▪ I. † greave1 Obs.
Forms: 4–7 greve, 6–7 greave, (4 Sc. grewe, 6 pl. grevous, Sc. greis, graiwis, 7 greeve, grieve).
[OE. grǽfa wk. masc. or grǽfe fem.:—prehistoric *graiƀjon-, f. *graiƀo- grove.]
1. a. (OE. only.) Brushwood. b. pl. Branches, twigs. (Used once by Drayton as sing.)
| a 1000 O.E. Chron. an. 852 (Laud MS.) He scolde ᵹife ilca ᵹear in to þe minstre sixtiᵹa foðra wuda and twælf foður græfan and sex foður ᵹearda. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 159 Of silk I-broudede ful of grene grevys. c 1386 ― Knt.'s T. 649 To maken hym a gerland of the greues, Were it of wodebynde or hawethorn leues. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. Prol. 22 The birdis sat on twystis and on greis. 1563 Winȝet Wks. (1890) II. 59 God forbid, I say, that in this spiritual paradise, of the graiwis [orig. L. surculis] of cannal and balme, fra hand spring wp guild and humlokis. 1567 Turberv. Ovid's Ep. 27 How oft have we of grasse and greaves preparde a homely bedde? 1593 Drayton Moses ii. 248 A swarming cast of Bees..Pressing each plant, and loading eu'ry greaue. 1612 ― Poly-olb. xiii. 215 Hid among the leaves, Some in the taller trees, some in the lower greaves. |
2. A thicket.
| c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 406/33 Frondosis dumis, þæm ᵹehilmdum græfum. c 1100 Ibid. 517/36 Per dumos, þurh græfan. c 1200 Ormin 9209 Whærse iss all unnsmeþe get þurrh bannkess & þurrh græfess. 13.. Sir Tristr. 14 Þis greues wexen al gray, þat in her time were grene. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1144 By hedge, by tre, by greue. 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 13 All grewis begouth to spryng. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. ii. 149 Ther as wrecched greues [L. misera virgulta] Sour lond, to weet, or salt is, neuer delue. 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 551 A logge they dyghte of leves, In the grene greves. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vi. xvi, There with al came oute syre phelot oute of the greuys sodenly. ? c 1475 Hunt. Hare 107 Yonder syttes [the hare] in a greyve. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. x. 42 It is best..that ye doe leave Your treasure..Either fast closed in some hollow greave, Or buried in the ground from jeopardy. 1600 Fairfax Tasso iii. vi. 40 The winde in houltes and shadie greaues A murmur makes, among the boughes and leaues. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xix. viii. 134 We made speed through greves and groves [L. per dumeta et silvas] toward the high mountains. |
▪ II. greave2
(griːv)
Chiefly pl. Forms: pl. 4 grayvez, grevez, 5 greves, grevys, Sc. greis, 6–7 graves, 7 greeves, greves, 6– greaves. sing. 6– greave, (6 greve, 7 grieve).
[a. OF. greve shin, armour for the legs (12th c. in Littré), of unknown origin; cf. Sp. grebas, grevas (Minsheu).]
1. Armour for the leg below the knee.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 575 His legez lapped in stel with luflych greuez. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. viii. 847 Cusseis or greis or braseris. 1463 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 215 To Cakebrede ffor a harneyse complet, ssave salatt and grevys, v. marc. 1557 N. Grimalde in Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 122 Zoroas..The carelesse king there smote, aboue the greaue, At thopening of his quishes. 1603 Drayton Bar. Wars ii. xi, Marching in Greaves, a Helmet on her Head. 1622 F. Markham Bk. Warre v. ii. 166 From the close Caske downe to the Greaue. 1671 Milton Samson 1119 Put on..thy broad habergeon, Vaunt-brass and greves, and gauntlet, and thy spear. 1715–20 Pope Iliad xviii. 707 The greaves of ductile Tin. 1813 Byron Br. Abydos ii. ix, The greaves below his knee that wound With silvery scales were sheathed and bound. 1832 Tennyson Lady of Shalott iii. 4 The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves, And flamed upon the brazen greaves Of bold Sir Lancelot. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets v. 133 The burnished brazen greaves that hang upon the wall. |
† 2. The part of the leg on which the greave is worn; the shin, leg. Obs.
| 1600 New Yr.'s Gift in Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz. (1823) III. 474 A slender greve swifter than roe. |
3. Comb., as greave-stud.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xxii. xxii, A grieve-stud or leg harneis-naile. |
▪ III. † greave3 Obs.—1
[ad. F. grève: see gravel.]
The sandy shore of a river.
| 1579 Fenton Guicciard. ii. (1599) 80 The french men for⁓bare not to march, partly upon the breach or greaue of the riuer, partly by the skirts or stretching out of the bancke. |
▪ IV. greave
obs. form of grave, grief, grieve v.