Raven

Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The vvhilſt their ovvne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittifull.

Thus like the ſad preſaging Rauen that tolls / The ſick mans paſſeport in her hollovv beake, / And in the ſhadovv of the ſilent night / Doth ſhake contagion from her ſable vvings; / Vex'd and tormented runnes poore Barabas / VVith fatall curſes tovvards theſe Chriſtians.

[T]he Danes bare in their Enſigne a Raven vvrought (by report) in needle-vvorke, by the daughters of Lothbroke that is, Leather-breech, […]

Hee beareth Or, a Rauen Proper, by the name of Corbet.

As from an ancestral oak / Two empty ravens sound their clarion, / Yell by yell, and croak by croak, / When they scent the noonday smoke / Of fresh human carrion: […]

If the men of Thule have ceased to be champions, and to spread the banquet for the raven, the women have not forgotten the arts that lifted them of yore into queens and prophetesses.

All is silent and melancholy, unless when the mournful bleeting of the hemmed in Deer reaches your ear, or the dismal scream of an Eagle or a Raven is heard, as the foul bird rises, disturbed by your approach, from the carcass on which it was allaying its craving appetite.

The raven, with his head very much on one side, and his bright eye shining like a diamond, preserved a thoughtful silence for a few seconds, and then replied in a voice so hoarse and distant, that it seemed to come through his thick feathers rather than out of his mouth. "Halloa, halloa, halloa! What's the matter here! Keep up your spirits. Never say die. Bow wow wow. I'm a devil, I'm a devil, I'm a devil. Hurrah!"

"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven, / Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore— / Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" / Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

There comes Poe with his raven, like Barnaby Rudge, / Three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths fudge, / […] / Who has written some things quite the best of their kind, / But the heart somehow seems all squeezed out by the mind, […]

A blot in heaven, the Raven, flying high, / Croak'd, and she thought 'he spies a field of death; / For now the Heathen of the Northern Sea, / Lured by the crimes and frailties of the court, / Begin to slay the folk, and spoil the land.'

Near-synonyms: ebony, onyx

A lone man walks the shores of Nantucket; his noble form is slightly bent, and with the raven of his hair is blended the faintest tinge of gray, though he is evidently a man to whom the meridian of life is yet far in the distance; […]

VVhen the great ſea-raven, as Jacobſon informs us, comes to take avvay their young, the puffins boldly oppoſe him. […] As ſoon as the raven approaches, the puffin catches him under the throat vvith its beak, and ſticks its clavvs into his breaſt, vvhich makes the raven, vvith a loud ſcreaming, attempt to get avvay; […]

Along the wild mountains night-ravens were yelling— / They bodingly presaged destruction and woe.

Behold the vvarrior bright vvith Daniſh ſpoils!— / The raven droops his vvings—and hark! the trumpet, / Exulting, ſpeaks the reſt.

Ric[hard]. Novv y'ave ſpoke it halfe; 'tis ſinking I muſt treate of; / Your ſhips are all ſunke. / […] / M[istress] Foſt[er]. O thou fatall Raven; Let me pull thine eyes out for this / Sad croake.

Mal[icorn]. O my dear Lord, upon this onely day / Depends the ſeries of your follovving Fate: / Think your good Genius has aſſum'd my ſhape / In this Prophetick doom. / Guiſe. Peace croaking Raven, / I'le ſeize him firſt, then make him a led Monarch; […]

Some ravens have alvvays indeed croaked out this kind of ſong. They have a malignant delight in preſaging miſchief vvhen they are not employed in doing it: they are miſerable and diſapointed at every inſtance of the public proſperity.

Near-synonyms: ebony, onyx

raven curls    raven darkness

She was a tall, sophisticated, raven-haired beauty.

Hovv ſvveetly did they float upon the vvings / Of Silence, through the emptie-vaulted night / At every fall ſmoothing the Raven dovvne / Of darkneſſe till ſhe ſmil'd: […]

Thus o'er the proſtrate city black Deſpair / Extends her raven vving; […]

A vvond'rous Boy [Váli] ſhall Rinda bear, / VVho ne'er ſhall comb his raven-hair, […]

A leafless tree and barren of all fruit, / With darkness feeds her boughs of raven grain.

[…] I beheld a countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Her hair of a shining raven black, and curiously braided; her eyes were dark, but gentle, although animated; her features of a regular proportion, and her complexion wondrously fair, each cheek tinged with a lovely pink.

From her mother, Minna inherited the stately form and dark eyes, the raven locks and finely-pencilled brows, which shewed she was, on one side at least, a stranger to the blood of Thule.

[S]ome grown girl, the pride of the family, stepping barefoot and straight as an arrow, with braids of raven hair, a thick, haughty profile, and no load to carry but the small guitar of the country and a pair of soft leather sandals tied together on her back.

[T]he word "Ravenswood" came into his head repeatedly. It was partly the raven colour of the pine-woods; but partly also an indescribable atmosphere almost described in [Walter] Scott's great tragedy; […]

[They] aſſaulted by night a certen aũciẽt [auncient] gentleman at home in his owne houſe, which had done thē [them] no diſpleaſure, and being a ſlepe in his bed at their cõming [comming], whan he had hardly eſcaped awaye half naked, rauening and diſtroying his goodes, they ſpoyled his wyfe and chyldren of all theyr apparell, and threatening them ofte with death, left thẽ [them] ſtarck naked, in ſo muche that one of the Nobilitie comming thither by chaunce, couered the woman with his owne garment.

Her princes in the middes thereof are like vvolues, rauening yͤ pray [prey] to ſhed blood, and to ſhed blood, and to deſtroye ſoules for their ovvne couetous lucre.

[C]ertaine young men vvhom they call Giamoglans, vvith others that ſtood round about them, ſnatcht it [the food] haſtily vp as their fees, and like greedie Harpies rauened it dovvne in a moment.

In the morning giue them [horses] barley or prouender, a little at a time in diſtinct or ſeueral portions, tvvice or thrice one after another, ſo as he may chevv and eke diſgeſt it thoroughly, othervviſe if he rauen it, as he vvil do hauing much at a time, he rendreth it in his dung vvhole and not diſgeſted.

A Lion nevv returnde from rauening pray [prey], / came to the fount, his blood to vvaſh avvay.

[A]t this present I am in a very urgent necessity to feed, […] if you will but set me to work, it will be as good as a balsamum for sore eyes to see me gulch and raven it, for Gods sake, give order for it.

[…] I beheld two spirits by the ice / Pent in one hollow, that the head of one / Was cowl unto the other; and as bread / Is raven'd up through hunger, th' uppermost / Did so apply his fangs to th' other's brain, / Where the spine joins it.

Clusters of grapes, the which they raven'd quick / And roar'd for more; […]

[S]he fenced them in their need / With iron-handed Duty's sternest creed, / 'Gainst Self's lean wolf that ravens word and deed.

But some characters in books are very real—Jane Austen's are; and I know those five Bennets at the opening of Pride and Prejudice, simply waiting to raven the young men at Netherfield Park, are not giving one thought to the real facts of marriage.

[T]he ſouldiours not yet ſatisfied with ſpoiling and ſacking the reſt that they found in the ſaid Tailleret, raging about the confines thereof, rauened and made hauocke on euery ſide, of whatſoeuer they could lay hands on, taking priſoners both men and women, which were loden with carriage.

[T]he Inhabitants of the Countrey, a barbarous and inhumane people (as generally Sea-borderers are) and inur'd to the ſpoil of VVracks, vvere not over haſty to acquaint the Duke's Officers vvith this, that they might not be diſturbed vvhilst buſie ravening after Booty.

A scandal to be seen, how his Croats and loose hordes went openly ravening about, bent on mere housebreaking, street-robbery and insolent violence.

The couaitous deſyre of riche men is euer vnſaciable. It always raueneth and neuer is ſatisfied.

For he [Daphnis] had doubled the number [of goats] he had received of Lamo, nor had the Wolf raven'd away so much as one, and they were all more twaddling fat then the very sheep.

[T]he outdoor dogs […] were permitted to raven unchecked upon chicken bones, fat slices of ham, and luscious leavings of cream when the packing-up time came.

And the hound Time, when all the Worlds and cities are swept away whereon he used to raven, having no more to devour, shall suddenly die.

I refer to the danger of keeping a dog of this nature and disposition in a bedroom, where it can spring out ravening on anyone who enters.

[T]he Arms and Hands of the Bear, […] are his ſtrength and inſtrument of action to raven and prey vvith; […]

[B]ecause hogs are commonly rauening for their meat, more then other cattel, it is meet therefore to haue them ringed, or elſe they will doe much hurt in digging and turning vp corne fieldes, […]

They passed along towards the great hall-door, where the winds howled and ravened for their prey; […]

The Greek were-wolf is closely related to the vampire. The lycanthropist falls into a cataleptic trance, during which his soul leaves his body, enters that of a wolf and ravens for blood.

For hovv […] ſhall I knovv thee to be a man, vvhen thou kickeſt like an aſſe, neygheſt like an Horſe after vvomen, raueſt in luſt like a Bull, raueneſt like a Beare, ſtingeſt like a Scorpion, rakeſt like a VVolfe, as ſuttle as a Foxe, as impudent as a Dogge; ſhall I ſay thou art man that haſt all the Symptomes of a beaſt?

Here's my brother thirsting, ravening to make your acquaintance—and by George! you are in luck's way, young hopeful, to make his.

Take your conscience—what is the choice? On one side the great temple where you can gather the good harvest—on the other a dirty little scandal that you’ve nosed out to fling to paper scavengers who feed it to their readin' millions ravening for pornographic dirt.

William King, Daniel Giles, and Samuel Raven, the other defendants in the bill named, who were described as the trustees nominated by the parties, of the fifth part.

Mr. F. Haydon said he was an undertaker at Stockwell. He conducted the funeral of W. Raven, the registry of whose death was proved by Mr. Booth

Several senior railway engineers reached the IMechE pinnacle of being appointed president: Sir Vincent Raven (1912), [...].

I want you to do a background check on a woman named Raven Anderson. Waist-length black hair, violet eyes, tall, striking. Late twenties, I'd say.

Raven-Symoné and Anneliese van der Pol will reprise their roles as best friends Raven Baxter and Chelsea Daniels.

Raven Allen — Originally from the Zone, he becomes a member of the Psi:Ko when he is kidnapped with his brothers by trackers.