Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To take a loved one from (a person), especially by death.
- transitive verb To take something valuable or necessary from (a person or thing).
from The Century Dictionary.
- To deprive by or as if by violence; rob; strip: with of before the thing taken away.
- [It is sometimes used without of, more especially in the passive, the subject of the verb being either the person deprived or the thing taken away.
- To take away by destroying, impairing, or spoiling; take away by violence.
- To deprive of power; prevent.
- To destroy life; cut off.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To make destitute; to deprive; to strip; -- with
of before the person or thing taken away. - transitive verb obsolete To take away from.
- transitive verb obsolete To take away.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
deprive by or as if by violence;rob ;strip . - verb transitive To
take away by destroying, impairing, or spoiling; take away by violence. - verb transitive To deprive of power;
prevent . - verb transitive To take away someone or something important or close;
deprive . - verb intransitive, rare To
destroy life;cut off .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb deprive through death
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"bereave" in Eze 36: 13; but "cause to fall" or "stumble," in the Hebrew text or Chetib, being the more difficult reading, is the one least likely to come from a corrector; also, it forms a good transition to the next subject, namely, the moral cause of the people's calamities, namely, their falls, or stumblings through sin.
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To bereave a man of life, or by violence to confiscate his estate, without accusation or trial, would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism, as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny throughout the whole kingdom.
The Most Ignominious Chapter of Our History : Law is Cool 2009
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It is unconscionable to think that people are dropping like flies on Syrian streets, the injured are hiding in private homes to avoid capture or cold-blooded murder, the funeral procession are being shot at with many killed at a time they bereave the dead, the detained are tortured and many die and are buried in mass graves, yet the international community seems only willing to extend words of comfort. . .
Notable & Quotable 2011
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Anyway, indefinite detention without any review is worse than just killing: To bereave a man of life, or by violence to confiscate his estate, without accusation or trial, would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism, as must once convey the alarm of tyranny thoroughout the whole kingdom.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Defamation by Government Still Political Question 2010
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Anyway, indefinite detention without any review is worse than just killing: To bereave a man of life, or by violence to confiscate his estate, without accusation or trial, would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism, as must once convey the alarm of tyranny thoroughout the whole kingdom.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Defamation by Government Still Political Question 2010
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God help us! by Gallaher on Friday, Nov 21, 2008 at 12: 32: 12 AM change we can bereave in by io on Friday, Nov 21, 2008 at 4: 23: 44 AM
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Then he wept for her with sore weeping and said to his brothers, “It was not well of you to do this deed and bereave me of my wife.”
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Rejoined Afridun, “May the Messiah not bereave us of thy venerable parent nor deprive her of her wile and guile!”
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Voyage, which she was very unwilling to permit, as being loth to bereave my Father of his Company; and therefore most earnestly invited Him along with me; but he cou'd not be prevail'd upon to leave his beloved Cell, which no doubt was to him a certain Heaven, where his devout Soul conversed daily with the Powers divine.
Exilius 2008
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'To bereave a man of life, or by violence to confiscate his estate, without accusation or trial, would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny throughout the whole nation; but confinement of the person, by secretly hurrying him to jail, where his sufferings are unknown or forgotten, is a less public, a less striking, and therefore a more dangerous engine of arbitrary government.
pradyumnaojha commented on the word bereave
Samuel is bereft of conjugal bliss after his wife passed away from a sudden road accident.
February 15, 2013