The Collaborative International Dictionary
Reave \Reave\ (r[=e]v), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reaved (r[=e]vd),
Reft (r[e^]ft), or Raft (r[.a]ft) (obs.); p. pr. & vb. n.
Reaving.] [AS. re['a]fian, from re['a]f spoil, plunder,
clothing, re['o]fan to break (cf. bire['o]fan to deprive of);
akin to G. rauben to rob, Icel. raufa to rob, rj[=u]fa to
break, violate, Goth. bir['a]ub[=o]n to despoil, L. rumpere
to break; cf. Skr. lup to break. [root]114. Cf. Bereave,
Rob, v. t., Robe, Rove, v. i., Rupture.]
To take away by violence or by stealth; to snatch away; to
rob; to despoil; to bereave. [Archaic]. ``To reave his
life.''
--Spenser.
He golden apples raft of the dragon.
--Chaucer.
If the wooers reave
By privy stratagem my life at home.
--Chapman.
To reave the orphan of his patrimony.
--Shak.
The heathen caught and reft him of his tongue.
--Tennyson.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of reave English)
Usage examples of "reaving".
Then thick ribbons of cloud of a metallic gray ride before it like the ghostly remnants of a once vast, victorious army, reaving it.
But there was yearning in her still, born of the heart-deep reaving she had suffered.
Then he rose to his feet, borne erect by fury and conflagration, and his power went reaving among the Riders, slaying them like sheaves.
His mind appeared to flee inward, reaving him of self-consciousness or choice.
Because of his despair, we were compelled to bind him to his place, reaving him of name and choice and time to set him as a keystone for the threatened foundation of the north.
And power-white fire which crashed through the Clave, turned Santonin and the Stonemight to tinder, went reaving among the Riders to garner a harvest of blood.
Over the centuries, they have caused their own kings almost as much trouble as they have caused the English kings, escalating reaving raids into border wars at times most inconvenient to Scotland.
The sole remaining Troll yet battled Chakka, and Grg closed in to aid him, just as shouting Prince Loden and the yawling Daelsmen rounded the flank of the Horde and thundered in among the foe, swords reaving and lances piercing, to be met by blade in kind.
I remember how you would sing the old reaving songs standing on the table with a horn of ale in hand.
Whenever he was in his cups he would call for a reaving song, something loud and stormy that told of dead heroes and deeds of wild valor.