BEREAVE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Bereave

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/bərˈiv/ Listen

verb

Bereave v. t. (past & past part. bereaved, bereft; pres. part. bereaving)

To make destitute; to deprive; to strip; with of before the person or thing taken away. "Madam, you have bereft me of all words." "Bereft of him who taught me how to sing."

To take away from. (Obs.) "All your interest in those territories Is utterly bereft you; all is lost."

To take away. (Obs.) "Shall move you to bereave my life." Note: The imp. and past pple. form bereaved is not used in reference to immaterial objects. We say bereaved or bereft by death of a relative, bereft of hope and strength.

Synonyms: To dispossess; to divest.

See images of 'Bereave'

Etymology of 'Bereave'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Bereave" Quotes from Famous Books

... of my body, go not about at once to dishonour yourself and to cast your husband and myself into strife and peril. You are not the first woman, nor will you be the last, who hath been deceived, nor have I in this practised upon you to bereave you of your own, but for the exceeding love that I bear you and am minded ever to bear you and to be your most humble servant. And although it is long since I and all that I possess or can or am worth have been yours and at your service, henceforward I purpose that they shall be more than ever ...

— The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio • Giovanni Boccaccio

... Go, I shall wound no more souls, I shall pierce no more hearts, but with darts dipped in the divine liquors that foster heaven's immortal passions. I shall hurl them no more but to make as many lovers as there are gods. As for thee, thou inexorable mother, who forcest her to bereave me of what I held dearest in this world, dread, in thy turn, the effects of my wrath. Thou wouldst sway my feelings, thou who art often swayed by my will; thou who wearest a heart as sensitive as that of mortals; thou enviest to ...

— Psyche • Moliere

... scene was changed. It was not his secret poniard that I dreaded. It was only the success of his efforts to make you a confederate in your own destruction, to make your will the instrument by which he might bereave you of ...

— Wieland; or The Transformation - An American Tale • Charles Brockden Brown

... lie. I am Orlando, whom you seek; yes, I am he who slew your father honorably. Hold, here is the sword: you shall have it if your courage avails to merit it. Though it belongs to me by right, I will not use it in this dispute. See, I hang it on this tree; you shall be master of it, if you bereave me of life; ...

— Bulfinch's Mythology • Thomas Bulfinch

... ought the remembrance of these signs to be to our hearts! Christ Jesus hath fought our battle; He Himself hath taken us into His care and protection; however the devil may rage by temptations, be they spiritual or corporeal, he is not able to bereave us out of the hand of the almighty Son of God. To Him be all glory for His mercies ...

— The World's Great Sermons, Volume I - Basil to Calvin • Various

More quotes...