raven

rav·en

Use raven in a sentence

A raven.

adjective

The definition of raven is something that is shiny and black.
An example of something raven is black hair.

noun

Raven is defined as a large black bird with a straight and sharp beak.
A large crow is an example of a raven.

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"raven." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Raven>.

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raven. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Raven

raven

any of various large crows; esp., the largest crow (Corvus corax), with a straight, sharp beak, found in Europe, Asia, and North America

Origin of raven

Middle English from Old English hræfn, akin to Old Norse hrafn, German rabe from Indo-European echoic base an unverified form ker-, an unverified form kor-, imitative of harsh sounds from source Classical Greek korax, Classical Latin corvus, raven: so named from its cry

black and lustrous

to devour greedily
Obs. to seize forcibly

Origin of raven

Old French raviner from ravine from Classical Latin rapina, rapine

to prowl hungrily; search for prey or plunder
to devour food or prey greedily
to have a voracious appetite

alt. sp. of ravin

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MLA Style

"raven." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Raven>.

APA Style

raven. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Raven

raven

noun

A large bird (Corvus corax) of the Northern Hemisphere, having black plumage and a croaking cry.
Any of several similar birds of the genus Corvus, found in Africa, Australia, and southwestern North America.

adjective

Black and shiny: raven tresses.

Origin of raven

Middle English from Old English hræfn

verb

rav·ened, rav·en·ing, rav·ens

verb

transitive

To consume greedily; devour.
To seek or seize as prey or plunder.

verb

intransitive

To seek or seize prey or plunder.
To eat ravenously.

noun

Variant of ravin

Origin of raven

From Middle English ravin, raven rapine, plunder, prey ; see ravin .

Related Forms:

rav′en·er
noun

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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MLA Style

"raven." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Raven>.

APA Style

raven. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Raven

Noun

(plural ravens)

A common name for several, generally large and lustrous black species of birds in the genus Corvus, especially the common raven, Corvus corax.

Adjective

(not comparable)

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

Origin

From Old English hrÃ¦fn, from Proto-Germanic *hrabnaz (compare Dutch raaf, German Rabe, Danish ravn), from Proto-Indo-European *á¸±orhâ‚‚- (compare Middle Irish crÃº, Latin corvus, Lithuanian Å¡Ã¡rka (“magpie"), Serbo-Croatian svrÈka "˜id.', Ancient Greek ÎºÏŒÏÎ±Î¾ (kÃ³rax)), from *á¸±er, *á¸±or (compare Latin crepare "˜to creak, crack', Sanskrit ká¹›ÌpatÄ“).

Noun

(plural ravens)

Rapine; rapacity.
Prey; plunder; food obtained by violence.

Verb

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

(archaic) To obtain or seize by violence.
To devour with great eagerness.
To prey with rapacity; to be greedy; to show 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.

Anagrams

Verna

Origin

From Old French raviner (“rush, seize by force"), itself from ravine (“rapine"), from Latin rapina (“plundering, loot"), itself from rapere (“seize, plunder, abduct")

Proper noun

A female given name for a girl with raven hair, used since the 1970s.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

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MLA Style

"raven." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Raven>.

APA Style

raven. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Raven

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