rapine

English

Etymology

From Middle English rapyne, from Old French rapine, from Latin rapīna, from rapiō. Doublet of rape and ravine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹæpaɪn/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

rapine (countable and uncountable, plural rapines)

1. The seizure of someone's property by force; pillage, plunder.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:

     This countrey ſwarmes with vile outragious men,
     That liue by rapine and by lawleſſe ſpoile,
     Fit ſouldiers for the wicked Tamburlaine.

   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Good Rapine, stab him: he is a ravisher.

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Great Love of His Native Country. ”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. , volume II, London: Benj Motte, , →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 262:

     And it was peculiar in their Temper, that they were fonder of what they could get by Rapine or Stealth at a greater diſtance, than much better Food provided for them at home.

   • 1848, Thomas Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession Of James II:

     men who were impelled to war quite as much by the desire of rapine as by the desire of glory

   • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:

     The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.

   • 1951, Isaac Asimov, Foundation (1974 Panther Books Ltd publication), Part V: “The Merchant Princes”, Ch.10, pp.157–158:

     “You could join Wiscard’s remnants in the Red Stars. I don’t know, though, if you’d call that fighting or piracy. Or you could join our present gracious viceroy — gracious by right of murder, pillage, rapine, and the word of a boy Emperor, since rightfully assassinated.”

Translations

References

• The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000).

Verb

rapine (third-person singular simple present rapines, present participle rapining, simple past and past participle rapined)

1. (transitive) To plunder.
   • 1619, George Buck, History of Richard III:

     A Tyrant doth not only rapine his Subjects, but spoils and robs Churches.

Translations

Anagrams

• Napier, arpine, panier

Italian

Noun

rapine f

1. plural of rapina

Anagrams

• aprine, ripane