adj
Meaning 1
Ravenous.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, literary, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
ravin
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɹæv(ɪ)n/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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răvʹən
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General-American: /ˈɹæv(ə)n/
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rhymes with -ævɪn
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rhymes with -ævən
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CMU ARPABET: R AE1 V IH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Property obtained or seized by force or violence; booty, plunder, spoils.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, countable, literary, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Of a (predatory) animal: seizing or devouring of food or prey; predation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, literary, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
Gluttony, greed, rapacity; also, the quality of being predatory; predatoriness.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, figuratively, literary, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: avarice, covetise, covetousness, cupidity, gluttony, greed, greediness, Mammon, rapaciousness, rapacity, ravin, voracity
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A predatory animal; a predator.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, countable, literary, obsolete, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
Obtaining or seizing property by force or violence; pillage, plunder, robbery; (countable, chiefly in the plural) an instance of this.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, literary, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pillaging, plundering, rapine
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
That which a predatory animal seizes for food; prey; also (hunting) an animal which is hunted; quarry.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, literary, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
Sometimes followed by away or from: to obtain or seize (something, especially property) by force or violence; to plunder.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, literary, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 9
Sometimes followed by down, up, or (obsolete) in: to eat (something, such as food or prey) greedily; to devour, to wolf down.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, literary, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 10
To absorb or take in (something, such as information) greedily; also, to approach or pounce on (someone) like prey.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, figuratively, literary, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
Followed by about, after, or for: to go after or seek for something, especially booty or spoils; to maraud, to plunder; also (generally), to move about wildly and cause damage; to rampage.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, intransitive, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 12
To eat greedily; also, followed by on or upon: of an animal: to prey on.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, intransitive, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 13
Sometimes followed by about or on: to move about searching for food or prey ravenously.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, intransitive, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 14
Sometimes followed by after or for: to have a ravenous appetite or craving for food or prey.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, intransitive, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 15
Originally followed by with: to experience great hunger; to be ravenous.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, intransitive, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 16
To take and exploit or make use of greedily.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, figuratively, intransitive, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 17
Sometimes followed by after or for: to have a strong craving or desire for, or to do, something; to crave, to desire, to yearn.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, figuratively, intransitive, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English ravin, ravine, raven (“rapine, robbery; rape; force, violence; greed, rapacity; stolen goods, booty, plunder; prey, quarry; pursuit of prey; predatoriness, voracity”), from Anglo-Norman ravein, raveine, ravine (“rapine, robbery; rape; force, violence; greed, rapacity; impetuousness; stolen goods”), Middle French ravine, and Old French ravine (“rapine, robbery; force, violence; impetuousness”), from Latin rapīna (“pillage, plunder, robbery, rapine; booty, plunder”), from rapiō (“to abduct, carry off; to grab, snatch; to rape; to steal”) (from Proto-Italic *rapjō (“to seize, take away”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h1rep- (“to snatch”)) + -īna (suffix forming abstract nouns). The adjective is derived from Middle English ravin, ravine (“predatory; ravenous”), from Middle English ravin, ravine (noun): see above. The verb is not attested before the 16th century, but words like Middle English raviner, ravinour (“plunderer; robber; rapist; predator”), ravening (“act of robbery; predatoriness, rapacity”, noun), and ravening, ravining (“(adjective) savage, ravening; (noun) preceded by ‘the’: the devil”) suggest that it existed in the 14th and 15th centuries, and was probably derived from the noun. Compare Middle French raviner (“to make furrows”), Old French raviner (“to take by force; to rush; to stream”) (modern French raviner).
Across languages
Translations
6 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Finnish: {{t+|1=fi|2=ryöstö}} — gluttony, greed, rapacity — see also gluttony, greed
- Portuguese: {{t+|1=pt|2=rapina|3=f}} — gluttony, greed, rapacity — see also gluttony, greed
- Portuguese: {{t+|1=pt|2=voraz|3=m|4=f}} — gluttony, greed, rapacity — see also gluttony, greed
- Romanian: {{t+|1=ro|2=rapacitate|3=f}} — gluttony, greed, rapacity — see also gluttony, greed
- Finnish: hamuilla — (intransitive) to move about searching for food or prey ravenously
- Finnish: janota — (intransitive) to have a ravenous appetite or craving for food or prey