ravish

Definition

To seize and carry away by violence; to snatch by force.

Etymology

From Middle English ravyschen, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ravis-, present participle stem of ravir (“to seize; to take away hastily”), from Vulgar Latin *rapire, from Latin rapere. See also rape.

Example Sentences

• "Again, he refers to "such ministers as discharge their ministry amiss; ravishing away the goods of the widows and fatherless; and serve themselves, not others out of those things which they have received."
• "The French Government had not taken regular possession of it when the war with England broke out; and Bonaparte hastened to sell that Province to the Americans, who had already cast their eyes upon it, with the view both of preventing the English from ravishing it from him, and of procuring funds to carry on the war."
• "The Franks ravished it from Muslim hands in the first decade of the sixth century, and the eyes of Islam were swollen with weeping for it; it was one of its griefs."

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