Green’s Dictionary of Slang

shiv n.

also schieve, sheive, shieve, shive, shivy, shivvy
[chiv n.1 ]

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

1897
190019502000
2023
[US]J. London ‘The Road’ in Hendricks & Shepherd Jack London Reports (1970) 311–21: Their argot is peculiar study. [...] shiv, knife.
[US]F.H. Tillotson How I Became a Detective 88: ‘Shiv’ is a knife.
[US]D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 82: Ev’rybody carried a shive.
[US]Wash. Post 11 Nov. Misc. 3/6: A knife is a ‘sheive.’.
[US]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.
[US]H. Simon ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 31/2: SHIV. Knife, dagger.
Times Despatch (Richmond, VA) 17 Oct. 7/7: Shiv — Knife.
[US]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.’.
[US]D. Runyon ‘Blood Pressure’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 75: Those he does not shoot he sticks with his shiv –which is a knife.
[US]D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 335/2: shieve or shiv, n. A knife, usually hand-fashioned and contraband.
[US]J. Conroy World to Win 64: Maybe he won’t be so handy pullin’ a shive on anybody else!
[US]Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 16 Sept. 11/1: An interested musician [...] used his ‘schive’ to keep off a gang of local toughs .
[US]E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act III: Leggo dat shiv and I’ll put dis gat away.
[US]F. Brown Fabulous Clipjoint (1949) 179: Benny sang plenty when they caught him cold with a shiv in the dame.
[US]I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 145: If you make a move for your shiv I’m going to beat the piss outa you.
[US]W. Motley Knock on Any Door 170: Have you got a schieve?
[US]Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 206: shieve [...] shive [...] shivy a knife.
[UK]P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 192/1: Shiv. Knife.
[US]‘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.
[Ire](con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 312: Say if he came at you with a shiv.
[UK]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.
[US]‘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.
[Aus]Adamson & Hanford Zimmer’s Essay (1974) 63: He didn’t lag on -57 and -16 [...] He could see the shiv very clearly.
[UK]A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 148: You forgot to say he pulled the shiv on you.
[NZ]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.
[US]E. Bunker Animal Factory 12: Course you could put a shiv in one and that’ll keep ’em off you.
[NZ]G. Newbold Big Huey 109: He pulled a shiv from his pocket and shoved it into Mat’s guts.
[US]N. Heard House of Slammers 112: Homemade steel shives floated around the prison [...] with shapes that varied from needlepoint to scimitar.
[UK]‘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.
[Aus]B. Ellem Doing Time 196: shiv: a knife.
[US]S. Morgan Homeboy 88: Gunsels fresh out of Y[outh] A[uthority], their secret shivs thirsting for the blood to build an Adult rep.
[NZ]B. Payne Poor Behaviour 116: ‘Do us all a favour and do yourself in, molester’er. I’ll even lend you me shiv’ .
[UK]N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 163: Divin’ through people’s windows with a shiv an’ a gee o’ ramraider up y’nose.
[NZ]D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 35: shiv n.Stabbing weapon.
[US]E. Bunker Mr Blue 42: I knew a knife was stashed. It was too small to be called a shiv.
[US]J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 105: Zank was a convict. They all carry shivs.
[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 165/1: shiv (also shivvy) n. a knife, a stabbing or slashing weapon.
[Aus]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.
[US]G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 43: An ambitious young dude had tried to shank him in jail [...] Homemade shiv, but still.
[Aus] A. Bergen ‘Dread Fellow Churls’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] She had indeed found the shiv. It was in her gloved right hand.
[UK]KO ‘9er Ting’ 🎵 We were on slip that day, no shivs in the whip.
[US]C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 215: Nutter slipped [...] and dropped the shiv.
[US]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
195019601970
1978
[US]R.L. Bellem ‘Poison Payoff’ Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 I figured he might turn out to be a shiv expert.
[US]Kerouac On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 231: Wild Negro queers, sullen guys with guns, shiv-packing seamen.
[US]Kerouac On The Road (1972) 125: There were wild Negro queers, sullen guys with guns, shiv-packing seamen.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 161: She had a shiv slash on the right side of her face.
[UK]F. Norman Dead Butler Caper 130: Shive merchants don’t go around tooled up wiv pearl ’andled daggers.

3. (US tramp) a razor.

1915
192019301940195019601970
1972
[US]N.Y. World 9 May (Supplement) 14/3: Shive, a razor .
[US]N. Klein ‘Hobo Lingo’ in AS I:12 652: Shive—razor.
[US]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.
[US]‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 214: Shiv – Razor. A blade but never a safety razor.
[US]Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 168: Shive.–A razor.
[US]Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 817: shive – A razor.
[US]D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 79: shivn. [...] 2. a razor.

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

[US]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.

[UK](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.

In compounds

shiv man (n.) (also shive man)

one who uses a knife in crimes of violence.

1928
1930194019501960197019801990
1992
[US]C. Panzram Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 115: I have met every kind of a crook there is. [...] shiv-men and gunmen.
[US](con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 51: I was considered an expert shiv man.
[US]F. Paley Rumble on the Docks (1955) 27: The dock bosses with their shiv men and trigger boys.
in Esquire Treasury 215: This brother is a real shiv man. His tick stopper has a blade seven inches [...] That’s a real shiv man.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Trick Baby (1996) 85: I heard a metallic click and saw the wicked gleam of the switchblade [...] A young soldier [...] was between me and the shive man.
Journal Canadian Studies VII 56/2: Macheath, reputedly a shiv man extraordinary, and the hero of the ballad.
L. Eppolito Mafia Cop 66: Known as the best ‘shiv man’ in the business, he perfected the art of approaching a victim on the street with his knife folded into the Daily News.