▪ I. strife
(straɪf)
Forms: 3–5 strif, stryf, 3–7 strive, 4 strijfe, 4–5 strijf, striif, 4–6 striff(e, stryff(e, stryve, 4–7 stryfe, 5–6 stryif(f, 6 strief, Sc. strywe, 4– strife. Pl. 4–6 stryves (4–5 -is, -ys), 4–7 strives; 4 strifs, 5 stryfs, 4–5 stryfes, -ys, strifis, 6– strifes.
[a. OF. estrif, related to estriver: see strive v.]
1. a. The action of striving together or contending in opposition; a condition of antagonism, enmity, or discord; contention, dispute.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 200 Þe uormest is Cheaste, oðer Strif. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 373 Nið, and strif, and ate, and san, Sal ben bitwen neddre and wimman. a 1300 Cursor M. 28196 Wit flitt, wit brixil, striue and strut. c 1350 Leg. Rood iii. 838 A fell woman and full of strife. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 74 They desired nothing but stryf & debate. 1535 Coverdale Ps. liv. 9 For I se vnrightuousnes & strife in y⊇ cite. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. ii. ii. (1867) 47 The diuell hath cast a bone..to set stryfe Betweene you. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 263 Domesticke Fury, and fierce Ciuill strife. 1692 Prior Ode Imit. Hor. viii, When bound in double Chains poor Belgia lay, To foreign Arms, and inward Strife a Prey. 1750 Gray Elegy 73 Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. vi. (1880) 90 The unemployed sought to remove to some foreign country less disturbed by party strife. |
b. An act or instance of contention or antagonism; a contest or conflict, a quarrel or dispute.
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 735 Comen alle strikinde..for to heren þis strif. a 1300 Cursor M. 18568 Þan bigan a neu strif Son bituix þam and min kynghtes. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 218 Suche divisioun is cause of bateilis and strives among men. 1474 Caxton Cheese iv. iv. (1883) 173 To appese alle stryues and contencions. 1484 ― Fables of Alfonce iv, They fylle in a grete dyfferent or stryf. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 111 Strifes increased in the land euery where. 1570 Levins Manip. 152/31 A striue, certamen. 1600 Fairfax Tasso i. xxx, These striues..And discords. 1671 Trenchfield Cap Gray Hairs (1688) 43 He that blows the Coals in other strifes, shall be sure to have the sparks fly in his mouth. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 217 The counsels of the elders of the tribe..arrested the strife upon the eve of its occurrence. 1846 Sumner Scholar, Jurist, etc. 69 With⁓drawing from the strifes of the world. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 259 His simple and noble thoughts..soon degenerated into a mere strife of words. |
c. transf. and fig. Now rare.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxxi. (1495) 142 Also it happeth that..wynde is gadred and closed wythin the smalle skynnes of the rybbes and by the stryf therof is brede sore pryckynge and ache. c 1400 Destr. Troy 10105 Pollexene the pert with hir pure loue..stoppet the strif of his strong hert. c 1491 Chast. Goddes Chyld. 12 That is somtime for a stryfe betwene the spirite and the flesshe. 1773 Johnson (ed. 4), Strife..4. Natural contrariety; as, the strife of acid and alkaly. 1797–1809 Coleridge Three Graves iii. 378 He reach'd his home, and by his looks They saw his inward strife. 1822 Byron Heaven & Earth iii, While safe amidst the elemental strife, Thou sitt'st within thy guarded ark! 1826 Hood Mermaid of Margate 69 And whilst he stood, the watery strife Encroach'd on every hand. 1901 Macm. Mag. Apr. 450/2 The north wind blew up the crests of the waves in the race as when we were in the strife of it. |
d. A subject of contention. rare.
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxix. [lxxx.] 6 Thou hast made vs a very strife vnto our neghbours. 1662 H. Newcome Diary (Chetham Soc.) 118 But I have ever yet beene made the strife of tongues. [Cf. Ps. xxxi. 20 (1535 Coverdale and 1611).] 1738 Wesley Psalms lxxx. vii, A Strife we are to All around. |
† e. occas. (for rime). Trouble, toil, pain, distress. Obs.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 268 Fro swinc, and sorwe, and deades strif. Ibid. 778 Ðe king ðholede sorȝes strif. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 10 Mi joie is torned into strif. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 28 The flesche man die, with paine and striue. |
f. Austral. colloq. Trouble, disgrace, difficulties. Freq. in phr. in strife.
| 1963 A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 45 ‘By cripes!’ said the landlord, ‘I bet you was in strife after that.’ 1966 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 9 Jan. 2/2 He's having trouble with his irrigation. His sudax is coming along all right but he's often in strife priming his pump. 1966 P. Mathers Trap 15, I reckon she needs..a bloody flogging... She'll get us all in strife, he finished. 1969 ‘A. Garve’ Boomerang iv. 147 ‘Keep close on my tail,’ he called. ‘If you get in any strife, bang on your horn.’ |
2. Phr. † a. in strife: in a state of discord or contention. Obs. (See also sense 1 f.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 14544 Þir Iues þat him hild in strijf, Þai hatted na man mare on lijf. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xviii. (1495) 204 A good lorde..acordyth theym that ben in stryffe. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 194 For he with thaim hapnyt richt offt in stryff. 1544 Betham Precepts War i. cxxxii. G v b, And chefely when thy kingdom is in stryfe. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 228 If I should as Lion come in strife Into this place. |
b. at strife: at variance. † Also, at a strife.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 237 The ȝong captane has fallyn with me at stryff. 1508 Dunbar Poems v. 25 Scho..held Sanct Petir at stryfe. 1579–80 North Plutarch, Romulus (1595) 25 Romulus and Remus..fell sodainely at a strife together about the place where the citie should be builded. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, i. ii. 4 Why how now Sonnes, and Brother, at a strife? 1670 Dryden Tyr. Love v. i. 52 My lab'ring thoughts are with themselves at strife. 1746 P. Francis tr. Horace, Ep. i. i. 141 If my judgment, with itself at strife, Should contradict my general course of life. 1861 Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 34 The crown of England, always at strife, and often at open war, with its own barons. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 35 Why are right and wrong at strife? |
† c. without strife: without demur; without doubt, indisputably, unquestionably. Sometimes app. a mere tag, for rime. Also, thereof no strife: that is not disputed. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6417, & wan Edmond made is eir of is lond wiþoute striue. a 1300 K. Horn 407 ‘Horn’, heo sede, ‘wiþute strif Þu schalt haue me to þi wif’. a 1300 Cursor M. 4622 ‘Do wai,’ he said, ‘þer-of na strif.’ c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1892 Noþeles woldy of þe fayn wyte wyþ-oute strif, Wat maner man ys Charlemayn. 1375 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 124/2 And bad hem boþe wiþoute stryf Naȝt eten of þe tre of lyf. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 6831 Alceste..ches to goon vn-to hir grave Wilfully, without[e] stryve. |
† d. by strife or with strife: by force or violence. Obs.
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 6493 What bi loue & what bi striif, He forlay þe stewardes wiif. c 1400 Destr. Troy 174 And wo this wethur shuld wyn bude wirke as I say, Ayre euyn to þe Oxen, entre hom in yoke, With striffe or with stroke till þai stonde wolde. |
† e. to have strife, hold strife, make strife, take strife: to contend, quarrel (with). Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. iv. (1886) 9, I took stryf [L. certamen suscepi] ayeins the prouost of the pretorie for comune profit. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvi. (Baptist) 721 Cese, þare-for, & hald na strife. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 595 For which he tok with rome & Cesar stryf. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (Verse) 650 And mak no strif with old no ȝing. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. i. (1558) 2 b, The tyraunt Decius agayn them toke a stryfe. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour xiv. 20 Faire doughters, kepe you that ye take no striff with no comberous folke. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. lxxv. 3 And for the peace of you I hold such strife, As twixt a miser and his wealth is found. |
f. to make strife: to cause dissension.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 1192 Take no wyfe For to make betwyxe ȝou stryfe. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) ii. 11 Thei seyd, that he made Discord and Strif amonges hem. 1822 Byron Heaven & Earth iii, Get thee hence, son of Noah; thou makest strife. |
3. Competition, emulation; an effort or exertion of rivalry, a contest of emulation. † to make strife: to contend or compete (for). † by strifes: in emulation or rivalry.
| 1530 Palsgr. 277/1 Stryfe bytwene two, brigue. Ibid. 277/2 Stryfe who shall do best, estriue a lestriuee. Ibid. 630/1, I make stryfe to gette an offyce that gothe by election, je brigue. 1556 T. Hoby Castiglione's Courtyer (1561) Ep. Transl. A iiij, With an honest strife of matching others. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 291 His Art with Natures workmanship at strife, As if the dead the liuing should exceed. 1593 ― Lucr. 1791 Then sonne and father weep with equall strife, Who shuld weep most for daughter or for wife. 1623 B. Jonson in Shaks. Wks. To Rdr., Wherein the Grauer had a strife with Nature, to out-doo the life. 1630 R. N. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. 56 The wealthier Inhabitants also of the Sea-coasts..built them ships of warre by striues who should exceede. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. vii. 23 Great was the strife betwixt the Singing Swains. 1709 J. Johnson Clergym. Vade-M. ii. p. cx, In those Ages, when..the Laity did as it were by strifes run into Monasteries. a 1710 Congreve To Earl Godolphin 105 Thus Gods contended, (noble Strife! Worthy the heavnly Mind) Who most should do to soften anxious Life. 1836 Thirlwall Greece xv. II. 305 Let us still be rivals: but let our strife be, which can best serve our country. |
4. The act of striving; strong effort. rare.
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 338 Which we will pay, With strife to please you, day exceeding day. 1603 ― Meas. for M. iii. ii. 246 One, that aboue all other strifes, Contended especially to know himselfe. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 136 We know what strife a man useth in his trade, who hath no inward principle of skill to enable him. 1687 tr. Sallust (1692) To Rdr., As if these Mystic Authors made it their strife to imitate Nature. 1827 Keble Chr. Yr., 2nd Sund. Advent vi, Be your strife To lead on earth an Angel's life. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as strife-fellow, † strife-race; objective, as strife-maker, strife-monger; strife-hatching, strife-stirring, strife-torn ppl. adjs.; strife-weary adj.
| 1875 Morris æn. v. 108 But some were dight amid the games their strife-fellows to be. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. iv. Columnes 32 Men's strife-hatching, haut ambition. 1552 Huloet, Stryfe maker, litistonsor, rixosus, contumeliosus. 1909 Edin. Rev. Oct. 466 The solemn warning to strife-mongers with which he concludes. 1647 Trapp Comm., Heb. xii. 1 ἀγῶνα... The strife-race, for we must run, and fight as we run, strive also to outstrip our fellow-racers. 1591 Sylvester Ivry 315 Our strife-stirring Quils. 1972 R. D. Walshe in G. W. Turner Good Austral. Eng. xi. 227 The ego ceases to be a shifting strife-torn no-man's-land between the armies of the id and the superego. 1983 Times 30 Mar. 7/2 She flies there today on her third tour of the strife-torn Brahmaputra valley state in the past 10 weeks. 1949 Koestler Promise & Fulfilment iii. i. 302 Millions of war-worn, strife-weary people longing to find peace. |
▪ II. strife
obs. form of strive v.