shriven

shriven [shriv-uh n] Examples See more synonyms for shriven on Thesaurus.com verb

1. a past participle of shrive.

Related formsun·shriv·en, adjective shrive [shrahyv] verb (used with object), shrove or shrived, shriv·en or shrived, shriv·ing.

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, shriv·en or shrived, shriv·ing. Archaic.

4. to hear confessions.
5. to go to or make confession; confess one’s sins, as to a priest.

Origin of shrive before 900; Middle English shriven, schrifen, Old English scrīfan to prescribe, cognate with German schreiben to write ≪ Latin scrībere; see scribe1 Related formsun·shrived, adjective Related Words for shriven purge, acquit, pardon, absolve, repent, forgive, atone, free Examples from the Web for shriven Historical Examples of shriven

Away to your chamber, sweeting, and keep a blithe face, for she who confesses is shriven.

The White Company

Arthur Conan Doyle

There are two confessionals, in one or the other of which we must be shriven.

Essays, First Series

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spectres of uncharitableness were disturbing her and she sought to be shriven.

Stubble

George Looms

Truth is stern, Huber; fight then lustily, and get you shriven to-morrow.

The Serf

Guy Thorne

Confess to its perfection, and be shriven Of any thought less fair.

The Mortal Gods and Other Plays

Olive Tilford Dargan

British Dictionary definitions for shriven shrive verb shrives, shriving, shrove, shrived, shriven (ˈʃrɪvən) or shrived mainly RC Church

1. to hear the confession of (a penitent)
2. (tr) to impose a penance upon (a penitent) and grant him sacramental absolution
3. (intr) to confess one’s sins to a priest in order to obtain sacramental forgiveness

Derived Formsshriver, nounWord Origin for shrive Old English scrīfan, from Latin scrībere to write Word Origin and History for shriven

past participle of shrive (v.).

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.”