Forms: 3–7 arive, 3–6 aryve, (4 ariffe), 5–6 arryve, (6 arriff), 5– arrive. [a. OF. arive-r, cogn. with Pr. arivar, aribar, It. arrivare, Sp., Pg. arribar, OIt., late L. arribāre:—arrīpāre, adrīpāre, f. ad to + rīpa shore; = ad rīpam appellĕre; cf. mod.It. arripare in orig. sense. With the subseq. widening of sense (which took place before the word was adopted in Eng.), cf. the use of to land. In 14–15th c. occas. aphetized to rive; and inflected after strong vbs., with pa. t. arove (rove, arofe), pa. pple. ariven (aryven).]
I. Of reaching by water.
† 1. trans. To bring (a ship, its crew or passengers) to shore or into port; to land (a ship, etc.).
[The first two quotations may belong to 2.]
c. 1205. Lay., 16063. Nu beoð of Brutaine beornes ariued … i þis lond at Tottenæs [1250 at Dertemuþ in Totenas].
c. 1300. Beket, 1854. Hou Seint Thomas the holi man at Sandwych aryved was.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., IV. iii. 122. Þe wynde aryueþ þe sayles of vlixes … and hys wandryng shippes by þe see in to þe isle þere as Circe … dwelleþ.
1624. Chapman, Homer’s Hymn Apollo, 684. And made the sea-trod ship arrive them near The grapeful Crissa.
1650. W. Brough, Sacr. Princ. (1659), 486. Some points of wind … may as soon Overturn, as Arrive the ship.
1664. Floddan Field, III. 28. Had promis’d plight … His Fleet in merry ray to arive.
2. intr. (through refl.) To come to shore or into port; to land. (Said of a ship, its crew or passengers: till about 1550 the only prevalent sense.) Now merged in 5.
1297. R. Glouc., 377. Þat folc of Denemarch … myd þre hondered ssypuolmen … aryuede in þe Norþ contreye.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 559. We may thair ariffe in-to saufte.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. VII. 87/1. Þe navy of Danes rove up at Sandwyche [Sandwicum appulit].
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 288. Till that he arriveth Sauf in the porte of Antioche.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, xxxii. 57. Tweyn schepis to þat yl a-ryved there.
1470. Harding, Chron., xlii. His nauye greate … In Thamis aroue.
1538. Starkey, England, 57. The schype arryvyth at the haven purposyd.
1611. Bible, Luke viii. 26. They arriued at the countrey of the Gadarenes.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., I. 57. The fleet … with the troops and stores, were arrived at Jamaica.
1874. Marine Insur. Policy. Until the said Ship … shall be arrived at —.
b. Of things: To be brought by ship. Sold to arrive: (a cargo) sold for delivery on arrival in port.
1755. Magens, Insurances. The goods are arrived and brought a-shore safe.
1861. Du Chaillu’s Equat. Afr., ii. 13. Shipments of slaves sold ‘to arrive,’ but which do not come to hand.
3. trans. (by omission of prep.) To come to, land at, reach (a shore, port, etc.). arch. See 6.
1587. M. Grove, Pelops & Hipp. (1878), 96. Nowe we arriue the hauen.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. ii. 110. Ere we could arriue the Point propos’d.
1630. Wadsworth, Sp. Pilgr., i. 5. Through a Million of dangers we arriued the Spanish coasts.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 409. Ere he arrive The happy Ile.
II. Of reaching generally.
† 4. trans. To bring, to convey; to ‘land’ a person in any situation. Obs.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of Armes, II. xxiii. 136. Habillementes for to conueie and arrive the thynges that ben nedefull.
1607. Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, Plays, 1873, II. 82. And belief must arrive him on huge riches.
1667. Waterhouse, Fire Lond., 95. These remisnesses … arrive men at woe.
b. refl. in sense of next.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxii. 216. Tho toke they the mortimer as he arryued hym at the toures dore.
5. intr. To come to the end of a journey, to a destination, or to some definite place; to come upon the scene, make one’s appearance.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 1047. Both he and y As nygh the place arryved were As men may casten with a spere.
a. 1400. Sir Degrev., 59. The eorlle hadd i-revayd, And in hys ȝerd lyȝthus.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. iv. 6. When Artegall arriving happily Did stay awhile their greedy bickerment.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 422. A sauour, that may strike the dullest Nosthrill Where I arriue.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. ix. New labourers will arrive; new Bridges will be built.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt (1868), 22. Before Harold could actually arrive.
b. Const. at, in, upon (into, to, obs.).
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 447. Alle þat may ther-inne [in þe kyndom of god] aryue.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, Fragm. 1. In a forest she is aryven.
1518. Sir A. Browne, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. xiv. 32. By foor your Grace cowd wel arriff at Amyas.
1539. Cromwell, ibid., I App. civ. 272. Yesterday arrived to me hither Your Majesties servants.
1539. Tonstall, Serm. Palme Sund. (1823), 14. Into what howse or place so euer ye shall arriue.
1661. Barrow, Serm., i. I. 2. He shall in good time arriue to his designed journey’s end.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 122, ¶ 9. When we were arrived upon the Verge of his Estate, we stopped at a little Inn to rest our selves and our Horses.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xi. III. 39. There was no outbreak till the regiment arrived at Ipswich.
Mod. Two policemen at length arrived upon the scene.
c. Of things: To be brought or conveyed. (Now only of things material.)
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxvii. 155. The Law cannot arrive time enough to his assistance.
1667. Dryden, Ess. Dram. Poesy, Wks. 1725, I. 46. Let the rest arrive to the Audience by narration.
1709. Tatler, No. 5, ¶ 3. Letters … immediately after arrived from the court of Madrid.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 11. 71. The ladder now arrived, and we crossed the crevasse.
6. trans. (by omission of prep.) To come to, reach. arch.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, III. App. xxxiii. Humours did arrive His knobby head.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 191. Till the crime Arrive the people, and the prince’s eare.
a. 1823. Shelley, Eurip. Cyclops, 668. While I ask and hear Whence coming they arrive the Ætnean hill.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., lxxxiv. Arrive at last the blessed goal.
III. Of reaching a position, state or time.
7. To come to a position or state of mind, or reach an object, as the result of continuous effort; to attain, gain, achieve, compass. a. intr. with (to obs.) at.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 202. Leoncius Was to thempire of Rome arrived.
1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 512. Many so arriue at second Masters, Vpon their first Lords necke.
1642. Howell (title), Instructions for Forreine Travell. Shewing by what cours … one may … arrive to the practical knowledge of the Languages.
1671. Sir C. Lyttelton, in Hatton Corr. (1878), 72. If he arrives at any employment of that nature.
1737. Waterland, Eucharist, 80. They affect to contemn, what they cannot arrive to.
1850. McCosh, Div. Govt. (1874), III. i. 290. We arrive at a knowledge of a law of nature by the generalization of the facts presented to the senses.
1862. H. Spencer, First Princ., I. iv. § 22. The same conclusion is thus arrived at.
† b. with inf. Obs.
1673. Dryden, Marr. à la Mode, I. i. You have learn’d the advantages of Play, and can arrive to live upon’t.
1719. Swift, To Yng. Clergyman, Wks. 1755. II. II. 2. If such gentlemen arrive to be great scholars.
c. trans. Only poet. See 6.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., cxlvii. And by what waies Hee may arrive his End.
8. intr. To come to a certain stage of development, by natural growth, lapse of time, etc.; to reach, attain. Const. (to obs.) at.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., III. Cho. 21. Eyther past, or not arriu’d to pyth and puissance.
1634. Evelyn, Diary (1827), I. 10. Being arriv’d to her 20 yeare of age.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 123, ¶ 4. They were each of them arrived at Years of Discretion.
1747. Gould, Eng. Ants, 49. When the Worms arrive to their Period of Transmutation.
1850. Lynch, Theo. Trin., ix. 162. We and the world have arrived at our present, and shall arrive at our future.
b. Of time and temporal states: To come, so as to be present.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., v. (1804), I. 20. At length the hour arrived.
1847. Bushnell, Chr. Nurture, II. v. (1861), 318. As the knowledge of his nobler, unseen Fatherhood arrives.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 31. The time had arrived.
9. To come about, come to pass, occur, happen, as an event. Obs. (exc. where it has somewhat of the temporal sense of 8, as ‘come about in course of time.’)
1633. H. Cogan, Pinto’s Voy., lxxv. 305. I will speak no further of him, but will deliver that which arrived in other Countries.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. xii. 52. Causes of all things that have arrived hitherto, or shall arrive hereafter.
1713. Addison, Cato, III. iv. 6. That whate’er arrive, My friends and fellow-soldiers may be safe.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. v. 501. Under whose management such misfortunes had arrived.
1862. Trench, Mirac., xvii. 278. This was precisely what they had long hoped would arrive.
† b. Const. to, rarely at. Obs.
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm., I. i. (R.). No considerable damage can arrive to us.
1713. Guardian, No. 1, ¶ 5. All sorrows which can arrive at me.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XV. vi. (1840), 221/2. Any such event may arrive to a woman.
† c. trans. To happen to, befall. Obs.
1655. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), III. 65. The calamity which lately arrived you.
1659. Milton, Civ. Power, Wks. 1847, 418/2. Let him also forbear force … lest a worse woe arrive him.
