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Chive
Definitions
- 1 A perennial plant, Allium schoenoprasum, related to the onion.
- 2 A piece cut off; sliver.
- 3 A knife.
"For when that he hath nubbed as, / And our friends tip him no cole, / He takes his chive and cuts us down, / And tips us into a hole."
- 4 perennial having hollow cylindrical leaves used for seasoning wordnet
- 5 The leaves of this plant used as a herb. attributive, in-plural
"Chive herb. (attributive use)"
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- 6 The filament which supports the anther of a flower; stamen, especially of saffron. obsolete
"1577, Raphael Holinshed et al., The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Ireland, London: John Hunne, Book 3, Chapter 14, “Of English Saffron,” […] in the place wher he bled, Saffron was after found to grow, whereupon the people séeyng the color of the chiue as it stoode, (although I doubt not but it grewe there long before) adiudged it to come to the bloude of Crocus, and therefore they gaue it his name."
- 7 A file.
- 8 The spring onion; the green onion; the scallion. Trinidad-and-Tobago, dialectal
- 9 A saw.
- 1 To stab.
"Adieu to Haul-Cly, adieu to stopping Coaches, and adieu to all the hurry-scurry of Foot-Scampering, filing, chiving, milling, and sneaking[…]"
- 2 To cut.
Etymology
From Middle English chive~cyve, from Old French chive~cive, from Latin cēpa (“onion”).
From Middle English chive, chyve, variant of chith, chyth, from Old English ċīþ (“shoot, scion, sprout”). Doublet of chit and scion.
From Romani chive, chiv, chivvomengro (“knife, dagger, blade”).
From Romani chive, chiv, chivvomengro (“knife, dagger, blade”).
See also for "chive"
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