Adjacent Words

Raven definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

RAVEN, n. ra'ven. [Heb. from its color. But this may be L. corvus, rapio.]
A large fowl of a black color, of the genus Corvus.
RAVEN, v.t. rav'n.
1. To devour with great eagerness; to eat with voracity.
Our natures do pursue, like rats that raven down their proper bane, a thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die.
Like a roaring lion, ravening the prey. Ezek 22.
2. To obtain by violence.
RAVEN, v.i. rav'n. To prey with rapacity.
Benjamin shall raven as a wolf. Genesis 49.
RAVEN, n. rav'n.
1. Prey; plunder; food obtained by violence. Nahum 2.
2. Rapine; rapacity.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: large black bird with a straight bill and long wedge-shaped tail [syn: raven, Corvus corax] v
1: obtain or seize by violence
2: prey on or hunt for; "These mammals predate certain eggs" [syn: raven, prey, predate]
3: eat greedily; "he devoured three sandwiches" [syn: devour, guttle, raven, pig]
4: feed greedily; "The lions ravened the bodies"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hræfn; akin to Old High German hraban raven, Latin corvus, Greek korax Date: before 12th century a large glossy black corvine bird (Corvus corax) of Europe, Asia, northern Africa, and America II. adjective Date: 1588 shiny and black like a raven's feathers <raven hair> III. verb (ravened; ravening) Etymology: Middle French raviner to rush, take by force, from ravine rapine Date: 1530 intransitive verb 1. to feed greedily 2. to prowl for food ; prey 3. plunder transitive verb 1. to devour greedily 2. despoil <men…raven the earth, destroying its resources — New Yorker> • ravener noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & adj. --n. a large glossy blue-black crow, Corvus corax, feeding chiefly on carrion etc., having a hoarse cry. --adj. glossy black (raven tresses). Etymology: OE hræfn f. Gmc 2. v. 1 intr. a plunder. b (foll. by after) seek prey or booty. c (foll. by about) go plundering. d prowl for prey (ravening beast). 2 a tr. devour voraciously. b intr. (usu. foll. by for) have a ravenous appetite. c intr. (often foll. by on) feed voraciously. Etymology: OF raviner ravage ult. f. L rapina RAPINE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Raven Ra"ven, a. Of the color of the raven; jet black; as, raven curls; raven darkness.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Raven Rav"en, n. [OF. ravine impetuosity, violence, F. ravine ravine. See Ravine, Rapine.] [Written also ravin, and ravine.] 1. Rapine; rapacity. --Ray. 2. Prey; plunder; food obtained by violence.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Raven Rav"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ravened; p. pr. & vb. n. Ravening.] [Written also ravin, and ravine.] 1. To obtain or seize by violence. --Hakewill. 2. To devoir with great eagerness. Like rats that ravin down their proper bane. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Raven Rav"en, v. i. To prey with rapacity; to be greedy; to show rapacity. [Written also ravin, and ravine.] Benjamin shall raven as a wolf. --Gen. xlix. 27.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Raven Ra"ven, n. [AS. hr[ae]fn; akin to raaf, G. rabe, OHG. hraban, Icel. hrafn, Dan. ravn, and perhaps to L. corvus, Gr. ?. ???.] (Zo["o]l.) A large black passerine bird (Corvus corax), similar to the crow, but larger. It is native of the northern part of Europe, Asia and America, and is noted for its sagacity. Sea raven (Zo["o]l.), the cormorant.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(ravens) A raven is a large bird with shiny black feathers and a deep harsh call. N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Heb. 'orebh, from a root meaning "to be black" (comp. Cant. 5:11); first mentioned as "sent forth" by Noah from the ark (Gen. 8:7). "Every raven after his kind" was forbidden as food (Lev. 11:15; Deut. 14:14). Ravens feed mostly on carrion, and hence their food is procured with difficulty (Job 38:41; Ps. 147:9). When they attack kids or lambs or weak animals, it is said that they first pick out the eyes of their victims (Prov. 30:17). When Elijah was concealed by the brook Cherith, God commanded the ravens to bring him "bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening" (1 Kings 17:3-6). (See ELIJAH.)

There are eight species of ravens in Palestine, and they are everywhere very numerous in that land.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ra'-vn (`orebh; korax; Latin Corvus corax): A large family of the smaller birds of prey belonging to the genus Corvus corax. A bird of such universal distribution that it is known from Iceland to Japan, all over Asia, Europe and Africa, but almost extinct and not of general distribution in our own country. In no land is it more numerous than in Palestine In general appearance it resembles the crow, but is much larger, being almost two feet long, of a glossy black, with whiskers around the beak, and rather stiff-pointed neck feathers. A bird exhibiting as much intelligence as any, and of a saucy, impudent disposition, it has been an object of interest from the beginning. It has been able to speak sentences of a few words when carefully taught, and by its uncanny acts has made itself a bird surrounded by superstition, myth, fable, and is connected with the religious rites of many nations. It is partially a carrion feeder, if offal or bodies are fresh; it also eats the young of other birds and very small animals and seeds, berries and fruit, having as varied a diet as any bird. It is noisy, with a loud, rough, emphatic cry, and its young are clamorous feeding time.

Aristotle wrote that ravens drove their young from their location and forced them to care for themselves from the time they left the nest. This is doubtful. Bird habits and characteristics change only with slow ages of evolution. Our ravens of today are, to all intents, the same birds as those of Palestine in the time of Moses, and ours follow the young afield for several days and feed them until the cawing, flapping youngsters appear larger than the parents. In Pliny's day, ravens had been taught to speak, and as an instance of their cunning he records that in time of drought a raven found a bucket containing a little water beside a grave and raised it to drinking level by dropping in stones.

Palestine has at least 8 different species of ravens. This bird was the first sent out by Noah in an effort to discover if the flood were abating (Ge 8:6-8). Because it partially fed on carrion it was included among the abominations (see Le 11:15; De 14:14). On 1Ki 17:4-6, see ELIJAH and the present writer's Birds of the Bible, 401-3. Among the marvels of creation and providence in Job 38:41, we have this mention of the raven,

"Who provideth for the raven his prey,

When his young ones cry unto God,

And wander for lack of food?"

The answer to this question is in Ps 147:9:

"He giveth to the beast his food,

And to the young ravens which cry."

Both these quotations point out the fact that the young are peculiarly noisy. In Pr 30:17 it is indicated that the ravens, as well as eagles, vultures and hawks, found the eye of prey the vulnerable point, and so attacked it first. The Hebrew `orebh means "black," and for this reason was applied to the raven, so the reference to the locks of the bridegroom in the So of Solomon becomes clear (So 5:11). The raven is one of the birds indicated to prey upon the ruins of Edom (Isa 34:11). The last reference is found in Lu 12:24: "Consider the ravens, that they sow not, neither reap; which have no store-chamber nor barn; and God feedeth them." This could have been said of any wild bird with equal truth.

Gene Stratton-Porter

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. Black, ebony, inky, sable. II. n. 1. Rapine, rapacity, rapaciousness. 2. Prey, plunder, food obtained by violence, ravin. III. v. a. Devour, eat with voracity. IV. v. n. [Written also Ravin.] Prey, be greedy, show rapacity.

Moby Thesaurus

angry clouds, atramentous, batten, be ravenous, black, black as coal, black as ebony, black as ink, black as midnight, black as night, black cat, black clouds, bolt, bolt down, broken mirror, charcoal, coal, coal-black, coaly, cram, crow, dark, dark as night, dark as pitch, deep black, depredate, despoil, devour, ebon, ebony, engorge, eye hungrily, feel hungry, fleece, forage, foray, freeboot, gathering clouds, glut, gluttonize, gobble, gorge, gormandize, gulp, gulp down, gut, guttle, guzzle, halcyon bird, have a tapeworm, hunger, hunger for, ink, ink-black, inky, jet, jetty, live to eat, loot, maraud, midnight, night, night-black, night-dark, nigrous, owl, pillage, pitch, pitch-black, pitch-dark, pitchy, plunder, prey on, raid, rainbow, ransack, ravage, raven-black, ravish, reive, rifle, sable, sack, shooting star, sloe, sloe-black, sloe-colored, smoke, smut, soot, spoil, spoliate, starve, storm clouds, stormy petrel, stuff, sweep, tar, tar-black, tarry, thirst, thirst for, thundercloud, thunderhead, wolf, wolf down