riven, ppl. a.
(ˈrɪv(ə)n)
Forms: α. 4 rivyn, ryffen, 5–6 ryven, 6–7 ryuen, riuen, 4, 6– riven. β. 5–6 revyn, 6 reven, Sc. reuin.
[Pa. pple. of rive v.1]
1. Split, cloven, rent, torn asunder.
| 1307–27 Pol. Poems (Camden) 307 Sum es left na thing Boute his rivyn riveling To hippe thar-hinne. 1457 Fabric Rolls York (Surtees) 69 Pro c long revyn burdes, prec. pece, 2d. c 1460 Towneley Myst. ii. 141 For had I giffen away my goode, then myght I go with a ryffen hood. 1563 Winȝet Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 114 Auld and reuin ornamentis. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 9 Through riven cloudes and molten firmament. Ibid. 10 Like fresh water streame from riven rocke. 1619 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 14 We may not, like riuen vessels, let this doctrine slip. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 449 He stood..Sore toild, his riv'n Armes to havoc hewn. 1720 Pope Iliad xx. 328 O'er him high the riven Targe extends. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 444 The well-stack'd pile of riven logs and roots. 1815 Shelley Alastor 347 The little boat..pausing on the edge of the riven wave. 1877 W. Black Green Past. xxxvii, A series of majestic peaks, their riven sides sparkling with sunlit snows. |
| fig. 1817 Shelley Revolt Islam iii. 1300 The caverns dreary..Of the riven soul. 1849 Miss Mulock Ogilvies xxxvi, To cast out from his riven heart the very ashes of this bitter love. |
† 2. Ornamentally slashed.
Obs. rare.
| c 1450 Songs on Costume (Percy Soc.) 65 So many ryven shertes,..And so many lewed clerkes, Say I never. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 57 b, One Shynynge, Mayre of Rochester, set a young man on the Pillory for wering of a ryuen shert. |