revive definition

1. To return to life; to recover life or strength; to live anew; to become reanimated or reinvigorated. "The Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into again, and he revived." (1 Kings xvii. 22)

2. Hence, to recover from a state of oblivion, obscurity, neglect, or depression; as, classical learning revived in the fifteenth century.

3. <chemistry> To recover its natural or metallic state, as a metal.

Origin: F. Revivere, L. Revivere; pref. Re- re- + vivere to live. See Vivid.

1. To restore, or bring again to life; to reanimate. "Those bodies, by reason of whose mortality we died, shall be revived." (Bp. Pearson)

2. To raise from coma, languor, depression, or discouragement; to bring into action after a suspension. "Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts." (Shak) "Your coming, friends, revives me." (Milton)

3. Hence, to recover from a state of neglect or disuse; as, to revive letters or learning.

4. To renew in the mind or memory; to bring to recollection; to recall attention to; to reawaken. "Revive the libels born to die." "The mind has a power in many cases to revive perceptions which it has once had." (Locke)

5. <chemistry> To restore or reduce to its natural or metallic state; as, to revive a metal after calcination.

Origin: Cf. F. Reviver. See Revive.

(01 Mar 1998)