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To hear or receive the confession of; to administer confession and absolution to; -- said of a priest as the agent. That they should shrive their parishioners. Piers Plowman. Doubtless he shrives this woman, . . . Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech. Shak. Till my guilty soul be shriven. Longfellow.…

One who shrives; a confessor.

Shrift; confession. Spenser.

n of the heart or moral nature; inherent power or goodness. That he wants algebra he must confess; But not a soul to give our arms success. Young.

rs the lated traveler." Shak. The Parthians shall be there, And, spurring from the fight, confess their fear. Dryden. The roads leading to the capital were covered with multitudes of yeomen, spurring hard to Westminster. Macaulay. Some bold men, . . . by spurring on, refine themselves. Grew.

To break silence or secrecy for fear of pain or punishment; to speak; to confess. [Colloq.] If he be obstinate, put a civil question to him upon the rack, and he squeaks, I warrant him. Dryden.

k with spasmodic repetition or pauses; to stammer. Trembling, stuttering, calling for his confessor. Macaulay.

Acknowledgement of a fault; confession of error. Be not as extreme in submission As in offense. Shak.

that branch of historic theology which treats of creeds and confessions of faith; symbolism; -- called also symbolic.

inflicted judicially, either as punishment for a crime, or for the purpose of extorting a confession from an accused person, as by water or fire, by the boot or thumbkin, or by the rack or wheel.

To disclose freely; to reveal in confidence, as secrets; to confess; -- often used reflexively; as, to unbosom one's self. Milton.

u bearest the highest name for valiant acts." Milton. [The saints] have made such valiant confessions. J. H. Newman. -- Val"iant*ly, adv. -- Val"iant*ness, n.

to be modified; as, colors vary in different lights. That each from other differs, first confess; Next, that he varies from himself no less. Pope.

om; immorality; depravity; wickedness; as, a life of vice; the vice of intemperance. I do confess the vices of my blood. Shak. Ungoverned appetite . . . a brutish vice. Milton. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honor is a private station. Addison.

to his attorney to appear for him in court, and to suffer judgment to pass against him by confession in favor of some specified person. Bouvier. -- Warrant officer, a noncommissioned officer, as a sergeant, corporal, bandmaster, etc., in the army, or a quartermaster, gunner, boatswain, etc., in the navy. -- Warrant t…

reat degree; with great force, so as to leave some mark as a testimony. [Colloq.] This, I confess, is haste with a witness. South.

n is out of countenance, he makes a very wooden figure on it. Collier. His singing was, I confess, a little wooden. G. MacDonald. Wooden spoon. (a) (Cambridge University, Eng.) The last junior optime who takes a university degree, -- denoting one who is only fit to stay at home and stir porridge. "We submit that a wood…

Even; -- used emphatically. Men may not too rashly believe the confessions of witches, nor yet the evidence against them. Bacon.