English scrīfan, from Latin scrībere to write
Word Origin and History for shrive
v.

Old English scrifan "assign, prescribe, ordain, decree; impose penance, hear confession; have regard for, care for," apparently originally "to write" (strong, past tense scraf, past participle scrifen), from West Germanic *skriban (cf. Old Saxon scriban, Old Frisian skriva "write; impose penance;" Old Dutch scrivan, Dutch schrijven, German schreiben "to write, draw, paint;" Danish skrifte "confess"), an early borrowing from Latin scribere "to write" (see script (n.)), which in Old English and Scandinavian developed further to "confess, hear confession."