ravenous

ravenous
\ \ [15] Ravenous was borrowed from Old French ravineux, a derivative of the verb raviner ‘seize by force’ (source of English raven, which nowadays appears mainly in its present participial form ravening). This came from Latin rapere ‘seize by force’, ancestor also of English rape. The central modern meaning of ravenous, ‘very hungry’, developed from the notion of predatory animals that ‘seize’ and eat their prey. Other English descendants of Latin rapere include rapacious, rapid, rapture, ravage, ravine, ravish [13], surreptitious, and usurp.
\ \ Cf.⇒ RAPE, RAPTURE, RAVEN

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую
Synonyms:
, , , , , , ,


Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ravenous — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda RAVENOUS Título Ravenous Ficha técnica Dirección Antonia Bird Producción Adam Fields, David Heyman, Tim Van Relim Guión …   Wikipedia Español

  • Ravenous — Rav en*ous (r[a^]v n*[u^]s), a. [From 2d {Raven}.] 1. Devouring with rapacious eagerness; furiously voracious; hungry even to rage; as, a ravenous wolf or vulture. [1913 Webster] 2. Eager for prey or gratification; as, a ravenous appetite or… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ravenous — [rav′ə nəs] adj. [ME ravynous < OFr ravinos < ravine: see RAVEN2] 1. greedily or wildly hungry; voracious or famished 2. very eager for gratification [ravenous for praise] 3. very rapacious ravenously adv. ravenousness n …   English World dictionary

  • ravenous — index eager, gluttonous, predatory, rapacious Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • ravenous — (adj.) early 15c., obsessed with plundering, extremely greedy, from O.Fr. ravinos rapacious, violent, from raviner to seize, from ravine violent rush, robbery (see RAVINE (Cf. ravine)). Meaning voracious, very hungry is from early 15c. Related:… …   Etymology dictionary

  • ravenous — ravening, rapacious, *voracious, gluttonous Analogous words: grasping, greedy, acquisitive, *covetous: *fierce, ferocious …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • ravenous — [adj] very hungry; desirous avaricious, could eat a horse*, covetous, devouring, edacious, empty, famished, ferocious, gluttonous, grasping, greedy, insatiable, insatiate, omnivorous, predatory, rapacious, ravening, starved, starved to death*,… …   New thesaurus

  • ravenous — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ extremely hungry. DERIVATIVES ravenously adverb. ORIGIN Old French ravineus, from raviner to ravage …   English terms dictionary

  • Ravenous — Infobox Film name = Ravenous caption = Theatrical release poster producer =Adam Fields David Heyman Tim Van Rellim writer = Ted Griffin starring = Guy Pearce Robert Carlyle Jeremy Davies Jeffrey Jones David Arquette Neal McDonough director =… …   Wikipedia

  • Ravenous — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel Ravenous – Friss oder stirb Originaltitel Ravenous …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • ravenous — ravenously, adv. ravenousness, n. /rav euh neuhs/, adj. 1. extremely hungry; famished; voracious: feeling ravenous after a hard day s work. 2. extremely rapacious: a ravenous jungle beast. 3. intensely eager for gratification or satisfaction.… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”