Obs. Forms: 1 belífan (5 bleve). Pa. t. 1 beláf, pl. belifon, 3 bilæef, -leaf, -lef, 5 bleef. Pa. pple. 1 belifen, 5 blyven. [OE. bi-, belífan:—OTeut. *bilîƀan ‘to remain over,’ in Goth. beleiban, OHG. bilîban, MHG. bilîben, blîben, OS. biliƀan, OFris. bilîva, blîva, mod.G. bleiben, MDu. *belîven, blîven, Du. blijven; f. bi-, BE- + OTeut. *lîƀan ‘to remain, be left.’ Already in OTeut., the simple lîƀan appears to have been superseded by its compound bilîƀan, which takes its place in all the languages; and in most the prefix was at length syncopated to b- so as to make the compound look like a simple verb. In Ger. and Du., bleiben, blijven, remain verbs of great importance, but in Eng. belīve was at an early period confused with, and in 13th c. superseded by, its transitive derivative beleve, BELEAVE, which finally was discarded also; so that the simple LEAVE now remains as the only cognate of Ger. bleiben. In the 15th c., when beleve had been reduced to bleve, Caxton used the pa. t. bleef, and pa. pple. blyven, app. from Flemish, but no one followed him.]
1. intr. To remain.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Exod. xxiii. 18. Ne se rysel ne belifþ oþ morʓen.
c. 1200. Ormin, 2391. Ȝho bilæf wiþþ hire frend.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2776. Ðe grene leaf … ðoȝ grene and hol bi-leaf. Ibid., 1801. He bi-lef ðor on ðe niȝt.
1297. R. Glouc., 288. Þat he ssolde alyȝte, and byleue myd[h]yre al day.
1475. Caxton, Jason, 17 b. Ther bleef no moo but tweyne. Ibid. (1483), Gold. Leg., 67/2. Ther shold not haue blyuen unto nabal … one pyssyng ayenst a walle. 383/2. There bleueth no more but I.
2. trans. (confused with BELEAVE.) To leave.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3066. And ðat [h]ail ða bileaf sal al ben numen.
