zive

zive (plural zives)

1. (West Country, Somerset, Devon) Alternative form of scythe.
   • 1731, A Collection of Loyal Songs Written Against the Rump Parliament, Between the Years 1639 and 1661, page 187:

     Thoo whun the Club-men wor zo thick, Esput my zive upon a Stick, And about eswent among 'um ; And by my Troth esdid suppose That they were honester than those That now do zwear they'll hang 'um.

   • 1872, Agrikler, A Mouse's Zupper, in Poems humorous and philosophical, by Outis, with which are included Rhymes in the West of England Dialect by Agrikler (published in 1875):

     I knaw'd tud be zo vour or vive months ago / when I handled the rip-hook and zive.

   • 1928, The Pocket Book of Poems and Songs: for the Open Air, page 169:

     Or in the dae, a-vleeren droo The leafy trees, the huosse gookoo Da zing to mowers that da zet Their zives on end, an' stan' to whet.

• "Zive" in Francis Grose & al.'s Glossary of Provincial and Local Words Used in England (1839), London: John Russell Smith.