▪ I. shiv, n.
(ʃɪv)
Also shive.
= chive n.3 Also attrib.
| 1915 N.Y. World 9 May (Suppl.) 14/3 Shive, a razor. 1926 J. Black You can't Win (1927) vii. 87 ‘Better get busy with your ‘shive’, kid.’ I started cutting on the side opposite the boarding house. 1926 Clues Nov. 162/2 Shiv, a knife. 1930 Sat. Even. Post 5 Apr. 46/1 Those he does not shoot he sticks with his shiv—which is a knife. 1951 F. Brown Murder can be Fun viii. 120, I won't use no shiv. I'll take him apart with my bare hands. 1959 ‘M. Ainsworth’ Murder is Catching vi. 72 Has he any criminal connections{ddd}could he get hold of shiv-boys, for instance? 1959 H. Hobson Mission House Murder xiii. 88 He held a white-handled open razor... ‘'Strewth!’ he said, ‘a shiv!’ 1972 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 17 Feb. b. 11/5 The guards even planted a ‘shive’—a tableknife—in McKinney's cell. 1976 L. Deighton Twinkle, twinkle, Little Spy ix. 89, I never heard of the K.G.B. using a shiv artist who hit the wrong target, and..let them grab the knife. |
▪ II. shiv, v.
(ʃɪv)
Also shive.
= chive v.
| 1926 [see jam n.1 1 b]. 1959 ‘M. Ainsworth’ Murder is Catching xv. 163 The boys been shiving you? 1967 ‘E. Queen’ Face to Face xxx. 136 ‘When was that?’ ‘The night they found Spotty shivved.’ 1980 J. Wainwright Venus Fly-Trap 165 Two guys. So much hatred—eh? One shivs the other. |