Rapa"cious (?), a. [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.
© Webster 1913. | 
