Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a knife, either factory-made or improvised.

1897		J. London ‘The Road’ in Hendricks & Shepherd Jack London Reports (1970) 311–21: Their argot is peculiar study. [...] shiv, knife.
1909		F.H. Tillotson How I Became a Detective 88: ‘Shiv’ is a knife.
1912		D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 82: Ev’rybody carried a shive.
1914		Wash. Post 11 Nov. Misc. 3/6: A knife is a ‘sheive.’.
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 130: Don’t never trust no dame for nothing [...] If she happens to wake up wrongside Monda’ morning, she’d put a shieve into you just for amusement.
1918		H. Simon ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 31/2: SHIV. Knife, dagger.
1926		Times Despatch (Richmond, VA) 17 Oct. 7/7: Shiv — Knife.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 79: I told Smiler about cutting myself out of the car when my companion was killed. ‘Better get busy with your “shive,” kid.’.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Blood Pressure’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 75: Those he does not shoot he sticks with his shiv –which is a knife.
1931–4		D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 335/2: shieve or shiv, n. A knife, usually hand-fashioned and contraband.
1935		J. Conroy World to Win 64: Maybe he won’t be so handy pullin’ a shive on anybody else!
1939		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 16 Sept. 11/1: An interested musician [...] used his ‘schive’ to keep off a gang of local toughs .
1940		E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act III: Leggo dat shiv and I’ll put dis gat away.
1947		F. Brown Fabulous Clipjoint (1949) 179: Benny sang plenty when they caught him cold with a shiv in the dame.
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 145: If you make a move for your shiv I’m going to beat the piss outa you.
1947		W. Motley Knock on Any Door 170: Have you got a schieve?
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 206: shieve [...] shive [...] shivy a knife.
1950		P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 192/1: Shiv. Knife.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 144: I would be waiting at the corner of the building with a shiv – that’s what they call a knife around prisons.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 312: Say if he came at you with a shiv.
1965		R.L. Pike Mute Witness (1997) 19: He’s sitting up in bed looking at me like he’d like to run a shiv through me.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 138: It would only be a matter of time until some con’s pal would put a shive between my shoulder blades.
1972		Adamson & Hanford Zimmer’s Essay (1974) 63: He didn’t lag on -57 and -16 [...] He could see the shiv very clearly.
1978		A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 148: You forgot to say he pulled the shiv on you.
1978		G. Newbold ‘Social Organization of Prisons’ in dissertation U. Auckland 336: That night, however [...] the tables were turned as the would-be underdog produced a ‘shiv’ from his sleeve and finished the fight with a few short thrust.
1977		E. Bunker Animal Factory 12: Course you could put a shiv in one and that’ll keep ’em off you.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 109: He pulled a shiv from his pocket and shoved it into Mat’s guts.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 112: Homemade steel shives floated around the prison [...] with shapes that varied from needlepoint to scimitar.
1984		‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 76: When they get the knives and shivs out and you find you’ve got half your face missing.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 196: shiv: a knife.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 88: Gunsels fresh out of Y[outh] A[uthority], their secret shivs thirsting for the blood to build an Adult rep.
1994		B. Payne Poor Behaviour 116: ‘Do us all a favour and do yourself in, molester’er. I’ll even lend you me shiv’ .
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 163: Divin’ through people’s windows with a shiv an’ a gee o’ ramraider up y’nose.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 42: I knew a knife was stashed. It was too small to be called a shiv.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 105: Zank was a convict. They all carry shivs.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 165/1: shiv (also shivvy) n. a knife, a stabbing or slashing weapon.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] [A] shiv I had sharpened from a toothbrush handle after grinding it into shape by rubbing it up and down the concrete walls.
2012		G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 43: An ambitious young dude had tried to shank him in jail [...] Homemade shiv, but still.
2012		A. Bergen ‘Dread Fellow Churls’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] She had indeed found the shiv. It was in her gloved right hand.
2018		KO ‘9er Ting’ 🎵 We were on slip that day, no shivs in the whip.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 215: Nutter slipped [...] and dropped the shiv.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 163: [D]etainees make do with what’s around them—shivs fashioned from light fixtures, toothbrushes, a broken piece of a broom [etc].

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1945		R.L. Bellem ‘Poison Payoff’ Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 I figured he might turn out to be a shiv expert.
1951		Kerouac On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 231: Wild Negro queers, sullen guys with guns, shiv-packing seamen.
1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 125: There were wild Negro queers, sullen guys with guns, shiv-packing seamen.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 161: She had a shiv slash on the right side of her face.
1978		F. Norman Dead Butler Caper 130: Shive merchants don’t go around tooled up wiv pearl ’andled daggers.

3. (US tramp) a razor.

1915		N.Y. World 9 May (Supplement) 14/3: Shive, a razor .
1926		N. Klein ‘Hobo Lingo’ in AS I:12 652: Shive—razor.
1927		C. Samolar ‘Argot of the Vagabond’ in AS II:9 390: A razor is a shiv, a corruption of shave. The meaning of the word has been extended to include any kind of blade.
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 214: Shiv – Razor. A blade but never a safety razor.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 168: Shive.–A razor.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 817: shive – A razor.
1972		D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 79: shivn. [...] 2. a razor.

4. (US Und.) a form of confidence trick that employs a knife.

1940

D. Maurer Big Con 306: The shiv. A short-con game played with a knife, the blades of which can be locked at will.

5. a sharp splinter.

1961

(con. 1920s) J. Sparks Burglar to the Nobility 33: Hardly a time when I smashed a jeweller’s window but a shiv of glass managed to get me somewhere.