Ravening
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Predation (by an animal); voracious eating or consumption. archaic, literary
"Some rather deuoure than eate their meate non other wyse than suche as be ledde in to prison. This rauenyng and deuourynge is appropred to theues."
- 2 Eagerness for plunder; rapacity; extortion.
"We must kyll diuelish pryde, furious angre, insatiable couetousnes, filthy lucre, stinking lechery, deadly hatred & malice, foxy wilines, woluish rauening & deuouring, and al other vnreasonable lustes and desires of the fleshe."
- 1 Voracious and greedy.
"There is no shortage of ravening friends and relatives on the day one hits the lottery."
- 2 Subject to the voracity of a predator. archaic
"To be the strongers rauening pray the weaker did begin, And might went for oppressed right […]"
- 1 devouring or craving food in great quantities wordnet
- 2 excessively greedy and grasping wordnet
- 3 living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey wordnet
Example
More examples"Then fury spurred their courage, and behold, / As ravening wolves, when darkness hides the day, / Stung with mad fire of famine uncontrolled, / Prowl from their dens, and leave the whelps to stay, / With jaws athirst and gaping for the prey. / So to sure death, amid the darkness there, / Where swords, and spears, and foemen bar the way, / Into the centre of the town we fare. / Night with her shadowy cone broods o'er the vaulted air."
Etymology
Present participle of the obsolete verb raven (“to prey”).
More for "ravening"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.