reave : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: reave	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for reave
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
reave v steal goods; take as spoils; "During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners" Synonym(s): plunder, despoil, loot, reave, strip, rifle, ransack, pillage, foray
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Reave \Reave\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Reaved}, {Reft}, or {Raft}(obs.); p. pr. & vb. n. {Reaving}.] [AS. re[a0]fian, from re[a0]f spoil, plunder, clothing, re[a2]fan to break (cf. bire[a2]fan to deprive of); akin to G. rauben to rob, Icel. raufa to rob, rj[umac]fa to break, violate, Goth. bir[a0]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]. [bd]To reave his life.[b8] --Spenser. He golden apples raft of the dragon. --Chaucer. By privy stratagem my life at home. --Chapman.