reif
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English ref, reaf, Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), from Old English rēaf (“plunder, spoil, booty, raiment, garment, robe, vestment, armor”), from Proto-West Germanic *raub, from Proto-Germanic *raubą, *raubaz (“rape, robbery”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- (“to rip, tear”).
Cognate with Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), rief (“robbery, depredation, spoliation”), Saterland Frisian roowje (“loot, rob”), Dutch roof (“spoil, booty, robbery”), German Raub (“robbery, spoils, plunder”). See also reave, robe.
Noun
reif (uncountable)
- (Scotland, obsolete) Robbery.
- c. 1524, a letter, recorded in The History of Scotland (John Hill Burton, 1873), volume 3, page 109:
- The opposition, which, as we shall see, was headed by Archbishop Beaton, protested against the "daily slaughters, murders, reifs, thefts, depredations, and heavy attemptates, that are daily and hourly committed within this realm in fault of justice."
- c. 1577-1587, Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles:
- […] meaning to live by reif of other mennes goodes, wherein they have no manner of propertie.
- 1814, Walter Scott, Waverley:
- […] the lawless thieves, limmers, and broken men of the Highlands, had been in fellowship together by reason of their surnames for the committing of divers thefts, reifs, and herships.
- 1898, Robert Borland, Border Raids and Reivers, page 42:
- In the year 1567, in the first Parliament of James VI., an important Act was passed, entitled "Anent Theft and Receipt of Theft, Taking of Prisoners by Thieves, or Bands for Ransoms, and Punishment of the same." It relates especially to the […] "other inhabitants of the remanent Shires of the Realm," bearing that it is not unknown of the continual theft, reif, and oppression committed within the bounds of the said Sheriffdoms, by […] thieves and "broken men" [who] commit daily "thefts, reifs, herschips, murders, and fire raisings" upon the peaceable subjects of the country.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:reif.
- c. 1524, a letter, recorded in The History of Scotland (John Hill Burton, 1873), volume 3, page 109:
References
- “reif”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
German
Etymology
From Old High German rīfi, akin to Old Saxon rīpi (Modern Dutch rijp).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʁaɪ̯f/
Audio (file)
Adjective
reif (strong nominative masculine singular reifer, comparative reifer, superlative am reifsten)
Declension
Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
Antonyms
Related terms
Further reading
- “reif” in Duden online
- “reif” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- Friedrich Kluge (1883), “reif”, in , John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891
Icelandic
Luxembourgish
Middle English
Etymology
From Old English rēaf, from Proto-West Germanic *raub, from Proto-Germanic *raubaz, *raubą, *raubō. Doublet of robe.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /rɛːf/, /rɛːv/
Noun
reif (plural reves)
- A piece of clothing or gear, especially priestly.
- (rare) pillaging, looting; intense destruction.
- (rare) loot, spoils; the fruit of success.
- (rare) destructiveness; the quality of being damaging.
Descendants
- Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
- Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
References
- “rēf, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-17.
- “rēf, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-17.
Scots
Etymology
From Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), from Old English rēaf, from Proto-West Germanic *raub, from Proto-Germanic *raubaz.
Noun
reif
- robbery
- 1809, “The Sang of the Outlaw Murray”, in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: Historical ballads, Walter Scott, page 18:
- The man that wons yon Foreste intill,
He lives by reif and felonie !- (please add an English translation of this quotation)