raven1
/ˈreɪv(ə)n
/noun
A large heavily built crow with mainly black plumage, feeding chiefly on carrion.
- Genus Corvus, family Corvidae: several species, in particular the widespread all-black common raven (C. corax).
- Long-eared Owls usually nest in abandoned stick nests, often the nests of magpies, crows, ravens, or hawks.
- Put bluntly, these birds, which include crows, ravens, magpies, and jays, can be real jerks.
adjective
(Especially of hair) of a glossy black colour: thick raven hair...
- She had a long sheet of glossy raven hair and graceful neck.
- She was a tall woman, slim and delicate, with a wealth of glossy raven hair.
- Her hood had been left back and her glossy raven hair had been tied up with a deep lilac ribbon.
Synonyms
black, glossy black, jet-black, coal-black, ebony, inky, sooty
literary sable
Origin
Old English hræfn, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch raaf and German Rabe.
Rhymes
raven2
/ˈrav(ə)n/verb [no object] archaic
1(Of a wild animal) hunt voraciously for prey: fierce lions went ravening to and fro...
- He and the hounds ravening him are amalgamated in one precipitate upsweep of pigments.
- One is the very fierce passage in The Origin of Species where he talks about ‘the face of nature, bright with gladness’ and yet if you look beneath, you will see things ravening, devouring, consuming.
1.1 [with object] Devour voraciously: clusters of grapes, the which they raven’d quick...
- Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.
- But after a while that didn't stop you from ravening down the poison.
Origin
Late 15th century (in the sense 'take as spoil'): from Old French raviner, originally 'to ravage', based on Latin rapina 'pillage'.