ravine

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French ravin (“a gully”), from Old French raviner (“to pillage, sweep down, cascade”), from ravine (“robbery, rapine; violent rush of water, waterfall, avalanche; impetuosity, spirit”), from Latin rapīna (cf. rapine).

noun

1. A deep narrow valley or gorge in the earth's surface worn by running water.
   He fell into a reverie, a most dangerous state of mind for a chauffeur, since a fall into reverie on the part of a driver may mean a fall into a ravine on the part of the machine. 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 3, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
   Thirty feet below her, where the Persians were crashing through the brush, the streambed kinked to the left side of the ravine and ran under an enormous thorn tree with a thick base. 1 April 2007, Thomas Harlan, The Shadow of Ararat: Book One of 'The Oath of Empire', page 294

Etymology 2

From Middle English ravene, ravine, from Old French raviner (“rush, seize by force”), itself from ravine (“rapine”), from Latin rapīna (“plundering, loot”), itself from rapere (“seize, plunder, abduct”).

noun

1. (archaic) Alternative form of raven (“rapine, rapacity; prey, plunder”)
   And he, shall he, Man, her last work, who seem’d so fair, […] Who trusted God was love indeed And love Creation’s final law— Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shriek’d against his creed— Who loved, who suffer’d countless ills, Who battled for the True, the Just, Be blown about the desert dust, Or seal’d within the iron hills? 1849, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H.