reprieve

reprieve
\ \ [16] Reprieve originally meant ‘send back to prison’ (‘Of this treason he was found guilty, and reprieved in the Tower a long time’, Edmund Campion, History of Ireland 1571), but since this was often the alternative to execution, the word soon came to mean ‘suspend a death sentence’. The form in which it originally occurs, at the end of the 15th century, is repry, and it is not clear where the v came from. Repry was borrowed from repris, the past participle of Old French reprendre ‘take back’. This in turn went back to Latin reprehendere (source of English reprehensible [14]), a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and prehendere ‘seize, take’ (source of English prison, prize, surprise, etc). The medieval Latin derivative reprehensālia produced English reprisal [15], and the feminine past participle of Old French reprendre was the source of English reprise [14].
\ \ Cf.⇒ APPREHEND, PRISON, PRIZE, REPRISAL, REPRISE, SURPRISE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • reprieve — I noun day of grace, deferment, delay, delay in execution, delay in punishment, dispensation, interval of ease, moratorium, pause, postponement, postponement of penalty, quittance, respite, respite from impending punishment, stay, stay of… …   Law dictionary

  • Reprieve — Re*prieve (r? pr?v ), n. 1. A temporary suspension of the execution of a sentence, especially of a sentence of death. [1913 Webster] The morning Sir John Hotham was to die, a reprieve was sent to suspend the execution for three days. Clarendon.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Reprieve — Re*prieve (r? pr?v ), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Reprieved} ( pr?vd ); p. pr. & vb. n. {Reprieving}.] [OE. repreven to reject, disallow, OF. reprover to blame, reproach, condemn (pres. il reprueve), F. r[ e]prouver to disapprove, fr. L. reprobare to… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • reprieve — [n] relief of blame, responsibility abatement, abeyance, absolution, acquittal, alleviation, amnesty, anchor*, clearance, clemency, commute, deferment, freeing, let up*, lifeboat*, lifesaver*, mitigation, palliation, pardon, postponement, release …   New thesaurus

  • Reprieve — (engl., spr. Riprihw), 1) Aufschub einer Hinrichtung; 2) Befehl zu diesem Aufschub …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • reprieve — (v.) 1570s, take back to prison, from M.E. repryen to remand, detain (late 15c.), probably from M.Fr. repris, pp. of reprendre take back (see REPRISE (Cf. reprise)). Meaning to suspend an impending execution is recorded from 1590s. Sense evolved… …   Etymology dictionary

  • reprieve — both verb and noun, is spelt ie , not ei …   Modern English usage

  • reprieve — ► VERB 1) cancel the punishment of. 2) abandon or postpone plans to close: the threatened pits could be reprieved. ► NOUN 1) the cancellation of a punishment. 2) a respite from difficulty or danger. ORIGIN Old French reprendre, from Latin… …   English terms dictionary

  • reprieve — [ri prēv′] vt. reprieved, reprieving [earlier repry < Anglo Fr repris < MFr, pp. of reprendre, to take back, prob. altered by assoc. with ME repreven,REPROVE] 1. to postpone the punishment of; esp., to postpone the execution of (a person… …   English World dictionary

  • reprieve — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ brief, temporary ▪ welcome ▪ last minute ▪ He was saved from the electric chair by a last minute reprieve. VERB + REPRIEVE …   Collocations dictionary

  • reprieve — n. 1) to give, grant a reprieve 2) to get, receive a reprieve 3) a reprieve from * * * [rɪ priːv] grant a reprieve receive a reprieve a reprieve from to get to give …   Combinatory dictionary

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