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Origin and history of ravenous

ravenous(adj.)

late 14c., ravinous, "obsessed with plundering, extremely greedy," from Old French ravinos, ravinous, of people, "rapacious, violent," of water, "swift-flowing," from raviner "to seize, pillage; to sweep down, cascade," from ravine "violent rush, robbery," from Latin rapina "act of robbery, plundering" (see rapine). Meaning "voracious, furiously hungry" is from early 15c. (compare ravening). Related: Ravenously; ravenousness.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to ravenous

rapine(n.)

"plunder; the violent seizure and carrying off of property," early 15c., from Old French rapine (12c.) and directly from Latin rapina "act of robbery, plundering, pillage," from rapere "seize, carry off, rob" (see rapid).

ravening(adj.)

"voracious, savage," late 14c., present-participle adjective from an extinct verb ravine, raven "to prey, to plunder, devour greedily" (mid-14c.), from Old French raviner, ravinier "to seize, pillage" (see raven (v.)). It is etymologically related to ravenous, but not to raven (n.). Related: Raveningly.

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    insatiable
    "incapable of being satisfied or appeased; inordinately greedy," early 15c., insaciable, from Old French insaciable "ravenous...
    rampant
    c. 1300, raumpaunt, "standing on the hind legs" (as a heraldic lion often does), thus, also, "fierce, ravenous" (late 14c...
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    purging or fasting, accompanied by morbid concern with body weight and shape," 1976, Modern Latin, from Greek boulimia, "ravenous...
    ravine
    1760, "long deep gorge worn by a stream or torrent of water," from French ravin "a gully" (1680s, from Old French raviner "to pillage; to sweep down, cascade"), and from French ravine "violent rush of water, gully worn by a torrent" (from Old French ravine "violent rush of water,
    epitome
    1520s, "an abstract; brief statement of the chief points of some writing," from French épitomé (16c.), from Latin epitome "an abridgment," from Greek epitome "an abridgment, a cutting on the surface; brief summary," from epitemnein "cut short, abridge," from epi "into" (see epi-)
    language
    late 13c., langage "words, what is said, conversation, talk," from Old French langage "speech, words, oratory; a tribe, people, nation" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *linguaticum, from Latin lingua "tongue," also "speech, language," from PIE root *dnghu- "tongue." The -u- is an Anglo
    conceive
    late 13c., conceiven, "take (seed) into the womb, become pregnant," from stem of Old French conceveir (Modern French concevoir), from Latin concipere (past participle conceptus) "to take in and hold; become pregnant" (source also of Spanish concebir, Portuguese concebre, Italian
    supplication
    late 14c., supplicacioun, "earnest request, entreaty, plea," from Old French suplicacion "humble request" and directly from Latin supplicationem (nominative supplicatio) "a public prayer, thanksgiving day," noun of action from past-participle stem of supplicare "to beg humbly" (i
    quell
    Middle English quellen "to kill" (a person or animal), from Old English cwellan "to kill, cause to die; murder, execute," from Proto-Germanic *kwaljanan (source also of Old English cwelan "to die," cwalu "violent death;" Old Saxon quellian "to torture, kill;" Old Norse kvelja "to
    propaganda
    1718, "committee of cardinals in charge of foreign missions of the Catholic Church," short for Congregatio de Propaganda Fide "congregation for propagating the faith," a committee of cardinals established 1622 by Gregory XV to supervise foreign missions. The word is properly the

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