Definition: reave

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

reave
     v : steal goods; take as spoils; "During the earthquake people
         looted the stores that were deserted by their owners"
         [syn: plunder, despoil, loot, strip, rifle, ransack,
          pillage, foray]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Reave \Reave\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reaved, Reft, or
   Raft(obs.); p. pr. & vb. n. Reaving.] [AS. re['a]fian,
   from re['a]f spoil, plunder, clothing, re['o]fan to break
   (cf. bire['o]fan to deprive of); akin to G. rauben to rob,
   Icel. raufa to rob, rj[=u]fa to break, violate, Goth.
   bir['a]ubon to despoil, L. rumpere to break; cf. Skr. lup to
   break. [root]114. Cf. Bereave, Rob, v. t., Robe,
   Rove, v. t., Rupture.]
   To take away by violence or by stealth; to snatch away; to
   rob; to despoil; to bereave. [Archaic]. ``To reave his
   life.'' --Spenser.

         He golden apples raft of the dragon.     --Chaucer.

         By privy stratagem my life at home.      --Chapman.