Shrieve

See sheriff.

Full definition of shrieve

Noun

1. Obsolete form of sheriff
• 1591, unknown author, :Please it your Majesty, here is the shrieve of Northamptonshire, with certain persons that of late committed a riot, and have appealed to your Majesty beseeching your Highness for special cause to hear them.
• 1623, William Shakespeare, :I know him: he was a botcher's 'prentice in Paris, from whence he was whipped for getting the shrieve's fool with child: a dumb innocent that could not say him nay.

Usage notes

Also appears capitalised, particularly when used as a title.

Related terms

• shrieval
• shrievalty

See shrive.

Verb

1. Obsolete form of shrive
• 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, :He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash awayThe Albatross's blood.
• 1808, Walter Scott, :The jealous churl hath deeply swore,That, if again he venture o’er,He shall shrieve penitent no more.
2. (obsolete) To question.
• 1596, Edmund Spenser, , 1869, Henry John Todd (editor), The Works of Edmund Spenser, page 243,But afterwards she gan him soft to shrieve,And wooe with fair intreatie, to discloseWhich of the nymphes his heart so sore did mieve: