Here the vowel of the pp. has been lengthened, and the vowel of the pt. pl. assimilated to that of the pp. So are conjugated: bēden, to offer; brewen or brewe (pt. t. brew), cleve, to slit, crepe, flee (pt. t. fleigh, fley), flete, to float, flye, to fly (pt. t. fleigh, fley, pl. and pp. flowen), lese, to lose (pp. loren, lorn), lye, to tell lies, sethe, to boil (pt. t. sèèth, pp. sŏden), shete, to shoot (pp. shŏten).
Here belong a few verbs with ou (uu) in the infinitive; as brouke, shouven, to shove (pt. t. shòòf, pp. shŏven). Also the pp. lŏken, as if from louken.
3. In this class there are two sets: (a) verbs in which the radical e is preserved, as swelle; (b) those in which e becomes i before m or n, as drinke.
(a) Infin. swellen; Pt. s. swal; Pt. pl. swollen; Pp. swollen. So are conjugated: bresten or breste, delve, fighte (originally feghte; pt. s. faught, pt. pl. and pp. foughten), helpe, kerve, melte, sterve, thresshe, yelde, yelpe. Here belongs worthen (originally werthe); the pt. t. and pp. do not occur. Abreyde was also originally a strong verb, and Chaucer twice uses the pt. t. abrayd or abreyd, riming with the pp. sayd or seyd; but it was easily confused with weak verbs that made the pt. t. in -de, and in all other places appears as a weak verb. It was already obsolescent.
(b) Infin. drinken; Pt. s. drank[[68]]; Pt. pl. dronken (drung·kən); Pp. dronken (drung·kən).
So are conjugated: biginnen or biginne, binde, climbe (pt. s. clomb), finde (pt. s. fond, pt. pl. and pp. founden), ginne, grinde (pp. grounden), ringe, renne ( = rinne), shrinke, singe (pt. s. song), sinke, slinge (pt. slong), spinne, springe (pt. s. sprong), stinge (pt. s. stong), stinke, swimme, swinke, thringe (pt. s. throng), winde (pt. s. wond, pp. wounden), winne, wringe (pt. s. wrong).
4. Infin. beren; Pt. s. bar (also ber, beer); Pt. pl. bēren; Pp. boren, bore, born. Confused in M.E. with conj. 5. So also: breken or breke, shere, speke, stele, tere (cf. pt. s. to-tar), trede, wreke. Here belongs pt. s. nam, pp. nomen, as if from an infin. nemen, which became nimen. Also come, pt. s. cam (also coom), pt. pl. camen (also cōmen), pp. comen (kum·ən).
5. Infin. yeven, yeve, and frequently yive; Pt. s. yaf; Pt. pl. yaven (more correctly yēven); Pp. yeven, and frequently yiven. Here belong eten or ete (pt. s. eet, pp. eten), forgete, gete, mete, to mete, steke (pt. s. stak), weve (pt. s. waf, pp. woven); also bidde, sitte (pt. s. sat, seet, pt. pl. sēten), ligge or lye (pt. s. lay, pt. pl. layen). Here belongs quethen, to say, which only appears in the pt. s. quoth or quod. Also seen, to see, pp. y-seyn, y-seye, with various forms of the pt. s., as seigh, sey, say, sy, saugh, saw. The verbs speke, trede, wreke, have gone over to conj. 4; and the same might be said of weve.
6. Infin. shaken; Pt. t. shóók; Pt. pl. shooken; Pp. shaken, shake.