▪ I. † rival, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 4–5 riuale, 5 riuayle, 6 rivaile; 5 ryuaile, -ayle, ryvaille, -aylle, 6 ryual(e.
[a. OF. rivaille, f. rive rive n.1]
1. A bank, shore, landing-place. Also port rival.
| 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 153 Þe kynges moder Richard Ariued at þat riuale. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 52 He þat spendys his good ouyr mesure shal sone come to þe better riuale of pouert. c 1450 Lydg. Secrees 1328 Walkyng by Ryvaylles, holdyng ther passage On plesaunt hylles. 1502 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 217 That noo Man be distreyned too make Bruggis ne Ryuals. 1594 Greene & Lodge Looking Gl. (Hunterian Cl.) 57 As I was comming alongst the port ryuale of Niniuie. |
2. Landing; arrival at a port.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 8110 To Grekis pleinly þis ryvaille So mortal was & so infortunat. 15.. Piers of Fulham 316 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 13 To make his rivaile to be know, At redclif in his saile to show. |
▪ II. rival, n.2 and a.
(ˈraɪvəl)
Also 6–7 riual, 7 riu-, rivall.
[ad. L. rīvāl-is, orig. one living on the opposite bank of a stream from another, f. rīvus stream. Hence also F. rival (15th c.), Sp. and Pg. rival, It. rivale.]
A. n.
1. One who is in pursuit of the same object as another; one who strives to equal or outdo another in any respect.
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Dec. (1592) 106 To mingle poison priuily..Or else in armour openly to worke his riuals death. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 156 You both are Riuals, and loue Hermia; And now both Riuals to mocke Helena. 1648–9 Eikon Bas. xxvi. (1662) 127 The Independents think themselves manumitted from their Rivals service. 1694 Addison Virg. Wks. 1726 I. 20 So let the royal insect rule alone And reign without a rival in his throne. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 306 ¶1 My Lovers are at the Feet of my Rivals, my Rivals are every Day bewailing me. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, ix. III. 173 He beheld a prosperous rival receiving those ensigns of dignity of which he had been stripped. 1835 Thirlwall Greece x. I. 436 Chalcis and Eretria were long rivals. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xv, Come, we will not be rivals, we will be friends. 1899 B. Harraden Fowler 128, I believe the medical name for a rival is ‘colleague’. |
| Comb. 1597 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 131 (Q.1), The Egle⁓winged pride Of skie aspiring and ambitious thoughts, With riuall hating enuy. |
| transf. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) 211 That long line of low hills,..which seems like a feeble rival of the loftier ranges of the West. |
2. One who, or that which, disputes distinction or renown with some other person or thing.
| 1646 Crashaw Sospetto d'Herode iv, That neither Rome nor Athens can bring forth A Name in noble deeds Rivall to thee! 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 472 And so refus'd might in opinion stand His rivals, winning cheap the high repute. 1770 Junius Lett. xxxvi. (1788) 194 The successor of one Chancellor might well pretend to be the rival of another. 1776 R. Chandler Trav. Greece 81 This stadium..is extolled as without a rival, and as unequalled by any theatre. 1855 Brewster Newton II. xxvii. 400 A man who has had no rival in the times which are past. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §6. 403 The Spanish generals stood without rivals in their military skill. |
B. adj. Holding the position of a rival or rivals.
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 139, I know you two are Riuall enemies. 1619 Drayton Lady Geraldine to Surrey 11 Nor euer did suspitious riuall Eye Yet lye in wait my Fauours to espie. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 28 The Rival Chariots in the Race shall strive. 1712 Pope Ep. to Miss Blount 15 Ev'n rival Wits did Voiture's death deplore. 1784 Cowper Task v. 123 Thus nature works..in defiance of her rival pow'rs. 1830 D'Israeli Chas. I, III. v. 62 These Ministers of State attempted..to restrain or abolish, a rival minority. 1886 Ruskin Præterita I. vii. 227 He was perfectly..candid in appraisement of the wine of rival houses. |
| Comb. 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) IV. 47 The principle..may be termed the double-shop, or rival-shop principle. |
▪ III. † ˈrival, n.3 Obs.—1
[? ad. L. rīvulus, dim. of rīvus; cf. rivel n.3]
A small stream.
| 1600 W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 68 A faire seeming..fountaine..deuided into two armes or riuals from the head. |
▪ IV. rival
obs. form of rivel v.1
▪ V. rival, v.
(ˈraɪvəl)
[f. rival n.2]
1. trans. To enter into competition with; to contend or vie with; to strive to equal or excel (another).
| 1609 W. M. Man in Moon (1849) 43 He watcheth and prayeth for her,..sobbing like a silly sot if he be rivald and put besides her. 1637 Rutter Cid iii. iv, Shall I Love where I am so rivall'd? No, my heart. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. v. 10 Your Merit and your Years command the Choice: Amyntas only rivals you in Voice. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 91 ¶1 These Beauties Rival each other on all Occasions. 1787 Generous Attachment I. 25 You will have one half of the gay world to rival, and the other to approve your choice. 1824 Bp. Heber Life Jer. Taylor p. ccx, A work..which contending sects have rivalled each other in approving. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 432, I had no idea of rivalling him or his poems. |
b. transf. of things.
| 1784 Cowper Task i. 431 The cheering fragrance of her dewy vales, And music of her woods—no works of man May rival these. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 370 A host of writers, whose numbers rivalled, if they did not surpass, those of the sixteenth century. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. v. 38 A crash which rivalled thunder. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geogr. v. 208 A desert region, rivalling..the bare and repulsive features of the Sahara. |
2. intr. To act as a rival, be a competitor.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear i. i. 194 We first addresse toward you, who with this King Hath riuald for our Daughter. 1654 Z. Coke Logick Pref., Every Colon & Column of your lives..[will] cause your Names (Rivalling with time) to survive on Earth. 1862 Vacation Tour. 1861, 271 Even Christianity has not been able to uproot an idea which Poetry and Art have rivalled to perpetuate. 1898 T. F. Tout Empire & Papacy xvii. (1901) 427 The Lombard and Cahorsin usurers, who had now begun to rival with the Israelites in finance. |
† b. So with it. Obs.
| 1656 S. H. Gold. Law 65 Silver and gold rival'd it in number and weight with the stones in the street. Ibid. 68 His [Joshua's] rivalling it with his master in dividing of Jordan's Rivers, Red Sea-like. |
Hence ˈrivalled ppl. a.; ˈrivalling vbl. n.
| 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. Magnificence 76 Whom, with-out Force, Uproar, or Rivaling, Nature and Law, and Fortune make a King. a 1649 Crashaw Carmen Deo Nostro, Flaming Heart 44 Give Him the vail; that he may cover The Red cheeks of a rivall'd lover. a 1748 Thomson Hymn on Solitude 24 As..she,..Amid the long withdrawing vale, Awakes the rival'd nightingale. |