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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Reprieve

Re-prīeve', v. t.

verbtransitive

(re-preev'), v. t. [imp. & p. p. RE-PRIEVED; p. pr. & vb. n. REPRIEVING.] [O. Eng. reprēvere, reprīve, repreven, O. Fr. repreuver, re-pruver, reprover, to blame, reproach, condemn; N. Fr. réprouver, to disapprove, reprouver, to prove anew or again; Pr. reprovar, reproar, Pg. reprovar, Sp. reprobar, It. riprovare, reprobare, Lat. reprobāre, to reject, condemn, from re, again, back, and probare*, to try, prove. Cf. REPROVE and REPROBATE.] 1. To try over again; to delay the punishment of; to give a respite to; as, to reprieve a criminal for thirty days. He reprieves the sinner from time to time. Rogers. 2. To relieve for a time, or temporarily. Company, though it may reprieve a man from his melancholy, yet can not secure a man from his conscience. South.

Re-prīeve', n.

noun

n. 1. Reproof. [Obs.] Spenser. 2. The temporary suspension of the execution of sentence, especially the sentence of death. The morning Sir John Hotham was to die, a reprieve was sent to suspend the execution for three days. Clarendon. 3. Interval of ease or relief; respite. All that I ask is but a short reprieve, Till I forget to love, and learn to grieve. Denham.