rief

See reaf and reave.

rief (uncountable)

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

   • (Can we date this quote?) 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.

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

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

• Rhymes: -iːf

rief

1. First-person singular preterite of rufen.
2. Third-person singular preterite of rufen.

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, […]