chive

Etymology 1

From Middle English cyve, from Old French cive, from Latin cepa (“onion”).

noun

1. A perennial plant, Allium schoenoprasum, related to the onion.
2. (in the plural) The leaves of this plant used as a herb.
3. (obsolete) The style and stigma of a flower, especially saffron.
   1577, Raphael Holinshed et al., The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Ireland, London: John Hunne, Book 3, Chapter 14, “Of English Saffron,” […] in the place wher he bled, Saffron was after found to grow, whereupon the people séeyng the color of the chiue as it stoode, (although I doubt not but it grewe there long before) adiudged it to come to the bloude of Crocus, and therefore they gaue it his name.
   […] to abate, and allay the fulnesse of red, we doe not see white vsed (as a colour too remote) but rather yellow, and that so farre-forth as some doe grinde a Chiue of Saffron with Vermillion, to make it the more pleasant, whereas white in like proportion mixed, would dimne, and decay it […] 1610, Edmund Bolton, chapter 28, in The Elements of Armories, London: George Eld, pages 156–157
   The Saint, to which the most he prayes And offers Incense Nights and dayes, The Lady of the Lobster is, Whose foot-pace he doth stroak & kisse; And, humbly, chives of Saffron brings, For his most cheerfull offerings. 1648, Robert Herrick, “The Temple”, in Hesperides, London: John Williams and Francis Eglesfield, pages 104–105
4. (Trinidad and Tobago, dialect) The spring onion; The green onion; the scallion.

Etymology 2

From Romani chive, chiv, chivvomengro (“knife, dagger, blade”).

noun

1. (thieves' cant) A knife.
   For when that he hath nubbed as, / And our friends tip him no cole, / He takes his chive and cuts us down, / And tips us into a hole. 1712, “A Budg and Snudg Song”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, published 1896, page 32
   None of us know'd then—though the grabbing at Nan Turner's came off that very night—as Polly was the cause o' that 'ere, till it vos blown here at the Gate by some of the coves. Vell, she nammused, as you may guess, but fust poor old Madge Rhodes got a chive in her breather from Black Gil. 1841, Henry Downes Miles, chapter XXXIX, in Dick Turpin, 4th edition, London: William Mark Clark, published 1845, page 267
   On the Boxing Day after I came out I got stabbed in the chest by a pal of mine who had done a schooling. We was out with one another all the day getting drunk, so he took a liberty with me, and I landed him one on the conk (nose), so we had a fight, and he put the chive (knife) into me. 1879 October, J[ohn] W[illiam] Horsley, “Autobiography of a Thief in Thieves’ Language”, in Macmillan’s Magazine, volume XL, number 240, London: Macmillan and Co.[…], →OCLC, page 503, column 2
   I guyed, but the reeler he gave me hot beef, / And a scuff came about me and hollered; / I pulled out a chive but I soon same to grief, / And with screws and a james I was collared. 1888-02-12, “A Plank-Bed Ballad”, in The Referee, reprinted in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, published 1896, page 185
2. (thieves' cant) A file.
3. (thieves' cant) A saw.

verb

1. (thieves' cant) To stab.
   Adieu to Haul-Cly, adieu to stopping Coaches, and adieu to all the hurry-scurry of Foot-Scampering, filing, chiving, milling, and sneaking[…] 1728, James Dalton, A Genuine Narrative of all the Street Robberies committed since October last, by James Dalton and his Accomplices, page 59
   He was as good a man as Jacky at any weapon that could be named, and if Jacky were game for a chiving (stabbing) match, he (Kavanagh) was ready for him. 1868-05, Cassell's Magazine, page 80
   After the place got well where I was chived, me and another screwed a place at Stoke Newington 1879-10, Rev. John William Horsley, “Autobiography of a Thief”, in Macmillan's Magazine, volume 40, page 503
2. (thieves' cant) To cut.