Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
RAPACIOUS
edacious, esurient, rapacious, ravening, ravenous, voracious, wolfish
(adjective) devouring or craving food in great quantities; “edacious vultures”; “a rapacious appetite”; “ravenous as wolves”; “voracious sharks”
rapacious, ravening, voracious
(adjective) excessively greedy and grasping; “a rapacious divorcee on the prowl”; “ravening creditors”; “paying taxes to voracious governments”
predatory, rapacious, raptorial, ravening, vulturine, vulturous
(adjective) living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey; “a predatory bird”; “the rapacious wolf”; “raptorial birds”; “ravening wolves”; “a vulturine taste for offal”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
rapacious (comparative more rapacious, superlative most rapacious)
Voracious; avaricious.
Given to taking by force or plundering; aggressively greedy.
(of an animal, usually a bird) Subsisting off live prey.
Usage notes
• The use of this term for animals other than birds is dated.
Synonyms
• See also greedy
Source: Wiktionary
Rapa"cious, a. Etym: [L. rapax, -acis, from rapere to seize and carry off, to snatch away. See Rapid.]
1. Given to plunder; disposed or accustomed to seize by violence; seizing by force. " The downfall of the rapacious and licentious Knights Templar." Motley.
2. Accustomed to seize food; subsisting on prey, or animals seized by violence,; as, a tiger is a rapacious animal; a rapacious bird.
3. Avaricious; grasping; extortionate; also, greedy; ravenous; voracious; as, rapacious usurers; a rapacious appetite. [Thy Lord] redeem thee from Death's rapacious claim Milton .
Syn.
– Greedy; grasping; ravenous; voracious.
– Ra*pa"cious*ly, adv.
– Ra*pa"cious*ness, n.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
18 April 2025
GROIN
(noun) the crease at the junction of the inner part of the thigh with the trunk together with the adjacent region and often including the external genitals
Coffee Trivia
