shrieve
/ʃɹiːv/
shrieve is the obsolete form of sheriff.
shrieve is the obsolete form of shrive.
Meaning of sheriff
Noun
sheriff (plural sheriffs)
- (High Sheriff) An official of a shire or county office, responsible for carrying out court orders, law enforcement and other duties.
- A judge in the sheriff court, the court of a county or sheriffdom.
- A government official, usually responsible for law enforcement in their county and for administration of the county jail, sometimes an officer of the court, usually elected.
Meaning of shrive
Verb
shrive (third-person singular simple present shrives, present participle shriving, simple past shrove or shrived, past participle shriven or shrived)
- To hear or receive a confession (of sins etc.).
- If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- To free from guilt, to absolve.
- I will not madly deem that power
Of Earth may shrive me of the sin
Unearthly pride hath revell’d in— […]1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems
- I will not madly deem that power
- To prescribe penance or absolution.
- To confess, and receive absolution.
- 'Twas a good thought, boy, to come here and shrive.c. 1798-1845, unknown author, The Croppy Boy
Verb
shrieve (third-person singular simple present shrieves, present participle shrieving, simple past shrieved, past participle shrieved or shriven)
- To question.
- But afterwards she gan him soft to shrieve,
And wooe with fair intreatie, to disclose
Which of the nymphes his heart so sore did mieve:1596, Edmund Spenser, “The Faerie Queene”, in Henry John Todd, editor, The Works of Edmund Spenser, published 1869, page 243
- But afterwards she gan him soft to shrieve,
Forms of shrieve
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | shrieves |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | shrieves |
| present participle | shrieving |
| past | shrieved |
| past participle | shrieved |
| past participle | shriven |
Origin of shrieve
See sheriff.
See shrive.
Words that rhyme with shrieve
45 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- eve
- grieve
- Kharkiv
- breve
- conceive
- naive
- neve
- Pishchiv
- weave
- keeve
- Neave
- Piskiv
- reeve
- screeve
- skeeve
- aggrieve
- beleave
- French leave
- greave
- interweave
- perceive
- reave
- seave
- sheave
- sleave
- steeve
- steve
- take French leave
- Abib
- beeve
- deceive
- dreve
- Dutch leave
- eave
- gneeve
- khedive
- nieve
- peeve
- preconceive
- rebelieve
- reperceive
- thieve
- transceive
- we've
- Yves
Questions about shrieve
- What does shrieve mean?
- Shrieve means to question.
- What is shrieve the obsolete form of?
- Shrieve is the obsolete form of sheriff.
- What part of speech is shrieve?
- Shrieve is a verb.
- How do you pronounce shrieve?
- Shrieve is pronounced /ʃɹiːv/.
- What is the past tense of shrieve?
- The past tense of shrieve is shrieved.
Words near shrieve in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shrieve (page history and authors); sheriff (page history and authors); shrive (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-shrieve.wav.
Cite this entry: “shrieve.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shrieve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.