blive

English

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blaɪv/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Verb

blive (third-person singular simple present blives, present participle bliving, simple past blove, past participle bliven)

1. (intransitive) Alternative form of belive ("to remain").

Etymology 2

From Middle English blive (“actively, vigorously, eagerly, gladly, quickly, at once”), with unsyncopated alternative form bilive. The adverb is from a contraction of by／bi +‎ live (dative form of lyf, "life"), litteraly, "by life".

Adverb

blive (comparative more blive, superlative most blive)

1. (obsolete) quickly; forthwith
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18, page 223:

     “Perdy, ſir knight,” ſaide then th’ enchaunter blive […]

Alternative forms

• belive

Anagrams

• Bevil

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German bliven, from Old Saxon bilīƀan, from Proto-Germanic *bilībaną, cognate with German bleiben (“to remain”). In the sense “to become", it has replaced older vorde.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bliːə/, , (formal) IPA^(key): /bliːvə/, ,

Verb

blive (past tense blev, past participle blevet, c bleven, plural and definite singular blevne)

1. (copulative) to become (go from one state into another, with a predicative or the preposition til (“to”); the latter is preferred with nouns if a change is implied)

   Hun blev læge da hun var 25 år.

   She became a doctor when she was 25.

   Vejret vil blive koldt når solen er gået ned.

   The weather will become cold after the sun goes down.

   Ællingen blev til en svane

   The duckling became a swan

2. (auxiliary) to be (used with the past participle to form the passive voice)

   Hunden blev druknet af drengen.

   The dog was drowned by the boy.

3. to amount (to total or evaluate)

   Det bliver 10kr.

   It amounts to 10kr.

4. (intransitive) remain (to continue unchanged in place, form, or condition, or undiminished in quantity)

   Hun blev da de andre gik

   She remained when the others left.

Conjugation

Further reading

• “blive” in Den Danske Ordbog

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• bli

Etymology

From the expression blive på sjøen (literally “to remain at sea”). Thus the same word as bli (“to remain, become”), from Danish blive, from Middle Low German blîven, from Proto-Germanic *bilībaną.

Verb

blive (present tense bliver, past tense blev or bleiv, past participle blitt, present participle blivende, imperative bliv)

1. to drown

   Synonym: drukne

References

• “blive” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• bliva (a infinitive)

Etymology

From Middle Norwegian blífa, from Middle Low German bliven, from ultimately Proto-Germanic *bilībaną.

Verb

blive (present tense bliv, past tense bleiv, supine blive, past participle bliven, present participle blivande, imperative bliv)

1. (intransitive) to drown

   Synonym: drukne

   han gjekk gjennom isen og bleiv

References

• “blive” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.