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“ravine”
raven, raven, ravin, ravine
raven (RAY uhn) (noun)
A large shiny black bird found in Europe, North America, and Asia: Mable and her friends watched the raven glide above them in the clear sky.
raven (RAY uhn) (verb)
To eat or to feed in a greedy manner: Max was so hungry after his long hike that he started to raven his meal, taking large mouthfuls at a time.
ravin (RAV uhn) (verb)
To seize or to capture something as prey: The large black raven swooped down over the field in an attempt to ravin the small field creatures.
ravine (ruh VEEN) (noun)
A small and narrow valley that has been created by a river, but not as large as a canyon: There is a ravine across the street from Anita's home where she frequently goes hiking.
Abigail noticed that a large black raven lived in the ravine near her home; so, one morning she watched it ravin a small animal in the tall grass. She felt sad but she also remembered that the raven was a wild bird and to ravin in the ravine was one aspect of its way to exist.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Confusing Words Clarified: Group R; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. +
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1. A deep narrow valley or gorge in the earth's surface worn by running water: The ravine looked peaceful during dry weather, but was a raging torrent after a severe rainstorm.
2. Etymology: from about 1760, "deep gorge" came from French ravin, "a gully".
2. Etymology: from about 1760, "deep gorge" came from French ravin, "a gully".
In 1690, from Old French raviner, "to hollow out"; and from French ravine, "violent rush of water, gully".
From Old French ravine, "violent rush, robbery, rapine"; both ultimately from Latin rapina. This sense is influenced by Latin rapidus "rapid".
In Middle English, from about 1350-1500, ravine meant "booty, plunder, robbery"; from Latin rapina, "robbery, plunder"; from rapere, "to seize, to carry off, to rob".
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rap-, rav-
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