derive, v.
(dɪˈraɪv)
Forms: 5 dir-, di-, dyryve, 5–6 deryve, 6 -ryfe.
[a. F. dérive-r (12th c. in Littré = Pr., Sp. derivar, It. derivare), ad. L. dērīvāre to lead or draw off (water or liquid), to divert, derive (words), f. de- I. 2 + rīvus brook, stream of water.
There are 4 distinct verbs dériver in French. One of these, dériver2, OF. desriver, to cause to overflow its banks, f. rive, L. rīpa river-bank, possibly sometimes influenced earlier Eng. use (cf. senses 1 b and c). Dériver3 to drift or drive, as a ship, with wind or current, to drift as a projectile (for earlier driver, from Eng. drive), has given derivation2, derivometer. Dériver4, to unrivet, is not represented in English.)]
I. Transitive senses.
† 1. a. To conduct (a stream of water or other fluid) from a source, reservoir, main stream, etc. to or into a channel, place, or destination; to lead, draw, convey down a course or through a channel. Obs. or arch.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 96 To deryue, deriuare. 1530 Palsgr. 513/1, I deryve, or bringe one thynge out of another, as water is brought whan it is brought from the spring, je deriue. 1538 Leland Itin. V. 92 The Pittes be so set abowte with Canales that the Salte Water is facily derivid to every Mannes Howse. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions Pref. 10 From them [springes] thei deriued into cities and Tounes, the pure freshe waters a greate distaunce of. 1571 Digges Pantom. i. xvii. F, Ye may conclude that this water may be deriued thither. 1606 N. Baxter Man Created in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 238 And so through conduits, secretly contriu'd, Is blood to euerie humane part deriu'd. 1632 Sanderson Serm. II. 24 Little trenches, whereby..husbandmen used to derive water from some fountain or cistern to the several parts of their gardens. 1696 Bp. Patrick Comm. Exod. vii. (1697) 122 Water..derived by Pipes from the River into Cisterns. 1805 W. Saunders Min. Waters 197 Mineral springs..Externally used, either by immersing the whole body, or by deriving a stream to some particular part. |
† b. with various constructions, and adverbial extensions.
| 1548 R. Hutten Sum of Diuinitie L viij b, Thy fountaynes shall be deriued, & the ryuers shall runne into the streetes. 1594 2nd Rep. Dr. Faustus in Thoms Prose Rom. (1858) III. 334 Danuby is derived in two arms, which..meet at length again in the same channel. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts, N.T. 411 Cyrus..drained the channell of Euphrates and derived the streames the other way. 1650 Fuller Pisgah iv. iii. 48 The pillar conducting them such by-ways, in levels or declivity of vales..where the water had a conveniency to be derived after them. a 1723 Sir C. Wren in L. Phillimore Family & Times (1881) App. iii. 343 They deriv'd the River when it rose, all over the Flat of the Delta. 1800 E. Darwin Phytologia 417 In some parts..where rice is cultivated, they are said not to derive the water on it, till it is in flower. |
† c. refl. To flow (in, into, through channels). (Chiefly fig.) Obs.
| 1624 Donne Serm. cxiii. IV. 576 From all Eternity he derived himself into 3 Persons. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. ix. iv. (1821) 430 When God made the world, he did not..leave it alone to subsist by itself..but he derived himself through the whole creation. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 120 The stream of her charity..found other channels therein to derive itself. |
† 2. To cause (water, etc.) to flow away; to draw off, carry off, divert the course of; spec. in Med., cf. derivation 1 c. Obs.
| 1598 Stow Surv. vii. (1603) 29 Intending to haue deriued the riuer of Thames..to haue flowed about it. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 544 To water them, or to deriue & diuert water from them. Ibid. II. 469 To lade out the water that riseth vpon the workemen, for feare it choke vp the pits; for to preuent which inconuenience, they deriue it by other drains. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 17 The matter must be derived and voided from the head. 1692 Ray Dissol. World iii. (1732) 37 Water the which to derive and rid away. 1771 T. Percival Ess. Med. Exper. (1777) I. 220 They derive the febrile matter from the brain, and assist..the other discharges. |
† 3. a. To carry, lead, extend (a watercourse, canal, or channel of any kind). Obs.
| c 1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden 1844) II. 20 After⁓ward, deriving a trenche from fort to fort, he environed the towne, and..beganne to annoy the same. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 113 So soone as the said water-conduct was derived unto the towne, he caused it to be divided, and sent into sundry places. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 16 Media, where the Channels begin, that are deriued out of the Riuer Tygris. 1777 Watson Philip II (1793) II. xiii. 133 From this stream..an infinity of canals are derived. |
† b. To extend by branches or ramifications; to divide by branching. lit. and fig.
| c 1597 Harington in Nugæ Antiq. (1804) I. 188 It may be derived into three kyndes. a 1631 Donne Serm. c. IV. 322 Rooted in some one beloved Sin but derived into infinite branches of temptation. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxv. 174 At the other end, by two branches [it] deriveth it selfe into the Lunges. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. ii. 65 Other ramifications of this nervus intercostalis are derived into the Chest and Diaphragma. [Cf. 1760 in 4.] |
† 4. transf. and fig. a. To convey from one (treated as a source) to another, as by transmission, descent, etc.; to transmit, impart, communicate, pass on, hand on. Const. to, into, unto, rarely upon the recipient. Obs. or arch. (rare after 1750).
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 226 This power, of byndyng & losynge of synne, is deriuyed from the apostles to y⊇ mynystres of Christes chirche. 1547 Hooper Declar. Christ i. Wks. (Parker Soc.) 15 The sin of Adam..was derived into all his posterity. 1564 Brief Exam. B iv, The maner of prophesying..was deryued out of the Sinagoges, into our Churches. 1593 Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. 6 From him God lineally derived it unto Abraham. 1607 Dekker Hist. Sir T. Wyatt Wks. 1873 III. 83, I will Deriue the Crowne vnto your Daughters head. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. v. (1702) I. 549 His Name would be derived to Posterity, as the Preserver of his Country. 1651–3 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year Ep. Ded., That this Book is derived upon your Lordship almost in the nature of a legacy from her. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) I. 208 Parents..rich enough to derive unto him the hereditary infirmity of the gout. 1681–6 J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 124 Jesus..when he ascended..derived that divine Spirit upon his Apostles. 1699 Burnet 39 Art. xxxii. (1700) 356 The High-Priest..was to marry, and he derived to his descendents that Sacred Office. 1760 Law Spir. Prayer i. 38 The life of the vine must be really derived into the branches. 1835 Paul Antiq. Greece i. ii. xi. §2 A festival first instituted at Athens, and from thence derived to the rest of the Ionians. 1848 Hampden Bampt. Lect. (ed. 3) 184 The definition of Predestination, as given in the Scholastic writers, and from them derived to modern Theology. |
† b. To hand down (esp. by descent). Obs.
| 1561 Norton & Sackv. Gorboduc 86 What their fathers..Have with great fame derived down to them. a 1646 J. Gregory Terrestrial Globe (1650) 268 The Turkish Histories are not so completely derived down to us as to Describe the Territories by Longitude or Latitude. 1681–6 J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 402 Another evident Instance of the Apostles deriving down their Apostolick Authority. 1828 Southey in Q. Rev. XXXVII. 208 The hatred of popery..which has..been derived down from father to son. |
† c. refl. To pass by descent or transmission.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 43 This Imperiall Crowne, Which (as immediate from thy Place and Blood) Deriues it selfe to me. 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 126 Which Conditions did not (with his succession) derive themselves on me. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vii. i. §35 The Womens discords derived themselves into their husbands hearts. 1678 J. Phillips Tavernier's Trav., Persia v. iv. 206 The jealousie of the Kings of Persia..derives itself to all his Subjects, who will not permit their women to be seen. |
† 5. trans. To cause to come; to draw, bring, turn, direct; to bring down. Obs. a. Const. to, unto, into.
| c 1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden 1846) I. 102 Then Honorius, retaininge the Brittishe armie, did againe derive and traine the Ilande to the empire. 1601 Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 265 Things which would deriue me ill will to speake of. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, ii. iv. 32 What Friend of mine That had to him deriu'd your Anger, did I Continue in my Liking. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. (1702) I. 270 Men..looked upon him, as one, who could derive the King's Pleasure to them. 1678 Hobbes Decam. vii. 75 The force of the Sun-beams is derived almost to a point by a Burning-glass. 1772 Fletcher Appeal Wks. 1795 I. 76 Those who derive putrefaction into their bones, for the momentary gratification of a shameful appetite. 1774 T. Jefferson Autobiog. App. Wks. 1859 I. 144 To undergo the great inconvenience that will be derived to them from stopping all imports whatever from Great Britain. |
b. Const. on, upon.
| 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xvi. (1632) 852 Hereby he deriued vpon his enemy all the enuie of the people. 1671 J. Davies Sibylls ii. ii. 87 The first Persecution was raised by Nero, to derive upon the innocent Christians the Indignation of the Romanes. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. III. 65 Such Apostacy derives a double Dishonour upon Religion. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. ix. 245 Such an example, as will derive upon you the ill-will and censure of other ladies. 1808 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XXVI. 224 They would derive on themselves a solid glory. |
6. a. To draw, fetch, get, gain, obtain (a thing from a source). Const. from, rarely † out of.
| 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer (1577) E v b, Deriuing them [newe wordes] featly from the Latins, as y⊇ Latins, in old time, deriued from the Grecians. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. Pref. (1586) A vij, If one chance to derive anie word from the Latine, which is insolent to their eares..they forthwith make a jest at it, and terme it an Inkhorne terme. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ix. 42 O that estates, degrees, and offices, Were not deriu'd corruptly. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man. in Hum. ii. v, Honourable worship, let me deriue a small piece of siluer from you. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 140 The Romans..led Horses in honour of the Sun, a custome derived from the Persians. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 837 Sciential sap, deriv'd From Nectar, drink of Gods. 1751 Harris Hermes Wks. (1841) 234 If all minds have them [their ideas] derived, they must be derived from something, which is itself not mind. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. 32 The power of the præfect of Italy was not confined to the country from whence he derived his title. 1822 B. Cornwall Misc. Poems, Headland Bay Panama, And Cheops hath derived eternal fame Because he made his tomb a place of pride. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. iii. 219 The archbishop..derived no personal advantage from his courts. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 181 The solid matter derived from the waste of the land. |
b. Const. with from and to. rare.
| 1771 Goldsm. Hist. Eng. I. 204 A king, from the weakness of whose title they might derive power to themselves. 1785 Paley Mor. Philos. (1818) II. 404 The chief advantage which can be derived to population from the interference of law. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. v. 191 From his labours, the most valuable benefits were derived to his countrymen. |
c. to derive (ancestry, origin, pedigree, etc.); also refl.
| 1599 H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner B viij, For Malum (an apple) deriveth his line of Ancestry from the Greeke Melon, of great antiquity. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xi. Notes 183 Prester John, sometimes deriuing himselfe very neere from the loines of Salomon. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 10 The Mountaines of the Moone..whence seven-mouthed Nyle, derives his Origen. 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. 11 Sculpture may derive its Pedegree from the infancy of the World. |
d. absol. or intr.
| 1632 Quarles Div. Fancies Ded., That like the painful Bee, I may derive From sundry Flow'rs to store my slender Hive. 1649 in Def. Rights Univ. Oxford (1690) 25 Erected by the city and those who derive from their title. 1796 Burke Let. Noble Ld. Wks. VIII. 39 The grantee whom he derives from. |
e. Chem. To obtain (a compound) from another, as by partial replacement.
| 1868 Watts Dict. Chem. V. 554 This compound, derived from ethylsulphurous acid by substitution of Cl for HO. |
7. To obtain by some process of reasoning, inference or deduction; to gather, deduce.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. 75 Loke what ye saye; loke it be deryfyde Frome perfyt reason well exemplyfyde. 1624 N. De Lawne Du Moulin's Logik 89 Rules to live well, derived from nature. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xiv. §4 Men derive their ideas of duration from their reflections on the train of the ideas they observe to succeed one another in their own understandings. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 203 ¶7 In age, we derive little from retrospect but hopeless sorrow. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §7. 426 It is difficult..to derive any knowledge of Shakspere's inner history from the Sonnets. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 269 The higher truths of philosophy and religion..are derived from experience. |
8. refl. To arise, spring, come from something as its source; to take its origin from.
| 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. ii. §9 Sem from whom he derived himself, was one of the persons who escaped it in the Ark. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 127 Sheraz then probably derives it self from Sherab, which in the Persian Tongue signifies a Grape. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. i. §2 Experience; in that all our Knowledge is founded, and from that it ultimately derives itself. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. 115 Hence comedy derives itself. 1833 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. xxiv. (1865) 404 If the abstinence from evil..is to derive itself from no higher principle. |
9. a. pass. To be drawn or descended; to take its origin or source; to spring, come from (rarely † of, † out of).
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2180 (Ellesm. & Camb. MSS.) Conuertynge al vn to his propre welle ffrom which it is dirryued sooth to telle. 1530 Palsgr. 513/1 His lynage is deryved out of the house of Melysyn. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry ii. vi. (1611) 58 A Couple-close is a subordinate charge deriued from a cheuron. 1701 De Foe Free-born Eng. 11 A Race uncertain and unev'n, Deriv'd from all the Nations under Heav'n. 1737 Whiston Josephus' Antiq. xiii. xiii. §5 They also reviled him, as derived from a captive. 1892 Gardiner Student's Hist. Eng. 6 No European population now existing which is not derived from many races. |
b. spec. Of a word: To arise or be formed by some process of word-formation from (some more primitive or earlier word).
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 60 Arundo, sayth he, is deriued out of the Adiectiue Aridum, for that it so spedily drieth and withereth. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 639/2 Stirrops..being derived of the old English woord sty, which is, to gett up. 1676 Port Royal Art of Speaking 11 From one single Word many others are derived, as is obvious in the Dictionaries of such Languages as we know. 1751 Wesley Wks. (1872) XIV. 48 A Participle is an Adjective derived of a Verb. 1791 Gentl. Mag. 27/1 The word Tontine is only a cant word, derived from the name of an Italian projector. 1881 Skeat Etym. Dict. 150/2 From this O.F. dars is also derived the Breton darz, a dace. |
10. a. trans. To trace or show the derivation, origin, or pedigree of; to show (a thing) to proceed, issue, or come from; to trace the origination of (anything) from its source; also, more loosely, to declare, assert, or state a thing to be derived from.
| 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 4 Some derive the originall of this Count Henrie from Hungarie, others from Aragon, and from other places. 1604 Meeting of Gallants 4 Bastard..Thou knowest I can deriue thee. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. ix. 321 The observations of Albuquerque..derive this rednesse from the colour of the sand and argillous earth at the bottome. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. iv. §13 Prometheus (from whom the Greeks derived themselves). 1683 Brit. Spec. 38 From whence Sir Edward Cook derives the Law of England at this day for burning those Women who kill their Husbands. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xvii. vii, An action which malice itself could not have derived from an evil motive. 1874 Dawson Nature & Bible 202 These men derive all religion from myths. |
b. spec. To trace the origin of (a word) from († to) its etymological source; to establish or show the derivation of; also, less correctly, to offer a conjectural derivation for (a word).
| 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 186 Africa..Festus saith it came of the qualitie of th' Aere..deriving it of ϕρίκη, as who should say, ἀϕρική that is, without horrour of coldenes. 1680 H. Dodwell Two Lett. Advice (1691) 207 This..way of deriving unknown words to their primitive Originals. 1755 Johnson Pref. to Dict. §25 That etymologist..who can seriously derive dream from drama, because life is a drama, and a drama is a dream. 1851 Trench Stud. Words vii. (ed. 13) 264 He derives the name of the peacock from the peak or tuft of pointed feathers on its head. 1884 N. & Q. 6th Ser. IX. 207, I should be much obliged if any of your readers could help me in deriving the name of the village of Allonby, in Cumberland. |
II. Intransitive senses (arising out of reflexive uses in I.).
11. To flow, spring, issue, emanate, come, arise, originate, have its derivation from, rarely out of (a source). Freq. in mod. use, prob. at first as a gallicism.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2148 (Ellesm. MS.) Wel may men knowe but it be a fool That euery part dirryueth from his hool. 1634–5 Brereton Trav. (1844) 65 A mighty revenue derives out of the excise paid for beer and wine. 1649 Bounds Publ. Obed. (1650) 17 We all derive from him. 1684 Scanderbeg Rediv. i. 3 To understand the Family he derives from. 1706 De Foe Jure Div. v. 11 The Right to rule derives from those that gave, And no Men can convey more Power than that they have. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 12 Happiness, which does not derive from any single source. 1803 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 54/2 In the third class, nobility derives from the person, and not from the estate. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lv. 3. 1863 Kinglake Crimea II. 74 There was an authority not deriving from the Queen or the Parliament. 1895 tr. P. Bourget's Outre-mer ii. 36 How all literature derives from him [sc. Shakespeare] in every English-speaking country. 1899 Daily News 28 Nov. 6/5 As a draughtsman he derives from Charles Keene. 1901 Ibid. 22 Jan. 5/4 The theory of the mediæval empire derives immediately from Rome. 1907 Daily Chron. 18 Oct. 4/6 Thackeray derived straight from Goldsmith. 1971 Daily Tel. 19 Nov. 13/3 Richard Rountree..is powerful in a role that must derive from those paragons of policemen Sidney Poitier used to play. |
12. To proceed, descend, pass on, come (to a receiver, receptacle, etc.).
| 1559 Morwyng Evonym. Pref., The study of this Art..derived unto the Romains and Grekes somewhat late. 1647 Jer. Taylor Lib. Proph. xv. 212 If the Church meddles with them when they doe not derive into ill life. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. I. i. 1 Thales..Who first introduc'd Naturall and Mathematicall Learning into Greece, from whence it derived into us. 1768 Woman of Honor III. 130 All that is the most excellent, in our..laws, derives to us from those very..savages. 1858 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) II. 16 Puritanism..derives to this country directly from Geneva. |
13. Of a word: To originate, come as a derivative (from its root or primitive).
| 1794 Mrs. Piozzi Synon. I. 90 Indignant meantime derives from a higher stock. 1804 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. II. 632 Upholsterer is declared against as a corruption. Whence does it derive? 1866 J. B. Rose Virg. Ecl. & Georg. 154 The words Comus and Encomium derive thence. |
Hence deˈriving vbl. n.
| 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 420 Whosoeuer is a man by the propagation of Adams nature, the same is also a sinner by the deriuing ouer of his corruption. 1626 Bacon Sylva §176 (R.) For our experiments are onely such as do ever ascend a degree to the deriving of causes and extracting of axiomes. |