arch. [a. F. captive-r (15th c.):—L. captīvāre, f. captīv-us CAPTIVE a.
In very common use in 16–18th c.; rare in 19th. Orig. pronounced captī·ve, as still in Milton; but ca·ptĭve, used by Shaks., and frequent in 17th c., alone survives.]
To take captive, bring into captivity: a. lit.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (1840), 38. Thei hym captived, whereby he was y-lore.
1596. H. Clapham, Briefe Bible, I. 91. Tiglath Pileeser had before tyme captived them [the Israelites].
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., II. iv. 55. When Cressy battell fatally was strucke, And all our princes captiu’d.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., II. (1852), App. 217. They butchered and captived many of the inhabitants.
1756. Burke, Vind. Nat. Soc., Wks. 1842, I. 8. And their inhabitants slaughtered, and captived.
1828. W. Taylor, Surv. Germ. Poetry, I. 300. Thusnelda has been captived by the Romans.
b. fig. To captivate, enthrall (the understanding, reason, affections, will, etc.).
1528. More, Heresyes, I. Wks. 169/1. To captiue and subdewe oure vnderstandyng.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 142 b. Freewill being captived hath no power to worke anything but sinne.
a. 1595. Southwell, Peter’s Compl. O women! woe to men; traps for their falls … Earth’s necessary ills, captiving thralls.
c. 1605. Rowley, Birth Merl., II. ii. 305. That face … Captiv’d my senses.
1640. Bastwick, Lord Bps., ii. B ij b. Captiving them with manyfold ceremonies.
c. 1720. Prior, Love Disarmed, 10 (J.).
| How she the vagrant might inthral, | |
| And captive him, who captives all. |
1765. Churchill, Rosciad (ed. 9), 37 (R.).
| If music, sweetly breathing from the tongue, | |
| Captives the ear, Bride must not pass unsung. |
Hence Captived ppl. a., Captiving ppl. a., etc.
1591. Horsey, Trav. (1857), 182. To by and redeme divers … of those captived people.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 2. But the captiv’d Acrasia he sent … a nigher way.
1613. Purchas, Pilgr., I. I. xvii. 79. The Philistins placed the Captived Arke in Dagon’s Temple.
1671. Milton, Samson, 33. If I must dye Betray’d, Captiv’d, and both my Eyes put out.
1724. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), II. 125. My captiv’d fancy.
1798. Monthly Mag., VI. 99. The captived king Zedekiah.
