Search the Dictionary

ntend; to contest; -- followed by against or with before the person or thing opposed; as, strive against temptation; strive for the truth. Chaucer. My Spirit shall not always strive with man. Gen. vi. 3. Why dost thou strive against him Job xxxiii. 13. Now private pity strove with public hate, Reason with rage, and elo…

Striven. Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel. Rom. xv. 20.

p. p. of Strive.

One who strives.

To strive or struggle against; to withstand. [Obs.] Spenser.

To strive anew.

One who affects, assumes, pretends, or strives after. "Affecters of wit." Abp. Secker.

To struggle; to wrestle; to strive desperately.

To content, as at some game in which each strives to drive the ball his own way. Fit to bandy with thy lawless sons. Shak.

To affect as with blows; to strike repeatedly; to strive with or contend against; as, to buffet the billows. The sudden hurricane in thunder roars, Buffets the bark, and whirls it from the shores. Broome. You are lucky fellows who can live in a dreamland of your own, instead of being buffeted about the world. W. Black.…

To contend emulously; to seek or strive for the same thing, position, or reward for which another is striving; to contend in rivalry, as for a prize or in business; as, tradesmen compete with one another. The rival statesmen, with eyes fixed on America, were all the while competing for European alliances. Bancroft.…

plaisance and gallantry of our nation the most powerful part of our people. Addison. They strive with their own hearts and keep them down, In complaisance to all the fools in town. Young.

To strive in opposition; to contest; to dispute; to vie; to quarrel; to fight. For never two such kingdoms did content Without much fall of blood. Shak. The Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle. Deut. ii. 9. In ambitious strength I did Contend against thy valor. Shak.…

To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to defend; as, the troops contested every inch of ground.

To enter into or maintain a hostile contest; to struggle; to combat; especially, to strive or contend on equal terms or with success; to match; to equal; -- usually followed by with. Host coped with host, dire was the din of war. Philips. Their generals have not been able to cope with the troops of Athens. Addison.…

Strong desire. [R.] When workmen strive to do better than well, They do confound their skill in covetousness. Shak.

To engage in combat for; to strive for. Volunteers . . . thronged to serve under his banner, and the cause of religion was debated with the same ardor in Spain as on the plains of Palestine. Prescott.

f peace; inquietude; pain; distress; sorrow. "An age of spiritual discomfort." M. Arnold. Strive against all the discomforts of thy sufferings. Bp. Hall.

To strive or contend about; to contest. To dispute the possession of the ground with the Spaniards. Prescott.

The act of disquieting; a state of disquiet. [Obs.] [It] roars and strives 'gainst its disquietal. Dr. H. More.