Gyves. n.s. [gevyn, Welsh.] Fetters; chains for the legs.

The villains march wide betwixt the legs, as if they had gyves on. Shakespeare's Henry IV. p. i.

And knowing this, should I yet stay,
Like such as blow away their lives,
And never will redeem a day,
Enamour'd of their golden gyves? Ben. Johnson's Forest.

The poor prisoners, ready to take the occasion offered, boldly starting up, break off their chains and gyves. Knolles.

Do'st thou already single me? I thought
Gyves and the mill had tam'd thee. Milton's Agonistes.

But Telamon rush'd in, and hap'd to meet
A rising root, that held his fasten'd feet;
So down he fell, whom sprawling on the ground,
His brother from the wooden gyves unbound. Dryd. Fables.