Adjacent Words

Reave definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

REAVE, v.t. To take away by stealth or violence; to bereave. Obs. [See Bereave.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: steal goods; take as spoils; "During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners" [syn: plunder, despoil, loot, reave, strip, rifle, ransack, pillage, foray]

Merriam Webster's

verb (reaved or reft; reaving) Etymology: Middle English reven, from Old English r?afian; akin to Old High German roub?n to rob, Latin rumpere to break Date: before 12th century intransitive verb plunder, rob transitive verb 1. archaic a. (1) rob, despoil (2) to deprive one of b. seize 2. archaic to carry or tear away • reaver noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. (past and past part. reft) archaic 1 tr. a (foll. by of) forcibly deprive of. b (foll. by away, from) take by force or carry off. 2 intr. make raids; plunder; = REIVE. Etymology: OE reafian f. Gmc: cf. ROB

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Reave Reave, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reaved, Reft, or Raft(obs.); p. pr. & vb. n. Reaving.] [AS. re['a]fian, from re['a]f spoil, plunder, clothing, re['o]fan to break (cf. bire['o]fan to deprive of); akin to G. rauben to rob, Icel. raufa to rob, rj[=u]fa to break, violate, Goth. bir['a]ubon to despoil, L. rumpere to break; cf. Skr. lup to break. [root]114. Cf. Bereave, Rob, v. t., Robe, Rove, v. t., Rupture.] To take away by violence or by stealth; to snatch away; to rob; to despoil; to bereave. [Archaic]. ``To reave his life.'' --Spenser. He golden apples raft of the dragon. --Chaucer. By privy stratagem my life at home. --Chapman.