Robberies : nf (word from Latin rapina, grate « take ").
The word “rapine” has many meanings:
1 Act of delighting, take by violence something (products, money, weapons,…) or someone (kidnapping).
Quote from the French naturalist, mathematician, biologist, cosmologist, philosopher and writer Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788): “The penchant of the wolf for plunder and destruction”.
Theft, plunder.
Acts of plunder.
Looting of the soldiers in the countryside (marauding).
The thefts and plunders of the farmers general (*) (concussion).
Vivre of plunder.
(*) The General Farm is the enjoyment of part of the income of the King of France, granted by the latter, under certain conditions, to a successful bidder whose sureties form the Company of Farmers General, in this case a "union of several people who combine to enter into the affairs of the King”. Created by Louis XIV, on the initiative of Colbert in 1680, the institution was intended to take charge of the collection of indirect taxes, customs duties, registration fees and state products.
2. What is taken by plunder.
Quotation from the French writer Jules Michelet (1798-1874): “There were plunders of several centuries there”.
Intransitive verb: rapine.
Feminine noun: rapinerie.