See also: Raven and räven

English edit

Etymology 1 edit

 
A raven (bird).

From Middle English raven, reven, from Old English hræfn, from Proto-West Germanic *hrabn, from Proto-Germanic *hrabnaz (raven), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱrep-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (to croak, crow).

Pronunciation edit

  • enPR: rāʹvən, IPA(key): /ˈɹeɪvən/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪvən

Noun edit

raven (countable and uncountable, plural ravens)

  1. (countable) Any of several, generally large and lustrous black species of birds in the genus Corvus, especially the common raven, Corvus corax.
  2. A jet-black colour.
    raven:  
    • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds:
      A lone man walks the shores of Nantucket; his noble form is slightly bent, and with the raven of his hair is blended the faintest tinge of gray, though he is evidently a man to whom the meridian of life is yet far in the distance []
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Adjective edit

raven (not comparable)

  1. Of the color of the raven; jet-black
    raven curls
    raven darkness
    She was a tall, sophisticated, raven-haired beauty.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Etymology 2 edit

From Middle English ravene, ravine, from Old French raviner (rush, seize by force), itself from ravine (rapine), from Latin rapīna (plundering, loot), itself from rapere (seize, plunder, abduct).

Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

raven (uncountable)

  1. Rapine; rapacity.
  2. Prey; plunder; food obtained by violence.
Translations edit

Verb edit

raven (third-person singular simple present ravens, present participle ravening, simple past and past participle ravened)

  1. (transitive, archaic) To obtain or seize by violence.
  2. (transitive) To devour with great eagerness.
    • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, [], →OCLC, page 93:
      And the hound Time, when all the Worlds and cities are swept away whereon he used to raven, having no more to devour, shall suddenly die.
    • 1938, P.G. Woodhouse, The Code of the Woosters:
      I refer to the danger of keeping a dog of this nature and disposition in a bedroom, where it can spring out ravening on anyone who enters.
  3. (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.
  4. (intransitive) To show rapacity; to be greedy (for something).
    • 1587, Leonard Mascall, “The nature and qualities of hogges, and also the gouernement thereof”, in The First Booke of Cattell[1], London:
      [] because hogs are commonly rauening for their meat, more then other cattel, it is meet therefore to haue them ringed, or else they wil doe much hurt in digging and turning vp corne fieldes []
    • 1852, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Old Nurse’s Story”, in The Old Nurse’s Story and Other Tales[2]:
      They passed along towards the great hall-door, where the winds howled and ravened for their prey []
    • 1865, Sabine Baring-Gould, chapter 8, in The Book of Were-Wolves[3], London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 114:
      The Greek were-wolf is closely related to the vampire. The lycanthropist falls into a cataleptic trance, during which his soul leaves his body, enters that of a wolf and ravens for blood.
    • 1931, James B. Fagan, The Improper Duchess[4], 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.
Related terms edit

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Dutch edit

Etymology 1 edit

Borrowed from English rave.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

raven

  1. to (hold a) rave, to party wildly
Inflection edit
Inflection of raven (weak)
infinitive raven
past singular ravede
past participle geraved
infinitive raven
gerund raven n
present tense past tense
1st person singular rave ravede
2nd person sing. (jij) ravet ravede
2nd person sing. (u) ravet ravede
2nd person sing. (gij) ravet ravede
3rd person singular ravet ravede
plural raven raveden
subjunctive sing.1 rave ravede
subjunctive plur.1 raven raveden
imperative sing. rave
imperative plur.1 ravet
participles ravend geraved
1) Archaic.

Etymology 2 edit

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

raven

  1. plural of raaf

Anagrams edit

German edit

Etymology edit

From Rave +‎ -en, possibly after English (to) rave.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

raven (weak, third-person singular present ravt, past tense ravte, past participle geravt, auxiliary haben) (or as past participle: geraved)

  1. (colloquial) to rave (to attend a rave)
    • 2018 March 15, Julian Weber, “Kepler 452b-Rave”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz[5], →ISSN, page 26:
      Es wird geravt im Funkhaus Nalepastraße. „Kepler 452b“ klingt danach, Lichtjahre von der Realität entfernt zu sein. Motto des Techno-Performance-Festivals: „nonprofit und nomadisch“, Levitation pur.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation edit

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

  • raven” in Duden online
  • raven” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Middle Dutch edit

Etymology edit

From Old Dutch ravan, from Proto-West Germanic *hrabn.

Noun edit

rāven m

  1. raven

Inflection edit

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms edit

Descendants edit

  • Dutch: raaf
    • Afrikaans: raaf
    • Sranan Tongo: rafru
  • Limburgish: raof

Further reading edit

Slovene edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Slavic *orvьnъ.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

rávən (comparative rávnejši, superlative nȁjrávnejši)

  1. even, level

Inflection edit

 
The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
Hard
masculine feminine neuter
nom. sing. ráven rávna rávno
singular
masculine feminine neuter
nominative ráven ind
rávni def
rávna rávno
genitive rávnega rávne rávnega
dative rávnemu rávni rávnemu
accusative nominativeinan or
genitive
anim
rávno rávno
locative rávnem rávni rávnem
instrumental rávnim rávno rávnim
dual
masculine feminine neuter
nominative rávna rávni rávni
genitive rávnih rávnih rávnih
dative rávnima rávnima rávnima
accusative rávna rávni rávni
locative rávnih rávnih rávnih
instrumental rávnima rávnima rávnima
plural
masculine feminine neuter
nominative rávni rávne rávna
genitive rávnih rávnih rávnih
dative rávnim rávnim rávnim
accusative rávne rávne rávna
locative rávnih rávnih rávnih
instrumental rávnimi rávnimi rávnimi

Alternative forms edit

Derived terms edit

Further reading edit

  • raven”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Swedish edit

Noun edit

raven

  1. definite plural of rave