ravage
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See also: ravagé
English
Etymology
From French ravage (“ravage, havoc, spoil”), from ravir (“to bear away suddenly”), from Latin rapere (“to snatch, seize”), akin to Ancient Greek ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “to seize”).
Pronunciation
Verb
ravage (third-person singular simple present ravages, present participle ravaging, simple past and past participle ravaged)
- (transitive) To devastate, destroy or lay waste to something.
- 1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter XII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, pages 334–335:
- But the most important service which Probus rendered to the republic was the deliverance of Gaul, and the recovery of seventy flourishing cities oppressed by the barbarians of Germany, who, since the death of Aurelian, had ravaged that great province with impunity.
- 1937, Josephus, Ralph Marcus, transl., chapter VIII, in Josephus: With an English Translation (Loeb Classical Library), volume VI (Jewish Antiquities), London: William Heinemann Ltd.; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, published 1958, →OCLC, book IX, paragraph 1, page 87:
- (transitive) To pillage or plunder destructively; to sack.
- (intransitive) To wreak destruction.
- (slang) To have vigorous sexual intercourse with.
- (slang) To rape.
Related terms
Translations
to devastate, destroy or lay waste to something
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to pillage or plunder destructively
Noun
ravage (plural ravages)
- Grievous damage or havoc.
- 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iii, page 2:
- Would one think 'twere possible for love / To make such ravage in a noble soul!
- Depredation or devastation.
- the ravages of fire or tempest
- the ravages of an army
- the ravages of time
- the ravage of a lion
- 1781, Edward Gibbon, chapter XIX, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 172:
- The villages on either side of the Meyn, which were plentifully stored with corn and cattle, felt the ravages of an invading army.
- 1835, Charles Lyell, chapter VIII, in Principles of Geology […] , 4th edition, volume III, London: John Murray, Book III, page 114:
- […] and another Swedish naturalist remarks, that so great are the powers of propagation of a single species, even of the smallest insects, that each can commit, when required, more ravages than the elephant.
Translations
grievous damage or havoc
depredation or devastation
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Further reading
- “ravage”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “ravage”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French ravage (“ravage, havoc, spoil”).
Pronunciation
Noun
ravage f (plural ravages)
Anagrams
French
Etymology
From ravine (“rush of water”).
Pronunciation
Noun
ravage m (plural ravages)
- singular of ravages
- (archaic) the act of laying waste
Verb
ravage
- inflection of ravager:
Further reading
- “ravage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
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