/ reɪd; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun raid (on sth)
1.
a short surprise attack on an enemy by soldiers, ships or aircraft :
They carried out a bombing raid on enemy bases.
—see also air raid
2.
a surprise visit by the police looking for criminals or for illegal goods or drugs :
They were arrested during a dawn raid .
3.
an attack on a building, etc. in order to commit a crime :
an armed bank raid
—see also ram-raiding
■ verb [ vn ]
1.
( of police ) to visit a person or place without warning to look for criminals, illegal goods, drugs, etc.
2.
( of soldiers, fighting planes, etc. ) to attack a place without warning :
Villages along the border are regularly raided.
a raiding party (= a group of soldiers, etc. that attack a place)
3.
to enter a place, usually using force, and steal from it
SYN plunder , ransack :
Many treasures were lost when the tombs were raided in the last century.
( humorous )
I caught him raiding the fridge again (= taking food from it) .
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English (as a noun): Scots variant of road in the early senses journey on horseback , foray . The noun became rare from the end of the 16th cent. but was revived by Sir Walter Scott; the verb dates from the mid 19th cent.