shives

If the weather was fine they carried their "shives" of bread and dripping, or bread and treacle, into the road in front of their houses and ate them in the intervals between "Here come three dukes a-riding," "Wallflowers, wallflowers, growing up so high," and "Poor Roger is dead and laid in his grave."

More Tales of the Ridings Frederic William Moorman 1895

They dated from the stump, and bits of the stump in the shape of "shives" were inwoven in their texture and made the wearer of them an unwilling penitent for weeks, or until use and the washboard had subdued them.

My Boyhood John Burroughs 1879

Estimated value of 3/4 of a ton of shives from unrotted stems, valuable for cattle, at $8.00 per ton 6.00

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 46, August, 1861 Various

The shives are thus separated, and two tons of stalks reduced to half a ton of linten, which may be either taken at once to the retort or baled for shipment.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 46, August, 1861 Various

The women used to take it next and comb it through a flax-comb; this got out all the shives and tow.

The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 1, January, 1884 Various

They dated from the stump, and bits of the stump in the shape of “shives” were inwoven in their texture and made the wearer of them an unwilling penitent for weeks, or until use and the washboard had subdued them.

My Boyhood Burroughs, John, 1837-1921 1922

Peas in your shoes are no worse than “shives” on your shirt.

My Boyhood Burroughs, John, 1837-1921 1922

The flax-dresser with the shives, fibres, and dirt of flax covering his garments, and his face begrimed with flax-dirt has disappeared; the noise of his brake and swingling knife has ended, and the boys no longer make bonfires of his swingling tow.

Home Life in Colonial Days Alice Morse Earle 1881

But after the bits of shives and sticks were subdued, and the knots humbled by use and the washboard, they were good garments.

In the Catskills Selections from the Writings of John Burroughs John Burroughs 1879

"Ah, but if I lack half-a-dozen shives, how then?" said he.

Robin Tremayne A Story of the Marian Persecution Emily Sarah Holt 1864