eldertongue

Old English · verb

dræfan

Normalised drǣfan

Part of speech
verb
Verb class
weak class 1
IPA
/ˈdræː.fɑn/
[ˈdræː.vɑn]
Syllables
ˈdræː · fɑn (2 syllables)
Modern English
dreaveexpelbanishdrive

Meaning

  1. to drive (forward), expel, banish

    An. DCCCCLXIIII Hēr drǣfde Ēadgār cyng þā preostas on Ċeastre of ealdan mynstre, ⁊ nīwan mynstre, ⁊ of Ċeortesīġe, ⁊ of Middeltūne, ⁊ sette hȳ mid munecan, ⁊ hē sette Æðelgār abbod tō nīwan mynstre tō abbode, Ordbriht to Ċeortesīġe, ⁊ Cyneweard to Middeltūne.

    Year 964 In this year King Edgar drove the priests in Chester out of the old monastery and the new monastery, and out of Chertsey and Middleton and replaced them with monks. He appointed Abbot Athelgar as abbot of the new monastery, Ordbright as abbot of Chertsey, and Cyneweard as abbot of Middleton.

    The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  2. to scatter, disperse

Conjugation

Conjugation of dræfan
PresentPast
Indicative
1st singular drǣfedrǣfde
2nd singular drǣfestdrǣfstdrǣfdest
3rd singular drǣfeþdrǣfþdrǣfde
Plural drǣfaþdrǣfdon
Subjunctive
Singular drǣfedrǣfde
Plural drǣfendrǣfden
Non-finite forms of dræfan
Form
Infinitive drǣfan
Inflected infinitive drǣfenne
Imperative singular drǣf
Imperative plural drǣfaþ
Present participle drǣfende
Past participle drǣfedġedrǣfed

All forms (17)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *draibijan, from Proto-Germanic *draibijaną (“to pursue, drive”); equivalent to drīfan + -an.

Descendants

dreave

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dræfan · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution