▪ I. thrive, v.
(θraɪv)
Pa. tense throve (θrəʊv); pa. pple. thriven (ˈθrɪv(ə)n). Also pa. tense and pple. thrived (θraɪvd).
[ME. þrīve, first in Ormin (þrifenn), ad. ON. þr{iacu}fa-sk refl., to thrive. So Sw. trifvas, Da. trives to thrive, flourish. No trace appears in English of the reflexive suffix, which must have been dropped before the word became naturalized. ON. þr{iacu}fa-sk is in form the reflexive or passive of þr{iacu}fa, recorded in the senses ‘to clutch, grip, grasp, lay hold of with sudden effort’.
(For the sense-history Fritzner, Falk and Torp compare taka-sk, similarly used. The non-reflexive use may have started from the pa. pple þrifinn, thriven.)]
A. Illustration of Forms.
1. inf. and pres. stem. 3 (Orm.) þrifenn, 3–5 þriue(n, 4–5 þryve, 4–6 thryfe, thryue (5 þr-, thrywe), 5–6 thrife, thryff(e, 6 thrif, 4–7 thriue, 5– thrive.
| c 1200 Ormin 10868, & þrifenn aȝȝ & waxenn aȝȝ Inn alle gode þinge. a 1300 Þriue [see B. 1]. 13.. Cursor M. 12139 (Cott.) Als mot we thriue. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxv. (Julian) 365 Allace! I thocht nocht fore to thryfe. 1398 Þryue [see B. 1]. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4832 Þan thrive we þe bettur. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 548 in Macro Plays 93 Fast he gunne to thrywe. c 1460 Þrywe [see B. 1]. c 1500 Debate Carpenter's Tools in Halliw. Nugæ Poet. 14 He thouht ever fore to thryffe. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 488 That mai nought..thrif as thai wald. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 398 We will nocht thryfe this ȝeir. |
2. pa. tense. (α) north. 3 þraf, 4 thraf(e, thrave (-we), 6 thraif, 9 thrave (also arch.).
| c 1200 Þraf [see B. 1]. a 1300 Thraf, thrafe [see B. 2]. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxvii. (Machor) 49 He thrawe, þat wele fosterit was. a 1400 Sir Perc. 212 He wexe and wele thrafe. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 53 Fre that tyme fourtht the earle Bothewell thraif newer. a 1850 Rossetti Dante & Circ. i. (1874) 186 While yet my body thrave On earth. a 1910 T. Dunlop in Poets Ayrshire 261 Brawer bairn..Never thrave. |
(β) 4 þrof, -ff, 4–5 þroof, 5 þrofe, throf(e, (6 Sc. thrueff), 8– throve.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1885 [The Britons] multeplyed, & wel þrof. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 411 In Cristis tyme..þroof þe Chirche. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 137 As he þat þroff neuere. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vi. vii. 192 He..smote doune twelue knyghtes, and the moost party of hem neuer throfe after. 1597 in Spalding Club Misc. (1841) I. 179 Fra that tyme furthe, the said Janet thrueff never. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. I. i. 45 These throve prosperously. 1830, 1852 Throve [see B. 1, 1 b]. |
(γ) 4 þryued, 7– thrived.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 521 Couþe I not þole bot as þou þer þryued ful fewe. 1614, 1647, 1790 Thrived [see B. 1 b]. 1622–1883 [see B. 2 b]. |
3. pa. pple. (α) 4 þriuen, 4–5 þ-, thryuen, threuen, 5 thryffyn, threvyn, 4–7 thriuen, 6– thriven; 5 y-threve, thryve, 6–7 thriue (þriv).
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 6546 Gentil damysels.., Þat able to mennes companye were þryuen. 13.. Cursor M. 5641 (Gött.) Quen it [the child] was thriuen and sum del ald. a 1400 Theophilus ii. in Eng. Studien XXXII. 5 How wel þat he was threuen. 14.. MS. Cantab. Ff. ii. 38 lf. 128 (Halliwell) He ys welle y-threve. 1622 R. Aylett in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 202 By her when wee in life of grace haue thriue, With her we euer shall in glory liue. 1643 Plain English 16 The guard is thriven to an Army. 1830–3 Lyell Princ. Geol. iii. xlii. (1868) II. 459 The ass has thriven very generally in the new world. |
(β) 8 throve.
| 1758 Herald No. 21. II. 89 How very prosperously the shoots of your planting have throve. |
(γ) 4 þriuid, 7–9 thrived.
| 13.. Þriuid [see B. 4]. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 228 How haue you thriu'd this yeare? 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes iii. xii. 155 He might have thriv'd better upon the Tanzies. 1901 Munsey's Mag. XXV. 335 All the protected species have thrived wonderfully at Nehasane. |
B. Signification.
1. intr. To grow or develop well and vigorously; to flourish, prosper. a. Of persons or plants: in early quots. (esp. Ormin) simply † To grow, to increase in some respect; also † to be successful or eminent in arms or war; in quot. 1711, † to grow stout (obs.). Freq. const. on.
| c 1200 Ormin 8973 Hire sune wex & þraf I wissdom & inn elde. Ibid. 10868. a 1300 K. Horn 620 (MS. C.) Ne miȝte þer non þriue. c 1300 Havelok 280 Þe kinges douther bigan þriue. c 1330 [see A. 3 α]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. i. (Tollem. MS.), Ayer, by þe whiche all þinge þat haþ lyf breþeþ and þryueþ. Ibid. xvii. lxii. (Bodl. MS.), Fige treen þriueþ lasse in þe norþe contreies. c 1400 [see thriving ppl. a. 1]. c 1460 Wisdom 1021 in Macro Plays 69 As many roddys as myght grow or þrywe In þe space of a days Jornye. 1530 Palsgr. 756/1, I thrive, as a tree or herbe groweth and dothe well, je vegete. 1697 J. Lewis Mem. Dk. Glocester (1789) 6 The young Prince continued there about twelve months, thriving apace. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 32 ¶2 My Lady Ample..grudges herself meat and drink, for fear she should thrive by them. 1830 H. N. Coleridge Grk. Poets (1834) 357 The child throve wonderfully under this caustic treatment. c 1862 E. Dickinson Poems (1955) II. 403 The Hemlock's nature thrives—on cold. 1886 Corbett Fall of Asgard I. 50 In the clear mountain air he grew and thrived with marvellous rapidity. 1940 J. Buchan Memory Hold-the-Door iii. 84, I throve on a diet of oatmeal, mutton and strong tea. |
b. fig. of immaterial things. Freq. const. on.
| 1613 Will. I in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 163 Two great impediments that valour cannot thrive. 1614 C. Brooke Ghost Rich. III Poems (1872) 106 What? wilt thou..where once Wisdome thriu'd, let Folly grow? 1647 Digges Unlawf. Taking Arms 50 Those innocent times, when Christianity thrived upon suffering. 1790 Reynolds Disc. xv. (1876) 110 The manner of Michel Angelo thrived but little with them. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) II. xxii. 239 The spirit of resistance throve the more. 1907 Edin. Rev. Oct. 406 Thought thrives on conflict. 1972 Sci. Amer. Aug. 73/1 Patient rapport and cooperation thrived on specific instructions. |
2. a. Of a person or community: To prosper; to increase in wealth; to be successful or fortunate; in early use sometimes † To have (good or bad) fortune, to speed, fare, ‘hap’ (well or ill). Freq. const. on.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3911 (Cott.) Iacob wex riche, his childer thraf [F. thrafe, T. þroof]. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 1067 Wel yvel mote they thryve and thee. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 16823 Ther schal but fewe—so mote I thryue!—Off hem passe away on lyue! c 1460 Wisdom 781 in Macro Plays 61 Ye! & ewyll be þou thryvande! 1530 Palsgr. 755/2, I thrive, I go forwarde in rychesse. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iv. i. 78 As I intend to thriue in this new World. 1657 J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 225 Since he thriv'd best among the Gentiles. 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1720) III. 250 He thriv'd in all his Pretences. 1883 Tyndall in Contemp. Rev. XLIV. 52 Nations..and even villages thrive in proportion to the activity of their industry. 1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart p. xxv, The armament firms thrive on war; the glaziers gain by broken windows. 1961 J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) ix. 83 He thrived on good wit and stimulating intellectual conversation. |
b. Of a thing: To be successful, turn out well.
| 1587 Mirr Mag., Humber xvii, God is iust, iniustice will not thrive. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 240, I (kind foole) seeing the world thriu'd with me. 1640 E. Dacres tr. Machiavel's Prince 138 His coosenages all thriv'd well with him; for hee knew how to play this part cunningly. 1883 F. Day Indian Fish 9 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) A few years since, fisheries thrived along the Beloochistan coast. |
† 3. ? To be saved, to remain over. Obs. rare.
| 1509 Parl. Devylles xlv, Twelue lepes of relefe therof dyde thryue, To men and chyldren that had nede. |
† 4. trans. (?) To cause to thrive; to prosper. Obs. rare—1.
| 13.. Cursor M. 22388 (Fairf.) Þat alle þat wille him [Antichrist] sal with-stande, Salle þriuid [other MSS. coround, cruned, crouned] be to life lastande. |
▪ II. † thrive, n. Obs. rare.
[f. prec. vb. Cf. ON. þrif thrift.]
Thriving; profit: = thrift n.1 1, 2.
| 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie, Capitall de Buz ii, Such one as seeks not after gainfull thriue, But firmely doth his thoughts to honor bind. 1604 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1816) IV. 263/2 The Sweitnes of the thrife, Peace, wealth, and felicitie. |