reft

[reft] Origin

reft

[reft]
verb
a simple past tense and past participle of reave.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

reave

1[reev]
verb (used with object), reaved or reft, reav·ing. Archaic.
to take away by or as by force; plunder; rob.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English reven, Old English rēafian; cognate with German rauben, Dutch roven to rob

reave

2[reev]
verb (used with object), verb (used without object), reaved or reft, reav·ing.
Archaic. to rend; break; tear.

Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English; apparently special use of reave1 (by association with rive)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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World English Dictionary
reft (rɛft)
 
vb
a past tense and past participle of reave

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin & History

reft
1847, pp. of reave, from O.E. reafian "to rob something from someone," from P.Gmc. *rauthojan (cf. O.Fris. raf, M.Du. roof, Ger. Raub). The ground sense seems to be that of "breaking."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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