Word.ws English Dictionary

reif

reif noun: robbery.

Noun

reif (usually uncountable, plural reifs)

  1. (Scotland, obsolete, usually) Robbery.
    • The opposition, which, as we shall see, was headed by Archbishop Beaton, protested against the "daily slaughters, murders, reifs, thefts, depredations, and heavy attemptates, that are daily and hourly committed within this realm in fault of justice."c. 1524, a letter, recorded in The History of Scotland (John Hill Burton, 1873), volume 3, page 109
    • […] meaning to live by reif of other mennes goodes, wherein they have no manner of propertie.c. 1577-1587, Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles

Forms of reif

pluralreifs
alternative formrief

Origin of reif

From Middle English ref, reaf, reif, from Old English rēaf (“plunder, spoil, booty, raiment, garment, robe, vestment, armor”), from Proto-West Germanic *raub, from Proto-Germanic *raubą, *raubaz (“rape, robbery”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- (“to rip, tear”). Cognate with Scots reif, rief (“robbery, depredation, spoliation”), Saterland Frisian roowje (“loot, rob”), Dutch roof (“spoil, booty, robbery”), German Raub (“robbery, spoils, plunder”). See also reave, robe.

Questions about reif

What does reif mean?
Reif means robbery.
What part of speech is reif?
Reif is a noun.
What is the plural of reif?
The plural of reif is reifs.

Words near reif in the dictionary

  1. Reidys
  2. Reier
  3. Reiers
  4. Reierson
  5. Reiersons
  6. reif
  7. Reifel
  8. Reiff
  9. Reiffs
  10. reifiable
  11. reification

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: reif (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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