Obs. [app. irreg. f. L. contrīvī, pret. of conterĕre to wear away (cf. contrite, contrition); perh. associated by translators with the prec.] trans. To wear down, wear away, consume, spend; to pass, employ (time).
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 287. Whiche allemoste contriued [pertriverunt] the Romanes and victores of this worlde with mony batelles.
c. 1534. trans. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden), I. 81. Coyllus … contrived [contrivit] all his yowthe in the service of their warrs.
1566. Painter, Pal. Pleas., I. 116 b. You tarie and abide here … to contrive your tyme.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. ix. 48. Nor that sage Pylian syre, which did survive Three ages, such as mortall men contrive.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. ii. 276. Please ye we may contriue this afternoone, And quaffe carowses to our Mistresse health. [Taken by some to belong to CONTRIVE v.1]
