Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To seize and carry off forcibly.
- intransitive verb To deprive (one) of something; bereave.
- intransitive verb To rob, plunder, or pillage.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To take away by force or stealth; carry off as booty; take violently; purloin, especially in a foray: with a thing as object.
- To take away; remove; abstract; draw off.
- To rob; plunder; dispossess; bereave: with a person as object.
- To tear up, as the rafters or roof of a house.
- To ravel; pull to pieces, as a textile fabric.
- To practise plundering or pillaging; carry off stolen property.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To take away by violence or by stealth; to snatch away; to rob; to despoil; to bereave. [Archaic].
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb archaic To
plunder ,pillage ,rob ,pirate , orremove . - verb archaic To
split ,tear ,break apart .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb steal goods; take as spoils
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word reave.
Examples
-
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Duke University, 1956, p. 274; and Carter Papers: An Inventory .... ") [7] The word" reave "meant to rob or strip at Carter's time.
Letter from Robert Carter to [Robert Jones, October 18, 1728] 1728
-
Lest for her like of garden scents he reave her,577
-
What can I say, h-dog: I'm just not as impressed as you are by the guy who took his pique out on the poor innocent fig tree, and told me he came bringing not peace, but the sword, to reave apart families.
Muslims praying in the cathedral. Ann Althouse 2007
-
And he can be very cavalier about rhythm, especially the fiery accents that make a dance out of 'Wilt thou unkind thus reave me'.
-
And he can be very cavalier about rhythm, especially the fiery accents that make a dance out of 'Wilt thou unkind thus reave me'.
-
And he can be very cavalier about rhythm, especially the fiery accents that make a dance out of 'Wilt thou unkind thus reave me'.
-
No queenly way for woman to practise, though peerless she, that the weaver-of-peace 76 from warrior dear by wrath and lying his life should reave!
-
No queenly way for woman to practise, though peerless she, that the weaver-of-peace 76 from warrior dear by wrath and lying his life should reave!
Beowulf 2003
-
No queenly way for woman to practise, though peerless she, that the weaver-of-peace 76 from warrior dear by wrath and lying his life should reave!
-
This may not work, he cautioned himself I can but try to reave the power from the humans.
Inconstant Star Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1991
yarb commented on the word reave
One day I saw an old frayed but strong rope on this path, cast away on a tree stump, and I thought: yes, that is the awful end of such thoughts. Had I actually been tempted to kill myself? Aghast at the thought I took the rope back and reaved it up for use.
- Malcolm Lowry, The Forest Path to the Spring
July 13, 2008