blive

See also: blīve and blīvē

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"), literally, "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 replaced native vorde.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bliːə/, [ˈb̥liːi], [b̥li] or (formal) IPA^(key): /bliːvə/, [ˈb̥liːʋə], [ˈb̥liːʊ]

Verb

blive (imperative bliv, infinitive at blive, present tense bliver, past tense blev, perfect tense blevet)

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

Conjugation of blive

active passive infinitive blive blives present bliver blives past blev — imperative bliv — participle present blivende past (er / var) blevet gerund bliven

Derived terms

• døvbleven
• forblive
• tilbagebleven
• tilbageblivende
• tilblive
• udeblive
• vedblive

References

• “blive” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “blive” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• bli (alternative form)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Norwegian blífa (“to remain, stay”), itself borrowed from Middle Low German blîven (“to remain, stay”), from Old Saxon bilīvan (“to remain, stay”), from Proto-West Germanic *bilīban (“to remain, stay”), from Proto-Germanic *bilībaną (“to stay, remain”), from *bi- (“by, at”) + *lībaną (“to remain, stay”), the latter ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick, cling; remain”).

The specialized meaning “drown, perish at sea” developed from the older sense “remain, stay”, especially in expressions such as blive på sjøen, literally “remain at sea”. In modern Bokmål, the ordinary senses “remain, become” are represented by bli, while blive is retained alongside bli for the specialized drowning sense.

Compare Danish blive, Swedish bliva, Faroese blíva, German bleiben, Dutch blijven and English belive (“to remain, stay”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²ˈbliː.ʋə/, [ˈblîː.ʋə]
• Rhymes: -iːʋə
• Hyphenation: bli‧ve

Verb

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

1. (intransitive, dialectal) drown; perish at sea

   Synonym: drukne

   Han bleiv på sjøen. ― He drowned at sea.

   • 1870, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Arnljot Gelline, page 75:

     på hav han blev

     at sea he perished

   • 1919, Johan Falkberget, Fimbulvinter, page 20:

     han blei paa sjøen

     he was lost at sea

   • Johan Bojer, Samlede verker, volume IV, page 65:

     den andre bleiv paa Varangerfjorden i høst

     the other one drowned in the Varangerfjord this autumn

   • 1895, Hans E. Kinck, Flaggermus-vinger, page 152:

     de øste vand efter ham; han kom til at blive engang, skrek de, naar han var saa ræd sjø

     they splashed water after him; he would end up drowning one day, they shouted, when he was so afraid of the sea

Usage notes

The form blive is retained in modern Bokmål dictionaries specifically in the sense “drown, perish at sea”. In the ordinary senses “remain, stay; become” it is an older form of modern bli.

References

• “blive” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “bli” in Norwegian Academy Dictionary (NAOB).

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.