reave
/ɹiːv/ verb
Forms reaves reaving reaved reft reive rieve
- verb (archaic) To plunder, pillage, rob, pirate, or remove.
- verb (archaic) To deprive (a person) of something through theft or violence.
- verb (archaic) To split, tear, break apart.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English reven, from Old English rēafian, from Proto-West Germanic *raubōn.
Germanic cognates include West Frisian rave, Old English rēaf (“spoils, booty”)), and Old English past participle rofen (“torn, broken”), Norwegian rjuva, German rauben, Danish røve, and Swedish röva. Outside of Germanic, related to Latin rumpō (“to break”), Lithuanian rùpti (“to roughen”), Sanskrit रोपयति (ropayati, “to make suffer”)). See rob and reif.
Alteration of rive by confusion with the above.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To take away by violence or by stealth; to snatch away; to rob; to despoil; to bereave. [Archaic]. "To reave his life." Spenser.
Etymology [AS. reáfian, from reáf spoil, plunder, clothing, reófan to break (cf. bireófan to deprive of); akin to G. rauben to rob, Icel. raufa to rob, rjufa to break, violate, Goth. biráubon to despoil, L. rumpere to break; cf. Skr. lup to break. sq. root114. Cf. Bereave, Rob, v. t., Robe, Rove, v. t., Rupture.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “reave”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details