DictionaryAI

raven

SayRAY-vuhn/ˈɹeɪvən/
As a verbRAV-uhn

Pluralravens

Verbravens, ravening, ravened

7 meanings of raven

Practice

  1. 1
    black birdnouncountable
    A large, glossy black bird of the genus Corvus, especially the common raven (Corvus corax).

    A raven landed on the fence post and called out across the field.

    Ravens are known for solving puzzles and using simple tools.

    Note

    Shakespeare could already lean on raven lore: "Some say that ravens foster forlorn children." The color words grow from this bird. The verbs of plunder and greed only share its spelling, and that unrelated family begins with the old noun for rapine.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Shakespeare used the quoted raven lore. folger.edu
    • The color sense derives from the bird and its plumage. en.wiktionary.org
    • The plunder and greed senses belong to a separate etymological family originating in the noun meaning rapine. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 2
    a shade of blackadjective
    Glossy jet-black, like the plumage of a raven.

    The portrait captured her raven tresses against her pale skin.

    He brushed back a lock of raven hair before the performance.

    UsageMostly describes hair, raven hair, raven-haired, and sounds literary rather than everyday.

    Similarjet-black, ebony, black

  3. 3
    a shade of blacknouncountable or uncountable
    A lustrous jet-black color, like that of a raven's feathers.

    Similarjet, ebony

    Note

    The color noun is most at home in an of-phrase that makes the color something a person has. Ferna Vale's Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds (1859) has "with the raven of his hair is blended the faintest tinge of gray." Used this way, raven is the darkness itself, a substance that gray can mix into. For the everyday describing word, reach for the adjective.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

  4. 4
    verbliterarytransitive or intransitive
    To prey on or devour something greedily and violently.
    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.
    1938, P.G. Woodhouse, The Code of the Woosters

    Similardevour, prey, gorge

    Note

    The verb covers both the attack and the greedy eating that follows. It takes an object or the preposition on. The present participle gives a vivid picture of onrush, as in The Code of the Woosters (1938), where a dog may "spring out ravening on anyone who enters." Today it lives mostly in that participle, ravening.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The Code of the Woosters was first published in 1938. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quoted wording describes a dog in the novel; Bertie Wooster speaks it to Jeeves. archive.org
  5. 5
    verbliteraryintransitive
    To be greedy or rapacious, hungering after something.
    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.
    1865, Sabine Baring-Gould, The Book of Were-Wolves

    Similarlust, hunger, crave

    Note

    Greed with a direction: the construction is raven for, and what follows names the craving. Leonard Mascall (1587) has hogs "rauening for their meat." Elizabeth Gaskell lets winds howl and raven for their prey. James B. Fagan's The Improper Duchess has readers "ravening for pornographic dirt." It never takes a direct object, which separates it from the preying sense.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Leonard Mascall's 1587 text describes hogs as "rauening for their meat." The quotation is present in the original edition. raw.githubusercontent.com
    • Elizabeth Gaskell describes winds howling and ravening for their prey in The Old Nurse's Story. gutenberg.net.au
    • James B. Fagan wrote The Improper Duchess, which contains "ravening for pornographic dirt," describing newspaper readers. Senator Corcoran speaks the line. gutenberg.ca

Less common meanings

  1. 6
    verbarchaictransitive or intransitive
    To seize or obtain something by violence; to plunder.
    Nor had the Wolf raven'd away so much as one.
    1657, G. Thornley, Daphnis & Chloe
    That they might not be disturbed whilst busie ravening after Booty.
    1670, Cotton, Espernon
    Note

    Pillage is the archaic core here, and the verb is flexible about its grammar. It usually takes a direct object, as in "to rauin all hee could get from him" (1621), an older spelling of the same verb, and can be followed by away or from, as in "Nor had the Wolf raven'd away so much as one." The past form is regular, ravened.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The quotation "Nor had the Wolf raven'd away so much as one" is attested. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 7
    RAV-uhn/ˈɹævən/
    nounarchaicuncountable
    Violent, greedy seizure of goods or prey, or what is seized in this way.
    Note

    A different word altogether from the bird. It comes from Middle English ravin, via Old French ravine "rapine, robbery," and ultimately from Latin rapīna, "plundering." The noun names the act and the appetite behind it. It is uncountable: a coast suffers raven, not a raven. The same noun could also name the prey or plunder that the violence carried off.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • The seizure noun has a separate origin from the bird name. en.wiktionary.org
    • The noun derives from Middle English ravin, ravine, raven, through French noun forms including Old French ravine, meaning rapine or robbery; raviner is a verb. en.wiktionary.org
    • The ultimate Latin source is rapīna, meaning plundering. en.wiktionary.org
    • The noun can denote predatory seizure and greed. en.wiktionary.org
    • The seizure noun is classified as uncountable. en.wiktionary.org
    • The noun could also denote prey or plunder obtained through violence. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of raven apart? Answer 2 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–3

From Middle English "raven," from Old English "hræfn," from Proto-Germanic "*hrabnaz" (raven), probably imitating the bird's call in the end; one proposed Proto-Indo-European root is "*ḱer-," meaning "to croak or crow."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

Meanings 4–7

From Middle English "ravine" or "raven," from Old French "ravine" (rapine, robbery), from Latin "rapīna" (plundering, loot), from "rapere" (to seize, plunder, abduct). The verb probably grew out of the noun.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts