Bot. Obs. Forms: 6 chyve, 6–8 chieve, 7 shive, 6– chive. (Mostly in pl.) [Occurs first in the expression ‘chives of saffron,’ which in Berthelet’s reprint (1535), of Trevisa’s transl. of Bartholomæus De Proprietatibus Rerum, takes the place of chithe, chire in the 15th c. MSS., chire in the ed. of Wynkyn de Worde (1495). As chithe is app. the original word, chive appears to be an altered form, perhaps partly phonetic (cf. the form siethe in Tusser, cīthe in modern Scotch for cive = CHIVE sb.1), partly influenced by confusion with CHIVE sb.1, this being an Allium of which only the chithes or slender thread-like leaves are used. The passage in De Prop. Rerum is a quotation from Pliny H. N. xxi. 5. § 11, ‘stantibus in medio crocis,’ where ‘crocis’ has not the sense of ‘saffron,’ but that of ‘internal organs of other flowers analogous to saffron’; but whether the Eng. translator so understood it in rendering it ‘chiues of saffron’ is doubtful. In any case the sense of chive as thread-like organ in flowers is clear.]
1. gen. A general name for ‘threads’ or filamentous organs in flowers, i.e., stamens and pistils.
1535. Berthelet ‘corrected’ ed. of Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xci. The floure [Lilye] hath within as it were smalle thredes that conteyne the sede. In the myddel standethe chyues of saffron [stantibus in medio crocis].
1597. Gerard, Herbal, I. xxxiii. 45. Faire star-like flowers … with certaine chiues or threds in them.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. vi. 115. Chives are thick, round and sharp pointed horns that stand in the middle of flowers, which in some are more slenderer than in others. Chives, tipt with pendents, is when the horn hath a seed hanging and shaking at the point of it. Chives are small pointels.
† 2. spec. The thread-like style and stigma of a flower, esp. the stigma of the saffron crocus. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., Chyue, of safron or suche lyke.
1562. Leigh, Armorie (1597), 80 b. By the eating of one chieue of safron.
1587. Harrison, England, III. viii. (1877), II. 52. In everie [crocus] floure we find commonlie three chives, & three yellowes, & double the number of leaves.
1622. Peacham, Compl. Gentl., I. xxii. (1634), 69. Five or sixe shives of Saffron.
1649. Blith, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653), 249. In the middle of it comes up two or three chives which grow upright together … which chives, that is the very Saffron & no maore … you may take betwixt your fingers.
1678. Phil. Trans., XII. 947. The best Saffron is, that which consists of the thickest and shortest chives.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 112. Saffron is the Chive, or Thread of a Flower.
1728. Douglas, Saffron, in Phil. Trans., XXXV. 569–70. They fall to picking out the Filamenta Styli, or Chives, and together with them, a pretty long Portion of the Stylus itself, or String to which they are joined.
b. wrongly applied to the ovary.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Alaturnus, At the Bottom of the Flower grows the Chive, which turns to a Fruit or Berry fill’d with three Seeds.
3. The filament or thread of the stamen, or the stamen as a whole. arch. or Obs.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 49. Out of the middle of the Flower groweth a long style or poyntel, beset round about with small chives, which are tipped with pendents.
1672. Grew, Anat. Plants, I. v. § 13. Made up of two general parts, Chives and Semets, one upon each Chive.
1754. Martyn, in Phil. Trans., XLVIII. 614. It has four conspicuous chives, which sustain yellow summits, in which is great plenty of farina.
1750. G. Hughes, Barbados, App. 316. Chives are those slender Bodies which surround the Ovarium in the Centre of Flowers, and support the Summits.
1787. Withering, Bot. Arrangem., passim.
1807. J. E. Smith, Phys. Bot., 270. The Stamens, formerly called Chives.
b. Misapplied by Ray, and some after him, to the anther (also apex, pendant, semet, or summit).
1691. Ray, Creation, I. (1704), 124. The prolific seed contained in the chives or apices of the Stamina.
1707. Phillips, Chives, the fine Threads in Flowers, or, according to some, the small Knobs that grow on the top of those Threads.
1721. Bradley, Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat., 28. Little Threads, to which the Botanists have given the Name of Stamina, and are terminated at their Tops by small Caps or Purses call’d Apices or Chives.
1732. R. Furber, etc. Flower Gard. Displ., Expl. Terms. Apex, Apices, Chives, the small Knobs that grow on the fine Threads or Stamina of the Flower.
4. A slender blade (of grass); a mote, piece of chaff, or the like; = CHITHE 1.
1610. Barrough, Meth. Physick, I. xxxviii. (1639), 60. If any chive, chip or dust skip into the eye.
1616. Surfl., Countr. Farme, 645. A conie … will gather vp the smallest chiue of grasse that may be.
1857. Wright, Prov. Dict., Chives, chits of grass. Leic.
5. One of the lamellæ or the gills forming the hymenium of an agaric. (Perhaps another word.)
1721. Bradley, Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat., 19. Champignion … the Chives within side of the Cap have been by some taken for the Seed; but I do not find, with the greatest Care, they can ever be made to Germinate.
1744. Pickering, Mushrooms, in Phil. Trans., XLIII. 96. The Lamellæ or Chives on the concave Side of the Umbella. Ibid., 97. A very evident Proof, that each distinct Chive is a Siliqua or Seed-vessel.
