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Bereave   Listen
verb
Bereave  v. t.  (past & past part. bereaved, bereft; pres. part. bereaving)  
1.
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."
2.
To take away from. (Obs.) "All your interest in those territories Is utterly bereft you; all is lost."
3.
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.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Bereave" Quotes from Famous Books



... respect I neither account you of the Church, nor esteem of your blood, otherwise than the blood of Infidels. Talk as long as you will of the joys of heaven, or pains of hell, and turn from yourselves the terror of that judgment how you will, which shall bereave blushing iniquity of the fig-leaves of hypocrisy, yet will the eye of immortality discern of your painted pollutions, as the ever-living food of perdition. The humours of my eyes are the habitations of fountains, ...
— A History of English Literature - Elizabethan Literature • George Saintsbury

... parents; and they, beholding him, rejoiced with exceeding great joy, and at the return of their son did their spirits revive as the spirits of one awakening from a heavy sleep, and they besought of him, with entreaty of many prayers and the abundance of many tears, that he would not again bereave them of his presence. Therefore, that he might show the honor and the submission due unto his parents, he abided ...
— The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick - Including the Life by Jocelin, Hitherto Unpublished in America, and His Extant Writings • Various

... seldom stirred without it. He was a sweet boy and a gentle if spoken fair, but cross him and he was a born devil. "In a word," she said, bursting into tears, "deprive me of Edward, good father, and ye bereave my house of prop and pillar; for my heart tells me that Halbert will take to his father's gates, ...
— The Monastery • Sir Walter Scott

... not their flesh have sealed that fount of glory, That pure ninth sense which told us of mankind? Can some deep sleep bereave them of our story As darkness hides all colours from ...
— Watchers of the Sky • Alfred Noyes

... fish for two farthings!' and who hangeth up in his shop a purse containing two thousand dinars." When the Forty heard this, they all rose and cried out, saying, "What manner of blather is this, O harlot? Dost thou wish to bereave us of our brother Ali of Cairo?" Then she returned to the Khan and said to her daughter, "Ali the Egyptian seeketh thee in marriage." Whereat Zaynab rejoiced, for she loved him because of his chaste forbearance towards her,[FN242] ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 7 • Richard F. Burton

... That which seems faintly possible—it is so refined, is often faint and dim because it is deepest seated in the mind among the eternal verities. Empirical science is apt to cloud the sight, and, by the very knowledge of functions and processes, to bereave the student of the manly contemplation of the whole. The savant becomes unpoetic. But the best read naturalist who lends an entire and devout attention to truth, will see that there remains much to learn of his relation to the world, and that it is not to be learned by ...
— Nature • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... good father dear, And of your weeping let it be! For if they bereave me of my life, They cannot bereave me of the ...
— Ballads of Scottish Tradition and Romance - Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - Third Series • Various

... my tongue stood still, I tried to sing on, but vain my will: I prayed she would guess of the later, and leave me; She stayed, as though, were she slain by the smart, She would bear love's burn for a newer heart. The tense-drawn moment wrought to bereave me Of voice, and I turned in a dumb despair At her finding I'd come to another there. Sick I withdrew At love's grim hue Ere my last ...
— Late Lyrics and Earlier • Thomas Hardy

... there breathe out thy cruelty, Where none but care and melancholy dwells. I for revenge to Nemesis will cry; If that will not prevail, my wandering ghost, Which breathless here this love-scorched trunk shall leave, Shall unto thee with tragic tidings post, How thy disdain did life from soul bereave. Then all too late my death thou wilt repent, When murther's ...
— Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles - Idea, by Michael Drayton; Fidessa, by Bartholomew Griffin; Chloris, by William Smith • Michael Drayton, Bartholomew Griffin, and William Smith

... balanced the force of the latter: that if they deserted that old and salutary alliance on which their importance in Europe chiefly depended, their ancient enemies, stimulated both by interest and by passion, would soon invade them with superior force, and bereave them of all their liberties: or if they delayed the attack, the insidious peace, by making the Scots forget the use of arms, would only prepare the way for a slavery more certain ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. - From Henry VII. to Mary • David Hume

... hesitate not to declare, that the danger we should consider of the next importance, the scourge next to be dreaded, would be a packed and corrupt House of Commons, whose votes, not less merciless, and more insulting, than a conqueror's edicts, would bereave us of all that renders country dear, and life worth preserving, and that too, under the names and forms of Law and Justice; under those very names and those very forms which yielded security to the persons and, property of our forefathers.' 5th. That, in following the glorious ...
— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 2 • Henry Hunt

... Twafauld, twofold, double. Twal, twelve; the twal twelve at night. Twalpennie worth, a penny worth (English money). Twang, twinge. Twa-three, two or three. Tway, two. Twin, twine, to rob; to deprive; bereave. Twistle, a twist; a sprain. Tyke, a dog. Tyne, ...
— Poems And Songs Of Robert Burns • Robert Burns

... thief was Robin Hood, Wise was he could deceive him; Yet Marian in his bravest mood Could of his heart bereave him: No greater thief lies hidden under skies, Than beauty closely lodged in women's eyes. Hey, jolly ...
— Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age • Various

... labyrinth; There Minotaurs and ugly treasons lurk. Solicit Henry with her wondrous praise: Bethink thee on her virtues that surmount, And natural graces that extinguish art; Repeat their semblance often on the seas, That, when thou comest to kneel at Henry's feet, Thou mayst bereave him of ...
— King Henry VI, First Part • William Shakespeare [Aldus edition]

... was that the Indians, about whom he had been dreaming, were upon him; his next that a rattlesnake clung to his finger; and finally, finding it to be the kitten bestowing some scratches on the hand that sought to bereave it of its prize, he uttered the latter exclamation, first in rage; but pleased that his condition was no worse, soon after called the poor frightened pet to him, and with one or two caresses gave it the bone, and then ...
— Wild Western Scenes • John Beauchamp Jones

... utterly astounded at all this. In the first moment of his vexation he imprudently cried out, "Would ye, then, also bereave me of my place; I, who am a Spaniard?" But he soon recovered his self-command, and resumed his usual mask; expressed his regret at not having sooner learned the wishes of the states; promised to remove the ...
— Holland - The History of the Netherlands • Thomas Colley Grattan

... greatest misfortune, a dissolution that will strip him of these objects, that will deprive him of those sensations which his present nature has rendered necessary to him; he views with dismay a situation that will prevent his being warned of his own existence—that shall bereave him of his pleasures—to plunge him into nothing. In supposing it even exempt from pain, he always looks upon this nothing as an afflicting solitude—as an heap of profound darkness; he sees himself in a state of general desolation; ...
— The System of Nature, Vol. 1 • Baron D'Holbach

... jugxistaro. Bend fleksi. Beneath sub. Benediction beno. Benefactor bonfaristo. Beneficial profita. Benefit profito. Benevolence bonfaro. Bent kurba. Benumb rigidigi. Bequeath testamenti. Bequest heredajxo. Bereave (of) senigi (je). Berry bero. Berth (ship) kusxejo. Beseech petegi. Beset cxirkauxi. Beside apud. Besides krom. Besiege siegxi. Besot bestigxi. Besprinkle sxprucigi sur. Best (adj.) la plej bona. Best (adv.) la plej bone. Bestial besta. Bestir, one's self sin movetadi, ...
— English-Esperanto Dictionary • John Charles O'Connor and Charles Frederic Hayes

... no limit to my vagaries. At night I hid it under the pillow, and slept in an attitude of defense; the portrait remained near the wall, I outside, and I awoke a thousand times, fearing somebody would come to bereave me of my treasure. At last I drew it from beneath the pillow and slipped it between my nightshirt and left breast, on which the following day could be seen the imprint of the chasing of ...
— First Love (Little Blue Book #1195) - And Other Fascinating Stories of Spanish Life • Various

... altars of prayer, take away our Bibles and our days of worship, shut up the doors against all our Sunday-schools and turn more than a million of children into the streets, away from sweet song and moralizing influences, and the pure morals of the gospel of Christ. This would bereave the living of his rule of life, and rob the dying of the ...
— The Christian Foundation, May, 1880

... I must leave thee, And I would snatch an interval of rest: Sleep these last moments ere the laws bereave thee, For never more thou'lt press ...
— The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White - With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas • Henry Kirke White

... monster fro the earth, That disobeyeth thus thy sacred hests! Cupid, convey this monster to dark hell, That disanulls thy mother's sugared laws! Mars, with thy target all beset with flames, With murthering blade bereave him of his life, That hindreth Locrine in his sweetest joys! And yet, for all his diligent aspect, His wrathful eyes, piercing like Linces' eyes, Well have I overmatched his subtilty. Nigh Deurolitum, by the pleasant Lee, Where brackish Thamis slides ...
— 2. Mucedorus • William Shakespeare [Apocrypha]

... limits, just because it is human. It is subject to loss, and is often to some extent the sport of occasion. It lacks permanence: misunderstandings can estrange us: slander can embitter us: death can bereave us. We are left very much the victims of circumstances; for like everything earthly it is open to change and decay. No matter how close and spiritual the intercourse, it is not permanent, and never certain. If nothing else, the shadow ...
— Friendship • Hugh Black

... Gynecia, where canst thou find any small ground plot for hope to dwell upon? No, no, it is Philoclea his heart is set upon, it is my daughter I have borne to supplant me: but if it be so, the life I have given thee, ungratefull Philoclea, I will sooner with these hands bereave thee of, than my birth shall glory she hath bereaved me of ...
— The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare • J. J. Jusserand

... poignant than a hundred homilies on caste, a thousand scornful words—the little model literally could not stand; she sat down in the low chair where she had evidently been sitting to watch the street. But as a taste of blood will infuriate a hound, so her own laughter seemed to bereave ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... gods, they hold that the soul perishes when it is separated from the body, and that the gods concern not themselves in our affairs. Thus the Epicureans reproach the other philosophers, that by their wisdom they bereave man of his life; whilst the others on the contrary accuse them of teaching men to ...
— Essays and Miscellanies - The Complete Works Volume 3 • Plutarch

... profession, and so make it contemptible; whilst the gentry, not sensible of the mischief they draw upon themselves, but also upon the nation, prefer them in their business before their own children, whom they bereave of their employment, formerly designed for their support; qualifying their servants, by the profit of this profession, to purchase their estates, and by this means make them their lords and masters, whilst they lessen the trade of the kingdom, and cause a scarcity ...
— A Book About Lawyers • John Cordy Jeaffreson

... bereave bereft, bereave bereft, bereaved beseech besought besought burn burned, burnt burnt buy bought bought catch caught caught creep crept crept deal dealt dealt dream dreamt, dreamed dreamt, dreamed dwell dwelt dwelt feel felt felt flee fled fled have ...
— An English Grammar • W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell

... that the English covet, as they do their Peak and Ronoak; and that we have gain'd Ground of them wherever we have come. Now, say they, if we should discover these Minerals to the English, they would settle at or near these Mountains, and bereave us of the best Hunting-Quarters we have, as they have already done wherever they have inhabited; so by that means, we shall be driven to some unknown Country, to live, hunt, and get our Bread in. These are the Reasons ...
— A New Voyage to Carolina • John Lawson

... Washington, speaks and votes for thousands. Show us the constituency, and the now invisible channels by which the senator is made aware of their wishes, the crowd of practical and knowing men, who, by correspondence or conversation, are feeding him with evidence, anecdotes, and estimates, and it will bereave his fine attitude and resistance of something of their impressiveness. As Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Webster vote, so Locke and Rousseau think for thousands; and so there were fountains all around Homer, Menu, Saadi, or Milton, from which they drew; friends, lovers, ...
— English Critical Essays - Nineteenth Century • Various

... the wretch whose vaunt affronts our home! On him the red bolt come, Ere to the maiden bowers his way he cleave, To ravage and bereave! ...
— Suppliant Maidens and Other Plays • AEschylus

... dying song, Yet take, ere grief bereave The breath which I enjoy too long, Tell thou that fair one this: my soul prefers Her love above my life; and that I died her's: And let him be, for evermore, to her remembrance dear, Who loved the very thought of her whilst he remained here. And now farewell! thou place of my unhappy birth, ...
— Pastoral Poems by Nicholas Breton, - Selected Poetry by George Wither, and - Pastoral Poetry by William Browne (of Tavistock) • Nicholas Breton, George Wither, William Browne (of Tavistock)

... homeless knights, but let us first descend to you into the open court. That will make to you for honor. Let be done quickly whatever shall hap to us. Ye have still many men unscathed, who dare well encounter us and bereave us storm-weary men of life. How long must we warriors undergo ...
— The Nibelungenlied • Unknown

... poem of Dunbar's which may be quoted as a contrast to what has been already given. It is remarkable as being the only one in which he assumes the character of a lover. The style of thought is quite modern; bereave it of its uncouth orthography, and it might have been written to-day. It is turned with much skill and grace. The constitutional melancholy of the man comes out in it; as, indeed, it always does when he finds a serious topic. It possesses more tenderness and sentiment than is his usual. It ...
— Dreamthorp - A Book of Essays Written in the Country • Alexander Smith

... for thou art the prime; Suppose my griefs, conceive the deep annoy That wounds my soul upon this sorry time! Pale is my face, and in my pale confesses The pain I suffer, since I needs must leave thee. Red are mine eyes through tears that them oppresses, Dulled are my sp'rits since fates do now bereave thee. And now, ah now, my plaints are quite prevented! The winds are fair the sails are hoised high, The anchors weighed, and now quite discontented, Grief so subdues my heart as it should die. A faint farewell with trembling ...
— Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles - Phillis - Licia • Thomas Lodge and Giles Fletcher

... weary he returned homewards. On the way he stopped to repose himself under a tree, and tied the cow to one of the branches while he ate some bread, and drank of an infusion of his beloved bang, which he always carried with him. In a short time it began to operate, so as to bereave him of the little sense he possessed, and his head was filled with ridiculous reveries. While he was musing, a magpie beginning to chatter from her nest in the tree, he fancied it was a human voice, and that some woman had asked to purchase his cow: upon which he said, "Reverend mother ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous

... Bereave me not of Fancy's shadowy dreams, Which won my heart, or when the gay career Of life begun, or when at times a tear Sat sad on memory's cheek—though loftier themes Await the awakened mind to the high prize Of wisdom, hardly earned with toil and pain, Aspiring patient; yet on ...
— The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 • William Lisle Bowles

... virtue, we chiefly regard his social qualities, which are, indeed, the most valuable. It is, at the same time, certain, that any remarkable defect in courage, temperance, economy, industry, understanding, dignity of mind, would bereave even a very good-natured, honest man of this honourable appellation. Who did ever say, except by way of irony, that such a one was a man of great virtue, but an ...
— An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals • David Hume

... Truly, considering the knowledge I have of all the labourers of the society, at this present day employed in the new world, I may easily conclude, they have no need of any superior; nevertheless, not to bereave them of the merit of obedience, and because the order of discipline so requires, I have thought convenient to set some one above the rest, and have chosen you for that purpose, knowing, as I do, both your modesty and your prudence. It remains that I command and pray ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Volume XVI. (of 18) - The Life of St. Francis Xavier • John Dryden

... rob not the earth of the dim hush that hangs round all Your temples, bereave not all the world of old romance, take not the glamour from the moonlight nor tear the wonder out of the white mists in every land; for, O ye gods of the childhood of the world, when You have left the earth you shall have taken the mystery from the sea and all its glory from antiquity, and ...
— Time and the Gods • Lord Dunsany [Edward J. M. D. Plunkett]

... where did I myself leave? Or who did me of my name by the way bereave? For I am sure of this in my mind, That I did in no place leave myself behind. If I had my name played away at dice, Or had sold myself to any man at a price, Or had made a fray, and had lost it in fighting, Or it had been stolen from me sleeping, It ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. II • Robert Dodsley

... constant feet to trace The woods and lawns, by living stream at eve: Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, And I their toys to the great children leave; Of fancy, reason, virtue, nought can me bereave." ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 13, No. 79, May, 1864 • Various

... trust. Hush, the Dead March wails in the people's ears; The dark crowd moves, and there are sobs and tears: The black earth yawns; the mortal disappears; Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. He is gone who seemed so great— Gone; but nothing can bereave him Of the force he made his own Being here, and we believe him Something far advanced in state, And that he wears a truer crown Than any wreath that man can weave him. Speak no more of his renown, Lay your earthly fancies ...
— Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century • James Richard Joy

... There is only one quieting answer to such questions. It tells us that what we are doing here is learning our trade, and that we are to be moved into another workshop there, to practise it. Nothing can bereave us of the force we made our own, being here; and 'there is nobler work for us to do' when the Master of all the servants stoops from His Throne and says: 'Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; have ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V) • Alexander Maclaren

... the Faithful," answered Mesrour] Quoth the Lady Zubeideh, laughing from a heart full of wrath, "Wilt thou not leave thy jesting? Is it not enough that Aboulhusn is dead, but thou must kill my slave-girl also and bereave us of the two and style me little of wit?" "Indeed," answered the Khalif, "it is Nuzhet el Fuad who is dead." And Zubeideh said, "Indeed he hath not been with thee, nor hast thou seen him, and none was with me but now but Nuzhet el Fuad, and ...
— Tales from the Arabic Volumes 1-3 • John Payne

... Cambridge; and now illness fell upon him for the second time in his life. Not a definite illness, but a lingering malaise, which seemed to bereave him of all spring and energy. He was told that he must not work, must spend his time in the open air, must be careful in matters of food and sleep. He lived indeed for some months the life of an invalid. The restrictions fretted ...
— Beside Still Waters • Arthur Christopher Benson

... however cold in after years, At least it cost thee sorrow then to leave me; And for those few sincere, remorseful tears, I do forgive (though thou couldst thus deceive me) The years of peace of which thou didst bereave me. Yes—as I saw those gushing life-drops come Back to the heart which yet delayed to grieve me, Thy love returned a moment to its home, Far, far away from me for ever ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 13 Issue 364 - 4 Apr 1829 • Various

... lead a captive dame: A dame now ta'en by force, before betrayed, This is thy greatest glory, greatest fame: Time was that thee of love and life I prayed, Let death now end my love. my life, my shame. Yet let not thy false hand bereave this breath, For if it were thy ...
— Jerusalem Delivered • Torquato Tasso

... to the roof of the palace and looking up, saw the ebony horse flying away with the prince and princess. At this the King was sore troubled and cried out, saying, 'O King's son, I conjure thee, by Allah, have compassion on me and my wife and bereave us not of our daughter!' The prince made him no reply, but, thinking that the princess repented of leaving her father and mother, said to her, 'O ravishment of the age, wilt thou that I restore thee to thy father and mother?' ...
— The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume IV • Anonymous

... ten times over happy, O housewively young Woman in this choice, and that not only for your husband, but principally for your self. For if that mischance might happen to you, that death should bereave you of your husband, you find your self oftentimes setled in a way of Trading, which you can manage your self, and set forward with reputation. Nay though you might happen to have children, you have the opportunity your self to bring them up in the same way, and so get a due, faithfull and ...
— The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and The Confession of the New-married Couple (1682) • A. Marsh

... who enter there: One certitude while sane they cannot leave, One anodyne for torture and despair; 80 The certitude of Death, which no reprieve Can put off long; and which, divinely tender, But waits the outstretched hand to promptly render That draught whose slumber nothing can bereave (1) ...
— The City of Dreadful Night • James Thomson

... proceeded in her plaint. Forsake me not thus, Adam! witness Heaven What love sincere, and reverence in my heart I bear thee, and unweeting have offended, Unhappily deceived! Thy suppliant I beg, and clasp thy knees; bereave me not, Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid, Thy counsel, in this uttermost distress, My only strength and stay: Forlorn of thee, Whither shall I betake me, where subsist? While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps, ...
— Paradise Lost • John Milton

... Enfolded a heart of gold, And a deeper wealth of perfume, Than the tiny cup could hold; So the great wind roaring above Sent a tiny zephyr down, To drift aside the sheltering bloom, And bereave her ...
— Landscape and Song • Various

... that beat were stilled, what then? Ill fares the life that a single death can bereave of all. In a convent at least (and the priest's influence can obtain her that asylum amongst her equals and amidst her sex) she is safe from trial ...
— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... dear unto me above all earthly treasures. Never shall I love that place or like that soil which shall cause the lack of it. Most gracious Lady, consider my long, true, and faithful heart toward you. Let not this unfortunate place here bereave me of that which, above all the world, I esteem there, which is your favodr and your presence. I see my service is not acceptable, but rather more and more disliketh you. Here I can do your Majesty no service; ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... punischment then could any earthly king inflict.' The King in anger uttered a threat, when Melville, putting his hand to his head, said: 'Sir, it is this that ye would haiff. Ye sall haiff it: Tak it! Tak it! or ye bereave us of the liberties of Jesus ...
— Andrew Melville - Famous Scots Series • William Morison

... not sown that shall make my collar. When the hangsman comes, 'tis time enough to wake; so, I pray thee, bereave not a poor man of the only solace the rich ...
— Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2) • John Roby

... 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 ...
— Bulfinch's Mythology • Thomas Bulfinch



Words linked to "Bereave" :   bereavement, deprive, strip, divest



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