Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Strive

Strive (strīv), v. i. [imp. Strove; p. p. Striven (Rarely, Strove); p. pr. & vb. n. Striving.] [OF. estriver; of Teutonic origin, and akin to G. streben, D. streven, Dan. stræbe, Sw. sträfva. Cf. Strife.] 1. To make efforts; to use exertions; to endeavor with earnestness; to labor hard.

Was for this his ambition strove To equal Cæsar first, and after, Jove? Cowley.

2. To struggle in opposition; to be in contention or dispute; to contend; to contest; — followed by against or with before the person or thing opposed; as, strive against temptation; strive for the truth. Chaucer.

My Spirit shall not always strive with man. Gen. vi. 3.

Why dost thou strive against him? Job xxxiii. 13.

Now private pity strove with public hate, Reason with rage, and eloquence with fate. Denham.

3. To vie; to compete; to be a rival. Chaucer.

[Not] that sweet grove Of Daphne, by Orontes and the inspired Castalian spring, might with this paradise Of Eden strive. Milton.

Syn. — To contend; vie; struggle; endeavor; aim.

Strive, n. 1. An effort; a striving. [R.] Chapman.

2. Strife; contention. [Obs.] Wyclif (luke xxi. 9).

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.