raven

From Middle English raven, reven (“raven (Corvus corax); carrion crow (Corvus corone); rook (Corvus frugilegus) (?); the constellation Corvus; gall nuts of the Aleppo oak (Quercus infectoria) used to make black ink”),^[1] from Old English hræfn (“raven”),^[2] from Proto-West Germanic *hrabn (“raven”), from Proto-Germanic *hrabnaz (“raven”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *ḱrep- (“to crackle; to rattle”) or *ḱer- (“to croak, crow”), probably ultimately onomatopoeic, referring to the bird’s call.^[3]

• enPR: rāʹvən, (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪvn̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪvən/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvən
• Hyphenation: rav‧en

raven (countable and uncountable, plural ravens)

2. (countable) Any of several, generally large, species of birds in the genus Corvus with lustrous black plumage; especially the common raven (Corvus corax).

   Hypernyms: bird, corvid

   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], signature D3, verso:

     Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The vvhilſt their ovvne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittifull.

   • c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act II, signature D2, recto:

     Thus like the ſad preſaging Rauen that tolls / The ſick mans paſſeport in her hollovv beake, / And in the ſhadovv of the ſilent night / Doth ſhake contagion from her ſable vvings; / Vex'd and tormented runnes poore Barabas / VVith fatall curſes tovvards theſe Chriſtians.

   • 1610, William Camden, “Denshire”, in Philémon Holland, transl., Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press for] Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton, →OCLC, page 207:

     [T]he Danes bare in their Enſigne a Raven vvrought (by report) in needle-vvorke, by the daughters of Lothbroke that is, Leather-breech, […]

     Compare etymology 1 sense 1.3.

   • 1610, John Guillim, “Sect[ion] III. Chap[ter] XX.”, in A Display of Heraldrie: […], London: […] William Hall for Raphe Mab, →OCLC, page 162:

     Hee beareth Or, a Rauen Proper, by the name of Corbet.

     Used as a charge on a coat of arms.

   • 1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Similes”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume III, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 189:

     As from an ancestral oak / Two empty ravens sound their clarion, / Yell by yell, and croak by croak, / When they scent the noonday smoke / Of fresh human carrion: […]

   • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in The Pirate. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 117:

     If the men of Thule have ceased to be champions, and to spread the banquet for the raven, the women have not forgotten the arts that lifted them of yore into queens and prophetesses.

   • 1831, John James Audubon, “A Flood”, in Ornithological Biography, or An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America; […], Edinburgh: Adam Black, […], →OCLC, pages 157–158:

     All is silent and melancholy, unless when the mournful bleeting of the hemmed in Deer reaches your ear, or the dismal scream of an Eagle or a Raven is heard, as the foul bird rises, disturbed by your approach, from the carcass on which it was allaying its craving appetite.

   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 6.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 270:

     The raven, with his head very much on one side, and his bright eye shining like a diamond, preserved a thoughtful silence for a few seconds, and then replied in a voice so hoarse and distant, that it seemed to come through his thick feathers rather than out of his mouth. "Halloa, halloa, halloa! What's the matter here! Keep up your spirits. Never say die. Bow wow wow. I'm a devil, I'm a devil, I'm a devil. Hurrah!"

   • 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y.; London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC, page 144:

     "Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven, / Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore— / Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" / Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

   • 1848 October 21, [James Russell Lowell], “A Fable for the Critics”, in […] A Fable for Critics; or […] A Glance at a Few of our Literary Progenies […], New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam […], →OCLC, page 57:

     There comes Poe with his raven, like Barnaby Rudge, / Three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths fudge, / […] / Who has written some things quite the best of their kind, / But the heart somehow seems all squeezed out by the mind, […]

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Guinevere”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 232:

     A blot in heaven, the Raven, flying high, / Croak'd, and she thought 'he spies a field of death; / For now the Heathen of the Northern Sea, / Lured by the crimes and frailties of the court, / Begin to slay the folk, and spoil the land.'

   2. (uncountable) A jet-black, often glossy, colour, like that of the plumage of a raven (etymology 1 sense 1).

      raven:  

      Near-synonyms: ebony, onyx

      • 1859, Ferna Vale, “Alone”, in Natalie; or, A Gem among the Sea-weeds, Andover, Mass.: […] W[arren] F. Draper, →OCLC, page 314:

        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; […]

   3. (archaic, countable) Usually preceded by a descriptive word: a bird from a genus other than Corvus that resembles the raven (etymology 1 sense 1), especially in having black plumage; also, an imaginary black bird.
      • 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of the Auk, Puffin, and Other Birds of the Penguin Kind”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume VI, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, pages 92–93:

        VVhen the great ſea-raven, as Jacobſon informs us, comes to take avvay their young, the puffins boldly oppoſe him. […] As ſoon as the raven approaches, the puffin catches him under the throat vvith its beak, and ſticks its clavvs into his breaſt, vvhich makes the raven, vvith a loud ſcreaming, attempt to get avvay; […]

      • 1808 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Victoria”, in William Michael Rossetti, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley: […], revised edition, volume II, London: E[dward] Moxon, Son, & Co., […], published 1870, →OCLC, stanza I, page 500:

        Along the wild mountains night-ravens were yelling— / They bodingly presaged destruction and woe.

   5. (historical, countable) A flag bearing a raven (etymology 1 sense 1), formerly used by some Viking leaders
      1. (uncountable, metonymic) preceded by the: Viking military power.
         • 1740 August 12 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [James Thomson, David Mallet], Alfred: A Masque. […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], published 1740, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii, page 36:

           Behold the vvarrior bright vvith Daniſh ſpoils!— / The raven droops his vvings—and hark! the trumpet, / Exulting, ſpeaks the reſt.

   6. (chiefly fiction, countable) A person, especially a man, with black hair.

      Coordinate term: (rare) ravenette

3. (countable, figurative, obsolete) A person who brings bad news or makes pessimistic predictions.
   • c. 1610–1614 (date written), William Rowley; [possibly also Thomas Heywood, George Wilkins], A New Wonder, a Woman never Vext. A Pleasant Conceited Comedy: […], London: […] G[eorge] P[urslowe] for Francis Constable, […], published 1632, →OCLC, Act III, page 47:

     Ric[hard]. Novv y'ave ſpoke it halfe; 'tis ſinking I muſt treate of; / Your ſhips are all ſunke. / […] / M[istress] Foſt[er]. O thou fatall Raven; Let me pull thine eyes out for this / Sad croake.

   • 1682 December 15 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John] Dryden, [Nathaniel] Lee, The Duke of Guise. A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] H[odgkin] for R[ichard] Bentley […], and J[acob] Tonson […], published 1683, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 53:

     Mal[icorn]. O my dear Lord, upon this onely day / Depends the ſeries of your follovving Fate: / Think your good Genius has aſſum'd my ſhape / In this Prophetick doom. / Guiſe. Peace croaking Raven, / I'le ſeize him firſt, then make him a led Monarch; […]

   • 1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 33:

     Some ravens have alvvays indeed croaked out this kind of ſong. They have a malignant delight in preſaging miſchief vvhen they are not employed in doing it: they are miſerable and diſapointed at every inſtance of the public proſperity.

• unkindness (“collective noun for ravens”)

raven (not comparable)

1. Especially of hair: of the jet-black and often glossy colour of the plumage of a raven (etymology 1 sense 1).

   Near-synonyms: ebony, onyx

   raven curls    raven darkness

   She was a tall, sophisticated, raven-haired beauty.

   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 9:

     Hovv ſvveetly did they float upon the vvings / Of Silence, through the emptie-vaulted night / At every fall ſmoothing the Raven dovvne / Of darkneſſe till ſhe ſmil'd: […]

   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 87, lines 1087–1088:

     Thus o'er the proſtrate city black Deſpair / Extends her raven vving; […]

   • a. 1772 (date written), [Thomas] Gray, “Ode IX. The Descent of Odin. From the Norse-tongue.”, in The Poems of Mr. Gray. […], York, Yorkshire: […] A[nn] Ward; and sold by J[ames] Dodsley, […]; and J[ohn] Todd, […], published 1775, →OCLC, page 52:

     A vvond'rous Boy [Váli] ſhall Rinda bear, / VVho ne'er ſhall comb his raven-hair, […]

   • 1801, Robert Southey, “The First Book”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volume I, London: […] [F]or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […], →OCLC, page 23:

     A leafless tree and barren of all fruit, / With darkness feeds her boughs of raven grain.

   • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter V, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume II, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 71:

     […] I beheld a countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Her hair of a shining raven black, and curiously braided; her eyes were dark, but gentle, although animated; her features of a regular proportion, and her complexion wondrously fair, each cheek tinged with a lovely pink.

   • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in The Pirate. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 43–44:

     From her mother, Minna inherited the stately form and dark eyes, the raven locks and finely-pencilled brows, which shewed she was, on one side at least, a stranger to the blood of Thule.

   • 1904 January 29 – October 7, Joseph Conrad, chapter VII, in Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, London; New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], published 1904, →OCLC, part first (The Silver of the Mine), page 85:

     [S]ome grown girl, the pride of the family, stepping barefoot and straight as an arrow, with braids of raven hair, a thick, haughty profile, and no load to carry but the small guitar of the country and a pair of soft leather sandals tied together on her back.

   • 1913 February, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Strange Crime of John Boulnois”, in The Wisdom of Father Brown, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, published 1914, →OCLC, page 273:

     [T]he word "Ravenswood" came into his head repeatedly. It was partly the raven colour of the pine-woods; but partly also an indescribable atmosphere almost described in [Walter] Scott's great tragedy; […]

• raven-black
• raven-haired

A variant of ravin, from Middle English ravin, ravine, raven (noun).^[4]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹæv(ɪ)n/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• enPR: răvʹən, (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹæv(ə)n/
• Rhymes: -ævɪn, -ævən
• Hyphenation: rav‧in

raven (uncountable)

1. Alternative spelling of ravin.

raven (comparative more raven, superlative most raven)

1. (obsolete) Alternative spelling of ravin.

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

1. Alternative spelling of ravin.
   1. (transitive)
      1. (archaic) Sometimes followed by away or from: to obtain or seize (something, especially property) by force or violence; to plunder.
         • 1560 October 5 (Gregorian calendar), John Sledaine [i.e., Johannes Sleidanus], “The .XXIJ. Booke”, in Ihon [i.e., John] Daus, transl., A Famouse Cronicle of Oure Time, Called Sleidanes Commentaries, Concerning the State of Religion and Commonwealth, during the Raigne of the Emperour Charles the Fift, […], London: […] Ihon Daye, for Abraham Veale, and Nicholas England, →OCLC, folios ccclv, verso – ccclvj, recto:

           [They] aſſaulted by night a certen aũciẽt [auncient] gentleman at home in his owne houſe, which had done thē [them] no diſpleaſure, and being a ſlepe in his bed at their cõming [comming], whan he had hardly eſcaped awaye half naked, rauening and diſtroying his goodes, they ſpoyled his wyfe and chyldren of all theyr apparell, and threatening them ofte with death, left thẽ [them] ſtarck naked, in ſo muche that one of the Nobilitie comming thither by chaunce, couered the woman with his owne garment.

      2. (archaic) Sometimes followed by down, up, or (obsolete) in: to eat (something, such as food or prey) greedily; to devour, to wolf down.
         • 1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Ezekiél XXII:27, folio 343, recto, column 2:

           Her princes in the middes thereof are like vvolues, rauening yͤ pray [prey] to ſhed blood, and to ſhed blood, and to deſtroye ſoules for their ovvne couetous lucre.

         • 1603, Richard Knolles, “The Life of Selymus, the Second of that Name, Fift Emperour of the Turkes”, in The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 833:

           [C]ertaine young men vvhom they call Giamoglans, vvith others that ſtood round about them, ſnatcht it [the food] haſtily vp as their fees, and like greedie Harpies rauened it dovvne in a moment.

         • 1607, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Conrad Gessner]; Edward Topsell, “Of Handling, Taming, or Breaking of Horsses”, in The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 303:

           In the morning giue them [horses] barley or prouender, a little at a time in diſtinct or ſeueral portions, tvvice or thrice one after another, ſo as he may chevv and eke diſgeſt it thoroughly, othervviſe if he rauen it, as he vvil do hauing much at a time, he rendreth it in his dung vvhole and not diſgeſted.

         • 1615, Richarde Brathwaite [i.e., Richard Braithwait], “[Loves Labyrinth: Or The True-louers Knot: Including the Disastrous Fals of Two Star-crost Louers Pyramus & Thysbe. […].] Pyramus and Thysbe.”, in A Strappado for the Diuell. […], London: […] I. B[eale] for Richard Redmer […], →OCLC, page 40:

           A Lion nevv returnde from rauening pray [prey], / came to the fount, his blood to vvaſh avvay.

         • 1653, Francis Rabelais [i.e., François Rabelais], translated by [Thomas Urquhart, Peter Anthony Motteux], “How Pantagruel Found Panurge, whom He Loved All His Lifetime”, in The Works of Francis Rabelais, Doctor in Physick: Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds, and Sayings of Gargantua, and His Sonne Pantagruel. […], London: […] [Thomas Ratcliffe and Edward Mottershead] for Richard Baddeley, […], →OCLC; republished in volume I, London: […] Navarre Society […], [1948], →OCLC, 2nd book, pages 211–212:

           [A]t this present I am in a very urgent necessity to feed, […] if you will but set me to work, it will be as good as a balsamum for sore eyes to see me gulch and raven it, for Gods sake, give order for it.

         • 1814, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XXXII”, in H[enry] F[rancis] Cary, transl., The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. […], volume I (Hell), London: […] [J. Barfield] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 143, lines 122–127:

           […] I beheld two spirits by the ice / Pent in one hollow, that the head of one / Was cowl unto the other; and as bread / Is raven'd up through hunger, th' uppermost / Did so apply his fangs to th' other's brain, / Where the spine joins it.

         • 1818, John Keats, “Book III”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 130, lines 514–515:

           Clusters of grapes, the which they raven'd quick / And roar'd for more; […]

      3. (figurative) To absorb or take in (something, such as information) greedily; also, to approach or pounce on (someone) like prey.
         • 1875 April 19 (date delivered; published 1875 June), James Russell Lowell, “Ode Read at the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Fight at Concord Bridge, 19th April, 1875”, in Three Memorial Poems, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1877, →OCLC, canto V, page 22:

           [S]he fenced them in their need / With iron-handed Duty's sternest creed, / 'Gainst Self's lean wolf that ravens word and deed.

         • 1948 October, Dodie Smith, chapter V, in I Capture the Castle, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, part I (The Sixpenny Book: March), pages 55–56:

           But some characters in books are very real—Jane Austen's are; and I know those five Bennets at the opening of Pride and Prejudice, simply waiting to raven the young men at Netherfield Park, are not giving one thought to the real facts of marriage.

   2. (intransitive)
      1. 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.
         • 1610 October, John Foxe, The Second Volume of the Ecclesiasticall Historie, Containing the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs, […], 6th edition, volume II, London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for the Company of Stationers, →OCLC, book VII, page 877, column 2:

           [T]he ſouldiours not yet ſatisfied with ſpoiling and ſacking the reſt that they found in the ſaid Tailleret, raging about the confines thereof, rauened and made hauocke on euery ſide, of whatſoeuer they could lay hands on, taking priſoners both men and women, which were loden with carriage.

         • 1670, [Guillaume] Girard, “The Ninth Book”, in Charles Cotton, transl., The History of the Life of the Duke of Espernon, the Great Favourite of France. […], London: […] E. Cotes, and A. Clark, for Henry Brome, […], →OCLC, 3rd part, page 442:

           [T]he Inhabitants of the Countrey, a barbarous and inhumane people (as generally Sea-borderers are) and inur'd to the ſpoil of VVracks, vvere not over haſty to acquaint the Duke's Officers vvith this, that they might not be diſturbed vvhilst buſie ravening after Booty.

         • 1865, Thomas Carlyle, “[Leopold Joseph von] Daun in Wrestle with Friedrich in the Silesian Hills”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume V, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book XVIII, pages 92–93:

           A scandal to be seen, how his Croats and loose hordes went openly ravening about, bent on mere housebreaking, street-robbery and insolent violence.

      2. To eat greedily; also, followed by on or upon: of an animal: to prey on.
         • 1545 July 12 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Elyot, A Preseruatiue agaynste Deth, London: […] Thomas Berthelet, […], →OCLC, signature [B.vi.], recto:

           The couaitous deſyre of riche men is euer vnſaciable. It always raueneth and neuer is ſatisfied.

         • 1657, Longus, “The Fourth Book”, in George Thornley, transl., Daphnis & Chloe […], [S.l]: [s.n.], published 1920s?, →OCLC, page 154:

           For he [Daphnis] had doubled the number [of goats] he had received of Lamo, nor had the Wolf raven'd away so much as one, and they were all more twaddling fat then the very sheep.

         • 1894, E[dith Anna] Œ[none] Somerville, Martin Ross [pseudonym; Violet Florence Martin], chapter XII, in The Real Charlotte […], volume I, London: Ward and Downey […], →OCLC, page 168:

           [T]he outdoor dogs […] were permitted to raven unchecked upon chicken bones, fat slices of ham, and luscious leavings of cream when the packing-up time came.

         • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], “The Bird of Doom and the End”, in 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.

           A figurative use.

         • 1938 July 16 – September 3, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VIII, in The Code of the Woosters, London: Herbert Jenkins, published 7 October 1938, →OCLC, page 177:

           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. Sometimes followed by about or on: to move about searching for food or prey ravenously.
         • 1680, Henry More, chapter XIII, in Apocalypsis Apocalypseos; or The Revelation of St John the Divine Unveiled. […], London: […] J. M. for J[ohn] Martyn, and W. Kettilby, […], →OCLC, page 124:

           [T]he Arms and Hands of the Bear, […] are his ſtrength and inſtrument of action to raven and prey vvith; […]

      4. Sometimes followed by after or for: to have a ravenous appetite or craving for food or prey.
         • 1587, Leonard Mascall, “The Nature and Qualities of Hogges, & also the Gouernement thereof”, in The First Booke of Cattell. Wherein is Shewed, the Gouernement of Oxen, Kine, and Calues, and How to Vse Buls and Other Cattell to the Yoke, and Fell. […], London: […] Nicholas Okes for Iohn Harison, […], published 1610, →OCLC, page 273:

           [B]ecause hogs are commonly rauening for their meat, more then other cattel, it is meet therefore to haue them ringed, or elſe they will doe much hurt in digging and turning vp corne fieldes, […]

         • 1852 December, [Elizabeth Gaskell], “The Old Nurse’s Story”, in Lizzie Leigh; and Other Tales. […], copyright edition, Leipzig, Saxony: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1855, →OCLC, page 115:

           They passed along towards the great hall-door, where the winds howled and ravened for their prey; […]

           A figurative use.

         • 1865, Sabine Baring-Gould, “Folk-lore Relating to Were-wolves”, in The Book of Were-wolves: Being an Account of a Terrible Superstition, London: Smith, Elder and Co. […], →OCLC, 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.

      5. Originally followed by with: to experience great hunger; to be ravenous.
         • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Democritus Iunior to the Reader”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, page 41:

           For hovv […] ſhall I knovv thee to be a man, vvhen thou kickeſt like an aſſe, neygheſt like an Horſe after vvomen, raueſt in luſt like a Bull, raueneſt like a Beare, ſtingeſt like a Scorpion, rakeſt like a VVolfe, as ſuttle as a Foxe, as impudent as a Dogge; ſhall I ſay thou art man that haſt all the Symptomes of a beaſt?

      6. (figurative) To take and exploit or make use of greedily.
      7. (figurative) Sometimes followed by after or for: to have a strong craving or desire for, or to do, something; to crave, to desire, to yearn.
         • 1892, S[abine] Baring-Gould, “Jamie’s Ride”, in In the Roar of the Sea: A Tale of the Cornish Coast […], volume II, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 33:

           Here's my brother thirsting, ravening to make your acquaintance—and by George! you are in luck's way, young hopeful, to make his.

         • 1931 August, James B[ernard] Fagan, “The Improper Duchess”, in Famous Plays of 1931, London: Victor Gollancz […], published February 1932, →OCLC, Act III, page 237:

           Take your conscience—what is the choice? 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.

• ravener
• ravening (adjective, noun)
• ravenous
• ravenously
• ravenousness

• common raven on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• raven on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• raven (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Verna

Borrowed from English rave. By surface analysis, rave +‎ -en.

• IPA^(key): /ˈreː.və(n)/

raven

1. to (hold a) rave, to party wildly

   Raven is leven. ― To rave is to live.

Original form of raaf which represents a rebracketing of this form and which existed alongside it since (late) Middle Dutch. The singular raven persisted in some dialects until at least the 18th century.

• IPA^(key): /ˈraːvə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːvən

raven m (plural ravens or ravenen, diminutive raventje n)

1. obsolete form of raaf

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): /ˈraːvə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːvən

raven

1. plural of raaf

• ervan, varen

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈʁɛɪ̯vn̩/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

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^[1], →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)

• Rave
• Raver

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

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

rāven m

1. raven

• rāvene
• rāve

• Dutch: raaf, (all obsolete) raef, raven, raaven, raeven
  • Afrikaans: raaf
  • → Sranan Tongo: rafru
• Limburgish: raof

• “raven”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “raven”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

From Proto-Slavic *orvьnъ.

• IPA^(key): /ràːʋən/

rávən (comparative rávnejši, superlative nȁjrávnejši)

1. even, level

• ravȃn (archaic)

• rávnost

• “raven”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “raven”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references

raven

1. definite plural of rave