Forms: α. 1 cýf, 2 cuf, 3 kiue, 4–8 kive, 6 kyve. β. 5–6 keve, 8–9 kieve, 9 keave, 7– keeve. [OE. cýf may represent an Teut. *kūƀjā, but has no exact equivalent in the cognate langs. The sense is that of LG. küven, keuben and G. kübel (MHG. also kübbel; cf. OHG. milich-chubili milk-pail), but these have short u as stem-vowel.
The normal repr. of OE. cýf, cýfe is kive, but the word is now practically obs., exc. in s. w. dial., where the form is keeve; cf. fere, here, heve, kee = fire, hire, hive, kye.]
1. A tub or vat; spec. a vat for holding liquid in brewing and bleaching; in Mining, a vessel in which tin or copper ore is washed.
α. c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 58. Se het afyllan ane cyfe mid weallendum ele. Ibid., II. 178. Þa stod ðær an æmtiʓ cyf.
a. 1300. Sat. People Kildare, xiv. in E. E. P. (1862), 155. Hail be ȝe skinners wiþ ȝure drenche kiue, Who so smilliþ þer-to wo is him aliue.
1509. Yatton Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.), 130. Payd to ye hoper for hopyng of ye kyve … jd.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Derbysh., I. (1662), 230. They must brew every day, yea pour it out of the Kive into the Cup.
1743. Lond. & Country Brewer, IV. (ed. 2), 266. In Winter they ferment a little first in the Kive or Tun to put to the Wort in the Barrel.
1755. Shebbeare, Lydia (1769), II. 100 (E. D. D.). A brewer’s kive filled with new beer.
β. 1446. Yatton Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.), 83. It. for the chetyl and the keve … vid.
1574. in Worth, Tavistock Par. Acc. (1887), 30. For mendyng of the lyme Keve vjd.
1674. Ray, S. & E. Country Words, 69. A Keeve (Devon), a Fat wherein they work their beer up before they tun it.
1743. Maxwell, Sel. Trans. Soc. Improv. Agric. Scot., 343. As for the Bleaching-house, it ought to be furnished with … good Keeves or Tubs for Bucking.
1776. Bolton, in A. Young, Tour Irel. (1780), II. 201. (Cider-making) As the juice is thus pressed out, let it be poured into large vessels, usually called Keeves, to undergo the fermentation.
1875. Ure’s Dict. Arts, II. 107. A large kieve of water, in which the sieve is suspended by the iron rod.
2. A local name for the mill-hoop, the enclosing case of a run of stones in a flour mill (HOOP sb.1 2).
3. attrib. and Comb., as keeve-net (Cornw.), keeve-work.
1550–1600. Customs Duties (B. M. Add. MS. 25097). Kive or dole eles, the barrell of either, xxxs.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 60. Keeve-work, that is, making large Vessels of red Deal Boards, hooped both with Iron and strong Oak Hoops.
1883. Leisure Hour, 697/2. These [pilchards] he catches … in his ‘kieve net’—a net somewhat like an angler’s landing-net.
