A parallel form of sheave, from Middle English schyve, from Proto-West Germanic *skībā, from Proto-Germanic *skībǭ, presumably through an Old English *sċīfe (though it is not attested before the Middle English period).

• IPA: /ʃaɪv/

shive (plural shives)

1. A slice, especially of bread.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene i]:

     Of a cut loafe to steale a shiue

   • 1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers:

     In my cool room with the shutters shut and the thin shives of air and light coming through the slats, I cried myself to sleep in an overloud selfpitying transport.

2. (obsolete) A sheave.
3. A beam or plank of split wood.
4. A flat, wide cork for plugging a large hole or closing a wide-mouthed bottle.

• German: Scheibe, Schäbe

• German: Laufrolle, Seilscheibe

• German: Schindel, Brettschindel

• German: Stopfen, Pfropfen, Pfropf

From Middle English schyfe, schyffe, from Proto-Germanic *skibō-; cognate with German Schäbe, Dutch scheef, and Low German Schääv, all ‘fragment of the woody core of flax or hemp’.

• IPA: /ʃaɪv/

shive (plural shives)

1. A splinter or fragment of the woody core of flax or hemp broken off in braking or scutching
2. A plant fragment remaining in scoured wool.
3. A piece of thread or fluff on the surface of cloth or other material.
4. (papermaking) A dark particle or impurity in finished paper resulting from a bundle of incompletely cooked wood fibres in the pulp.

• (wood fragment of the husk of flax or hemp) shiv, boon, shove, hurd

• French: chènevotte
• German: Schäbe
• Italian: canapule, lisca
• Spanish: cañamiza, agramiza

Variant of shiv.

• IPA: /ʃɪv/

shive (plural shives)

1. Alternative form of shiv
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 50:

     So every alleyway down here, every shadow big enough to hide a shive artist with a grudge, is a warm invitation to rewrite history.

See shiva

• IPA: /ˈʃɪvə/

shive

1. Alternative spelling of shiva
   • 2010, William Labov, A Life of Learning‎:

     There are some cultural details in Schissel’s story that are specific to the Jewish community: the family sits shive (seven days of mourning for the dead), and the preference for silence at that time.

1. Surname.