▪ I. shrift, n. Now arch. or Hist.
(ʃrɪft)
Forms: 1–5 scrift, 2–5 scrifte, 3–6 schrift, (2 scrifft, 3 srift, shrifft, scryf ?, 4 shreft, shruft, ssrifþe, ssryft(e, ssrifte, 4–5 scrif ?, 5 scheryft), 4–5 schrifte, shryfte, schryft(e, 4–6 shryft, shrifte, 3– shrift.
[OE. scrift m., corresp. to OFris. skrift m. and f., MDu. schrift (schricht) f. and n., (Du. schrift), OHG. scrift f. (MHG., G. schrift), ON. skript, skrift f. (Sw., Da. skrift), vbl. n. f. shrive v.
The meanings ‘penance’, ‘confession’ are confined to English and Scandinavian, arising app. from an original meaning of ‘prescribed penalty’. The other languages have only the senses ‘writing’, ‘graphic art’, ‘scripture’, ‘written character’.]
† 1. Penance imposed by the priest after confession; chiefly in phr. as to take shrift, nim shrift; to do shrift; to give shrift. Obs.
| c 1030 Laws Cnut ii. lxviii. (Liebermann) 354 æᵹþer man sceal ᵹe on godcundan scriftan ᵹe on woruldcundan doman þas þingc tosceadan. c 1030–50 Eccl. Compensations iii, Twa pund to bote mid godcundan scrifte. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 17 Þet þu scalt gan to bote and niman scrift þer of al swa þe proest þe techet. Ibid. 9 Ȝif hwa is swa sunful..þet nulle for his ouermoð..his scrift ihalden. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 19 Wandeð to me,..and nemeð and doð scrift. c 1200 Ormin 9262 To wurrþenn fullhtnedd att hiss hannd, & forr to takenn shriffte. a 1300 Cursor M. 9090 Sin i haf serued to haue þe scam, Gis me mi scrift. Ibid. 26194 On seke man agh na scrift be laid. Ibid. 28300, I brake my scrifte vmquile mai falle. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (prose) 21 Lauerd giue vs sua vre scrifte at do, þat we may hys rengne cum to. a 1425 Cursor M. 23297 (Trin.) For þei wolde no shrifte take And at her ende amendes make. |
2. The imposition of penance implying absolution,
shrift came to be apprehended in certain contexts as
= absolution.
| a 900 Poenitentiale Ecgberti i. iii. in Thorpe Anc. Laws (1840) II. 172 Ᵹif he ᵹewitnysse hæfð..þæt he scriftes ᵹyrnde & husles. c 1030–60 Laws Northumb. Priests viii, Ᵹif preost fulluhtes oððe scriftes forwyrne. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8661 He..deide wiþoute speche Wiþoute ssrift & hosel. c 1300 Havelok 1829 [Havelok] smot him sone ageyn the brest, That hauede he neuere schrifte of prest. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (prose) 6 Scrif sal he do on þaim, þare sinnis for to les. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 223, I will giue him a present shrift, and aduise him for a better place. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. ii. 1684, I leave it to the shrift Of their owne consciences. 1635 Quarles Embl. iii. x. 161, I need no other shrift Than mine owne conscience. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth iii, Father Francis the Dominican, from whom she had her shrift to-day. 1867 Month VI. 21 When the words of shrift had been uttered. |
† 3. A confessor.
Obs.| c 897 ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xvi. 105 He ðonne ondette ælce costunge þe him on becume ðæm mode his scriftes beforan ðæm temple. a 900 Cynewulf Crist 1307 Ne mæᵹ þurh þæt flæsc se scrift ᵹeseon on þære sawle. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 19 Þu scalt hit ibeten al swa þin scrifte þe tachet. a 1225 Ancr. R. 418 Ne mid breres ne ne biblodge hire sulf wiðuten schriftes leaue. 1638 New Litany in Bk. Sc. Pasquils (1868) 57 From bussie Bishops without orders, As master shrifts in ther borders [etc.]. [1860 Hook Lives Abps. I. vii. 407 If a man will..confess his sins to the shrift.] |
4. to go, come to shrift: to resort to confession, seek the ministry of a priest in the sacrament of penance. Also
† to seek to shrift.
| 1008 Laws æthelred v. xxii, Ᵹyme his Cristendomes ᵹeorne & ᵹewuniᵹe ᵹelomlice to scrifte. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. xxxix. (1883) 181 Ga man to scrifte. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 25 Ic wulle gan to scrifte for scome alswa doð oðer men. c 1250 Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. 32 Comeþ to srifte, forleted yure sennen, and þer of bieþ a-soiled. c 1315 Shoreham i. 948 Wanne he ne may to schryfte come. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (verse) 988 To be swift Eftir our sin to seke to schrift. 1583 Fulke Def. Tr. Script. vi. 192 To make the ignorant beleeue that the people went to auricular shrift. 1590 Tarlton's Newes Purgatory 13 The next time Lisetta came to shrift, after she had made her confession, and had receiued absolution. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iv. 192 Bid her deuise some meanes to come to shrift this afternoone. 1630 Dekker 2nd Pt. Honest Wh. i. i. K 4, Let the Gentlewoman alone, she's going to shrift. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 259 In the Church of Rome to go to Shrift Is but to put the Soul on a clean Shift. 1880 T. E. Webb Goethe's Faust iii. vii, [He] goes To shrift with nothing to disclose. |
5. Confession to a priest; auricular confession; also, the sacrament of penance.
More explicitly,
† shrift of mouth.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 11 Muchel is us þenne neod..sod scrift. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 73 Drede letteð þe mannes shrifte. a 1300 Cursor M. 25749 He..mak to preist his costes cuth, Wit reuth of hert and scrifte o mouth. Ibid. 27444 It es als vnder sel o scrift him sceud al to consail. 1340 Ayenb. 14 Cristninge, conferminge, þe sacrement of þe wyefde, ordre, spoushod, þe holy ssrifte, and the laste anoylinge. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 1114 Me thynketh ye haue suche a chaunce As shryfte wythoute repentaunce. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 279 Apon scheryft wyth mowthe and satysfaccyon yn dede. 1528 Tindale Obed. Chr. Man 96 b, Shrifte in the eare is verely a worke of sathan. 1567 Allen Def. Priesthood 215 Priuate shrifte, which they call nowe auricular confession. 1603 Drayton Heroic. Ep. iii. 92 As I should joy t'absolve thee after Shrift. 1652 Gataker Antinom. 40 Some Popish Priest, pressing men to shrift. 1662 Petty Taxes 6 When every particular sheep was..drest and shorn three or four times per annum by Shrift. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. i. I. 54 Shrift was no part of her system. Yet she gently invited the dying penitent to confess his sins to a divine. |
b. Phrases.
† (
a)
under shrift or
in shrift: in a state of penitence.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 7 Ȝef we beod under sod scrifte. c 1200 Ormin 10473, & tær [uss clennseþþ] þatt fir ȝiff þatt we rihht Her endenn unnderr shriffte. c 1205 Lay. 18435 ælc mon forð rihte dude hine vnder scrifte. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 422 An hundred ȝer after is dead Adam fro eue in srifte abead. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (prose) 4 Þat here liuis in clene scrift..þai sall haue part wid him. |
† (
b)
at shrift,
in shrift: at, in confession.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 27 Hwet wule mon et scrifte bute he wulle forleten his misdede? a 1225 Ancr. R. 46 Scheaweð ofte ine scrifte ower ȝemeleaste her abuten. c 1330 Spec. Gy de Warewyke 796 Þat þu hit nilt in shrifte seie. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.) 58 When we in shrift reherce oure synnes. 1579 Lyly Euphues 28 Dost thou not laugh Liuia, to see my ghostly father keepe me heere so long at shrifte? c 1592 Marlowe Jew of Malta iii. ad fin., 'Twas told me in shrift, Thou know'st 'tis death and if it be reueal'd. a 1625 Fletcher Love's Pilgr. i. ii, I have called my conscience to confession, And every sillable that might offend I have had in shrift. 1793 Minstrel II. 144 Crimes so enormous that they dared not confess them in shrift. |
† (
c)
transf.| 1596 Warner Alb. Eng. xii. lxix. (1602) 291 Let this be spoken in Shrift, so was it spoke to me. |
† (
d)
shrift's even: Shrove Tuesday.
| 15.. Colkelbie Sow 943 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 1048 At schriftis evin sum wes so battalouss That [etc.]. |
6. An instance of this; a confession on a particular occasion.
Phr.
to make one's shrift,
to hear a shrift.
| c 1275 Passion our Lord 549 in O.E. Misc. 52 Þat we mote at vre scrift þane veond schende. a 1300 Cursor M. 27490 Ar he [a priest] ga to scriftes here Þat he may þus first his praier. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints iii. (De Sancto Andrea) 896 Til hym þi schrift þu ma! c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 745 With a sown as softe as ony shryfte. 1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1183/2 When it came to the penance geuing, the Foxe found y{supt} the most weighty synne in all hys shryft was glotony. 1622 Wotton in Reliq. (1672) 314 He took occasion at the next shrift, to confer certain doubts with his Confessor. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth ii, For the purpose of making their several shrifts in the confessionals. 1839 J. P. Kennedy Rob of Bowl xxxiii, In this temper he had made his shrift, and abjured the lawless life..into which his passions had plunged him. 1865 Kingsley Herew. iii, He said..that..your shrift should be as short and as clean as David's. |
† b. A thing confessed.
Obs. rare.
| 1596 Warner Alb. Eng. xii. lxix. (1602) 292 Blab'd be our Shrifts to women, of simplicitie, or spight. |
† c. A place of confession, confessional.
rare.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 24 My Lord shall neuer rest... His Bed shall seeme a Schoole, his Boord a Shrift. |
7. In a wider sense: Confession (
of sin or wrong); admission (
of guilt); revelation (
of something private or secret).
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter vii. 18 Þis shrift is noght of synne, bot of rightwisnes of god. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 173 Upon the schrifte of thi matiere. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 251, I schaw ȝow, Sisteris in schrift, I wes a schrew euir. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. i, Ile studie..To call my sonne vnto a happier shrift. 1633 Ford 'Tis Pity iii. F 3, His Vnkle..Will hinder all, and call his Couze to shrift. 1668 R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 133 If this Gallant were taken to shrift. 1678 ― Seneca's Mor. i. To Rdr., etc. 39 Then do I Recollect all that I have said, or done that day, and take my self to shrift. Ibid. ii. vi. 80 Our Vices will abate of themselves, if they be brought every day to the Shrift. 1865 S. Evans Br. Fabian's MS. 88 A dread Grew up between them such as those may tell Who have made shrift of love. |
† 8. Rendering
confessio of the Vulgate: Acknowledgement of the power and glory of God.
Obs.| a 1300 E.E. Psalter xli. 5 In steuen of gladschip and ofe schrifte. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 71 Þis song of þes children, where we maken an opin schrift þat God is passingli blessid. 1382 ― 3 Esdras ix. 8 And now ȝiueth shrifte, and gret doing to the Lord God of oure fadris. a 1400 Prymer (1891) 23 Entrith his ȝatis in schrift. |
9. short shrift:
orig. a brief space of time allowed for a criminal to make his confession before execution; hence, a brief respite;
to give short shrift to, to make short work of.
| [1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. iv. 97 Make a short Shrift, he longs to see your Head.] 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles v. xxxii, Short were his shrift in that debate... If Lorn encounter'd Bruce! 1823 ― Quentin D. viii, They are like to meet short shrift and a tight cord. 1879 W. H. Dixon Windsor II. xxxi. 315 Short trial, shorter shrift, had been given to the chief criminals. 1887 Times 15 Feb. 4/3 Every argument..tells with still greater force against the present measure, and it is to be hoped that the House of Commons will give it short shrift to-night. 1889 Jessopp Coming of Friars ii. 82 If he were brought to his trial he would have a short shrift and no favour. |
10. attrib.:
† shrift child, one who goes to confession to a certain priest, a penitent;
shrift-district Hist. = shrift-shire;
† Shrift Monday = Shrove Monday;
shrift-shire Hist. [representing
OE. scriftsc{iacu}r], the district in which a priest exercised his functions;
† shrift-silver, a fee paid on receiving priestly absolution;
shrift-time pseudo-arch., Lent;
† Shrift Tuesday = Shrove Tuesday.
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades 580 By those confessions the confessours coulde cunningly..robbe theyr *shrift-children..of theyr substaunce. 1625 tr. Gonsalvius' Sp. Inquis. 125 That anie other ghostly Father had dealt in anie such like sort with anie of his shrift children. |
| 1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 196 The secular priest..was not expelled from his ‘*shrift-district’. |
| 1587 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. V. 133, I came on *Shrift Munday last to Mr. Pawlet of Heryote. |
| 1838 Soames Anglo-Saxon Ch. (ed. 2) 262 note, Right is it that no priest do any of those things that belong to another, either to his minster, or in his *shrift-shire. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Saxon Ch. (1858) I. iv. 144 note 2, These districts allotted to priests were called priestshires, shriftshires, and kirkshires. |
| 1402 Reply of Friar Daw Topias in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 46 Thi paroche preest, Jacke,..that nyl not..assoilen hem of her synne withouten *schrift silver. |
| 1853 Rock Ch. of Fathers III. ii. xii. 223 All through *shrift-time or Lent. |
| 1542 Will of J. Dowdynge of Cannington (MS.), On *Shryfte Twesdaye. |
▪ II. shrift, v. rare.
[f. prec.] trans. To shrive.
| 1611 Coryat Crudities 33, I saw a gray Frier shrift a faire Gentlewoman, which I..mention because it was the first shrifting that euer I saw. a 1683 Oldham Wks. (1686) 129 Thus I have made my shrifted Muse confess. 1699 R. L'Estrange Fables ii. vii, A New-marry'd Couple had a Toy took them in their Heads,..to Shrift one another before they came together. 1849 Rock Ch. of Fathers II. vii. 461 The soul might wing its flight for its doom before God, shrifted, assoiled, aneled, and houseled. |