German

Noun

Reif m ‎(genitive Reifs or Reifes, plural Reife)

1. (poetic) ring
2. hoop

Declension

Derived terms

• Reifen

Etymology 2

From Old High German rīfo.

Noun

Reif m ‎(genitive Reifs, no plural)

1. hoar frost (cover of minute ice crystals on a surface)

English

Alternative forms

• rief

Noun

reif ‎(uncountable)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) Robbery.
   • c. 1524,, a letter, recorded in The History of Scotland (John Hill Burton, 1873), volume 3, page 109:

     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. 1577–1587, Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles:

     […] meaning to live by reif of other mennes goodes, wherein they have no manner of propertie.

   • 1814, Walter Scott, Waverley:

     […] the lawless thieves, limmers, and broken men of the Highlands, had been in fellowship together by reason of their surnames for the committing of divers thefts, reifs, and herships.

   • 1898, Robert Borland, Border Raids and Reivers, page 42:

     In the year 1567, in the first Parliament of James VI., an important Act was passed, entitled "Anent Theft and Receipt of Theft, Taking of Prisoners by Thieves, or Bands for Ransoms, and Punishment of the same." It relates especially to the […] "other inhabitants of the remanent Shires of the Realm," bearing that it is not unknown of the continual theft, reif, and oppression committed within the bounds of the said Sheriffdoms, by […] thieves and "broken men" [who] commit daily "thefts, reifs, herschips, murders, and fire raisings" upon the peaceable subjects of the country.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:reif.

References

• reif in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

German

Etymology

From Old High German rīfi, akin to Old Saxon rīpi, (Modern Dutch rijp)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʀaɪ̯f/

Adjective

reif ‎(comparative reifer, superlative am reifsten)

1. ripe

Declension

Antonyms

• unreif

Related terms

• Reife

Icelandic

Verb

reif

1. first-person singular past indicative of rífa
2. third-person singular past indicative of rífa

Luxembourgish

Verb

reif

1. second-person singular imperative of reiwen

Scots

Noun

reif

1. robbery
   • 1809, The Sang of the Outlaw Murray, in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: Historical ballads (Walter Scott), page 18:

     The man that wons yon Foreste intill,

     He lives by reif and felonie !