gyve

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
11
Words With Friends
12
Letters
4
Pronunciation
/d͡ʒaɪv/
See all 2 pronunciations
/d͡ʒaɪv/ · /ɡaɪv/

Definition of gyve

2 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (literary)A shackle or fetter, especially for the leg.
    “[…] I would have thee gone: And yet no further than a wanton’s bird; Who lets it hop a little from her hand, Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, And with a silk thread plucks it back again, So loving-jealous of his liberty.”
    “With head and heart and hand I’ll strive To break the rod, and rend the gyve,— The spoiler of his prey deprive,—”
    “Our gyves were removed and our possessions returned to us, except for my Banker’s Special.”
See all 2 definitions

noun

  1. (literary)A shackle or fetter, especially for the leg.
    “[…] I would have thee gone: And yet no further than a wanton’s bird; Who lets it hop a little from her hand, Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, And with a silk thread plucks it back again, So loving-jealous of his liberty.”
    “With head and heart and hand I’ll strive To break the rod, and rend the gyve,— The spoiler of his prey deprive,—”
    “Our gyves were removed and our possessions returned to us, except for my Banker’s Special.”

verb

  1. To shackle, fetter, chain.
    “Not gyved with connubial relations, I entered upon my migration entirely isolated, with the exception of a canine quadruped whose mordacious, latrant, lusorious, and venatic qualities, are without parity.”
    “"Say, rather, to melt the iron links which gyve soul to body," said Clifton ...”
    “Gyved to a squeaky swivel seat in my office, …”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English *give, *gyve (found only in plural gives, gyves (“shackles; fetters”)). Of uncertain origin, possibly from low dialect taking from Celtic; compare Welsh gefyn (“fetter, shackle”), Irish geibbionn…

See full etymology

From Middle English *give, *gyve (found only in plural gives, gyves (“shackles; fetters”)). Of uncertain origin, possibly from low dialect taking from Celtic; compare Welsh gefyn (“fetter, shackle”), Irish geibbionn (“fetters”), geimheal (“fetter, chain, shackle”); these are from Proto-Celtic *gem- (“shackle, chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *gem- (“to squeeze, grab, press”), see also Proto-Slavic *žęti, Ancient Greek γέντο (génto). The modern pronunciation with /dʒ/ is due to the spelling. The verb is from Middle English given, gyven (“to shackle”), from the noun.

Words you can make from gyve

3 playable · top: GEY (7 pts)

Best play gey 7 points

3-letter words

1 word

2-letter words

1 word

Hooks

2 extensions · 2 back

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