▪ I. wyver
obs. Sc. var. weaver1.
▪ II. † wyver Obs.
Forms: 4 guiure, 5 gwyuer (gwuer), 4–5 wiuere, 5 wiver, 6–7 wiuer; 4–5 wyuere, 5–7 wyuer, 7 wyver.
[a. OF. wyvre, wivre, guivre (F. guivre, givre), etc., varr. vivre serpent: see viver2.]
1. A viper. Also fig. and in fig. context.
| 13.. K. Alis. 5609 (Laud MS.), Addres, guiures, & dragouns, Wolden þis folk..Envenymen & abite. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1010 Ialousye..þat wikkede wyuere. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love iii. v. (Skeat) l. 34 Wherfore..ye ne ought..accompte thilke thing [sc. jealousy] among these other welked wivers and venomous serpentes, as envy, mistrust, and yvel speche. c 1400 Partonope 7079 Now is he allone in þe wildernesse Amonge wyuerse and serpentes. Ibid. 7254 Maruk shewed hir grete lyons,..Dragons, Wyuers, and eke serpentes. |
2. Her. = wyvern 1.
| 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1875) 41 A Wyuer is a kynde of serpent of good Bulke, not vnlyke vnto a dragon, of whose kinde he is, a thinge well knowen vnto the Heroldes, vsinge the same for armes, and crestes, & supporters. Ibid. 42 The erle of Kent bearethe a wiuer for his Creste and supporters; the erle of Penbroke, a wiuer vert for his Creste. 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 293 A wiuer volant. Ibid. 294 A Wyuer being the Armes of Hugh Brent Esquire. 1678 Phillips (ed. 4), Wyver, the name of an Animal, little known otherwise than as it is depicted in Blazonry. |
3. wyver-fish, some chimerical fish. nonce-use.
| 1857 Meredith Farina ix. 153 Upon that he [sc. the Demon] shot out his wings, that were like the fins of the wyver-fish, sharpened in venomous points. |