Definition of "bivious"

If publique Aſſemblies of Divines cannot agree upon a right vvay, private Conventicles of illeterate men, vvill ſoon finde a vvrong. Bivious demurres breed devious reſolutions. Paſſengers to heaven are in haſte, and vvill vvalk one vvay or other.

1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], page 37

Even ſtrange to tell, / I now ſo clung an Individium was, / So fix at home, and yet ſo bivious / At the ſame time, and far abroad; […]

1647, G[eorge] T[ooke], “[Annæ-Dictata, or, A Miscelaine of Some Different Cansonets, […]] Funerall Teares”, in The Belides […], London: [s.n.], page 112

Pulchrellas breaſt encloſes / A ſoft Affection wrapt in Beds of Roſes. / But in the rare Pantheas noble lines, / Truth Worth and Honour, with Affection joynes. / I ſtand even-balanc'd, doubtfully oppreſt, / Beneathe the burthen of a bivious breaſt.

1649, Fra[ncis] Quarles, The Virgin Widow: A Comedie, London: Printed for R[ichard] Royston, […], pages 41–43; quoted in George Villiers, edited by Edward Arber, The Rehearsal. […] (English Reprints; 10), London: Alex. Murray & Son, […], 2 November 1868, Act III, scene i, page 88

In bivious theorems, and Janus-faced doctrines, let Virtuous considerations state the determination. Look upon opinions as thou dost upon the moon, and choose not the dark hemisphere for thy contemplation.

1716, Thomas Browne, “Part the Third”, in Christian Morals, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] University-Press, for Cornelius Crownfield; and are to be sold by Mr. Knapton; and Mr. [John] Morphew; reprinted in Simon Wilkin, editor, Sir Thomas Browne’s Work including His Life and Correspondence, volume IV, London: William Pickering; Norwich, Norfolk: Josiah Fletcher, 1835, section III, page 94

The Caſtle of this Place was built in the Saxon Times, […]: In the Area of it is an Entrance into a large Cave, or Vault, that runs under Ground ſeveral Perches, to a ſmall Portal or Door that opens into the Graſſe without the Caſtle. This Vault is bivious, and cut out of the Sand, ſeveral Paces broad, and 5 Yard high, at the End which opens into the Graſſe, or dry Ditch.

1718, [John Aubrey], “Reygate Hundred. Reygate, or Rhie-gate.”, in The Natural History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey, volume IV, London: […] E[dmund] Curll, page 189

[…] Deuteronomy places the reader in a dilemma, a "bivious" position. He must choose between two ways that the text opens before him: "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" (30:19). A treaty is a text that structures reality in a bivious form.

2016, Jan Assmann, “Inscriptional Violence and the Art of Cursing: A Study of Performative Writing”, in Ernst van den Hemel, Asja Szafraniec, editors, Words: Religious Language Matters (The Future of the Religious Past), New York, N.Y.: Fordham University Press, part I (What are Words?), page 58