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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Rival \Ri"val\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Rivaled}or {Rivalled}; p.
pr. & vb. n. {Rivaling} or {Rivalling}.]
1. To stand in competition with; to strive to gain some
object in opposition to; as, to rival one in love.
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2. To strive to equal or exel; to emulate.
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To rival thunder in its rapid course. --Dryden.
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Rival \Ri"val\, v. i.
To be in rivalry. [Obs.] --Shak.
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Rival \Ri"val\, a.
Having the same pretensions or claims; standing in
competition for superiority; as, rival lovers; rival claims
or pretensions.
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The strenuous conflicts and alternate victories of two
rival confederacies of statesmen. --Macaulay.
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Rival \Ri"val\, n. [F. rival (cf. It. rivale), L. rivales two
neigbors having the same brook in common, rivals, fr. rivalis
belonging to a brook, fr. rivus a brook. Cf. {Rivulet},
{Rete}.]
1. A person having a common right or privilege with another;
a partner. [Obs.]
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If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. --Shak.
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2. One who is in pursuit of the same object as another; one
striving to reach or obtain something which another is
attempting to obtain, and which one only can posses; a
competitor; as, rivals in love; rivals for a crown.
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Note: "Rivals, in the primary sense of the word, are those
who dwell on the banks of the same stream. But since,
as all experience shows, there is no such fruitful
source of coutention as a water right, it would
continually happen that these occupants of the opposite
banks would be at strife with one another in regard of
the periods during which they severally had a right to
the use of the stream . . . And thus 'rivals' . . .
came to be used of any who were on any grounds in more
or less unfriendly competition with one another."
--Trench.
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Syn: Competitor; emulator; antagonist.
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