reave
1 Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used with or without object)
verb
-
to carry off (property, prisoners, etc) by force
-
to deprive; strip See also reive
verb
Etymology
Origin of reave1
before 900; Middle English reven, Old English rēafian; cognate with German rauben, Dutch roven to rob
Origin of reave2
1175–1225; Middle English; apparently special use of reave 1 (by association with rive )
Explanation
To reave is to plunder, or to steal a lot of goods from someone. An attacking army might storm through a village and reave from all of the houses in it. You can use the verb reave when you need an antique way to say "plunder" or "pillage." Someone who reaves is basically stealing things, although the word implies the sense of a group stealing many items after an attack, as in wartime. The Old English root word is reafian, which means "to rob, plunder, or pillage," from the Proto-Indo-European reup, "to rip."
Vocabulary lists containing reave
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While they were in Europe, Promoter Montgomery began to reave out stock at $8 to $12 a share.
From Time Magazine Archive
All was silent in that room, the silence of the forest before the hurricane grasps it and bends it, and the lightnings reave its limbs.
From The Bondboy by Ogden, George W. (George Washington)
The Lord of the Moors and another knight are they that war upon her and would fain reave her of this castle as they have reft her of seven other already.
From The High History of the Holy Graal by Evans, Sebastian
Man's the elm, and Wealth the vine, Stanch and strong the tendrils twine: Though the frail ringlets thee deceive, None from its stock that vine can reave.
From Essays — First Series by Emerson, Ralph Waldo
An' may they never learn the gaets, Of ither vile, wanrestfu' pets— To slink thro' slaps, an' reave an' steal At stacks o' pease, or stocks o' kail!
From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
