Middle English Dictionary Entry
kīve n.
Entry Info
| Forms | kīve n. Also keve, cuf & (?error) cuve. |
| Etymology | OE cȳf, from L; also cp. OF cuve, cueve. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A tub, vat; ?also, a large, wide-mouthed jar; drenche ~, a tanner's vat for soaking hides; helle ~, fig. the pit of hell; ~ fat, a vat; (b) ?a prison; (c) ~ man, a maker or seller of tubs or vats.
Associated quotations
a
- c1225(OE) Wor.Aelfric Gloss.(Wor F.174)549/7 : [Dolium]: cuf.
- c1275(?a1200) Lay.Brut (Clg A.9)2285 : Vðen þer urnen al-se cunes [?read: cuues] þer burnen.
- ?c1335 Swet ihc hend (Hrl 913)p.82 : For ȝe beþ trenne worþi to brenne In bittir helle kiue.
- ?c1335 Heil seint Michel (Hrl 913)p.157 : Hail be ȝe skinners wiþ ȝure drenche kiue! Who so smilliþ þerto, wo is him aliue.
- c1400 Femina (Trin-C B.14.40)p.37 : Vne keue [vrr. cuue, kuue] large primez pernez, Et vostre orge enfoundres; A keue [vr. fat] large first takeþ, And ȝour bere a ȝoteþ.
- (1446) Acc.Yatton in Som.RS 483 : It., for the chetyl and the keve, vj d.
- (1457) Doc.in Gilbert Cal.Dublin 1294 : Ther schold be a kyve with watyr at every man ys dor.
- (1472-3) RParl.6.38a : Item, viii Kevis, x Pottes of brasse.
- (1493-4) Acc.Yatton in Som.RS 4119 : It., kyve vate.
b
- c1400 Femina (Trin-C B.14.40)53 : Þyse lordes doth þyse bondemen in stokkys, In hare kyues [F ceeps] for to chaste.
c
- (1327) Sub.R.Som.in Som.RS 3255 : Willelmus Keveman.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: For 'cunes' ?= 'cuues' at Lay.Brut 2285, see M. Laing, "Words Reread: Middle English Writing Systems and the Dictionary," Linguistica e Filologia 13 (2001), 87-129. The parallel passage at Brut 5976 has been scribally emended to '[tu]nes,' rightly or wrongly.