Belive
adv, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To remain, stay. dialectal, intransitive
"… God helpe me so, the best is thus to done. “Rise, let us speake of lustie life in Troy That we have lad, and forth the time drive, And eke of time coming us rejoy, That bringen shall our blisse now to blive, …""
- 1 Quickly, forthwith.
"By that same way the direfull dames doe driue / Their mournefull charet, fild with rusty blood, / And downe to Plutoes house are come biliue [...]."
- 2 Soon, presently, before long; by and by; anon Scotland, dialectal
Example
More examples"… God helpe me so, the best is thus to done. “Rise, let us speake of lustie life in Troy That we have lad, and forth the time drive, And eke of time coming us rejoy, That bringen shall our blisse now to blive, …""
Etymology
From Middle English beliven, from Old English belīfan (“to remain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bilīban, from Proto-Germanic *bilībaną (“to remain”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- + Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick, glue”). Cognate with West Frisian bliuwe (“to stay”), Dutch blijven (“to remain”), German bleiben (“to remain”), Danish blive (“to be, remain”). More at leave.
From Middle English bilive (“actively, vigorously, eagerly, gladly, quickly, at once”), with syncopated alternative form blive. The adverb is from a contraction of by /bi + live (dative form of lyf, "life"), literally, "by life".
Related phrases
More for "belive"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.