rief

See also: Rief

English

Etymology

See reaf and reave.

Noun

rief (usually uncountable, plural riefs)

1. Alternative form of reif (“robbery”).
   • 1567 July 19, Proclamation by the Earl of Bedford, quoted in Calendar of State Papers, foreign series, of the Reign of Elizabeth, 1566-8 (1871), volume 10:

     [The earl] commands all within his charge to abstain from reiving or stealing from the subjects of Scotland. For such riefs as have been made upon them, the Queen minds to have the same mended by justice.

   • 1822, Alexander Peterkin, Notes on Orkney and Zetland, page 61:

     here the record is quite defaced and worn out, insomuch that only the words of the charge, viz. extortions, insolvencies, riefs, and oppressions, can be discovered

   • 1884, James Taylor, The Pictorial History of Scotland, volume 2, page 133:

     Murders, riefs, and spoliations became more common on the Borders after this raid than they had ever been before.

Derived terms

• stouthrief

References

• “rief”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• -fier, FIRE, Fier, Frie, fier, fire, refi, reif, rife

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• riffe (Siegerland)
• reif (northern Moselle Franconian; southern dialects (at least originally) lack the word)

Etymology

From Middle High German rīfe, from Proto-Germanic *rīpiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʀiːf/

Adjective

rief (masculine riefe, feminine riefe or rief, comparative riefer, superlative et riefste) (Ripuarian)

1. ripe

   Synonym: (southern Moselle Franconian) zeidig

   Em Aujuss steht de riefe Frooch op de Felder.

   In August, the ripe grain is on the fields.

2. mature
   • 1994, “Alles kann ich ligge”‎performed by Bläck Fööss:

     Von hück op morje von der Bross jenomme un vill zo hastig an der Nüggel jezwunge.
     Für dä Prozess wor ich innerlich nit rief: Alles kann ich ligge, nur nit, we’ mer mich driev!

     [At age six I was] weaned off the breast overnight and forced to take a dummy much too quickly.
     For this process I wasn’t yet mentally mature: I can stand anything except being rushed!

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁiːf/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːf

Verb

rief

1. first/third-person singular preterite of rufen

Scots

Noun

rief

1. alternative form of reif
   • 1820, David Carey, Lochiel; Or, The Field of Culloden, volume 2, page 157:

     Why he should na be treated as ane o' the wicked thieves and limmers o' the clans wha carry off their neighbours gear and live by rief, […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)