Pt. t. throve; pa. pple. thriven. Also pa. t. and pple. thrived. [ME. þrīve, first in Ormin (þrifenn), ad. ON. þrífa-sk refl., to thrive. So Sw. trifvas, Da. trives to thrive, flourish. No trace appears in English of the reflexive suffix, which must have been dropped before the word became naturalized. ON. þrífa-sk is in form the reflexive or passive of þrífa, recorded in the senses ‘to clutch, grip, grasp, lay hold of with sudden effort.’
(For the sense-history Fritzner, Falk and Torp compare taka-sk, similarly used. The non-reflexive use may have started from the pa. pple. þrifinn, thriven.)]
A. Illustration of Forms.
1. Inf. and Pres. stem. 3 (Orm.) þrifenn, 3–5 þriue(n, 4–5 þryve, 4–6 thryfe, thryue (5 þr-, thrywe), 5–6 thrife, thryff(e, 6 thrif, 4–7 thriue, 5– thrive.
c. 1200. Ormin, 10868. & þrifenn aȝȝ & waxenn aȝȝ Inn alle gode þinge.
a. 1300. Þriue [see B. 1].
13[?]. Cursor M., 12139 (Cott.). Als mot we thriue.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxv. (Julian), 365. Allace! I thocht nocht fore to thryfe.
1398. Þryue [see B. 1].
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 4832. Þan thrive we þe bettur.
c. 1425. Cast. Persev., 548, in Macro Plays, 93. Fast he gunne to thrywe.
c. 1460. Þrywe [see B. 1].
c. 1500. Debate Carpenter’s Tools, in Halliw., Nugæ Poet., 14. He thouht ever fore to thryffe.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 488. That mai nought … thrif as thai wald.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), II. 398. We will nocht thryfe this ȝeir.
2. Pa. t. α. north. 3 þraf, 4 thraf(e, thrave (-we), 6 thraif, 9 thrave (also arch.).
c. 1200. Þraf [see B. 1].
a. 1300. Thraf, thrafe [see B. 2].
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxvii. (Machor), 49. He thrawe, þat wele fosterit was.
a. 1400. Sir Perc., 212. He wexe and wele thrafe.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), II. 53. Fre that tyme fourtht the earle Bothewell thraif newer.
a. 1850. Rossetti, Dante & Circle, I. (1874), 186. While yet my body thrave On earth.
a. 1910. T. Dunlop, in Poets Ayrshire, 261. Brawer bairn … Never thrave.
β. 4 þrof, -ff, 4–5 þroof, 5 þrofe, throf(e, (6 Sc. thrueff), 8– throve.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 1885. [The Britons] multeplyed, & wel þrof.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 411. In Cristis tyme … þroof þe Chirche.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 137. As he þat þroff neuere.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VI. vii. 192. He … smote doune twelue knyghtes, and the moost party of hem neuer throfe after.
1597. in Spalding Club Misc. (1841), I. 179. Fra that tyme furthe, the said Janet thrueff never.
1777. Robertson, Hist. Amer., I. I. 45. These throve prosperously.
1830, 1852. Throve [see B. 1, 1 b].
γ. 4 þryued, 7– thrived.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 521. Couþe I not þole bot as þou þer þryued ful fewe.
1614, 1647, 1790. Thrived [see B. 1 b].
1622–1883. [see B. 2 b].
3. Pa. pple. α. 4 þriuen, 4–5 þ-, thryuen, threuen, 5 thryffyn, threvyn, 4–7 thriuen, 6– thriven; 5 y-threve, thryve, 6–7 thriue.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 6546. Gentil damysels…, Þat able to mennes companye were þryuen.
13[?]. Cursor M., 5641 (Gött.). Quen it [the child] was thriuen and sum del ald.
a. 1400. Theophilus, ii., in Eng. Studien, XXXII. 5. How wel þat he was threuen.
14[?]. MS. Cantab. Ff. ii., 38 lf. 128 (Halliwell). He ys welle y-threve.
1622. R. Aylett, in Farr, S. P. Jas. I. (1848), 202. By her when wee in life of grace haue thriue, With her we euer shall in glory liue.
1643. Plain English, 16. The guard is thriven to an Army.
1830–3. Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. xlii. (1868), II. 459. The ass has thriven very generally in the new world.
β. 8 throve.
1758. Herald, No. 21. II. 89. How very prosperously the shoots of your planting have throve.
γ. 4 þriuid, 7–9 thrived.
13[?]. Þriuid [see B. 4].
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., I. 228. How haue you thriu’d this yeare?
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, III. xii. 155. He might have thriv’d better upon the Tanzies.
1901. Munsey’s Mag., XXV. 335. All the protected species have thrived wonderfully at Nehasane.
B. Signification.
1. intr. To grow or develop well and vigorously; to flourish, prosper.
a. Of persons or plants: in early quots. (esp. Ormin) simply † To grow, to increase in some respect; also † to be successful or eminent in arms or war; in quot. 1711, † to grow stout (obs.).
c. 1200. Ormin, 8973. Hire sune wex & þraf I wissdom & inn elde. Ibid., 10868.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 620 (MS. C.). Ne miȝte þer non þriue.
c. 1300. Havelok, 280. Þe kinges douther bigan þriue.
c. 1330. [see A. 3 α].
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VIII. i. (Tollem. MS.). Ayer, by þe whiche all þinge þat haþ lyf breþeþ and þryueþ. Ibid., XVII. lxii. (Bodl. MS.). Fige treen þriueþ lasse in þe norþe contreies.
c. 1400. [see THRIVING ppl. a. 1].
c. 1460. Wisdom, 1021, in Macro Plays, 69. As many roddys as myght grow or þrywe In þe space of a days Jornye.
1530. Palsgr., 756/1. I thrive, as a tree or herbe groweth and dothe well, je vegete.
1697. J. Lewis, Mem. Dk. Glocester (1789), 6. The young Prince continued there about twelve months, thriving apace.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 32, ¶ 2. My Lady Ample … grudges herself meat and drink, for fear she should thrive by them.
1830. H. N. Coleridge, Grk. Poets (1834), 357. The child throve wonderfully under this caustic treatment.
1886. Corbett, Fall of Asgard, I. 50. In the clear mountain air he grew and thrived with marvellous rapidity.
b. fig. of immaterial things.
1613. Will. I., in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), III. 163. Two great impediments that valour cannot thrive.
1614. C. Brooke, Ghost Rich. III., Poems (1872), 106. What? wilt thou … where once Wisdome thriu’d, let Folly grow?
1647. Digges, Unlawf. Taking Arms, 50. Those innocent times, when Christianity thrived upon suffering.
1790. Reynolds, Disc., xv. (1876), 110. The manner of Michel Angelo thrived but little with them.
1852. Miss Yonge, Cameos (1877), II. xxii. 239. The spirit of resistance throve the more.
1907. Edin. Rev., Oct., 406. Thought thrives on conflict.
2. Of a person or community: To prosper; to increase in wealth; to be successful or fortunate; in early use sometimes † To have (good or bad) fortune, to speed, fare, ‘hap’ (well or ill).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3911 (Cott.). Iacob wex riche, his childer thraf [F. thrafe, T. þroof].
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1067. Wel yvel mote they thryve and thee.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 16823. Ther schal but fewe—so mote I thryue!—Of hem passe away on lyue!
c. 1460. Wisdom, 781, in Macro Plays, 61. Ye! & ewyll be þou thryvande!
1530. Palsgr., 755/2. I thrive, I go forwarde in rychesse.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., IV. i. 78. As I intend to thriue in this new World.
1657. J. Sergeant, Schism Dispach’t, 225. Since he thriv’d best among the Gentiles.
1709. Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem. (1720), III. 250. He thriv’d in all his Pretences.
1883. Tyndall, in Contemp. Rev., XLIV. 52. Nations … and even villages thrive in proportion to the activity of their industry.
b. Of a thing: To be successful, turn out well.
1587. Mirr. Mag., Humber, xvii. God is iust, iniustice will not thrive.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 240. I (kind foole) seeing the world thriu’d with me.
1640. E. Dacres, trans. Machiavel’s Prince, 138. His coosenages all thriv’d well with him; for hee knew how to play this part cunningly.
1883. F. Day, Indian Fish, 9 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.). A few years since, fisheries thrived along the Beloochistan coast.
† 3. ? To be saved, to remain over. Obs. rare.
1509. Parl. Devylles, xlv. Twelue lepes of relefe therof dyde thryue, To men and chyldren that had nede.
† 4. trans. (?) To cause to thrive; to prosper. Obs. rare–1.
13[?]. Cursor M., 22388 (Fairf.). Þat alle þat wille him [Antichrist] sal with stande, Salle þriuid [other MSS. coround, cruned, crouned] be to life lastande.
