reeve

See also: Reeve

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹiːv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːv
• Homophone: reave

Etymology 1

From Middle English reve, from Old English rēfa, an aphetism of ġerēfa (also groefa), from Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō (“officer, official”). Compare Danish greve, Swedish greve, Dutch graaf, German Graf.

The role, and eventually the word, was mostly replaced by bailiff, of Anglo-Norman origin.

Alternative forms

• reve (obsolete)

Noun

reeve (plural reeves)

1. (historical) Any of several local officials, with varying responsibilities.
   • 1999, Bede, edited by Judith McClure and Roger Collins, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People‎, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 99:

     His first convert was the reeve of the city of Lincoln called Blæcca, ...

2. (Canada) The president of a township or municipal district council.
3. (military, historical) The holder of a proposed but unadopted commissioned rank of the Royal Air Force, equivalent to wing commander.
   • 1936, The Periodical, volumes 21-22, Oxford University Press, page 67:

     A list of new titles was manufactured as follows: Ensign, Lieutenant, Flight-Leader, Squadron-Leader, Reeve, Banneret, Fourth-Ardian, Third-Ardian, Second-Ardian, Ardian, Air Marshal. […] “Reeve”, perhaps, savoured a little too much of legal authority.

Synonyms

• (medieval official): provost

Derived terms

• hogreeve
• shire-reeve
• trithing-reeve

 

Related terms

• sheriff

Translations

Translations

Bulgarian: управител (bg) m (upravitel) Dutch: graaf (nl) m Finnish: vouti (fi) German: Graf (de) m Hungarian: ispán (hu), elöljáró (hu), felügyelő (hu), helytartó (hu), tiszttartó (hu), várnagy (hu) Latin: praepositus; praepositus villae

See also

• bailiff

Etymology 2

Apparent alternative form of reef (“to pull or yank strongly”, verb) or from Dutch reven (“to take in, insert”).

Verb

reeve (third-person singular simple present reeves, present participle reeving, simple past and past participle reeved or rove)

1. (nautical, dialect) To pass (a rope) through a hole or opening, especially so as to fasten it.
   • 1930, William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, Library of America, published 1985, page 98:

     "Let the rope go," he says. With his other hand he reaches down and reeves the two turns from the stanchion.

Etymology 3

Variant of dialectal ree, but of obscure ultimate origin.

Noun

reeve (plural reeves)

2. A female of the species Philomachus pugnax, a highly gregarious, medium-sized wading bird of Eurasia; the male is a ruff.

Anagrams

• evere

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

reeve

1. Alternative form of reve

Etymology 2

Verb

reeve

1. Alternative form of reven