raven
see also: Raven
Etymology 1
Raven
Proper noun
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see also: Raven
Etymology 1
From Middle English raven, reven, from Old English hræfn, from Proto-West Germanic *hrabn, from Proto-Germanic *hrabnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱrep-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.
Pronunciation Nounraven
- (countable) Any of several, generally large and lustrous black species of birds in the genus Corvus, especially the common raven, Corvus corax.
- c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene iii]:
- Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.
- A jet-black colour.
- French: grand corbeau
- German: Rabe, Kolkrabe
- Italian: corvo imperiale
- Portuguese: corvo
- Russian: во́рон
- Spanish: cuervo
raven (not comparable)
- Of the color of the raven; jet-black.
- raven curls
- raven darkness
- She was a tall, sophisticated, raven-haired beauty.
- French: noir corbeau
- German: rabenschwarz
- Italian: corvino
From Middle English ravene, ravine, from Old French raviner, itself from ravine, from Latin rapīna, itself from rapere.
Pronunciation Nounraven (uncountable)
Translations Translations- German: Beute
raven (ravens, present participle ravening; simple past and past participle ravened)
- (transitive, archaic) To obtain or seize by violence.
- (transitive) To devour with great eagerness.
- (transitive) To prey on with rapacity.
- The raven is both a scavenger, who ravens a dead animal almost like a vulture, and a bird of prey, who commonly ravens to catch a rodent.
- (intransitive) To show rapacity; to be greedy (for something).
- 1852, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Old Nurse’s Story”, in The Old Nurse’s Story and Other Tales:
- They passed along towards the great hall-door, where the winds howled and ravened for their prey […]
- 1931, James B. Fagan, The Improper Duchess, London: Victor Gollancz, published 1932, act 3, page 237:
- On one side the great temple where you can gather the good harvest—on the other a dirty little scandal that you’ve nosed out to fling to paper scavengers who feed it to their readin’ millions ravening for pornographic dirt.
Raven
Proper noun
- Surname.
- A female given name for a girl with raven hair, used since the 1970s.
- A male given name
- A place name:
- A community in Red Deer County, possibly named after the Raven River.
- A number of places in USA:
- An unincorporated community in Prairie, Edgar County.
- An unincorporated community in Knott County, Kentucky.
- An unincorporated community in Brown County, Nebraska.
- CDP in Russell County, and.
- A village in Kardzhali, Bulgaria.
- A village in Gostivar, North Macedonia.
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