different between reif vs reaf

English

Alternative forms

• rief

Etymology

From Middle English ref, reaf, reif, from Old English r?af (“plunder, spoil, booty, raiment, garment, robe, vestment, armor”), from Proto-West Germanic *raub, from Proto-Germanic *raub?, *raubaz (“rape, robbery”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- (“to rip, tear”).

Cognate with Scots reif, rief (“robbery, depredation, spoliation”), Saterland Frisian roowje (“loot, rob”), Dutch roof (“spoil, booty, robbery”), German Raub (“robbery, spoils, plunder”). See also reave, robe.

Noun

reif (uncountable)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) Robbery.
   • c. 1524,, a letter, recorded in The History of Scotland (John Hill Burton, 1873), volume 3, page 109:

     The opposition, which, as we shall see, was headed by Archbishop Beaton, protested against the "daily slaughters, murders, reifs, thefts, depredations, and heavy attemptates, that are daily and hourly committed within this realm in fault of justice."

   • c. 1577–1587, Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles:

     […] meaning to live by reif of other mennes goodes, wherein they have no manner of propertie.

   • 1814, Walter Scott, Waverley:

     […] the lawless thieves, limmers, and broken men of the Highlands, had been in fellowship together by reason of their surnames for the committing of divers thefts, reifs, and herships.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:reif.

References

• reif in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• -fier, FIRE, Fier, Frie, fier, fire, refi, rief, rife

German

Etymology

From Old High German r?fi, akin to Old Saxon r?pi (Modern Dutch rijp).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a??f/

Adjective

reif (comparative reifer, superlative am reifsten)

1. ripe
2. mature

Declension

Antonyms

• unreif

Related terms

• Reife

Further reading

• “reif” in Duden online
• “reif” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) , “reif”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Icelandic

Verb

reif

1. first-person singular past indicative of rífa
2. third-person singular past indicative of rífa

Luxembourgish

Verb

reif

1. second-person singular imperative of reiwen

Middle English

Alternative forms

• reaf, ræf, ref, reve, raf, ræve, rave, reafe

Etymology

From Old English r?af, from Proto-West Germanic *raub, from Proto-Germanic *raubaz, *raub?, *raub?. Doublet of robe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /r??f/, /r??v/

Noun

reif (plural reves)

1. A piece of clothing or gear, especially priestly.
2. (rare) pillaging, looting; intense destruction.
3. (rare) loot, spoils; the fruit of success.
4. (rare) destructiveness; the quality of being damaging.

Descendants

• English: reif, reaf, rief
• Scots: reif, rief, reiff, refe, ref

References

• “r?f, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-17.
• “r?f, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-17.

Scots

Alternative forms

• rief, reiff, refe, ref

Etymology

From Middle English reif, from Old English r?af, from Proto-West Germanic *raub, from Proto-Germanic *raubaz.

Noun

reif

1. robbery
   • 1809, The Sang of the Outlaw Murray, in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: Historical ballads (Walter Scott), page 18:

     The man that wons yon Foreste intill,

     He lives by reif and felonie !

English

Noun

reaf (plural reafs)

1. Obsolete spelling of reef
   • 1834 August 2, Niles' Register, page 384:

     A large number of vessels continued to be wrecked, and a vast amount of property is lost on the Florida reafs.

   • 1891, H. A. Moriarty, Islands in the Southern Indian Ocean, Westward of Longitude 80° east, including Madagascar, page 124:

     The largest ships may pass between the outer reafs and the Black rocks.

Anagrams

• FERA, Fear, Fera, Rafe, fare, fear

Middle English

Noun

reaf

1. Alternative form of reif

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *raub, from Proto-Germanic *raubaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ræ???f/

Noun

r?af m or n

1. plunder, spoil, booty
2. raiment, garment, robe, vestment
3. armor

Derived terms

• r?afl?c (“robbery”)

Related terms

• r?afian

Descendants

• Middle English: ræf, raf, ref, reif
  • English: reif
  • Scots: reif