Verb

To tear apart by force; to split; to cleave.

* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds / Have rived the knotty oaks

To pierce or cleave with a weapon.

* :

And therwith she toke the swerd from her loue that lay ded and fylle to the ground in a swowne / And whan she aroos she made grete dole out of mesure / the whiche sorowe greued Balyn passyngly sore / and he wente vnto her for to haue taken the swerd oute of her h?d butsodenly she sette the pomell to the ground / and rofe her self thorow the body

(label) To break apart; to split.

* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queen) , II.vi:

The varlet at his plaint was grieu'd so sore, / That his deepe wounded hart in two did riue .

* (1665-1728)

Freestone rives , splits, and breaks in any direction.

In woodworking, to use a technique of splitting or sawing wood radially from a log (e.g. clapboards).

Verb

To twist, to wring (something).

To contort (a part of the body).

*, II.17:

*:Cicero (as I remember) had gotten a custome to wryth his nose, which signifieth a naturall scoffer.

To twist or contort the body; to be distorted.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport

, title= Everton 0-2 Liverpool , passage=The game was engulfed in controversy when Rodwell appeared to win the ball cleanly in a midfield challenge with Suarez. The tackle drew an angry response from Liverpool's players- Lucas in particular as Suarez writhed in agony - but it was an obvious injustice when the England Under-21 midfielder was shown the red card.}} (Webster 1913)