reave

English

Alternative forms

• reive

Pronunciation

• IPA: /riːv/

  Rhymes: -iːv

Etymology 1

Middle English reven, from Old English rēafian, from Proto-Germanic *raubōnan (compare West Frisian rave, German rauben, Danish röve), from *raubō (compare Old English rēaf 'spoils, booty'), from *reufanan 'to tear' (compare Old English past ptcp rofen 'torn, broken', Norwegian rjuva), from Proto-Indo-European *Hréup-e/o- (compare Latin rumpere (“to break”), Lithuanian rùpti 'to roughen', Sanskrit ropayati 'to make suffer'). See rob.

Verb

reave (third-person singular simple present reaves, present participle reaving, simple past and past participle reaved or reft)

1. (archaic) To plunder, pillage, rob.
   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:

     Few of the chroniclers of Nero’s reign have been accurate when relating the situation that obtained between the Emperor and his mother from the time when, reft of her German and Pannonian guards, she lived in a more or less solitary rage on one estate or another.

Derived terms

• border reivers

Related terms

• bereave
• rip
• rob

Etymology 2

Alteration of rive by confusion with the above.

Verb

reave (third-person singular simple present reaves, present participle reaving, simple past and past participle reft)

1. (archaic) To split, tear, break apart.

Related terms

• rive