The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section R
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Title: The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section R
Author: Project Gutenberg
Noah Webster
Release date: September 1, 1996 [eBook #667]
Most recently updated: September 27, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GUTENBERG WEBSTER'S UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY: SECTION R ***
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Version published 1913
by the C. & G. Merriam Co.
Springfield, Mass.
Under the direction of
Noah Porter, D.D., LL.D.
R.
R (är). R, the eighteenth letter of the English alphabet, is a vocal
consonant. It is sometimes called a semivowel, and a liquid. See Guide
to Pronunciation, §§ 178, 179, and 250-254. "R is the dog's letter and
hurreth in the sound." B. Jonson.
In words derived from the Greek language the letter h is generally
written after r to represent the aspirated sound of the Greek "r, but
does not affect the pronunciation of the English word, as rhapsody,
rhetoric.
The English letter derives its form from the Greek through the Latin,
the Greek letter being derived from the Phœnician, which, it is
believed, is ultimately of Egyptian origin. Etymologically, R is most
closely related to l, s, and n; as in bandore, mandole; purple, L.
purpura; E. chapter, F. chapitre, L. capitulum; E. was, were; hare, G.
hase; E. order, F. ordre, L. ordo, ordinis; E. coffer, coffin.
The three Rs, a jocose expression for reading, (w)riting, and
(a)rithmetic, -- the fundamentals of an education.
Ra (rä), n. A roe; a deer. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Ra-. A prefix, from the Latin re and ad combined, coming to us through
the French and Italian. See Re-, and Ad-.
Raash (räsh), n. [Cf. Ar. ra'ash trembling, tremor.] (Zoöl.) The
electric catfish. [Written also raasch.]
Rab (rb), n. A rod or stick used by masons in mixing hair with mortar.
Rab"at (rb"t), n. [See Rabot.] A polishing material made of potter's
clay that has failed in baking.
Ra*bate" (r*bt"), v. t. [F. rabattre to beat down; pref. re- + abattre.
See Abate, and cf. Rebate, v.] (Falconry) To recover to the fist, as a
hawk. [Obs.]
Rab"a*tine (rb"*tn), n. [See Rabato.] A collar or cape. [Obs.] Sir W.
Scott.
Ra*ba"to (r*b"t), n. [F. rabat, fr. rabattre. See Rabate.] A kind of
ruff for the neck; a turned-down collar; a rebato. [Obs.] Shak.
Rab*bate" (rb*bt"), v. t. [See Rabate.] To abate or diminish. [Obs.] --
n. Abatement. [Obs.]
Rab"bet (rb"bt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rabbeted; p. pr. & vb. n.
Rabbeting.] [F. raboter to plane, plane down,rabot a plane; pref. re-
re- + OF. abouter, aboter. See Abut, and cf. Rebut.] 1. To cut a rabbet
in; to furnish with a rabbet.
2. To unite the edges of, as boards, etc., in a rabbet joint.
Rab"bet, n. [See Rabbet, v., and cf. Rebate, n.]
1. (Carp.) A longitudinal channel, groove, or recess cut out of the
edge or face of any body; especially, one intended to receive another
member, so as to break or cover the joint, or more easily to hold the
members in place; thus, the groove cut for a panel, for a pane of
glass, or for a door, is a rabbet, or rebate.
2. Same as Rabbet joint, below.
Rabbet joint (Carp.), a joint formed by fitting together rabbeted
boards or timbers; -- called also rabbet. -- Rabbet plane, a joiner's
plane for cutting a rabbet. Moxon.
Rab"bi (rb"b or -b; 277), n.; pl. Rabbis (-bz or -bz) or Rabbies. [L.,
fr. Gr. "rabbi`, Heb. rab my master, from rab master, lord, teacher,
akin to Ar. rabb.] Master; lord; teacher; -- a Jewish title of respect
or honor for a teacher or doctor of the law. "The gravest rabbies."
Milton.
Be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ, and
all ye are brethren.
Matt. xxiii. 8.
Rab"bin (rb"bn), n. [F.] Same as Rabbi.
{ Rab*bin"ic (rb*bn"k), Rab*bin"ic*al (-*kal), } a. [Cf. F.
rabbinique.] Of or pertaining to the rabbins or rabbis, or pertaining
to the opinions, learning, or language of the rabbins. "Comments staler
than rabbinic." Lowell.
We will not buy your rabbinical fumes.
Milton.
Rab*bin"ic (rb*bn"k), n. The language or dialect of the rabbins; the
later Hebrew.
Rab*bin"ic*al*ly, adv. In a rabbinical manner; after the manner of the
rabbins.
Rab"bin*ism (rb"bn*z'm), n. [Cf. F. rabbinisme.] 1. A rabbinic
expression or phraseology; a peculiarity of the language of the
rabbins.
2. The teachings and traditions of the rabbins.
Rab"bin*ist, n. [Cf. F. rabbiniste.] One among the Jews who adhered to
the Talmud and the traditions of the rabbins, in opposition to the
Karaites, who rejected the traditions.
Rab"bin*ite (-t), n. Same as Rabbinist.
Rab"bit (rb"bt), n. [OE. rabet, akin to OD. robbe, robbeken.] (Zoöl.)
Any of the smaller species of the genus Lepus, especially the common
European species (Lepus cuniculus), which is often kept as a pet, and
has been introduced into many countries. It is remarkably prolific, and
has become a pest in some parts of Australia and New Zealand.
The common American rabbit (L. sylvatica) is similar but smaller. See
Cottontail, and Jack rabbit, under 2d Jack. The larger species of Lepus
are commonly called hares. See Hare.
Angora rabbit (Zoöl.), a variety of the domestic rabbit having long,
soft fur. -- Rabbit burrow, a hole in the earth made by rabbits for
shelter and habitation. -- Rabbit fish. (Zoöl.) (a) The northern
chimæra (Chimæra monstrosa). (b) Any one of several species of
plectognath fishes, as the bur fish, and puffer. The term is also
locally applied to other fishes. -- Rabbits' ears. (Bot.) See Cyclamen.
-- Rabbit warren, a piece of ground appropriated to the breeding and
preservation of rabbits. Wright. -- Rock rabbit. (Zoöl.) See Daman, and
Klipdas. -- Welsh rabbit, a dish of which the chief constituents are
toasted bread and toasted cheese, prepared in various ways. The name is
said to be a corruption of Welsh rare bit, but perhaps it is merely a
humorous designation.
Rab"bit*ing, n. The hunting of rabbits. T. Hughes.
Rab"bit*ry (-r), n. A place where rabbits are kept; especially, a
collection of hutches for tame rabbits.
Rab"ble (rb"b'l), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Iron Manuf.) An iron bar,
with the end bent, used in stirring or skimming molten iron in the
process of puddling.
Rab"ble, v. t. To stir or skim with a rabble, as molten iron.
Rab"ble, v. i. [Akin to D. rabbelen, Prov. G. rabbeln, to prattle, to
chatter: cf. L. rabula a brawling advocate, a pettifogger, fr. rabere
to rave. Cf. Rage.] To speak in a confused manner. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
Rab"ble, n. [Probably named from the noise made by it (see Rabble, v.
i.); cf. D. rapalje rabble, OF. & Prov. F. rapaille.] 1. A tumultuous
crowd of vulgar, noisy people; a mob; a confused, disorderly throng.
I saw, I say, come out of London, even unto the presence of the
prince, a great rabble of mean and light persons.
Ascham.
Jupiter, Mercury, Bacchus, Venus, Mars, and the whole rabble of
licentious deities.
Bp. Warburton.
2. A confused, incoherent discourse; a medley of voices; a chatter.
The rabble, the lowest class of people, without reference to an
assembly; the dregs of the people. "The rabble call him ‘lord.'" Shak.
Rab"ble, a. Of or pertaining to a rabble; like, or suited to, a rabble;
disorderly; vulgar. [R.] Dryden.
Rab"ble, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rabbled (-b'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Rabbling
(-blng).] 1. To insult, or assault, by a mob; to mob; as, to rabble a
curate. Macaulay.
The bishops' carriages were stopped and the prelates themselves
rabbled on their way to the house.
J. R. Green.
2. To utter glibly and incoherently; to mouth without intelligence.
[Obs. or Scot.] Foxe.
3. To rumple; to crumple. [Scot.]
Rab"ble*ment (rb"b'l*ment), n. A tumultuous crowd of low people; a
rabble. "Rude rablement." Spenser.
And still, as he refused it, the rabblement hooted.
Shak.
Rab"bler (-blr), n. [See 2d Rabble.] (Mech.) A scraping tool for
smoothing metal.
Rab"ble-rout` (-b'l-rout`), n. A tumultuous crowd; a rabble; a noisy
throng.
Rab*doid"al (rb*doid"al), a. [Gr. "ra`bdos a rod + -oid + - al.]
(Anat.) See Sagittal. [Written also rhabdoidal.]
Rab*dol"o*gy (-dl"*j), n. [Gr. "ra`bdos rod, stick + - logy: cf. F.
rabdologie.] The method or art of performing arithmetical operations by
means of Napier's bones. See Napier's bones. [Written also rhabdology.]
Rab"do*man`cy (rb"d*mn`s), n. [Gr. "ra`bdos rod + -mancy.] Divination
by means of rods or wands. [Written also rhabdomancy.] Sir T. Browne.
Rab"id (rb"d), a. [L. rabidus, from rabere to rave. See Rage, n.] 1.
Furious; raging; extremely violent.
The rabid flight Of winds that ruin ships.
Chapman.
2. Extreme, unreasonable, or fanatical in opinion; excessively zealous;
as, a rabid socialist.
3. Affected with the distemper called rabies; mad; as, a rabid dog or
fox.
4. (Med.) Of or pertaining to rabies, or hydrophobia; as, rabid virus.
Ra*bid"i*ty (r*bd"*t), n. Rabidness; furiousness.
Rab"id*ly (rb"d*l), adv. In a rabid manner; with extreme violence.
Rab"id*ness, n. The quality or state of being rabid.
||Ra"bi*es (r"b*z), n. [L. See Rage, n.] Same as Hydrophobia (b);
||canine madness.
Rab"i*net (rb"*nt), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Mil.) A kind of small
ordnance formerly in use. [Written also rabanet.] Ainsworth.
Ra"bi*ous (r"b*s), a. Fierce. [Obs.] Daniel.
Ra"bot (r"bt), n. [F.] A rubber of hard wood used in smoothing marble
to be polished. Knight.
||Ra"ca (r"k), a. [Gr. "raka`, from Chaldee rk.] A term of reproach
||used by the Jews of our Savior's time, meaning "worthless."
Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the
council.
Matt. v. 22.
||Ra`ca`hout" (r`k`"), n. [F. racahout, probably fr. Ar. rqaut.] A
||preparation from acorns used by the Arabs as a substitute for
||chocolate, and also as a beverage for invalids.
Rac*coon" (rk*kn"), n. [F. raton, prop., a little rat, fr. rat rat,
perhaps of German origin. See Rat.] (Zoöl.) A North American nocturnal
carnivore (Procyon lotor) allied to the bears, but much smaller, and
having a long, full tail, banded with black and gray. Its body is gray,
varied with black and white. Called also coon, and mapach.
Raccoon dog (Zoöl.), the tanate. -- Raccoon fox (Zoöl.), the cacomixle.
Race (rs), v. t. To raze. [Obs.] Spenser.
<! p. 1182 pr=vmg !>
Race (rs), n. [OF. raïz, L. radix, -icis. See Radix.] A root. "A race
or two of ginger." Shak.
Race ginger, ginger in the root, or not pulverized.
Race, n. [F. race; cf. Pr. & Sp. raza, It. razza; all from OHG. reiza
line, akin to E. write. See Write.]
1. The descendants of a common ancestor; a family, tribe, people, or
nation, believed or presumed to belong to the same stock; a lineage; a
breed.
The whole race of mankind.
Shak.
Whence the long race of Alban fathers come.
Dryden.
Naturalists and ethnographers divide mankind into several distinct
varieties, or races. Cuvier refers them all to three, Pritchard
enumerates seven, Agassiz eight, Pickering describes eleven. One of the
common classifications is that of Blumenbach, who makes five races: the
Caucasian, or white race, to which belong the greater part of the
European nations and those of Western Asia; the Mongolian, or yellow
race, occupying Tartary, China, Japan, etc.; the Ethiopian, or negro
race, occupying most of Africa (except the north), Australia, Papua,
and other Pacific Islands; the American, or red race, comprising the
Indians of North and South America; and the Malayan, or brown race,
which occupies the islands of the Indian Archipelago, etc. Many recent
writers classify the Malay and American races as branches of the
Mongolian. See Illustration in Appendix.
2. Company; herd; breed.
For do but note a wild and wanton herd, Or race of youthful and
unhandled colts, Fetching mad bounds.
Shak.
3. (Bot.) A variety of such fixed character that it may be propagated
by seed.
4. Peculiar flavor, taste, or strength, as of wine; that quality, or
assemblage of qualities, which indicates origin or kind, as in wine;
hence, characteristic flavor; smack. "A race of heaven." Shak.
Is it [the wine] of the right race ?
Massinger.
5. Hence, characteristic quality or disposition. [Obs.]
And now I give my sensual race the rein.
Shak.
Some . . . great race of fancy or judgment.
Sir W. Temple.
Syn. -- Lineage; line; family; house; breed; offspring; progeny; issue.
Race, n. [OE. ras, res, rees, AS. rs a rush, running; akin to Icel. rs
course, race. √118.] 1. A progress; a course; a movement or
progression.
2. Esp., swift progress; rapid course; a running.
The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beasts.
Bacon.
3. Hence: The act or process of running in competition; a contest of
speed in any way, as in running, riding, driving, skating, rowing,
sailing; in the plural, usually, a meeting for contests in the running
of horses; as, he attended the races.
The race is not to the swift.
Eccl. ix. 11.
I wield the gauntlet, and I run the race.
Pope.
4. Competitive action of any kind, especially when prolonged; hence,
career; course of life.
My race of glory run, and race of shame.
Milton.
5. A strong or rapid current of water, or the channel or passage for
such a current; a powerful current or heavy sea, sometimes produced by
the meeting of two tides; as, the Portland Race; the Race of Alderney.
6. The current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel in
which it flows; a mill race.
The part of the channel above the wheel is sometimes called the
headrace, the part below, the tailrace.
7. (Mach.) A channel or guide along which a shuttle is driven back and
forth, as in a loom, sewing machine, etc.
Race cloth, a cloth worn by horses in racing, having pockets to hold
the weights prescribed. -- Race course. (a) The path, generally
circular or elliptical, over which a race is run. (b) Same as Race way,
below. -- Race cup, a cup given as a prize to the victor in a race. --
Race glass, a kind of field glass. -- Race horse. (a) A horse that runs
in competition; specifically, a horse bred or kept for running races.
(b) A breed of horses remarkable for swiftness in running. (c) (Zoöl.)
The steamer duck. (d) (Zoöl.) A mantis. -- Race knife, a cutting tool
with a blade that is hooked at the point, for marking outlines, on
boards or metals, as by a pattern, -- used in shipbuilding. -- Race
saddle, a light saddle used in racing. -- Race track. Same as Race
course (a), above. -- Race way, the canal for the current that drives a
water wheel.
Race, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Raced (rst); p. pr. & vb. n. Racing (r"sng).]
1. To run swiftly; to contend in a race; as, the animals raced over the
ground; the ships raced from port to port.
2. (Steam Mach.) To run too fast at times, as a marine engine or screw,
when the screw is lifted out of water by the action of a heavy sea.
Race, v. t. 1. To cause to contend in a race; to drive at high speed;
as, to race horses.
2. To run a race with.
Ra*ce"mate (r*s"mt), n. (Chem.) A salt of racemic acid.
Rac`e*ma"tion (rs`*m"shn), n. [L. racematio a gleaning, fr. racemari to
glean, racemus a cluster of grapes. See Raceme.] 1. A cluster or bunch,
as of grapes. Sir T. Browne.
2. Cultivation or gathering of clusters of grapes. [R.] Bp. Burnet.
Ra*ceme" (r*sm"; 277), n. [L. racemus a bunch of berries, a cluster of
grapes. See Raisin.] (Bot.) A flower cluster with an elongated axis and
many one-flowered lateral pedicels, as in the currant and chokecherry.
Compound raceme, one having the lower pedicels developed into secondary
racemes.
Ra*cemed" (r*smd"), a. (Bot.) Arranged in a raceme, or in racemes.
Ra*ce"mic (r*s"mk), a. [Cf. F. racémique. See Raceme.] (Chem.)
Pertaining to, or designating, an acid found in many kinds of grapes.
It is also obtained from tartaric acid, with which it is isomeric, and
from sugar, gum, etc., by oxidation. It is a sour white crystalline
substance, consisting of a combination of dextrorotatory and
levorotatory tartaric acids. Gregory.
Rac`e*mif"er*ous (rs`*mf"r*s), a. [L. racemifer bearing clusters;
racemus cluster + ferre to bear: cf. F. racémifère.] (Bot.) Bearing
racemes, as the currant.
Ra*cem"i*form (r*sm"*fôrm), a. Having the form of a raceme. Gray.
Rac"e*mose` (rs"*ms`), a. [L. racemosus full of clusters.] Resembling a
raceme; growing in the form of a raceme; as, (Bot.) racemose berries or
flowers; (Anat.) the racemose glands, in which the ducts are branched
and clustered like a raceme. Gray.
Rac"e*mous (rs"*ms or r*s"-; 277), a. [Cf. F. racémeux.] See Racemose.
Rac"e*mule (rs"*ml), n. (Bot.) A little raceme.
Ra*cem"u*lose` (r*sm"*ls`), a. (Bot.) Growing in very small racemes.
Ra"cer (r"sr), n. 1. One who, or that which, races, or contends in a
race; esp., a race horse.
And bade the nimblest racer seize the prize.
Pope.
2. (Zoöl.) The common American black snake.
3. (Mil.) One of the circular iron or steel rails on which the chassis
of a heavy gun is turned.
{ Rach, Rache (rch) }, n. [AS. ræcc; akin to Icel. rakki.] (Zoöl.) A
dog that pursued his prey by scent, as distinguished from the
greyhound. [Obs.]
||Ra`chi*al"gi*a (r`k*l"j*), n. [NL., fr. Gr. "ra`chis backbone +
||'a`lgos pain.] (Med.) A painful affection of the spine; especially,
||Pott's disease; also, formerly, lead colic.
Ra*chid"i*an (r*kd"*an), a. [See Rachis.] (Anat. & Zoöl.) Of or
pertaining to the rachis; spinal; vertebral. Same as Rhachidian.
||Ra*chil"la (r*kl"l), n. [NL.] (Bot.) Same as Rhachilla.
Ra"chi*o*dont (r"k**dnt), a. (Zoöl.) Same as Rhachiodont.
||Ra"chis (r"ks), n.; pl. E. Rachises (-z), L. Rachides (rk"*dz). [NL.,
||fr. Gr. "ra`chis, -ios.] [Written also rhachis.] 1. (Anat.) The
||spine; the vertebral column.
2. (Bot. & Zoöl.) Same as Rhachis.
Ra*chit"ic (r*kt"k), a. [Cf. F. rachitique. See Rachitis.] (Med.) Of or
pertaining to rachitis; affected by rachitis; rickety.
||Ra*chi"tis (r*k"ts), n. [NL., fr. Gr. "rachi^tis (sc. nosos), fr.
||"ra`chis, -ios, the spine.] [Written also rhachitis.] 1. (Med.)
||Literally, inflammation of the spine, but commonly applied to the
||rickets. See Rickets.
2. (Bot.) A disease which produces abortion in the fruit or seeds.
Henslow.
Ra"chi*tome (r"k*tm), n. [F., fr. Gr. "ra`chis, - ios, the spine +
te`mnein to cut.] A dissecting instrument for opening the spinal canal.
[Written also rachiotome.]
Ra"cial (r"shal), a. Of or pertaining to a race or family of men; as,
the racial complexion.
Ra"ci*ly (r"s*l), adv. In a racy manner.
Ra"ci*ness (r"s*ns), n. The quality of being racy; peculiar and piquant
flavor.
The general characteristics of his [Cobbett's] style were
perspicuity, unequaled and inimitable; . . . a purity always
simple, and raciness often elegant.
London Times.
Ra"cing (r"sng), a. & n. from Race, v. t. & i.
Racing crab (Zoöl.), an ocypodian.
Rack (rk), n. Same as Arrack.
Rack, n. [AS. hracca neck, hinder part of the head; cf. AS. hraca
throat, G. rachen throat, E. retch.] The neck and spine of a fore
quarter of veal or mutton.
Rack, n. [See Wreck.] A wreck; destruction. [Obs., except in a few
phrases.]
Rack and ruin, destruction; utter ruin. [Colloq.] -- To go to rack, to
perish; to be destroyed. [Colloq.] "All goes to rack." Pepys.
Rack, n. [Prob. fr. Icel. rek drift, motion, and akin to reka to drive,
and E. wrack, wreck. √282.] Thin, flying, broken clouds, or any
portion of floating vapor in the sky. Shak.
The winds in the upper region, which move the clouds above, which
we call the rack, . . . pass without noise.
Bacon.
And the night rack came rolling up.
C. Kingsley.
Rack, v. i. To fly, as vapor or broken clouds.
Rack, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Racked (rkt); p. pr. & vb. n. Racking.] [See
Rack that which stretches, or Rock, v.] To amble fast, causing a
rocking or swaying motion of the body; to pace; -- said of a horse.
Fuller.
Rack, n. A fast amble.
Rack, v. t. [Cf. OF. vin raqué wine squeezed from the dregs of the
grapes.] To draw off from the lees or sediment, as wine.
It is in common practice to draw wine or beer from the lees (which
we call racking), whereby it will clarify much the sooner.
Bacon.
Rack vintage, wine cleansed and drawn from the lees. Cowell.
Rack, n. [Probably fr. D. rek, rekbank, a rack, rekken to stretch; akin
to G. reck, reckbank, a rack, recken to stretch, Dan. række, Sw. räcka,
Icel. rekja to spread out, Goth. refrakjan to stretch out; cf. L.
porrigere, Gr. 'ore`gein. √115. Cf. Right, a., Ratch.] 1. An
instrument or frame used for stretching, extending, retaining, or
displaying, something. Specifically: (a) An engine of torture,
consisting of a large frame, upon which the body was gradually
stretched until, sometimes, the joints were dislocated; -- formerly
used judicially for extorting confessions from criminals or suspected
persons.
During the troubles of the fifteenth century, a rack was introduced
into the Tower, and was occasionally used under the plea of
political necessity.
Macaulay.
(b) An instrument for bending a bow. (c) A grate on which bacon is
laid. (d) A frame or device of various construction for holding, and
preventing the waste of, hay, grain, etc., supplied to beasts. (e) A
frame on which articles are deposited for keeping or arranged for
display; as, a clothes rack; a bottle rack, etc. (f) (Naut.) A piece or
frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which the running
rigging passes; -- called also rack block. Also, a frame to hold shot.
(g) (Mining) A frame or table on which ores are separated or washed.
(h) A frame fitted to a wagon for carrying hay, straw, or grain on the
stalk, or other bulky loads. (i) A distaff.
2. (Mech.) A bar with teeth on its face, or edge, to work with those of
a wheel, pinion, or worm, which is to drive it or be driven by it.
3. That which is extorted; exaction. [Obs.] Sir E. Sandys.
Mangle rack. (Mach.) See under Mangle, n. -- Rack block. (Naut.) See
def. 1 (f), above. -- Rack lashing, a lashing or binding where the rope
is tightened, and held tight by the use of a small stick of wood
twisted around. -- Rack rail (Railroads), a toothed rack, laid as a
rail, to afford a hold for teeth on the driving wheel of a locomotive
for climbing steep gradients, as in ascending a mountain. -- Rack saw,
a saw having wide teeth. -- Rack stick, the stick used in a rack
lashing. -- To be on the rack, to suffer torture, physical or mental.
-- To live at rack and manger, to live on the best at another's
expense. [Colloq.] -- To put to the rack, to subject to torture; to
torment.
A fit of the stone puts a king to the rack, and makes him as
miserable as it does the meanest subject.
Sir W. Temple.
Rack (rk), v. t. 1. To extend by the application of force; to stretch
or strain; specifically, to stretch on the rack or wheel; to torture by
an engine which strains the limbs and pulls the joints.
He was racked and miserably tormented.
Foxe.
2. To torment; to torture; to affect with extreme pain or anguish.
Vaunting aloud but racked with deep despair.
Milton.
3. To stretch or strain, in a figurative sense; hence, to harass, or
oppress by extortion.
The landlords there shamefully rack their tenants.
Spenser.
They [landlords] rack their rents an ace too high.
Gascoigne.
Grant that I may never rack a Scripture simile beyond the true
intent thereof.
Fuller.
Try what my credit can in Venice do; That shall be racked even to
the uttermost.
Shak.
4. (Mining) To wash on a rack, as metals or ore.
5. (Naut.) To bind together, as two ropes, with cross turns of yarn,
marline, etc.
To rack one's brains or wits, to exert them to the utmost for the
purpose of accomplishing something.
Syn. -- To torture; torment; rend; tear.
Rack"a*bones` (rk"*bnz`), n. A very lean animal, esp. a horse. [Colloq.
U. S.]
Rack"er (rk"r), n. 1. One who racks.
2. A horse that has a racking gait.
Rack"et (rk"t), n. [F. raquette; cf. Sp. raqueta, It. racchetta, which
is perhaps for retichetta, and fr. L. rete a net (cf. Reticule); or
perh. from the Arabic; cf. Ar. rha the palm of the hand (used at first
to strike the ball), and OF. rachette, rasquette, carpus, tarsus.]
[Written also racquet.] 1. A thin strip of wood, having the ends
brought together, forming a somewhat elliptical hoop, across which a
network of catgut or cord is stretched. It is furnished with a handle,
and is used for catching or striking a ball in tennis and similar
games.
Each one [of the Indians] has a bat curved like a crosier, and
ending in a racket.
Bancroft.
2. A variety of the game of tennis played with peculiar long-handled
rackets; -- chiefly in the plural. Chaucer.
3. A snowshoe formed of cords stretched across a long and narrow frame
of light wood. [Canada]
4. A broad wooden shoe or patten for a man or horse, to enable him to
step on marshy or soft ground.
Racket court, a court for playing the game of rackets.
Rack"et, v. t. To strike with, or as with, a racket.
Poor man [is] racketed from one temptation to another.
Hewyt.
Rack"et, n. [Gael. racaid a noise, disturbance.]
1. Confused, clattering noise; din; noisy talk or sport.
2. A carouse; any reckless dissipation. [Slang]
Rack"et, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Racketed; p. pr. & vb. n. Racketing.] 1.
To make a confused noise or racket.
2. To engage in noisy sport; to frolic. Sterne.
3. To carouse or engage in dissipation. [Slang]
Rack"et*er (-r), n. One who makes, or engages in, a racket.
Rack"ett (-t), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Mus.) An old wind instrument of
the double bassoon kind, having ventages but not keys.
Rack"et-tail` (-tl`), n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of humming
birds of the genus Steganura, having two of the tail feathers very long
and racket-shaped.
Rack"et-tailed` (-tld`), a. (Zoöl.) Having long and spatulate, or
racket-shaped, tail feathers.
Rack"et*y (-), a. Making a tumultuous noise.
Rack"ing, n. (Naut.) Spun yarn used in racking ropes.
Rack"-rent` (-rnt`), n. A rent of the full annual value of the
tenement, or near it; an excessive or unreasonably high rent.
Blackstone.
Rack"-rent`, v. t. To subject to rack-rent, as a farm or tenant.
Rack"-rent`er (-r), n. 1. One who is subjected to paying rack- rent.
2. One who exacts rack-rent.
<! p. 1183 pr=vmg !>
Rack"tail` (rk"tl`), n. (Horol.) An arm attached to a swinging notched
arc or rack, to let off the striking mechanism of a repeating clock.
Rack"work` (-wûrk`), n. Any mechanism having a rack, as a rack and
pinion.
Ra"cle (rä"k'l), a. See Rakel. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Ra"cle*ness, n. See Rakelness. [Obs.] Chaucer.
||Ra`con`teur" (r`kôN`tr"), n. [F.] A relater; a storyteller.
||Ra*coon"da (r*kn"d), n. [From a native name.] (Zoöl.) The coypu.
Ra*co"vi*an (r*k"v*an), n. [From Racow.] (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect of
Socinians or Unitarians in Poland.
Rac"quet (rk"kt), n. See Racket.
Ra"cy (r"s), a. [Compar. Racier (-s*r); superl. Raciest.] [From Race a
tribe, family.] 1. Having a strong flavor indicating origin; of
distinct characteristic taste; tasting of the soil; hence, fresh; rich.
The racy wine, Late from the mellowing cask restored to light.
Pope.
2. Hence: Exciting to the mental taste by a strong or distinctive
character of thought or language; peculiar and piquant; fresh and
lively.
Our raciest, most idiomatic popular words.
M. Arnold.
Burns's English, though not so racy as his Scotch, is generally
correct.
H. Coleridge.
The rich and racy humor of a natural converser fresh from the plow.
Prof. Wilson.
Syn. -- Spicy; spirited; lively; smart; piquant. -- Racy, Spicy. Racy
refers primarily to that peculiar flavor which certain wines are
supposed to derive from the soil in which the grapes were grown; and
hence we call a style or production racy when it "smacks of the soil,"
or has an uncommon degree of natural freshness and distinctiveness of
thought and language. Spicy, when applied to style, has reference to a
spirit and pungency added by art, seasoning the matter like a
condiment. It does not, like racy, suggest native peculiarity. A spicy
article in a magazine; a spicy retort. Racy in conversation; a racy
remark.
Rich, racy verses, in which we The soil from which they come,
taste, smell, and see.
Cowley.
Rad (rd), obs. imp. & p. p. of Read, Rede. Spenser.
Rad"de (rd"de), obs. imp. of Read, Rede. Chaucer.
Rad"dle (rd"d'l), n. [Cf. G. räder, rädel, sieve, or perhaps E. reed.]
1. A long, flexible stick, rod, or branch, which is interwoven with
others, between upright posts or stakes, in making a kind of hedge or
fence.
2. A hedge or fence made with raddles; -- called also raddle hedge.
Todd.
3. An instrument consisting of a wooden bar, with a row of upright pegs
set in it, used by domestic weavers to keep the warp of a proper width,
and prevent tangling when it is wound upon the beam of the loom.
Rad"dle, v. t. To interweave or twist together.
Raddling or working it up like basket work.
De Foe.
Rad"dle, n. [Cf. Ruddle.] A red pigment used in marking sheep, and in
some mechanical processes; ruddle. "A raddle of rouge." Thackeray.
Rad"dle, v. t. To mark or paint with, or as with, raddle. "Whitened and
raddled old women." Thackeray.
Rad"dock (-dk), n. (Zoöl.) The ruddock. [Prov. Eng.]
Rade (rd), n. A raid. [Scot.]
||Ra`deau" (r`d"), n. [F.] A float; a raft.
Three vessels under sail, and one at anchor, above Split Rock, and
behind it the radeau Thunderer.
W. Irving.
Ra"di*al (r"d*al), a. [Cf. F. radial. See Radius.] Of or pertaining to
a radius or ray; consisting of, or like, radii or rays; radiated; as,
(Bot.) radial projections; (Zoöl.) radial vessels or canals; (Anat.)
the radial artery.
Radial symmetry. (Biol.) See under Symmetry.
||Ra`di*a"le (r`d*"l), n.; pl. Radialia (- l*) [NL. See Radial.] 1.
||(Anat.) The bone or cartilage of the carpus which articulates with
||the radius and corresponds to the scaphoid bone in man.
2. pl. (Zoöl.) Radial plates in the calyx of a crinoid.
Ra"di*al*ly (r"d*al*l), adv. In a radial manner.
Ra"di*an (-an), n. [From Radius.] (Math.) An arc of a circle which is
equal to the radius, or the angle measured by such an arc.
{ Ra"di*ance (-ans), Ra"di*an*cy (- an*s), } n. The quality of being
radiant; brilliancy; effulgence; vivid brightness; as, the radiance of
the sun.
Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crowned.
Milton.
What radiancy of glory, What light beyond compare !
Neale.
Syn. -- Luster; brilliancy; splendor; glare; glitter.
Ra"di*ant (-ant), a. [L. radians, -antis, p. pr. of radiare to emit
rays or beams, fr. radius ray: cf. F. radiant. See Radius, Ray a
divergent line.] 1. Emitting or proceeding as from a center; resembling
rays; radiating; radiate.
2. Especially, emitting or darting rays of light or heat; issuing in
beams or rays; beaming with brightness; emitting a vivid light or
splendor; as, the radiant sun.
Mark what radiant state she spreads.
Milton.
3. Beaming with vivacity and happiness; as, a radiant face.
4. (Her.) Giving off rays; -- said of a bearing; as, the sun radiant; a
crown radiant.
5. (Bot.) Having a raylike appearance, as the large marginal flowers of
certain umbelliferous plants; -- said also of the cluster which has
such marginal flowers.
Radiant energy (Physics), energy given out or transmitted by radiation,
as in the case of light and radiant heat. -- Radiant heat, heat
proceeding in right lines, or directly from the heated body, after the
manner of light, in distinction from heat conducted or carried by
intervening media. -- Radiant point. (Astron.) See Radiant, n., 3.
Ra"di*ant, n. 1. (Opt.) The luminous point or object from which light
emanates; also, a body radiating light brightly.
2. (Geom.) A straight line proceeding from a given point, or fixed
pole, about which it is conceived to revolve.
3. (Astron.) The point in the heavens at which the apparent paths of
shooting stars meet, when traced backward, or whence they appear to
radiate.
Ra"di*ant*ly (r"d*ant*l), adv. In a radiant manner; with glittering
splendor.
Ra"di*a*ry (-*r), n. [Cf. F. radiaire.] (Zoöl.) A radiate. [Obs.]
||Ra`di*a"ta (-"t), n. pl. [NL., fr. radiatus, p. p. See Radiate.]
||(Zoöl.) An extensive artificial group of invertebrates, having all
||the parts arranged radially around the vertical axis of the body, and
||the various organs repeated symmetrically in each ray or spheromere.
It includes the cœlenterates and the echinoderms. Formerly, the group
was supposed to be a natural one, and was considered one of the grand
divisions of the animal kingdom.
Ra"di*ate (r"d*t), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Radiated (- `td); p. pr. & vb.
n. Radiating.] [L. radiatus, p. p. of radiare to furnish with spokes or
rays, to radiate, fr. radius ray. See Radius, Ray a divergent line.] 1.
To emit rays; to be radiant; to shine.
Virtues shine more clear In them [kings], and radiate like the sun
at noon.
Howell.
2. To proceed in direct lines from a point or surface; to issue in
rays, as light or heat.
Light radiates from luminous bodies directly to our eyes.
Locke.
Ra"di*ate, v. t. 1. To emit or send out in direct lines from a point or
points; as, to radiate heat.
2. To enlighten; to illuminate; to shed light or brightness on; to
irradiate. [R.]
Ra"di*ate (-t), a. [L. radiatus, p. p.] 1. Having rays or parts
diverging from a center; radiated; as, a radiate crystal.
2. (Bot.) Having in a capitulum large ray florets which are unlike the
disk florets, as in the aster, daisy, etc.
3. (Zoöl.) Belonging to the Radiata.
Ra"di*ate, n. (Zoöl.) One of the Radiata.
Ra"di*a`ted (-`td), a. 1. Emitted, or sent forth, in rays or direct
lines; as, radiated heat.
2. Formed of, or arranged like, rays or radii; having parts or markings
diverging, like radii, from a common center or axis; as, a radiated
structure; a radiated group of crystals.
3. (Zoöl.) Belonging to the Radiata.
Ra"di*ate*ly (-t*l), adv. In a radiate manner; with radiation or
divergence from a center.
Ra"di*ate-veined` (-vnd`), a. (Bot.) Having the principal veins
radiating, or diverging, from the apex of the petiole; -- said of such
leaves as those of the grapevine, most maples, and the castor-oil
plant.
Ra`di*at"i*form (-t"*fôrm), a. (Bot.) Having the marginal florets
enlarged and radiating but not ligulate, as in the capitula or heads of
the cornflower. Gray.
Ra`di*a"tion (-"shn), n. [L. radiatio: cf. F. radiation.] 1. The act of
radiating, or the state of being radiated; emission and diffusion of
rays of light; beamy brightness.
2. The shooting forth of anything from a point or surface, like the
diverging rays of light; as, the radiation of heat.
Ra"di*a*tive (r"d**tv), a. Capable of radiating; acting by radiation.
Tyndall.
Ra"di*a`tor (-`tr), n. That which radiates or emits rays, whether of
light or heat; especially, that part of a heating apparatus from which
the heat is radiated or diffused; as, a steam radiator.
Rad"i*cal (rd"*kal), a. [F., fr. L. radicalis having roots, fr. radix,
-icis, a root. See Radix.] 1. Of or pertaining to the root; proceeding
directly from the root.
2. Hence: Of or pertaining to the root or origin; reaching to the
center, to the foundation, to the ultimate sources, to the principles,
or the like; original; fundamental; thorough-going; unsparing; extreme;
as, radical evils; radical reform; a radical party.
The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only
showed their radical independence.
Burke.
3. (Bot.) (a) Belonging to, or proceeding from, the root of a plant;
as, radical tubers or hairs. (b) Proceeding from a rootlike stem, or
one which does not rise above the ground; as, the radical leaves of the
dandelion and the sidesaddle flower.
4. (Philol.) Relating, or belonging, to the root, or ultimate source of
derivation; as, a radical verbal form.
5. (Math.) Of or pertaining to a radix or root; as, a radical quantity;
a radical sign. See below.
Radical axis of two circles. (Geom.) See under Axis. -- Radical pitch,
the pitch or tone with which the utterance of a syllable begins. Rush.
-- Radical quantity (Alg.), a quantity to which the radical sign is
prefixed; specifically, a quantity which is not a perfect power of the
degree indicated by the radical sign; a surd. -- Radical sign (Math.),
the sign √ (originally the letter r, the initial of radix, root),
placed before any quantity, denoting that its root is to be extracted;
thus, √a, or √(a + b). To indicate any other than the
square root, a corresponding figure is placed over the sign; thus, a,
indicates the third or cube root of a. -- Radical stress (Elocution),
force of utterance falling on the initial part of a syllable or sound.
-- Radical vessels (Anat.), minute vessels which originate in the
substance of the tissues.
Syn. -- Primitive; original; natural; underived; fundamental; entire.
-- Radical, Entire. These words are frequently employed as
interchangeable in describing some marked alteration in the condition
of things. There is, however, an obvious difference between them. A
radical cure, reform, etc., is one which goes to the root of the thing
in question; and it is entire, in the sense that, by affecting the
root, it affects in an appropriate degree the entire body nourished by
the root; but it may not be entire in the sense of making a change
complete in its nature, as well as in its extent. Hence, we speak of a
radical change; a radical improvement; radical differences of opinion;
while an entire change, an entire improvement, an entire difference of
opinion, might indicate more than was actually intended. A certain
change may be both radical and entire, in every sense.
Rad"i*cal (rd"*kal), n. 1. (Philol.) (a) A primitive word; a radix,
root, or simple, underived, uncompounded word; an etymon. (b) A
primitive letter; a letter that belongs to the radix.
The words we at present make use of, and understand only by common
agreement, assume a new air and life in the understanding, when you
trace them to their radicals, where you find every word strongly
stamped with nature; full of energy, meaning, character, painting,
and poetry.
Cleland.
2. (Politics) One who advocates radical changes in government or social
institutions, especially such changes as are intended to level class
inequalities; -- opposed to conservative.
In politics they [the Independents] were, to use the phrase of
their own time, "Root-and-Branch men," or, to use the kindred
phrase of our own, Radicals.
Macaulay.
3. (Chem.) (a) A characteristic, essential, and fundamental constituent
of any compound; hence, sometimes, an atom.
As a general rule, the metallic atoms are basic radicals, while the
nonmetallic atoms are acid radicals.
J. P. Cooke.
(b) Specifically, a group of two or more atoms, not completely
saturated, which are so linked that their union implies certain
properties, and are conveniently regarded as playing the part of a
single atom; a residue; -- called also a compound radical. Cf. Residue.
4. (Alg.) A radical quantity. See under Radical, a.
An indicated root of a perfect power of the degree indicated is not
a radical but a rational quantity under a radical form.
Davies & Peck (Math. Dict.)
5. (Anat.) A radical vessel. See under Radical, a.
Rad"i*cal*ism (-z'm), n. [Cf. F. radicalisme.] The quality or state of
being radical; specifically, the doctrines or principles of radicals in
politics or social reform.
Radicalism means root work; the uprooting of all falsehoods and
abuses.
F. W. Robertson.
Rad`i*cal"i*ty (-kl"*t), n. 1. Germinal principle; source; origination.
[Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
2. Radicalness; relation to a root in essential nature or principle.
Rad"i*cal*ly (rd"*kal*l), adv. 1. In a radical manner; at, or from, the
origin or root; fundamentally; as, a scheme or system radically wrong
or defective.
2. Without derivation; primitively; essentially. [R.]
These great orbs thus radically bright.
Prior.
Rad"i*cal*ness, n. Quality or state of being radical.
Rad"i*cant (-kant), a. [L. radicans, p. pr.: cf. F. radicant. See
Radicate, a.] (Bot.) Taking root on, or above, the ground; rooting from
the stem, as the trumpet creeper and the ivy.
Rad"i*cate (-kt), a. [L. radicatus, p. p. of radicari to take root, fr.
radix. See Radix.] Radicated.
Rad"i*cate (-kt), v. i. To take root; to become rooted. Evelyn.
Rad"i*cate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Radicated (-k`td); p. pr. & vb. n.
Radicating.] To cause to take root; to plant deeply and firmly; to
root.
Time should . . . rather confirm and radicate in us the remembrance
of God's goodness.
Barrow.
Rad"i*ca`ted (-k`td), a. Rooted; specifically: (a) (Bot.) Having roots,
or possessing a well-developed root. (b) (Zoöl.) Having rootlike organs
for attachment.
Rad`i*ca"tion (-k"shn), n. [Cf. F. radication.] 1. The process of
taking root, or state of being rooted; as, the radication of habits.
2. (Bot.) The disposition of the roots of a plant.
Rad"i*cel (rd"*sl), n. [Dim. of radix.] (Bot.) A small branch of a
root; a rootlet.
Ra*dic`i*flo"rous (r*ds`*fl"rs), a. [L. radix, -icis, root + flos,
floris, a flower.] (Bot.) Rhizanthous.
Ra*dic"i*form (r*ds"*fôm), a. (Bot.) Having the nature or appearance of
a radix or root.
Rad"i*cle (rd"*k'l), n. [L. radicula, dim. of radix, -icis, root: cf.
F. radicule. See Radix.] (Bot.) (a) The rudimentary stem of a plant
which supports the cotyledons in the seed, and from which the root is
developed downward; the stem of the embryo; the caulicle. (b) A
rootlet; a radicel.
Ra*dic"u*lar (r*dk"*lr), a. Of or pertaining to roots, or the root of a
plant.
Rad"i*cule (rd"*kl), n. (Bot.) A radicle.
Ra*dic"u*lose` (r*dk"*ls`), a. (Bot.) Producing numerous radicles, or
rootlets.
Ra"di*i (r"d*), n., pl. of Radius.
Ra"di*o- (r"d*-). A combining form indicating connection with, or
relation to, a radius or ray; specifically (Anat.), with the radius of
the forearm; as, radio-ulnar, radio- muscular, radio-carpal.
||Ra`di*o-flag`el*la"ta (- flj`l*l"t), n. pl. [NL. See Radiate, and
||Flagellata.] (Zoöl.) A group of Protozoa having both flagella and
||pseudopodia.
Ra"di*o*graph (r"d**grf), n. [Radio- + -graph.] (Phys.) A picture
produced by the Röntgen rays upon a sensitive surface, photographic or
fluorescent, especially a picture of opaque objects traversed by the
rays.
<! p. 1184 pr=vmg !>
||Ra`di*o*la"ri*a (r`d**l"r*), n. pl. [NL. See Radioli.] (Zoöl.) Order
||of rhizopods, usually having a siliceous skeleton, or shell, and
||sometimes radiating spicules. The pseudopodia project from the body
||like rays. It includes the polycystines. See Polycystina.
Ra`di*o*la"ri*an (r`d**l"r*an), a. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the
Radiolaria. -- n. One of the Radiolaria.
||Ra*di"o*li (r*d"*l), n. pl.; sing. Radiolus (-ls). [NL., dim. of L.
||radius radius: cf. L. radiolus a feeble sunbeam.] (Zoöl.) The barbs
||of the radii of a feather; barbules.
Ra"di*o*lite (r"d**lt), n. [L. radius ray + -lite: cf. F. radiolithe.]
(Paleon.) A hippurite.
Ra`di*om"e*ter (-m"*tr), n. [L. radius radius + -meter: cf. F.
radiomètre.] 1. (Naut.) A forestaff.
2. (Physics) An instrument designed for measuring the mechanical effect
of radiant energy.
It consists of a number of light disks, blackened on one side, placed
at the ends of extended arms, supported on a pivot in an exhausted
glass vessel. When exposed to rays of light or heat, the arms rotate.
Ra`di*o*mi*crom"e*ter (- *m*krm"*tr), n. [Radio- + micrometer.]
(Physics) A very sensitive modification or application of the
thermopile, used for indicating minute changes of radiant heat, or
temperature.
Ra"di*o*phone (r"d**fn), n. [Radio- + Gr. fwnh` sound.] (Physics) An
apparatus for the production of sound by the action of luminous or
thermal rays. It is essentially the same as the photophone.
Ra`di*oph"o*ny (-f"*n), n. (Physics) The art or practice of using the
radiophone.
Ra"di*ous (r"d*s), a. [L. radiosus.] 1. Consisting of rays, as light.
[R.] Berkeley.
2. Radiating; radiant. [Obs.] G. Fletcher.
Rad"ish (rd"sh), n. [F. radis; cf. It. radice, Pr. raditz; all fr. L.
radix, -icis, a root, an edible root, especially a radish, akin to E.
wort. See Wort, and cf. Eradicate, Race a root, Radix.] (Bot.) The
pungent fleshy root of a well-known cruciferous plant (Raphanus
sativus); also, the whole plant.
Radish fly (Zoöl.), a small two- winged fly (Anthomyia raphani) whose
larvæ burrow in radishes. It resembles the onion fly. -- Rat-tailed
radish (Bot.), an herb (Raphanus caudatus) having a long, slender pod,
which is sometimes eaten. -- Wild radish (Bot.), the jointed charlock.
Ra"di*us (r"d*s), n.; pl. L. Radii (- ); E. Radiuses (-s*z). [L., a
staff, rod, spoke of a wheel, radius, ray. See Ray a divergent line.]
1. (Geom.) A right line drawn or extending from the center of a circle
to the periphery; the semidiameter of a circle or sphere.
2. (Anat.) The preaxial bone of the forearm, or brachium, corresponding
to the tibia of the hind limb. See Illust. of Artiodactyla.
The radius is on the same side of the limb as the thumb, or pollex, and
in man it is so articulated that its lower end is capable of partial
rotation about the ulna.
3. (Bot.) A ray, or outer floret, of the capitulum of such plants as
the sunflower and the daisy. See Ray, 2.
4. pl. (Zoöl.) (a) The barbs of a perfect feather. (b) Radiating
organs, or color-markings, of the radiates.
5. The movable limb of a sextant or other angular instrument. Knight.
Radius bar (Mach.), a bar pivoted at one end, about which it swings,
and having its other end attached to a piece which it causes to move in
a circular arc. -- Radius of curvature. See under Curvature.
||Ra"di*us vec"tor (vk"tr). 1. (Math.) A straight line (or the length
||of such line) connecting any point, as of a curve, with a fixed
||point, or pole, round which the straight line turns, and to which it
||serves to refer the successive points of a curve, in a system of
||polar coördinates. See Coördinate, n.
2. (Astron.) An ideal straight line joining the center of an attracting
body with that of a body describing an orbit around it, as a line
joining the sun and a planet or comet, or a planet and its satellite.
Ra"dix (r"dks), n.; pl. L. Radices (rd"*sz), E. Radixes (r"dks*z). [L.
radix, -icis, root. See Radish.] 1. (Philol.) A primitive word, from
which spring other words; a radical; a root; an etymon.
2. (Math.) (a) A number or quantity which is arbitrarily made the
fundamental number of any system; a base. Thus, 10 is the radix, or
base, of the common system of logarithms, and also of the decimal
system of numeration. (b) (Alg.) A finite expression, from which a
series is derived. [R.] Hutton.
3. (Bot.) The root of a plant.
||Rad"u*la (rd"*l), n.; pl. Radulæ (- l). [L., a scraper, fr. radere to
||scrape.] (Zoöl.) The chitinous ribbon bearing the teeth of mollusks;
||-- called also lingual ribbon, and tongue. See Odontophore.
Ra*du"li*form (r*d"l*fôrm), a. [L. radula a scraper + -form.] Rasplike;
as, raduliform teeth.
Raff (rf), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raffed (rft); p. pr. & vb. n. Raffing.]
[OF. raffer, of German origin; cf. G. raffen; akin to E. rap to snatch.
See Rap, and cf. Riffraff, Rip to tear.] To sweep, snatch, draw, or
huddle together; to take by a promiscuous sweep. [Obs.]
Causes and effects which I thus raff up together.
Carew.
Raff, n. 1. A promiscuous heap; a jumble; a large quantity; lumber;
refuse. "A raff of errors." Barrow.
2. The sweepings of society; the rabble; the mob; -- chiefly used in
the compound or duplicate, riffraff.
3. A low fellow; a churl.
Raff merchant, a dealer in lumber and odd refuse. [Prov. Eng.]
Raf`fa*el*esque" (rf`f*l*sk"), a. Raphaelesque.
Raf"fi*a (rf"f*), n. (Bot.) A fibrous material used for tying plants,
said to come from the leaves of a palm tree of the genus Raphia. J.
Smith (Dict. Econ. Plants).
Raf"fi*nose` (rf"f*ns`), n. [F. raffiner to refine.] (Chem.) A
colorless crystalline slightly sweet substance obtained from the
molasses of the sugar beet.
Raff"ish (rf"sh), a. Resembling, or having the character of, raff, or a
raff; worthless; low.
A sad, raffish, disreputable character.
Thackeray.
Raf"fle (rf"f'l), n. [F. rafle; faire rafle to sweep stakes, fr. rafler
to carry or sweep away, rafler tout to sweep stakes; of German origin;
cf. G. raffeln to snatch up, to rake. See Raff, v.] 1. A kind of
lottery, in which several persons pay, in shares, the value of
something put up as a stake, and then determine by chance (as by
casting dice) which one of them shall become the sole possessor.
2. A game of dice in which he who threw three alike won all the stakes.
[Obs.] Cotgrave.
Raf"fle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Raffled (-f'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Raffling
(-flng).] To engage in a raffle; as, to raffle for a watch.
Raf"fle, v. t. To dispose of by means of a raffle; -- often followed by
off; as, to raffle off a horse.
Raf"fler (rf"flr), n. One who raffles.
||Raf*fle"si*a (rf*fl"zh*), n. [NL. Named from its discoverer, Sir S.
||Raffles.] (Bot.) A genus of stemless, leafless plants, living
||parasitically upon the roots and stems of grapevines in Malaysia. The
||flowers have a carrionlike odor, and are very large, in one species
||(Rafflesia Arnoldi) having a diameter of two or three feet.
Raft (rft), obs. imp. & p. p. of Reave. Spenser.
Raft, n. [Originally, a rafter, spar, and fr. Icel. raptr a rafter;
akin to Dan. raft, Prov. G. raff a rafter, spar; cf. OHG. rfo, rvo, a
beam, rafter, Icel. rf roof. Cf. Rafter, n.] 1. A collection of logs,
boards, pieces of timber, or the like, fastened together, either for
their own collective conveyance on the water, or to serve as a support
in conveying other things; a float.
2. A collection of logs, fallen trees, etc. (such as is formed in some
Western rivers of the United States), which obstructs navigation.
[U.S.]
3. [Perhaps akin to raff a heap.] A large collection of people or
things taken indiscriminately. [Slang, U. S.] "A whole raft of folks."
W. D. Howells.
Raft bridge. (a) A bridge whose points of support are rafts. (b) A
bridge that consists of floating timbers fastened together. -- Raft
duck. [The name alludes to its swimming in dense flocks.] (Zoöl.) (a)
The bluebill, or greater scaup duck; -- called also flock duck. See
Scaup. (b) The redhead. -- Raft port (Naut.), a large, square port in a
vessel's side for loading or unloading timber or other bulky articles;
a timber or lumber port.
Raft, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rafted; p. pr. & vb. n. Rafting.] To
transport on a raft, or in the form of a raft; to make into a raft; as,
to raft timber.
Raf"te (rf"te), obs. imp. of Reave. Chaucer.
Raft"er (rft"r), n. A raftsman.
Raft"er, n. [AS. ræfter; akin to E. raft, n. See Raft.] (Arch.)
Originally, any rough and somewhat heavy piece of timber. Now,
commonly, one of the timbers of a roof which are put on sloping,
according to the inclination of the roof. See Illust. of Queen-post.
[Courtesy] oft is sooner found in lowly sheds, With smoky rafters,
than in tapestry halls.
Milton.
Raft"er, v. t. 1. To make into rafters, as timber.
2. To furnish with rafters, as a house.
3. (Agric.) To plow so as to turn the grass side of each furrow upon an
unplowed ridge; to ridge. [Eng.]
Raft"ing, n. The business of making or managing rafts.
Rafts"man (rfts"man), n.; pl. Raftsmen (-men). A man engaged in
rafting.
Raf"ty (rf"t), a. [Perhaps akin to G. reif hoarfrost.] Damp; musty.
[Prov. Eng.]
Rag (rg), v. t. [Cf. Icel. rægja to calumniate, OHG. ruogen to accuse,
G. rügen to censure, AS. wrgan, Goth. wrhjan to accuse.] To scold or
rail at; to rate; to tease; to torment; to banter. [Prov. Eng.] Pegge.
Rag, n. [OE. ragge, probably of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. rögg a tuft,
shagginess, Sw. ragg rough hair. Cf. Rug, n.] 1. A piece of cloth torn
off; a tattered piece of cloth; a shred; a tatter; a fragment.
Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tossed. And fluttered
into rags.
Milton.
Not having otherwise any rag of legality to cover the shame of
their cruelty.
Fuller.
2. pl. Hence, mean or tattered attire; worn-out dress.
And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.
Dryden.
3. A shabby, beggarly fellow; a ragamuffin.
The other zealous rag is the compositor.
B. Jonson.
Upon the proclamation, they all came in, both tag and rag.
Spenser.
4. (Geol.) A coarse kind of rock, somewhat cellular in texture.
5. (Metal Working) A ragged edge.
6. A sail, or any piece of canvas. [Nautical Slang]
Our ship was a clipper with every rag set.
Lowell.
Rag bolt, an iron pin with barbs on its shank to retain it in place. --
Rag carpet, a carpet of which the weft consists of narrow strips of
cloth sewed together, end to end. -- Rag dust, fine particles of
ground-up rags, used in making papier-maché and wall papers. -- Rag
wheel. (a) A chain wheel; a sprocket wheel. (b) A polishing wheel made
of disks of cloth clamped together on a mandrel. -- Rag wool, wool
obtained by tearing woolen rags into fine bits; shoddy.
Rag (rg), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ragged (rgd); p. pr. & vb. n. Ragging
(-gng).] To become tattered. [Obs.]
Rag, v. t. 1. To break (ore) into lumps for sorting.
2. To cut or dress roughly, as a grindstone.
{ Rag"a*bash` (-*bsh`), Rag"a*brash` (-brsh`), } n. An idle, ragged
person. Nares. Grose.
Rag`a*muf"fin (-mf"fn), n. [Cf. Ragamofin, the name of a demon in some
of the old mysteries.] 1. A paltry or disreputable fellow; a mean
wretch. Dryden.
2. A person who wears ragged clothing. [Colloq.]
3. (Zoöl.) The long-tailed titmouse. [Prov. Eng.]
Rage (rj), n. [F., fr. L. rabies, fr. rabere to rave; cf. Skr. rabh to
seize, rabhas violence. Cf. Rabid, Rabies, Rave.] 1. Violent
excitement; eager passion; extreme vehemence of desire, emotion, or
suffering, mastering the will. "In great rage of pain." Bacon.
He appeased the rage of hunger with some scraps of broken meat.
Macaulay.
Convulsed with a rage of grief.
Hawthorne.
2. Especially, anger accompanied with raving; overmastering wrath;
violent anger; fury.
Torment, and loud lament, and furious rage.
Milton.
3. A violent or raging wind. [Obs.] Chaucer.
4. The subject of eager desire; that which is sought after, or
prosecuted, with unreasonable or excessive passion; as, to be all the
rage.
Syn. -- Anger; vehemence; excitement; passion; fury. See Anger.
Rage, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Raged (rjd); p. pr. & vb. n. Raging (r"jng).]
[OF. ragier. See Rage, n.]
1. To be furious with anger; to be exasperated to fury; to be violently
agitated with passion. "Whereat he inly raged." Milton.
When one so great begins to rage, he is hunted Even to falling.
Shak.
2. To be violent and tumultuous; to be violently driven or agitated; to
act or move furiously; as, the raging sea or winds.
Why do the heathen rage?
Ps. ii. 1.
The madding wheels Of brazen chariots raged; dire was the noise.
Milton.
3. To ravage; to prevail without restraint, or with destruction or
fatal effect; as, the plague raged in Cairo.
4. To toy or act wantonly; to sport. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Syn. -- To storm; fret; chafe; fume.
Rage, v. t. To enrage. [Obs.] Shak.
Rage"ful (-fl), a. Full of rage; expressing rage. [Obs.] "Rageful
eyes." Sir P. Sidney.
Ra"ger*y (r"jr*), n. Wantonness. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Rag"ged (rg"gd), a. [From Rag, n.] 1. Rent or worn into tatters, or
till the texture is broken; as, a ragged coat; a ragged sail.
2. Broken with rough edges; having jags; uneven; rough; jagged; as,
ragged rocks.
3. Hence, harsh and disagreeable to the ear; dissonant. [R.] "A ragged
noise of mirth." Herbert.
4. Wearing tattered clothes; as, a ragged fellow.
5. Rough; shaggy; rugged.
What shepherd owns those ragged sheep?
Dryden.
Ragged lady (Bot.), the fennel flower (Nigella Damascena). -- Ragged
robin (Bot.), a plant of the genus Lychnis (L. Flos- cuculi),
cultivated for its handsome flowers, which have the petals cut into
narrow lobes. -- Ragged sailor (Bot.), prince's feather (Polygonum
orientale). -- Ragged school, a free school for poor children, where
they are taught and in part fed; -- a name given at first because they
came in their common clothing. [Eng.]
-- Rag"ged*ly, adv. -- Rag"ged*ness, n.
{ Rag"gie (rg"g), or Rag"gy }, a. Ragged; rough. [Obs.] "A stony and
raggie hill." Holland.
||Ragh`u*van"sa (rg`*vn"s), n. [Skr. Raguvaça.] A celebrated Sanskrit
||poem having for its subject the Raghu dynasty.
Ra"ging (r"jng), a. & n. from Rage, v. i. -- Ra"ging*ly, adv.
Ra"gious (r"js), a. Raging; furious; rageful. [Obs.] -- Ra"gious*ness,
n. [Obs.]
Rag"lan (rg"lan), n. A loose overcoat with large sleeves; -- named from
Lord Raglan, an English general.
Rag"man (-man), n.; pl. Ragmen (-men). A man who collects, or deals in,
rags.
Rag"man, n. [See Ragman's roll.] A document having many names or
numerous seals, as a papal bull. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.
Rag"man's roll` (-manz rl`). [For ragman roll a long list of names, the
devil's roll or list; where ragman is of Scand. origin; cf. Icel.
ragmenni a craven person, Sw. raggen the devil. Icel. ragmenni is fr.
ragr cowardly (another form of argr, akin to AS. earg cowardly, vile,
G. arg bad) + menni (in comp.) man, akin to E. man. See Roll, and cf.
Rigmarole.] The rolls of deeds on parchment in which the Scottish
nobility and gentry subscribed allegiance to Edward I. of England, A.
D. 1296. [Also written ragman- roll.]
Ra*gout" (r*g"), n. [F. ragoût, fr. ragoûter to restore one's appetite,
fr. L. pref. re- re- + ad to + gustare to taste, gustus taste. See Gust
relish.] A dish made of pieces of meat, stewed, and highly seasoned;
as, a ragout of mutton.
Rag"pick`er (rg"pk`r), n. One who gets a living by picking up rags and
refuse things in the streets.
{ Ra*guled" (r*gld"), Rag*guled" (rg-), } a. [Cf. F. raguer to chafe,
fret, rub, or E. rag.] (Her.) Notched in regular diagonal breaks; --
said of a line, or a bearing having such an edge.
<! p. 1185 pr=vmg !>
Rag"weed` (rg"wd`), n. (Bot.) A common American composite weed
(Ambrosia artemisiæfolia) with finely divided leaves; hogweed.
Great ragweed, a coarse American herb (Ambrosia trifida), with rough
three-lobed opposite leaves.
Rag"work` (-wûrk`), n. (Masonry) A kind of rubblework. In the United
States, any rubblework of thin and small stones.
Rag"wort` (-wûrt`), n. (Bot.) A name given to several species of the
composite genus Senecio.
Senecio aureus is the golden ragwort of the United States; S. elegans
is the purple ragwort of South Africa.
||Ra"ia (r"y), n. [L., a ray. Cf. Ray the fish.] (Zoöl.) A genus of
||rays which includes the skates. See Skate.
||Ra"iæ (r"y), n. pl. [NL. See Raia.] (Zoöl.) The order of elasmobranch
||fishes which includes the sawfishes, skates, and rays; -- called also
||Rajæ, and Rajii.
Raid (rd), n. [Icel. reið a riding, raid; akin to E. road. See Road a
way.] 1. A hostile or predatory incursion; an inroad or incursion of
mounted men; a sudden and rapid invasion by a cavalry force; a foray.
Marauding chief! his sole delight The moonlight raid, the morning
fight.
Sir W. Scott.
There are permanent conquests, temporary occupations, and
occasional raids.
H. Spenser.
A Scottish word which came into common use in the United States during
the Civil War, and was soon extended in its application.
2. An attack or invasion for the purpose of making arrests, seizing
property, or plundering; as, a raid of the police upon a gambling
house; a raid of contractors on the public treasury. [Colloq. U. S.]
Raid, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raided; p. pr. & vb. n. Raiding.] To make a
raid upon or into; as, two regiments raided the border counties.
Raid"er (-r), n. One who engages in a raid. [U.S.]
Rail (rl), n. [OE. reil, reel, AS. hrægel, hrægl, a garment; akin to
OHG. hregil, OFries. hreil.] An outer cloak or covering; a neckerchief
for women. Fairholt.
Rail, v. i. [Etymol. uncertain.] To flow forth; to roll out; to course.
[Obs.]
Streams of tears from her fair eyes forth railing.
Spenser.
Rail, n. [Akin to LG. & Sw. regel bar, bolt, G. riegel a rail, bar, or
bolt, OHG. rigil, rigel, bar, bolt, and possibly to E. row a line.] 1.
A bar of timber or metal, usually horizontal or nearly so, extending
from one post or support to another, as in fences, balustrades,
staircases, etc.
2. (Arch.) A horizontal piece in a frame or paneling. See Illust. of
Style.
3. (Railroad) A bar of steel or iron, forming part of the track on
which the wheels roll. It is usually shaped with reference to vertical
strength, and is held in place by chairs, splices, etc.
4. (Naut.) (a) The stout, narrow plank that forms the top of the
bulwarks. (b) The light, fencelike structures of wood or metal at the
break of the deck, and elsewhere where such protection is needed.
Rail fence. See under Fence. -- Rail guard. (a) A device attached to
the front of a locomotive on each side for clearing the rail of
obstructions. (b) A guard rail. See under Guard. -- Rail joint
(Railroad), a splice connecting the adjacent ends of rails, in
distinction from a chair, which is merely a seat. The two devices are
sometimes united. Among several hundred varieties, the fish joint is
standard. See Fish joint, under Fish. -- Rail train (Iron & Steel
Manuf.), a train of rolls in a rolling mill, for making rails for
railroads from blooms or billets.
Rail, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Railed (rld); p. pr. & vb. n. Railing.] 1. To
inclose with rails or a railing.
It ought to be fenced in and railed.
Ayliffe.
2. To range in a line. [Obs.]
They were brought to London all railed in ropes, like a team of
horses in a cart.
Bacon.
Rail, n. [F. râle, fr. râler to have a rattling in the throat; of
German origin, and akin to E. rattle. See Rattle, v.] (Zoöl.) Any one
of numerous species of limicoline birds of the family Rallidæ,
especially those of the genus Rallus, and of closely allied genera.
They are prized as game birds.
The common European water rail (Rallus aquaticus) is called also
bilcock, skitty coot, and brook runner. The best known American species
are the clapper rail, or salt-marsh hen (Rallus longirostris, var.
crepitans); the king, or red-breasted, rail (R. elegans) (called also
fresh-water marsh-hen); the lesser clapper, or Virginia, rail (R.
Virginianus); and the Carolina, or sora, rail (Porzana Carolina). See
Sora.
Land rail (Zoöl.), the corncrake.
Rail, v. i. [F. railler; cf. Sp. rallar to grate, scrape, molest;
perhaps fr. (assumed) LL. radiculare, fr. L. radere to scrape, grate.
Cf. Rally to banter, Rase.] To use insolent and reproachful language;
to utter reproaches; to scoff; -- followed by at or against, formerly
by on. Shak.
And rail at arts he did not understand.
Dryden.
Lesbia forever on me rails.
Swift.
Rail (rl), v. t. 1. To rail at. [Obs.] Feltham.
2. To move or influence by railing. [R.]
Rail the seal from off my bond.
Shak.
Rail"er (-r), n. One who rails; one who scoffs, insults, censures, or
reproaches with opprobrious language.
Rail"ing, a. Expressing reproach; insulting.
Angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing
accusation against them.
2 Pet. ii. 11.
Rail"ing, n. 1. A barrier made of a rail or of rails.
2. Rails in general; also, material for making rails.
Rail"ing*ly, adv. With scoffing or insulting language.
Rail"ler*y (rl"lr* or rl"-; 277), n. [F. raillerie, fr. railler. See
Rail to scoff.] Pleasantry or slight satire; banter; jesting language;
satirical merriment.
Let raillery be without malice or heat.
B. Jonson.
Studies employed on low objects; the very naming of them is
sufficient to turn them into raillery.
Addison.
||Rail`leur" (r`lyr" or r`yr"), n. [F.] A banterer; a jester; a mocker.
||[R.] Wycherley.
{ Rail"road` (rl"rd`), Rail"way` (- w`), } n. 1. A road or way
consisting of one or more parallel series of iron or steel rails,
patterned and adjusted to be tracks for the wheels of vehicles, and
suitably supported on a bed or substructure.
The modern railroad is a development and adaptation of the older
tramway.
2. The road, track, etc., with all the lands, buildings, rolling stock,
franchises, etc., pertaining to them and constituting one property; as,
a certain railroad has been put into the hands of a receiver.
Railway is the commoner word in England; railroad the commoner word in
the United States.
In the following and similar phrases railroad and railway are used
interchangeably: --
Atmospheric railway, Elevated railway, etc. See under Atmospheric,
Elevated, etc. -- Cable railway. See Cable road, under Cable. -- Ferry
railway, a submerged track on which an elevated platform runs, for
carrying a train of cars across a water course. -- Gravity railway, a
railway, in a hilly country, on which the cars run by gravity down
gentle slopes for long distances after having been hauled up steep
inclines to an elevated point by stationary engines. -- Railway brake,
a brake used in stopping railway cars or locomotives. -- Railway car, a
large, heavy vehicle with flanged wheels fitted for running on a
railway. [U.S.] -- Railway carriage, a railway passenger car. [Eng.] --
Railway scale, a platform scale bearing a track which forms part of the
line of a railway, for weighing loaded cars. -- Railway slide. See
Transfer table, under Transfer. -- Railway spine (Med.), an abnormal
condition due to severe concussion of the spinal cord, such as occurs
in railroad accidents. It is characterized by ataxia and other
disturbances of muscular function, sensory disorders, pain in the back,
impairment of general health, and cerebral disturbance, -- the symptoms
often not developing till some months after the injury. -- Underground
railroad or railway. (a) A railroad or railway running through a
tunnel, as beneath the streets of a city. (b) Formerly, a system of
coöperation among certain active antislavery people in the United
States, by which fugitive slaves were secretly helped to reach Canada.
[In the latter sense railroad, and not railway, was used.] "Their house
was a principal entrepôt of the underground railroad." W. D. Howells.
Rail"road`ing, n. The construction of a railroad; the business of
managing or operating a railroad. [Colloq. U. S.]
Rai"ment (r"ment), n. [Abbrev. fr. arraiment. See Array.] 1. Clothing
in general; vesture; garments; -- usually singular in form, with a
collective sense.
Living, both food and raiment she supplies.
Dryden.
2. An article of dress. [R. or Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.
Rain (rn), n. & v. Reign. [Obs.] Spenser.
Rain (rn), n. [OE. rein, AS. regen; akin to OFries. rein, D. & G.
regen, OS. & OHG. regan, Icel., Dan., & Sw. regn, Goth. rign, and prob.
to L. rigare to water, to wet; cf. Gr. bre`chein to wet, to rain.]
Water falling in drops from the clouds; the descent of water from the
clouds in drops.
Rain is water by the heat of the sun divided into very small parts
ascending in the air, till, encountering the cold, it be condensed
into clouds, and descends in drops.
Ray.
Fair days have oft contracted wind and rain.
Milton.
Rain is distinguished from mist by the size of the drops, which are
distinctly visible. When water falls in very small drops or particles,
it is called mist; and fog is composed of particles so fine as to be
not only individually indistinguishable, but to float or be suspended
in the air. See Fog, and Mist.
Rain band (Meteorol.), a dark band in the yellow portion of the solar
spectrum near the sodium line, caused by the presence of watery vapor
in the atmosphere, and hence sometimes used in weather predictions. --
Rain bird (Zoöl.), the yaffle, or green woodpecker. [Prov. Eng.] The
name is also applied to various other birds, as to Saurothera vetula of
the West Indies. -- Rain fowl (Zoöl.), the channel-bill cuckoo
(Scythrops Novæ-Hollandiæ) of Australia. -- Rain gauge, an instrument
of various forms for measuring the quantity of rain that falls at any
given place in a given time; a pluviometer; an ombrometer. -- Rain
goose (Zoöl.), the red-throated diver, or loon. [Prov. Eng.] -- Rain
prints (Geol.), markings on the surfaces of stratified rocks,
presenting an appearance similar to those made by rain on mud and sand,
and believed to have been so produced. -- Rain quail. (Zoöl.) See
Quail, n., 1. -- Rain water, water that has fallen from the clouds in
rain.
Rain, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rained (rnd); p. pr. & vb. n. Raining.] [AS.
regnian, akin to G. regnen, Goth. rignjan. See Rain, n.] 1. To fall in
drops from the clouds, as water; -- used mostly with it for a
nominative; as, it rains.
The rain it raineth every day.
Shak.
2. To fall or drop like water from the clouds; as, tears rained from
their eyes.
Rain (rn), v. t. 1. To pour or shower down from above, like rain from
the clouds.
Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from
heaven for you.
Ex. xvi. 4.
2. To bestow in a profuse or abundant manner; as, to rain favors upon a
person.
Rain"bow` (-b`), n. [AS. regenboga, akin to G. regenbogen. See Rain,
and Bow anything bent.] A bow or arch exhibiting, in concentric bands,
the several colors of the spectrum, and formed in the part of the
hemisphere opposite to the sun by the refraction and reflection of the
sun's rays in drops of falling rain.
Besides the ordinary bow, called also primary rainbow, which is formed
by two refractions and one reflection, there is also another often seen
exterior to it, called the secondary rainbow, concentric with the
first, and separated from it by a small interval. It is formed by two
refractions and two reflections, is much fainter than the primary bow,
and has its colors arranged in the reverse order from those of the
latter.
Lunar rainbow, a fainter arch or rainbow, formed by the moon. -- Marine
rainbow, or Sea bow, a similar bow seen in the spray of waves at sea.
-- Rainbow trout (Zoöl.), a bright-colored trout (Salmo irideus),
native of the mountains of California, but now extensively introduced
into the Eastern States, Japan, and other countries; -- called also
brook trout, mountain trout, and golden trout. -- Rainbow wrasse.
(Zoöl.) See under Wrasse. -- Supernumerary rainbow, a smaller bow,
usually of red and green colors only, sometimes seen within the primary
or without the secondary rainbow, and in contact with them.
Rain"bowed` (-bd`), a. Formed with or like a rainbow.
Rain"deer` (-dr`), n. (Zoöl.) See Reindeer. [Obs.]
Rain"drop` (-drp`), n. A drop of rain.
Rain"fall` (rn"fl`), n. A fall or descent of rain; the water, or amount
of water, that falls in rain; as, the average annual rainfall of a
region.
Supplied by the rainfall of the outer ranges of Sinchul and
Singaleleh.
Hooker.
Rain"i*ness (-*ns), n. The state of being rainy.
Rain"less, a. Destitute of rain; as, a rainless region.
Rain"-tight` (-tt`), a. So tight as to exclude rain; as, a rain-tight
roof.
Rain"y (-), a. [AS. regenig.] Abounding with rain; wet; showery; as,
rainy weather; a rainy day or season.
Raip (rp), n. [Cf. Icel. reip rope. Cf. Rope.] A rope; also, a measure
equal to a rod. [Scot.]
Rais (rs), n. Same as 2d Reis.
Rais"a*ble (rz"*b'l), a. Capable of being raised.
Raise (rz), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raised (rzd); p. pr. & vb. n. Raising.]
[OE. reisen, Icel. reisa, causative of rsa to rise. See Rise, and cf.
Rear to raise.]
1. To cause to rise; to bring from a lower to a higher place; to lift
upward; to elevate; to heave; as, to raise a stone or weight. Hence,
figuratively: --
(a) To bring to a higher condition or situation; to elevate in rank,
dignity, and the like; to increase the value or estimation of; to
promote; to exalt; to advance; to enhance; as, to raise from a low
estate; to raise to office; to raise the price, and the like.
This gentleman came to be raised to great titles.
Clarendon.
The plate pieces of eight were raised three pence in the piece.
Sir W. Temple.
(b) To increase the strength, vigor, or vehemence of; to excite; to
intensify; to invigorate; to heighten; as, to raise the pulse; to raise
the voice; to raise the spirits or the courage; to raise the heat of a
furnace.
(c) To elevate in degree according to some scale; as, to raise the
pitch of the voice; to raise the temperature of a room.
2. To cause to rise up, or assume an erect position or posture; to set
up; to make upright; as, to raise a mast or flagstaff. Hence: --
(a) To cause to spring up from a recumbent position, from a state of
quiet, or the like; to awaken; to arouse.
They shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Job xiv. 12.
(b) To rouse to action; to stir up; to incite to tumult, struggle, or
war; to excite.
He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind.
Ps. cvii. 25.
Æneas . . . employs his pains, In parts remote, to raise the Tuscan
swains.
Dryden.
(c) To bring up from the lower world; to call up, as a spirit from the
world of spirits; to recall from death; to give life to.
Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God
should raise the dead ?
Acts xxvi. 8.
3. To cause to arise, grow up, or come into being or to appear; to give
rise to; to originate, produce, cause, effect, or the like. Hence,
specifically: --
(a) To form by the accumulation of materials or constituent parts; to
build up; to erect; as, to raise a lofty structure, a wall, a heap of
stones.
I will raise forts against thee.
Isa. xxix. 3.
(b) To bring together; to collect; to levy; to get together or obtain
for use or service; as, to raise money, troops, and the like. "To raise
up a rent." Chaucer.
(c) To cause to grow; to procure to be produced, bred, or propagated;
to grow; as, to raise corn, barley, hops, etc.; toraise cattle. "He
raised sheep." "He raised wheat where none grew before." Johnson's
Dict.
<! p. 1186 pr=vmg !>
In some parts of the United States, notably in the Southern States,
raise is also commonly applied to the rearing or bringing up of
children.
I was raised, as they say in Virginia, among the mountains of the
North.
Paulding.
(d) To bring into being; to produce; to cause to arise, come forth, or
appear; -- often with up.
I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto
thee.
Deut. xviii. 18.
God vouchsafes to raise another world From him [Noah], and all his
anger to forget.
Milton.
(e) To give rise to; to set agoing; to occasion; to start; to
originate; as, to raise a smile or a blush.
Thou shalt not raise a false report.
Ex. xxiii. 1.
(f) To give vent or utterance to; to utter; to strike up.
Soon as the prince appears, they raise a cry.
Dryden.
(g) To bring to notice; to submit for consideration; as, to raise a
point of order; to raise an objection.
4. To cause to rise, as by the effect of leaven; to make light and
spongy, as bread.
Miss Liddy can dance a jig, and raise paste.
Spectator.
5. (Naut.) (a) To cause (the land or any other object) to seem higher
by drawing nearer to it; as, to raise Sandy Hook light. (b) To let go;
as in the command, Raise tacks and sheets, i. e., Let go tacks and
sheets.
6. (Law) To create or constitute; as, to raise a use, that is, to
create it. Burrill.
To raise a blockade (Mil.), to remove or break up a blockade, either by
withdrawing the ships or forces employed in enforcing it, or by driving
them away or dispersing them. -- To raise a check, note, bill of
exchange, etc., to increase fraudulently its nominal value by changing
the writing, figures, or printing in which the sum payable is
specified. -- To raise a siege, to relinquish an attempt to take a
place by besieging it, or to cause the attempt to be relinquished. --
To raise steam, to produce steam of a required pressure. -- To raise
the wind, to procure ready money by some temporary expedient. [Colloq.]
-- To raise Cain, or To raise the devil, to cause a great disturbance;
to make great trouble. [Slang]
Syn. -- To lift; exalt; elevate; erect; originate; cause; produce;
grow; heighten; aggravate; excite.
Raised (rzd), a. 1. Lifted up; showing above the surroundings; as,
raised or embossed metal work.
2. Leavened; made with leaven, or yeast; -- used of bread, cake, etc.,
as distinguished from that made with cream of tartar, soda, etc. See
Raise, v. t., 4.
Raised beach. See under Beach, n.
Rais"er (rz"r), n. One who, or that which, raises (in various senses of
the verb).
Rai"sin (r"z'n), n. [F. raisin grape, raisin, L. racemus cluster of
grapes or berries; cf. Gr. "ra`x, "rago`s, berry, grape. Cf. Raceme.]
1. A grape, or a bunch of grapes. [Obs.] Cotgrave.
2. A grape dried in the sun or by artificial heat.
Raisin tree (Bot.), the common red currant bush, whose fruit resembles
the small raisins of Corinth called currants. [Eng.] Dr. Prior.
Rais"ing (rz"ng), n. 1. The act of lifting, setting up, elevating,
exalting, producing, or restoring to life.
2. Specifically, the operation or work of setting up the frame of a
building; as, to help at a raising. [U.S.]
3. The operation of embossing sheet metal, or of forming it into
cup-shaped or hollow articles, by hammering, stamping, or spinning.
Raising bee, a bee for raising the frame of a building. See Bee, n., 2.
[U.S.] W. Irving. -- Raising hammer, a hammer with a rounded face, used
in raising sheet metal. -- Raising plate (Carp.), the plate, or
longitudinal timber, on which a roof is raised and rests.
||Rai`son`né" (r`z`n"), a. [F. raisonné, p. p. of raisonner to reason.]
||Arranged systematically, or according to classes or subjects; as, a
||catalogue raisonné. See under Catalogue.
Rai"vel (r"vel), n. (Weaving) A separator. [Scot.]
||Raj (räj), n. [See Rajah.] Reign; rule. [India]
||Ra"ja (rä"jä or r"j), n. Same as Rajah.
Ra"jah (rä"jä or r"j), n. [Hind. rj, Skr. rjan, akin to L. rex, regis.
See Regal, a.] A native prince or king; also, a landholder or person of
importance in the agricultural districts. [India]
Ra"jah*ship, n. The office or dignity of a rajah.
{ ||Raj`poot", ||Raj`put" } (räj`pt"), n. [Hind. rj- pt, Skr. rja-putra
king's son.] A Hindoo of the second, or royal and military, caste; a
Kshatriya; especially, an inhabitant of the country of Rajpootana, in
northern central India.
Rake (rk), n. [AS. race; akin to OD. rake, D. reek, OHG. rehho, G.
rechen, Icel. reka a shovel, and to Goth. rikan to heap up, collect,
and perhaps to Gr. 'ore`gein to stretch out, and E. rack to stretch.
Cf. Reckon.] 1. An implement consisting of a headpiece having teeth,
and a long handle at right angles to it, -- used for collecting hay, or
other light things which are spread over a large surface, or for
breaking and smoothing the earth.
2. A toothed machine drawn by a horse, -- used for collecting hay or
grain; a horserake.
3. [Perhaps a different word.] (Mining) A fissure or mineral vein
traversing the strata vertically, or nearly so; -- called also
rake-vein.
Gill rakes. (Anat.) See under 1st Gill.
Rake, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raked (rkt); p. pr. & vb. n. Raking.] [AS.
racian. See 1st Rake.] 1. To collect with a rake; as, to rake hay; --
often with up; as, he raked up the fallen leaves.
2. Hence: To collect or draw together with laborious industry; to
gather from a wide space; to scrape together; as, to rake together
wealth; to rake together slanderous tales; to rake together the rabble
of a town.
3. To pass a rake over; to scrape or scratch with a rake for the
purpose of collecting and clearing off something, or for stirring up
the soil; as, to rake a lawn; to rake a flower bed.
4. To search through; to scour; to ransack.
The statesman rakes the town to find a plot.
Swift.
5. To scrape or scratch across; to pass over quickly and lightly, as a
rake does.
Like clouds that rake the mountain summits.
Wordsworth.
6. (Mil.) To enfilade; to fire in a direction with the length of; in
naval engagements, to cannonade, as a ship, on the stern or head so
that the balls range the whole length of the deck.
To rake up. (a) To collect together, as the fire (live coals), and
cover with ashes. (b) To bring up; to search out and bring to notice
again; as, to rake up old scandals.
Rake (rk), v. i. 1. To use a rake, as for searching or for collecting;
to scrape; to search minutely.
One is for raking in Chaucer for antiquated words.
Dryden.
2. To pass with violence or rapidity; to scrape along.
Pas could not stay, but over him did rake.
Sir P. Sidney.
Rake, n. [Cf. dial. Sw. raka to reach, and E. reach.] The inclination
of anything from a perpendicular direction; as, the rake of a roof, a
staircase, etc.; especially (Naut.), the inclination of a mast or
funnel, or, in general, of any part of a vessel not perpendicular to
the keel.
Rake, v. i. To incline from a perpendicular direction; as, a mast rakes
aft.
Raking course (Bricklaying), a course of bricks laid diagonally between
the face courses in a thick wall, to strengthen it.
Rake, n. [OE. rakel rash; cf. Icel. reikall wandering, unsettled, reika
to wander.] A loose, disorderly, vicious man; a person addicted to
lewdness and other scandalous vices; a debauchee; a roué.
An illiterate and frivolous old rake.
Macaulay.
Rake, v. i. 1. [Icel. reika. Cf. Rake a debauchee.] To walk about; to
gad or ramble idly. [Prov. Eng.]
2. [See Rake a debauchee.] To act the rake; to lead a dissolute,
debauched life. Shenstone.
To rake out (Falconry), to fly too far and wide from its master while
hovering above waiting till the game is sprung; -- said of the hawk.
Encyc. Brit.
Rake"hell` (rk"hl`), n. [See Rakel.] A lewd, dissolute fellow; a
debauchee; a rake.
It seldom doth happen, in any way of life, that a sluggard and a
rakehell do not go together.
Barrow.
{ Rake"hell`, Rake"hell`y (-), } a. Dissolute; wild; lewd; rakish.
[Obs.] Spenser. B. Jonson.
Ra"kel (rä"kl), a. [OE. See Rake a debauchee.] Hasty; reckless; rash.
[Obs.] Chaucer. -- Ra"kel*ness, n. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Rak"er (rk"r), n. [See 1st Rake.] 1. One who, or that which, rakes; as:
(a) A person who uses a rake. (b) A machine for raking grain or hay by
horse or other power. (c) A gun so placed as to rake an enemy's ship.
2. (Zoöl.) See Gill rakers, under 1st Gill.
Rak"er*y (-), n. Debauchery; lewdness.
The rakery and intrigues of the lewd town.
R. North.
Rake"shame` (rk"shm`), n. [Cf. Rakehell, Ragabash.] A vile, dissolute
wretch. [Obs.] Milton.
Rake"stale` (-stl`), n. [Rake the instrument + stale a handle.] The
handle of a rake.
That tale is not worth a rakestele.
Chaucer.
Rake"-vein` (-vn`), n. See Rake, a mineral vein.
Rak"ing (rk"ng), n. 1. The act or process of using a rake; the going
over a space with a rake.
2. A space gone over with a rake; also, the work done, or the quantity
of hay, grain, etc., collected, by going once over a space with a rake.
Rak"ish, a. Dissolute; lewd; debauched.
The arduous task of converting a rakish lover.
Macaulay.
Rak"ish, a. (Naut.) Having a saucy appearance indicative of speed and
dash. Ham. Nav. Encyc.
Rak"ish*ly, adv. In a rakish manner.
Rak"ish*ness, n. The quality or state of being rakish.
||Ra"ku ware` (rä"k wâr`). A kind of earthenware made in Japan,
||resembling Satsuma ware, but having a paler color.
||Râle (räl), n. [F. râle. Cf. Rail the bird.] (Med.) An adventitious
||sound, usually of morbid origin, accompanying the normal respiratory
||sounds. See Rhonchus.
Various kinds are distinguished by pathologists; differing in
intensity, as loud and small; in quality, as moist, dry, clicking,
whistling, and sonorous; and in origin, as tracheal, pulmonary, and
pleural.
||Ral`len*tan"do (räl`ln*tän"d), a. [It.] (Mus.) Slackening; -- a
||direction to perform a passage with a gradual decrease in time and
||force; ritardando.
Ral"li*ance (rl"l*ans), n. [Cf. OF. raliance. See Rally to reunite.]
The act of rallying.
Ral"li*er (-r), n. One who rallies.
Ral"line (-ln), a. (Zoöl.) Pertaining to the rails.
Ral"ly (rl"l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rallied (-ld); p. pr. & vb. n.
Rallying.] [OF. ralier, F. rallier, fr. L. pref. re- + ad + ligare to
bind. See Ra-, and 1st Ally.] To collect, and reduce to order, as
troops dispersed or thrown into confusion; to gather again; to reunite.
Ral"ly, v. i. 1. To come into orderly arrangement; to renew order, or
united effort, as troops scattered or put to flight; to assemble; to
unite.
The Grecians rally, and their powers unite.
Dryden.
Innumerable parts of matter chanced just then to rally together,
and to form themselves into this new world.
Tillotson.
2. To collect one's vital powers or forces; to regain health or
consciousness; to recuperate.
3. To recover strength after a decline in prices; -- said of the
market, stocks, etc.
Ral"ly, n.; pl. Rallies (-lz). 1. The act or process of rallying (in
any of the senses of that word).
2. A political mass meeting. [Colloq. U. S.]
Ral"ly, v. t. [F. railler. See Rail to scoff.] To attack with raillery,
either in good humor and pleasantry, or with slight contempt or satire.
Honeycomb . . . rallies me upon a country life.
Addison.
Strephon had long confessed his amorous pain, Which gay Corinna
rallied with disdain.
Gay.
Syn. -- To banter; ridicule; satirize; deride; mock.
Ral"ly (rl"l), v. i. To use pleasantry, or satirical merriment.
Ral"ly, n. Good-humored raillery.
Ralph (rlf), n. A name sometimes given to the raven.
Ral"ston*ite (rl"stn*t), n. [So named after J. G. Ralston of
Norristown, Penn.] (Min.) A fluoride of alumina and soda occurring with
the Greenland cryolite in octahedral crystals.
Ram (rm), n. [AS. ramm, ram; akin to OHG. & D. ram, Prov. G. ramm, and
perh. to Icel. ramr strong.]
1. The male of the sheep and allied animals. In some parts of England a
ram is called a tup.
2. (Astron.) (a) Aries, the sign of the zodiac which the sun enters
about the 21st of March. (b) The constellation Aries, which does not
now, as formerly, occupy the sign of the same name.
3. An engine of war used for butting or battering. Specifically: (a) In
ancient warfare, a long beam suspended by slings in a framework, and
used for battering the walls of cities; a battering-ram. (b) A heavy
steel or iron beak attached to the prow of a steam war vessel for
piercing or cutting down the vessel of an enemy; also, a vessel
carrying such a beak.
4. A hydraulic ram. See under Hydraulic.
5. The weight which strikes the blow, in a pile driver, steam hammer,
stamp mill, or the like.
6. The plunger of a hydraulic press.
Ram's horn. (a) (Fort.) A low semicircular work situated in and
commanding a ditch. [Written also ramshorn.] Farrow. (b) (Paleon.) An
ammonite.
Ram, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rammed (rmd); p. pr. & vb. n. Ramming.] 1. To
butt or strike against; to drive a ram against or through; to thrust or
drive with violence; to force in; to drive together; to cram; as, to
ram an enemy's vessel; to ram piles, cartridges, etc.
[They] rammed me in with foul shirts, and smocks, socks, foul
stockings, greasy napkins.
Shak.
2. To fill or compact by pounding or driving.
A ditch . . . was filled with some sound materials, and rammed to
make the foundation solid.
Arbuthnot.
||Ram`a*dan" (rm`*dn"), n. [Ar. raman, or ramazn, properly, the hot
||month.] [Written also Ramadhan, Ramadzan, and Rhamadan.] 1. The ninth
||Mohammedan month.
2. The great annual fast of the Mohammedans, kept during daylight
through the ninth month.
Ram"age (rm"j; 48), n. [F., fr. L. ramus a branch.]
1. Boughs or branches. [Obs.] Crabb.
2. Warbling of birds in trees. [Obs.] Drummond.
Ra*mage" (r*mj"), a. Wild; untamed. [Obs.]
Ra*ma"gi*ous (-m"j*s), a. Wild; not tame. [Obs.]
Now is he tame that was so ramagious.
Remedy of Love.
Ra"mal (r"mal), a. [L. ramus branch.] Of or pertaining to a ramus, or
branch; rameal.
||Ra*ma"ya*na (rä*mä"y*n), n. [Skr. Rmyaa.] The more ancient of the two
||great epic poems in Sanskrit. The hero and heroine are Rama and his
||wife Sita.
Ram"berge (rm"brj), n. [F., fr. rame oar + barge barge.] Formerly, a
kind of large war galley.
Ram"ble (rm"b'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rambled (-b'ld); p. pr. & vb. n.
Rambling (-blng).] [For rammle, fr. Prov. E. rame to roam. Cf. Roam.]
1. To walk, ride, or sail, from place to place, without any determinate
object in view; to roam carelessly or irregularly; to rove; to wander;
as, to ramble about the city; to ramble over the world.
He that is at liberty to ramble in perfect darkness, what is his
liberty better than if driven up and down as a bubble by the wind?
Locke.
2. To talk or write in a discursive, aimless way.
3. To extend or grow at random. Thomson.
Syn. -- To rove; roam; wander; range; stroll.
Ram"ble, n. 1. A going or moving from place to place without any
determinate business or object; an excursion or stroll merely for
recreation.
Coming home, after a short Christmas ramble.
Swift.
2. [Cf. Rammel.] (Coal Mining) A bed of shale over the seam. Raymond.
Ram"bler (-blr), n. One who rambles; a rover; a wanderer.
Ram"bling (-blng), a. Roving; wandering; discursive; as, a rambling
fellow, talk, or building.
Ram"bling*ly, adv. In a rambling manner.
Ram"booze (-bz), n. A beverage made of wine, ale (or milk), sugar, etc.
[Obs.] Blount.
Ram*bu"tan (rm*b"tn), n. [Malay rambtan, fr. rambut hair of the head.]
(Bot.) A Malayan fruit produced by the tree Nephelium lappaceum, and
closely related to the litchi nut. It is bright red, oval in shape,
covered with coarse hairs (whence the name), and contains a pleasant
acid pulp. Called also ramboostan.
Ra"me*al (r"m*al), a. Same as Ramal. Gray.
Ra"me*an (-an), n. A Ramist. Shipley.
Ramed (rmd), a. Having the frames, stem, and sternpost adjusted; --
said of a ship on the stocks.
Ram"ee (rm"), n. (Bot.) See Ramie.
Ram"e*kin (rm"*kn), n. See Ramequin. [Obs.]
Ram"ent (rm"ent), n. [L. ramenta, pl.] 1. A scraping; a shaving. [Obs.]
2. pl. (Bot.) Ramenta.
||Ra*men"ta (r*mn"t), n. pl. [L., scrapings.] (Bot.) Thin brownish
||chaffy scales upon the leaves or young shoots of some plants,
||especially upon the petioles and leaves of ferns. Gray.
<! p. 1187 pr=vmg !>
Ram`en*ta"ceous (rm`n*t"shs), a. (Bot.) Covered with ramenta.
Ra"me*ous (r"m*s), a. [L. rameus, from ramus branch, bough.] (Bot.)
Ramal.
Ram"e*quin (rm"*kn), n. [F.] (Cookery) A mixture of cheese, eggs, etc.,
formed in a mold, or served on bread. [Written also ramekin.]
Ram"ie (rm"), n. [From Malay.] (Bot.) The grass-cloth plant (Bœhmeria
nivea); also, its fiber, which is very fine and exceedingly strong; --
called also China grass, and rhea. See Grass-cloth plant, under Grass.
Ram`i*fi*ca"tion (rm`*f*k"shn), n. [Cf. F. ramification. See Ramify.]
1. The process of branching, or the development of branches or
offshoots from a stem; also, the mode of their arrangement.
2. A small branch or offshoot proceeding from a main stock or channel;
as, the ramifications of an artery, vein, or nerve.
3. A division into principal and subordinate classes, heads, or
departments; also, one of the subordinate parts; as, the ramifications
of a subject or scheme.
4. The production of branchlike figures. Crabb.
Ram`i*flo"rous (-fl"rs), a. [L. ramus branch + flos, floris, flower.]
(Bot.) Flowering on the branches.
Ram"i*form (rm"*fôrm), a. [L. ramus branch + -form.] (Bot.) Having the
form of a branch.
Ram"i*fy (rm"*f), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ramified (rm"*fd); p. pr. & vb.
n. Ramifying (rm"*f`ng).] [F. ramifier, LL. ramificare, fr. L. ramus a
branch + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy.] To divide into branches
or subdivisions; as, to ramify an art, subject, scheme.
Ram"i*fy, v. i. 1. To shoot, or divide, into branches or subdivisions,
as the stem of a plant.
When they [asparagus plants] . . . begin to ramify.
Arbuthnot.
2. To be divided or subdivided, as a main subject.
Ra*mig"er*ous (r*mj"r*s), a. [L. ramus a branch + -gerous.] (Bot.)
Bearing branches; branched.
Ra*mip"a*rous (r*mp"*rs), a. [L. ramus + parere to bear.] (Bot.)
Producing branches; ramigerous.
Ra"mist (r"mst), n. A follower of Pierre Ramé, better known as Ramus, a
celebrated French scholar, who was professor of rhetoric and philosophy
at Paris in the reign of Henry II., and opposed the Aristotelians.
Ram"line (rm"ln), n. A line used to get a straight middle line, as on a
spar, or from stem to stern in building a vessel.
Ram"mel (rm"ml), n. Refuse matter. [Obs.]
Filled with any rubbish, rammel and broken stones.
Holland.
Ram"mer (-mr), n. One who, or that which, rams or drives. Specifically:
(a) An instrument for driving anything with force; as, a rammer for
driving stones or piles, or for beating the earth to more solidity. (b)
A rod for forcing down the charge of a gun; a ramrod. (c) (Founding) An
implement for pounding the sand of a mold to render it compact.
Ram"mish (-msh), a. Like a ram; hence, rank; lascivious. "Their savor
is so rammish." Chaucer.
Ram"mish*ness, n. The quality of being rammish.
Ram"my (-m), a. Like a ram; rammish. Burton.
Ram`ol*les"cence (rm`l*ls"sens), n. [F. ramollir to make soft, to
soften; pref. re- re- + amollir to soften; a (L. ad) + mollir to
soften, L. mollire, fr. mollis soft.] A softening or mollifying. [R.]
Ra*moon" (r*mn"), n. (Bot.) A small West Indian tree (Trophis
Americana) of the Mulberry family, whose leaves and twigs are used as
fodder for cattle.
Ra*mose" (r*ms"), a. [L. ramosus, from ramus a branch.] Branched, as
the stem or root of a plant; having lateral divisions; consisting of,
or having, branches; full of branches; ramifying; branching; branchy.
Ra"mous (r"ms), a. Ramose.
Ramp (rmp), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ramped (rmt; 215); p. pr. & vb. n.
Ramping.] [F. ramper to creep, OF., to climb; of German origin; cf. G.
raffen to snatch, LG. & D. rapen. See Rap to snatch, and cf. Romp.]
1. To spring; to leap; to bound; to rear; to prance; to become rampant;
hence, to frolic; to romp.
2. To move by leaps, or as by leaps; hence, to move swiftly or with
violence.
Their bridles they would champ, And trampling the fine element
would fiercely ramp.
Spenser.
3. To climb, as a plant; to creep up.
With claspers and tendrils, they [plants] catch hold, . . . and so
ramping upon trees, they mount up to a great height.
Ray.
Ramp, n. 1. A leap; a spring; a hostile advance.
The bold Ascalonite Fled from his lion ramp.
Milton.
2. A highwayman; a robber. [Prov. Eng.]
3. A romping woman; a prostitute. [Obs.] Lyly.
4. [F. rampe.] (Arch.) (a) Any sloping member, other than a purely
constructional one, such as a continuous parapet to a staircase. (b) A
short bend, slope, or curve, where a hand rail or cap changes its
direction.
5. [F. rampe.] (Fort.) An inclined plane serving as a communication
between different interior levels.
Ram*pa"cious (rm*p"shs), a. High-spirited; rampageous. [Slang] Dickens.
Ramp"age (rmp"j; 48), n. [See Ramp, v.] Violent or riotous behavior; a
state of excitement, passion, or debauchery; as, to be on the rampage.
[Prov. or Low] Dickens.
Ramp"age, v. i. To leap or prance about, as an animal; to be violent;
to rage. [Prov. or Low]
Ram*pa"geous (rm*p"js), a. Characterized by violence and passion;
unruly; rampant. [Prov. or Low]
In the primitive ages of a rampageous antiquity.
Galt.
Ram*pal"lian (-pl"yan), n. [Cf. ramp a prostitute, or rabble.] A mean
wretch. [Obs.] Shak.
Ramp"an*cy (rmp"an*s), n. The quality or state of being rampant;
excessive action or development; exuberance; extravagance. "They are
come to this height and rampancy of vice." South.
Ramp"ant (rmp"ant), a. [F., p. pr. of ramper to creep. See Ramp, v.] 1.
Ramping; leaping; springing; rearing upon the hind legs; hence, raging;
furious.
The fierce lion in his kind Which goeth rampant after his prey.
Gower.
[The] lion . . . rampant shakes his brinded mane.
Milton.
2. Ascending; climbing; rank in growth; exuberant.
The rampant stalk is of unusual altitude.
I. Taylor.
3. (Her.) Rising with fore paws in the air as if attacking; -- said of
a beast of prey, especially a lion. The right fore leg and right hind
leg should be raised higher than the left.
Rampant arch. (a) An arch which has one abutment higher than the other.
(b) Same as Rampant vault, below. -- Rampant gardant (Her.), rampant,
but with the face turned to the front. -- Rampant regardant, rampant,
but looking backward. -- Rampant vault (Arch.), a continuous wagon
vault, or cradle vault, whose two abutments are located on an inclined
plane, such as the vault supporting a stairway, or forming the ceiling
of a stairway.
Ramp"ant*ly, adv. In a rampant manner.
Ram"part (rm"pärt), n. [F. rempart, OF. rempar, fr. remparer to
fortify, se remparer to fence or intrench one's self; pref. re- re- +
pref. en- (L. in) + parer to defend, parry, prepare, L. parare to
prepare. See Pare.]
1. That which fortifies and defends from assault; that which secures
safety; a defense or bulwark.
2. (Fort.) A broad embankment of earth round a place, upon which the
parapet is raised. It forms the substratum of every permanent
fortification. Mahan.
Syn. -- Bulwark; fence; security; guard. -- Rampart, Bulwark. These
words were formerly interchanged; but in modern usage a distinction has
sprung up between them. The rampart of a fortified place is the
enceinte or entire main embankment or wall which surrounds it. The term
bulwark is now applied to peculiarly strong outworks which project for
the defense of the rampart, or main work. A single bastion is a
bulwark. In using these words figuratively, rampart is properly applied
to that which protects by walling out; bulwark to that which stands in
the forefront of danger, to meet and repel it. Hence, we speak of a
distinguished individual as the bulwark, not the rampart, of the state.
This distinction, however, is often disregarded.
Ram"part, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ramparted; p. pr. & vb. n. Ramparting.]
To surround or protect with, or as with, a rampart or ramparts.
Those grassy hills, those glittering dells, Proudly ramparted with
rocks.
Coleridge.
Rampart gun (Fort.), a cannon or large gun for use on a rampart and not
as a fieldpiece.
Rampe (rmp), n. [In allusion to its supposed aphrodisiac qualities. See
Ramp.] (Bot.) The cuckoopint.
Ram"pier (rm"pr), n. See Rampart. [Obs.]
Ram"pi*on (rm"p*n), n. [Cf. F. raiponce, Sp. ruiponce, reponche, L.
raperonzo, NL. rapuntium, fr. L. rapum, rapa, a turnip, rape. Cf. Rape
a plant.] (Bot.) A plant (Campanula Rapunculus) of the Bellflower
family, with a tuberous esculent root; -- also called ramps.
The name is sometimes given to plants of the genus Phyteuma, herbs of
the Bellflower family, and to the American evening primrose (Œnothera
biennis), which has run wild in some parts of Europe.
Ram"pire (-pr), n. A rampart. [Archaic]
The Trojans round the place a rampire cast.
Dryden.
Ram"pire, v. t. To fortify with a rampire; to form into a rampire.
[Archaic] Chapman. "Rampired walls of gold." R. Browning.
Ram"pler (rm"plr), n. A rambler.
Ram"pler, a. Roving; rambling. [Scot.]
Ram"rod` (-rd`), n. The rod used in ramming home the charge in a
muzzle-loading firearm.
Ram"shac*kle (-shk*k'l), a. [Etymol. uncertain.] Loose; disjointed;
falling to pieces; out of repair.
There came . . . my lord the cardinal, in his ramshackle coach.
Thackeray.
Ram"shac*kle, v. t. To search or ransack; to rummage. [Prov. Eng.]
Ram"son (-z'n), n. [AS. hramsan, pl., akin to G. rams, Sw. rams,
ramslök; cf. Gr. kro`myon onion.] (Bot.) A broad-leaved species of
garlic (Allium ursinum), common in European gardens; -- called also
buckram.
Ram"sted (-std), n. (Bot.) A yellow-flowered weed; -- so named from a
Mr. Ramsted who introduced it into Pennsylvania. See Toad flax. Called
also Ramsted weed.
Ram"u*lose` (-*ls`), a. [L. ramulosus, fr. ramulus, dim. of ramus a
branch.] (Nat. Hist.) Having many small branches, or ramuli.
Ram"u*lous (-ls), a. (Nat. Hist.) Ramulose.
||Ram"u*lus (-ls), n.; pl. Ramuli (-l). (Zoöl.) A small branch, or
||branchlet, of corals, hydroids, and similar organisms.
||Ra"mus (r"ms), n.; pl. Rami (-m). (Nat. Hist.) A branch; a projecting
||part or prominent process; a ramification.
Ra*mus"cule (r*ms"kl), n. [L. ramusculus.] (Nat. Hist.) A small ramus,
or branch.
Ran (rn), imp. of Run.
Ran, n. [AS. rn.] Open robbery. [Obs.] Lambarde.
Ran, n. (Naut.) Yarns coiled on a spun-yarn winch.
||Ra"na (r"n), n. [L., a frog.] (Zoöl.) A genus of anurous batrachians,
||including the common frogs.
Ra"nal (r"nal), a. (Bot.) Having a general affinity to ranunculaceous
plants.
Ranal alliance (Bot.), a name proposed by Lindley for a group of
natural orders, including Ranunculaceæ, Magnoliaceæ, Papaveraceæ, and
others related to them.
Rance (rns), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] 1. A prop or shore. [Scot.]
2. A round between the legs of a chair.
Ran*ces"cent (rn*ss"sent), a. [L. rancescens, p. pr. of rancescere, v.
incho. from rancere to be rancid.] Becoming rancid or sour.
Ranch (rnch), v. t. [Written also raunch.] [Cf. Wrench.] To wrench; to
tear; to sprain; to injure by violent straining or contortion. [R.]
Dryden. "Hasting to raunch the arrow out." Spenser.
Ranch, n. [See Rancho.] A tract of land used for grazing and the
rearing of horses, cattle, or sheep. See Rancho, 2. [Western U. S.]
||Ran*che"ro (rn*ch"r), n.; pl. Rancheros (- rz). [Sp.] [Mexico &
||Western U. S.] 1. A herdsman; a peasant employed on a ranch or
||rancho.
2. The owner and occupant of a ranch or rancho.
Ranch"man (rnch"man), n.; pl. Ranchmen (-men). An owner or occupant of,
or laborer on, a ranch; a herdsman. [Western U. S.]
||Ran"cho (rn"ch), n.; pl. Ranchos (-chz). [Sp., properly, a mess, mess
||room. Cf. 2d Ranch.] 1. A rude hut, as of posts, covered with
||branches or thatch, where herdsmen or farm laborers may live or lodge
||at night.
2. A large grazing farm where horses and cattle are raised; --
distinguished from hacienda, a cultivated farm or plantation. [Mexico &
California] Bartlett.
Ran"cid (rn"sd), a. [L. rancidus, fr. rancere to be rancid or rank.]
Having a rank smell or taste, from chemical change or decomposition;
musty; as, rancid oil or butter.
Ran*cid"i*ty (rn*sd"*t), n. [Cf. F. rancidité.] The quality or state of
being rancid; a rancid scent or flavor, as of old oil. Ure.
Ran"cid*ly (rn"sd*l), adv. In a rancid manner.
Ran"cid*ness, n. The quality of being rancid.
Ran"cor (r"kr), n. [Written also rancour.] [OE. rancour, OF. rancor,
rancur, F. rancune, fr. L. rancor rancidity, rankness; tropically, an
old grudge, rancor, fr. rancere to be rank or rancid.] The deepest
malignity or spite; deep-seated enmity or malice; inveterate hatred.
"To stint rancour and dissencioun." Chaucer.
It would not be easy to conceive the passion, rancor, and malice of
their tongues and hearts.
Burke.
Syn. -- Enmity; hatred; ill will; malice; spite; grudge; animosity;
malignity. -- Rancor, Enmity. Enmity and rancor both describe hostile
feelings; but enmity may be generous and open, while rancor implies
personal malice of the worst and most enduring nature, and is the
strongest word in our language to express hostile feelings.
Rancor will out; proud prelate, in thy face I see thy fury.
Shak.
Rancor is that degree of malice which preys upon the possessor.
Cogan.
Ran"cor*ous (-s), a. [OF. rancuros.] Full of rancor; evincing, or
caused by, rancor; deeply malignant; implacably spiteful or malicious;
intensely virulent.
So flamed his eyes with rage and rancorous ire.
Spenser.
Ran"cor*ous*ly, adv. In a rancorous manner.
Rand (rnd), n. [AS. rand, rond; akin to D., Dan., Sw., & G. rand, Icel.
rönd, and probably to E. rind.]
1. A border; edge; margin. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
2. A long, fleshy piece, as of beef, cut from the flank or leg; a sort
of steak. Beau. & Fl.
3. A thin inner sole for a shoe; also, a leveling slip of leather
applied to the sole before attaching the heel.
Rand, v. i. [See Rant.] To rant; to storm. [Obs.]
I wept, . . . and raved, and randed, and railed.
J. Webster.
Ran"dall grass` (rn"dal grs`). (Bot.) The meadow fescue (Festuca
elatior). See under Grass.
Ran"dan (-dn), n. The product of a second sifting of meal; the finest
part of the bran. [Prov. Eng.]
Ran"dan, n. A boat propelled by three rowers with four oars, the middle
rower pulling two.
Rand"ing (rnd"ng), n. 1. (Shoemaking) The act or process of making and
applying rands for shoes.
2. (Mil.) A kind of basket work used in gabions.
Ran"dom (rn"dm), n. [OE. randon, OF. randon force, violence, rapidity,
à randon, de randon, violently, suddenly, rapidly, prob. of German
origin; cf. G. rand edge, border, OHG. rant shield, edge of a shield,
akin to E. rand, n. See Rand, n.] 1. Force; violence. [Obs.]
For courageously the two kings newly fought with great random and
force.
E. Hall.
2. A roving motion; course without definite direction; want of
direction, rule, or method; hazard; chance; -- commonly used in the
phrase at random, that is, without a settled point of direction; at
hazard.
Counsels, when they fly At random, sometimes hit most happily.
Herrick.
O, many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark the archer little
meant!
Sir W. Scott.
3. Distance to which a missile is cast; range; reach; as, the random of
a rifle ball. Sir K. Digby.
4. (Mining) The direction of a rake- vein. Raymond.
Ran"dom, a. Going at random or by chance; done or made at hazard, or
without settled direction, aim, or purpose; hazarded without previous
calculation; left to chance; haphazard; as, a random guess.
Some random truths he can impart.
Wordsworth.
So sharp a spur to the lazy, and so strong a bridle to the random.
H. Spencer.
Random courses (Masonry), courses of stone of unequal thickness. --
Random shot, a shot not directed or aimed toward any particular object,
or a shot with the muzzle of the gun much elevated. -- Random work
(Masonry), stonework consisting of stones of unequal sizes fitted
together, but not in courses nor always with flat beds.
<! p. 1188 pr=vmg !>
Ran"dom*ly (rn"dm*l), adv. In a random manner.
Ran"don (-dn), n. Random. [Obs.] Spenser.
Ran"don, v. i. To go or stray at random. [Obs.]
Rane"deer` (rn"dr`), n. See Reindeer. [Obs.]
||Ra"nee (rä"n), n. Same as Rani.
Ran"force` (rn"frs`), n. [Cf. F. renforcer.] See Reënforce. [Obs.]
Bailey.
Rang (rng), imp. of Ring, v. t. & i.
Range (rnj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ranged (rnjd); p. pr. & vb. n. Ranging
(rn"jng).] [OE. rengen, OF. rengier, F. ranger, OF. renc row, rank, F.
rang; of German origin. See Rank, n.] 1. To set in a row, or in rows;
to place in a regular line or lines, or in ranks; to dispose in the
proper order; to rank; as, to range soldiers in line.
Maccabeus ranged his army by bands.
2 Macc. xii. 20.
2. To place (as a single individual) among others in a line, row, or
order, as in the ranks of an army; -- usually, reflexively and
figuratively, (in the sense) to espouse a cause, to join a party, etc.
It would be absurd in me to range myself on the side of the Duke of
Bedford and the corresponding society.
Burke.
3. To separate into parts; to sift. [Obs.] Holland.
4. To dispose in a classified or in systematic order; to arrange
regularly; as, to range plants and animals in genera and species.
5. To rove over or through; as, to range the fields.
Teach him to range the ditch, and force the brake.
Gay.
6. To sail or pass in a direction parallel to or near; as, to range the
coast.
Compare the last two senses (5 and 6) with the French ranger une côte.
7. (Biol.) To be native to, or to live in; to frequent.
Range, v. i. 1. To rove at large; to wander without restraint or
direction; to roam.
Like a ranging spaniel that barks at every bird he sees.
Burton.
2. To have range; to change or differ within limits; to be capable of
projecting, or to admit of being projected, especially as to horizontal
distance; as, the temperature ranged through seventy degrees
Fahrenheit; the gun ranges three miles; the shot ranged four miles.
3. To be placed in order; to be ranked; to admit of arrangement or
classification; to rank.
And range with humble livers in content.
Shak.
4. To have a certain direction; to correspond in direction; to be or
keep in a corresponding line; to trend or run; -- often followed by
with; as, the front of a house ranges with the street; to range along
the coast.
Which way the forests range.
Dryden.
5. (Biol.) To be native to, or live in, a certain district or region;
as, the peba ranges from Texas to Paraguay.
Syn. -- To rove; roam; ramble; wander; stroll.
Range, n. [From Range, v.: cf. F. rangée.] 1. A series of things in a
line; a row; a rank; as, a range of buildings; a range of mountains.
2. An aggregate of individuals in one rank or degree; an order; a
class.
The next range of beings above him are the immaterial
intelligences.
Sir M. Hale.
3. The step of a ladder; a rung. Clarendon.
4. A kitchen grate. [Obs.]
He was bid at his first coming to take off the range, and let down
the cinders.
L'Estrange.
5. An extended cooking apparatus of cast iron, set in brickwork, and
affording conveniences for various ways of cooking; also, a kind of
cooking stove.
6. A bolting sieve to sift meal. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
7. A wandering or roving; a going to and fro; an excursion; a ramble;
an expedition.
He may take a range all the world over.
South.
8. That which may be ranged over; place or room for excursion;
especially, a region of country in which cattle or sheep may wander and
pasture.
9. Extent or space taken in by anything excursive; compass or extent of
excursion; reach; scope; discursive power; as, the range of one's
voice, or authority.
Far as creation's ample range extends.
Pope.
The range and compass of Hammond's knowledge filled the whole
circle of the arts.
Bp. Fell.
A man has not enough range of thought.
Addison.
10. (Biol.) The region within which a plant or animal naturally lives.
11. (Gun.) (a) The horizontal distance to which a shot or other
projectile is carried. (b) Sometimes, less properly, the trajectory of
a shot or projectile. (c) A place where shooting, as with cannons or
rifles, is practiced.
12. In the public land system of the United States, a row or line of
townships lying between two successive meridian lines six miles apart.
The meridians included in each great survey are numbered in order east
and west from the "principal meridian" of that survey, and the
townships in the range are numbered north and south from the "base
line," which runs east and west; as, township No. 6, N., range 7, W.,
from the fifth principal meridian.
13. (Naut.) See Range of cable, below.
Range of accommodation (Optics), the distance between the near point
and the far point of distinct vision, -- usually measured and
designated by the strength of the lens which if added to the refracting
media of the eye would cause the rays from the near point to appear as
if they came from the far point. -- Range finder (Gunnery), an
instrument, or apparatus, variously constructed, for ascertaining the
distance of an inaccessible object, -- used to determine what elevation
must be given to a gun in order to hit the object; a position finder.
-- Range of cable (Naut.), a certain length of slack cable ranged along
the deck preparatory to letting go the anchor. -- Range work (Masonry),
masonry of squared stones laid in courses each of which is of even
height throughout the length of the wall; -- distinguished from broken
range work, which consists of squared stones laid in courses not
continuously of even height. -- To get the range of (an object) (Gun.),
to find the angle at which the piece must be raised to reach (the
object) without carrying beyond.
Range"ment (rnj"ment), n. [Cf. F. rangement.] Arrangement. [Obs.]
Waterland.
Ran"ger (rn"jr), n. 1. One who ranges; a rover; sometimes, one who
ranges for plunder; a roving robber.
2. That which separates or arranges; specifically, a sieve. [Obs.] "The
tamis ranger." Holland.
3. A dog that beats the ground in search of game.
4. One of a body of mounted troops, formerly armed with short muskets,
who range over the country, and often fight on foot.
5. The keeper of a public park or forest; formerly, a sworn officer of
a forest, appointed by the king's letters patent, whose business was to
walk through the forest, recover beasts that had strayed beyond its
limits, watch the deer, present trespasses to the next court held for
the forest, etc. [Eng.]
Ran"ger*ship, n. The office of the keeper of a forest or park. [Eng.]
Ran"gle (rn"g'l), v. i. To range about in an irregular manner. [Obs. or
Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.
||Ra"ni (rä"n), n. [Hind. rn, Skr. rjn. See Rajah.] A queen or
||princess; the wife of a rajah. [Written also ranee.] [India]
Ra"nine (r"nn), a. [L. rana a frog.] 1. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the
frogs and toads.
2. (Anat.) Pertaining to, or designating, a swelling under the tongue;
also, pertaining to the region where the swelling occurs; -- applied
especially to branches of the lingual artery and lingual vein.
Rank (rk), a. [Compar. Ranker (-r); superl. Rankest.] [AS. ranc strong,
proud; cf. D. rank slender, Dan. rank upright, erect, Prov. G. rank
slender, Icel. rakkr slender, bold. The meaning seems to have been
influenced by L. rancidus, E. rancid.] 1. Luxuriant in growth; of
vigorous growth; exuberant; grown to immoderate height; as, rank grass;
rank weeds.
And, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and
good.
Gen. xli. 5.
2. Raised to a high degree; violent; extreme; gross; utter; as, rank
heresy. "Rank nonsense." Hare. "I do forgive thy rankest fault." Shak.
3. Causing vigorous growth; producing luxuriantly; very rich and
fertile; as, rank land. Mortimer.
4. Strong-scented; rancid; musty; as, oil of a rank smell;
rank-smelling rue. Spenser.
5. Strong to the taste. "Divers sea fowls taste rank of the fish on
which they feed." Boyle.
6. Inflamed with venereal appetite. [Obs.] Shak.
Rank modus (Law), an excessive and unreasonable modus. See Modus, 3. --
To set (the iron of a plane, etc.) rank, to set so as to take off a
thick shaving. Moxon.
Rank, adv. Rankly; stoutly; violently. [Obs.]
That rides so rank and bends his lance so fell.
Fairfax.
Rank, n. [OE. renk, reng, OF. renc, F. rang, fr. OHG. hring a circle, a
circular row, G. ring. See Ring, and cf. Range, n. & v.] 1. A row or
line; a range; an order; a tier; as, a rank of osiers.
Many a mountain nigh Rising in lofty ranks, and loftier still.
Byron.
2. (Mil.) A line of soldiers ranged side by side; -- opposed to file.
See 1st File, 1 (a).
Fierce, fiery warriors fought upon the clouds, In ranks and
squadrons and right form of war.
Shak.
3. Grade of official standing, as in the army, navy, or nobility; as,
the rank of general; the rank of admiral.
4. An aggregate of individuals classed together; a permanent social
class; an order; a division; as, ranks and orders of men; the highest
and the lowest ranks of men, or of other intelligent beings.
5. Degree of dignity, eminence, or excellence; position in civil or
social life; station; degree; grade; as, a writer of the first rank; a
lawyer of high rank.
These all are virtues of a meaner rank.
Addison.
6. Elevated grade or standing; high degree; high social position;
distinction; eminence; as, a man of rank.
Rank and file. (a) (Mil.) The whole body of common soldiers, including
also corporals. In a more extended sense, it includes sergeants also,
excepting the noncommissioned staff. (b) See under 1st File. -- The
ranks, the order or grade of common soldiers; as, to reduce a
noncommissioned officer to the ranks. -- To fill the ranks, to supply
the whole number, or a competent number. -- To take rank of, to have
precedence over, or to have the right of taking a higher place than.
Rank, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ranked (rkt); p. pr. & vb. n. Ranking.] 1. To
place abreast, or in a line.
2. To range in a particular class, order, or division; to class; also,
to dispose methodically; to place in suitable classes or order; to
classify.
Ranking all things under general and special heads.
I. Watts.
Poets were ranked in the class of philosophers.
Broome.
Heresy is ranked with idolatry and witchcraft.
Dr. H. More.
3. To take rank of; to outrank. [U.S.]
Rank, v. i. 1. To be ranged; to be set or disposed, as in a particular
degree, class, order, or division.
Let that one article rank with the rest.
Shak.
2. To have a certain grade or degree of elevation in the orders of
civil or military life; to have a certain degree of esteem or
consideration; as, he ranks with the first class of poets; he ranks
high in public estimation.
Rank"er (-r), n. One who ranks, or disposes in ranks; one who arranges.
Ran"kle (r"k'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rankled (-k'ld); p. pr. & vb. n.
Rankling (-klng).] [From Rank, a.] 1. To become, or be, rank; to grow
rank or strong; to be inflamed; to fester; -- used literally and
figuratively.
A malady that burns and rankles inward.
Rowe.
This would have left a rankling wound in the hearts of the people.
Burke.
2. To produce a festering or inflamed effect; to cause a sore; -- used
literally and figuratively; as, a splinter rankles in the flesh; the
words rankled in his bosom.
Ran"kle (r"k'l), v. t. To cause to fester; to make sore; to inflame.
[R.] Beau. & Fl.
Rank"ly (rk"l), adv. With rank or vigorous growth; luxuriantly; hence,
coarsely; grossly; as, weeds grow rankly.
Rank"ness, n. [AS. rancness pride.] The condition or quality of being
rank.
Ran"nel (rn"nl), n. A prostitute. [Obs.]
Ran"ny (-n), n. [L. araneus mus, a kind of small mouse.] (Zoöl.) The
erd shrew. [Scot.]
Ran"sack (-sk), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ransacked (-skt); p. pr. & vb. n.
Ransacking.] [OE. ransaken, Icel. rannsaka to explore, examine; rann a
house (akin to Goth. razn house, AS. ræsn plank, beam) + the root of
sækja to seek, akin to E. seek. See Seek, and cf. Rest repose.] 1. To
search thoroughly; to search every place or part of; as, to ransack a
house.
To ransack every corner of their . . . hearts.
South.
2. To plunder; to pillage completely.
Their vow is made To ransack Troy.
Shak.
3. To violate; to ravish; to defiour. [Obs.]
Rich spoil of ransacked chastity.
Spenser.
Ran"sack, v. i. To make a thorough search.
To ransack in the tas [heap] of bodies dead.
Chaucer.
Ran"sack, n. The act of ransacking, or state of being ransacked;
pillage. [R.]
Even your father's house Shall not be free from ransack.
J. Webster.
Ran"som (rn"sm), n. [OE. raunson, raunsoun, OF. rançon, raençon,
raançon, F. rançon, fr. L. redemptio, fr. redimere to redeem. See
Redeem, and cf. Redemption.] 1. The release of a captive, or of
captured property, by payment of a consideration; redemption; as,
prisoners hopeless of ransom. Dryden.
2. The money or price paid for the redemption of a prisoner, or for
goods captured by an enemy; payment for freedom from restraint,
penalty, or forfeit.
Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems.
Milton.
His captivity in Austria, and the heavy ransom he paid for his
liberty.
Sir J. Davies.
3. (O. Eng. Law) A sum paid for the pardon of some great offense and
the discharge of the offender; also, a fine paid in lieu of corporal
punishment. Blackstone.
Ransom bill (Law), a war contract, valid by the law of nations, for the
ransom of property captured at sea and its safe conduct into port.
Kent.
Ran"som, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ransomed (-smd); p. pr. & vb. n.
Ransoming.] [Cf. F. rançonner. See Ransom, n.] 1. To redeem from
captivity, servitude, punishment, or forfeit, by paying a price; to buy
out of servitude or penalty; to rescue; to deliver; as, to ransom
prisoners from an enemy.
2. To exact a ransom for, or a payment on. [R.]
Such lands as he had rule of he ransomed them so grievously, and
would tax the men two or three times in a year.
Berners.
Ran"som*a*ble (-*b'l), a. Such as can be ransomed.
Ran"som*er (-r), n. One who ransoms or redeems.
Ran"som*less, a. Incapable of being ransomed; without ransom. Shak.
Rant (rnt), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ranted; p. pr. & vb. n. Ranting.] [OD.
ranten, randen, to dote, to be enraged.] To rave in violent,
high-sounding, or extravagant language, without dignity of thought; to
be noisy, boisterous, and bombastic in talk or declamation; as, a
ranting preacher.
Look where my ranting host of the Garter comes!
Shak.
Rant, n. High-sounding language, without importance or dignity of
thought; boisterous, empty declamation; bombast; as, the rant of
fanatics.
This is a stoical rant, without any foundation in the nature of man
or reason of things.
Atterbury.
Rant"er (-r), n. 1. A noisy talker; a raving declaimer.
2. (Eccl. Hist.) (a) One of a religious sect which sprung up in 1645;
-- called also Seekers. See Seeker. (b) One of the Primitive
Methodists, who seceded from the Wesleyan Methodists on the ground of
their deficiency in fervor and zeal; -- so called in contempt.
Rant"er*ism (-z'm), n. (Eccl. Hist.) The practice or tenets of the
Ranters.
Rant"ing*ly, adv. In a ranting manner.
Rant"i*pole (-*pl), n. [Ranty + pole, poll, head.] A wild, romping
young person. [Low] Marryat.
Rant"i*pole, a. Wild; roving; rakish. [Low]
Rant"i*pole, v. i. To act like a rantipole. [Low]
She used to rantipole about the house.
Arbuthnot.
Rant"ism (-z'm), n. (Eccl. Hist.) Ranterism.
Rant"y (-), a. Wild; noisy; boisterous.
||Ran"u*la (rn"*l), n. [L., a little frog, a little swelling on the
||tongue of cattle, dim. of rana a frog.] (Med.) A cyst formed under
||the tongue by obstruction of the duct of the submaxillary gland.
Ra*nun`cu*la"ceous (r*n`k*l"shs), a. [See Ranunculus.] (Bot.) Of or
pertaining to a natural order of plants (Ranunculaceæ), of which the
buttercup is the type, and which includes also the virgin's bower, the
monkshood, larkspur, anemone, meadow rue, and peony.
Ra*nun"cu*lus (r*n"k*ls), n.; pl. E. Ranunculuses (- z), L. Ranunculi
(-l). [L., a little frog, a medicinal plant, perhaps crowfoot, dim. of
rana a frog; cf. raccare to roar.] (Bot.) A genus of herbs, mostly with
yellow flowers, including crowfoot, buttercups, and the cultivated
ranunculi (R. Asiaticus, R. aconitifolius, etc.) in which the flowers
are double and of various colors.
<! p. 1189 pr=vmg !>
||Ranz" des` vaches" (räNs" d` vsh"). [F., the ranks or rows of cows,
||the name being given from the fact that the cattle, when answering
||the musical call of their keeper, move towards him in a row, preceded
||by those wearing bells.] The name for numerous simple, but very
||irregular, melodies of the Swiss mountaineers, blown on a long tube
||called the Alpine horn, and sometimes sung.
Rap (rp), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] A lay or skein containing 120 yards
of yarn. Knight.
Rap, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rapped (rpt); p. pr. & vb. n. Rapping.] [Akin
to Sw. rappa to strike, rapp stroke, Dan. rap, perhaps of imitative
origin.] To strike with a quick, sharp blow; to knock; as, to rap on
the door.
Rap, v. t. 1. To strike with a quick blow; to knock on.
With one great peal they rap the door.
Prior.
2. (Founding) To free (a pattern) in a mold by light blows on the
pattern, so as to facilitate its removal.
Rap, n. A quick, smart blow; a knock.
Rap, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rapped (rpt), usually written Rapt; p. pr. &
vb. n. Rapping.] [OE. rapen; akin to LG. & D. rapen to snatch, G.
raffen, Sw. rappa; cf. Dan. rappe sig to make haste, and Icel. hrapa to
fall, to rush, hurry. The word has been confused with L. rapere to
seize. Cf. Rape robbery, Rapture, Raff, v., Ramp, v.] 1. To snatch
away; to seize and hurry off.
And through the Greeks and Ilians they rapt The whirring chariot.
Chapman.
From Oxford I was rapt by my nephew, Sir Edmund Bacon, to Redgrove.
Sir H. Wotton.
2. To hasten. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.
3. To seize and bear away, as the mind or thoughts; to transport out of
one's self; to affect with ecstasy or rapture; as, rapt into
admiration.
I 'm rapt with joy to see my Marcia's tears.
Addison.
Rapt into future times, the bard begun.
Pope.
4. To exchange; to truck. [Obs. & Low]
To rap and ren, To rap and rend. [Perhaps fr. Icel. hrapa to hurry and
ræna plunder, fr. rn plunder, E. ran.] To seize and plunder; to snatch
by violence. Dryden. "[Ye] waste all that ye may rape and renne."
Chaucer.
All they could rap and rend and pilfer.
Hudibras.
-- To rap out, to utter with sudden violence, as an oath.
A judge who rapped out a great oath.
Addison.
Rap, n. [Perhaps contr. fr. raparee.] A popular name for any of the
tokens that passed current for a half-penny in Ireland in the early
part of the eighteenth century; any coin of trifling value.
Many counterfeits passed about under the name of raps.
Swift.
Tie it [her money] up so tight that you can't touch a rap, save
with her consent.
Mrs. Alexander.
Not to care a rap, to care nothing. -- Not worth a rap, worth nothing.
||Ra*pa"ces (r*p"sz), n. pl. [NL. See Rapacious.] (Zoöl.) Same as
||Accipitres.
Ra*pa"cious (-shs), 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 quite from Death's rapacious claim
Milton.
Syn. -- Greedy; grasping; ravenous; voracious.
-- Ra*pa"cious*ly, adv. -- Ra*pa"cious*ness, n.
Ra*pac"i*ty (r*ps"*t), n. [L. rapacitas: cf. F. rapacité. See
Rapacious.] 1. The quality of being rapacious; rapaciousness;
ravenousness; as, the rapacity of pirates; the rapacity of wolves.
2. The act or practice of extorting or exacting by oppressive
injustice; exorbitant greediness of gain. "The rapacity of some ages."
Sprat.
Rap`a*ree" (rp`*r"), n. See Rapparee.
Rape (rp), n. [F. râpe a grape stalk.] 1. Fruit, as grapes, plucked
from the cluster. Ray.
2. The refuse stems and skins of grapes or raisins from which the must
has been expressed in wine making.
3. A filter containing the above refuse, used in clarifying and
perfecting malt, vinegar, etc.
Rape wine, a poor, thin wine made from the last dregs of pressed
grapes.
Rape, n. [Akin to rap to snatch, but confused with L. rapere. See Rap
to snatch.] 1. The act of seizing and carrying away by force; violent
seizure; robbery.
And ruined orphans of thy rapes complain.
Sandys.
2. (Law) Sexual connection with a woman without her consent. See Age of
consent, under Consent, n.
3. That which is snatched away. [Obs.]
Where now are all my hopes? O, never more Shall they revive! nor
death her rapes restore.
Sandys.
4. Movement, as in snatching; haste; hurry. [Obs.]
Rape, v. t. To commit rape upon; to ravish.
To rape and ren. See under Rap, v. t., to snatch.
Rape, v. i. To rob; to pillage. [Obs.] Heywood.
Rape, n. [Icel. hreppr village, district; cf. Icel. hreppa to catch,
obtain, AS. hrepian, hreppan, to touch.] One of six divisions of the
county of Sussex, England, intermediate between a hundred and a shire.
Rape, n. [L. rapa, rapum, akin to Gr. "ra`pys, "ra`fys, G. rübe.]
(Bot.) A name given to a variety or to varieties of a plant of the
turnip kind, grown for seeds and herbage. The seeds are used for the
production of rape oil, and to a limited extent for the food of cage
birds.
These plants, with the edible turnip, have been variously named, but
are all now believed to be derived from the Brassica campestris of
Europe, which by some is not considered distinct from the wild stock
(B. oleracea) of the cabbage. See Cole.
Broom rape. (Bot.) See Broom rape, in the Vocabulary. -- Rape cake, the
refuse remaining after the oil has been expressed from the rape seed.
-- Rape root. Same as Rape. -- Summer rape. (Bot.) See Colza.
Rape"ful (rp"fl), a. 1. Violent. [Obs.]
2. Given to the commission of rape. Byron.
Rap"ful*ly (rp"fl*l), adv. Violently. [Obs.]
Raph`a*el*esque" (rf`*l*sk"), a. Like Raphael's works; in Raphael's
manner of painting.
Raph"a*el*ism (rf"*l*z'm), n. The principles of painting introduced by
Raphael, the Italian painter.
Raph"a*el*ite (-t), n. One who advocates or adopts the principles of
Raphaelism.
Raph"a*ny (rf"*n), n. [Cf. F. raphanie.] (Med.) A convulsive disease,
attended with ravenous hunger, not uncommon in Sweden and Germany. It
was so called because supposed to be caused by eating corn with which
seeds of jointed charlock (Raphanus raphanistrum) had been mixed, but
the condition is now known to be a form of ergotism.
Ra"phe (r"f), n. [NL., fr. Gr. "rafh` a seam or suture, fr. "ra`ptein
to sew or stitch together.] 1. (Anat.) A line, ridge, furrow, or band
of fibers, especially in the median line; as, the raphe of the tongue.
2. (Bot.) Same as Rhaphe.
||Raph"i*des (rf"*dz), n. pl. [F. raphide.] (Bot.) See Rhaphides.
Rap"id (rp"d), a. [L. rapidus, fr. rapere to seize and carry off, to
snatch or hurry away; perhaps akin to Gr. 'arpa`zein: cf. F. rapide.
Cf. Harpy, Ravish.]
1. Very swift or quick; moving with celerity; fast; as, a rapid stream;
a rapid flight; a rapid motion.
Ascend my chariot; guide the rapid wheels.
Milton.
2. Advancing with haste or speed; speedy in progression; in quick
sequence; as, rapid growth; rapid improvement; rapid recurrence; rapid
succession.
3. Quick in execution; as, a rapid penman.
Rap"id, n. [Cf. F. rapide. See Rapid, a.] The part of a river where the
current moves with great swiftness, but without actual waterfall or
cascade; -- usually in the plural; as, the Lachine rapids in the St.
Lawrence.
Row, brothers, row, the stream runs fast, The rapids are near, and
the daylight's past.
Moore.
Ra*pid"i*ty (r*pd"*t), n. [L. rapiditas: cf. F. rapidité.] The quality
or state of being rapid; swiftness; celerity; velocity; as, the
rapidity of a current; rapidity of speech; rapidity of growth or
improvement.
Syn. -- Rapidness; haste; speed; celerity; velocity; swiftness;
fleetness; quickness; agility.
Rap"id*ly (rp"d*l), adv. In a rapid manner.
Rap"id*ness, n. Quality of being rapid; rapidity.
Ra"pi*er (r"p*r), n. [F. rapière, perhaps for raspière, and ultimately
of German origin, akin to E. rasp, v.] A straight sword, with a narrow
and finely pointed blade, used only for thrusting.
Rapier fish (Zoöl.), the swordfish. [Obs.] Grew.
Ra"pi*ered (-rd), a. Wearing a rapier. "Scarletcoated, rapiered
figures." Lowell.
||Ra*pil"li (r*pl"l), n. pl. [It.] (Min.) Lapilli.
Rap"ine (rp"n), n. [F. rapine; cf. Pr. & It. rapina; all fr. L. rapina,
fr. rapere to seize and carry off by force. See Rapid, and cf. Raven
rapine.] 1. The act of plundering; the seizing and carrying away of
things by force; spoliation; pillage; plunder.
Men who were impelled to war quite as much by the desire of rapine
as by the desire of glory.
Macaulay.
2. Ravishment; rape. [Obs.] Shak.
Rap"ine, v. t. To plunder. Sir G. Buck.
Rap"i*nous (rp"*ns), a. Given to rapine. [Obs.]
Rap"page (-pj; 48), n. (Founding) The enlargement of a mold caused by
rapping the pattern.
Rap`pa*ree" (-p*r"), n. A wild Irish plunderer, esp. one of the 17th
century; -- so called from his carrying a half-pike, called a rapary.
[Written also raparee.]
Rapped (rpt), imp. & p. p. of Rap, to strike.
Rapped, imp. & p. p. of Rap, to snatch away.
Rap*pee" (rp*p"), n. [F. râpé, fr. râper to grate, to rasp. See Rasp,
v.] A pungent kind of snuff made from the darker and ranker kinds of
tobacco leaves.
Rap"pel (rp"pl or rp*pl"), n. [F. Cf. Repeal.] (Mil.) The beat of the
drum to call soldiers to arms.
Rap"per (rp"pr), n. [From Rap.] 1. One who, or that which, raps or
knocks; specifically, the knocker of a door. Sterne.
2. A forcible oath or lie. [Slang] Bp. Parker.
Rap*port" (rp*prt"; F. r`pôr"), n. [F., fr. rapporter to bring again or
back, to refer; pref. re- re- + apporter to bring, L. apportare. Cf.
Report.] Relation; proportion; conformity; correspondence; accord.
'T is obvious what rapport there is between the conceptions and
languages in every country.
Sir W. Temple.
||En` rap`port" (äN` r`pôr") [F.], in accord, harmony, or sympathy;
||having a mutual, especially a private, understanding; in mesmerism,
||in that relation of sympathy which permits influence or
||communication.
Rap*scal"lion (rp*skl"yn), n. [See Rascallion.] A rascal; a good-
for-nothing fellow. [Colloq.] Howitt.
Rapt (rpt), imp. & p. p. of Rap, to snatch away.
Rapt, a. 1. Snatched away; hurried away or along.
Waters rapt with whirling away.
Spenser.
2. Transported with love, admiration, delight, etc.; enraptured. "The
rapt musician." Longfellow.
3. Wholly absorbed or engrossed, as in work or meditation. "Rapt in
secret studies." Shak.
Rapt, n. [From F. rapt abduction, rape, L. raptus, fr. rapere to seize
and carry off, to transport; or fr. E. rapt, a. See Rapt, a., and
Rapid.] 1. An ecstasy; a trance. [Obs.] Bp. Morton.
2. Rapidity. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
Rapt, v. t. 1. To transport or ravish. [Obs.] Drayton.
2. To carry away by force. [Obs.] Daniel.
Rap"ter (rp"tr), n. A raptor. [Obs.] Drayton.
Rap"tor (rp"tr), n. [L. raptor, from rapere to ravish. See Rapid.] A
ravisher; a plunderer. [Obs.]
||Rap*to"res (rp*t"rz), n. pl. [NL. See Raptor.] (Zoöl.) Same as
||Accipitres. Called also Raptatores.
Rap*to"ri*al (-r*al), a. (Zoöl.) (a) Rapacious; living upon prey; --
said especially of certain birds. (b) Adapted for seizing prey; -- said
of the legs, claws, etc., of insects, birds, and other animals. (c) Of
or pertaining to the Raptores. See Illust. (f) of Aves.
Rap*to"ri*ous (-s), a. [L. raptorius.] (Zoöl.) Raptorial.
Rap"ture (rp"tr; 135), n. [L. rapere, raptum, to carry off by force.
See Rapid.] 1. A seizing by violence; a hurrying along; rapidity with
violence. [Obs.]
That 'gainst a rock, or flat, her keel did dash With headlong
rapture.
Chapman.
2. The state or condition of being rapt, or carried away from one's
self by agreeable excitement; violence of a pleasing passion; extreme
joy or pleasure; ecstasy.
Music, when thus applied, raises in the mind of the hearer great
conceptions; it strengthens devotion, and advances praise into
rapture.
Addison.
You grow correct that once with rapture writ.
Pope.
3. A spasm; a fit; a syncope; delirium. [Obs.] Shak.
Syn. -- Bliss; ecstasy; transport; delight; exultation.
Rap"ture, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raptured (-trd; 135); p. pr. & vb. n.
Rapturing.] To transport with excitement; to enrapture. [Poetic]
Thomson.
Rap"tur*ist, n. An enthusiast. [Obs.] J. Spencer.
Rap"tur*ize (-z), v. t. & i. To put, or be put, in a state of rapture.
[R.]
Rap"tur*ous (-s), a. Ecstatic; transporting; ravishing; feeling,
expressing, or manifesting rapture; as, rapturous joy, pleasure, or
delight; rapturous applause.
Rap"tur*ous*ly, adv. In a rapturous manner.
Rare (râr), a. [Cf. Rather, Rath.] Early. [Obs.]
Rude mechanicals that rare and late Work in the market place.
Chapman.
Rare, a. [Compar. Rarer (râr"r); superl. Rarest.] [Cf. AS. hrr, or E.
rare early. √18.] Nearly raw; partially cooked; not thoroughly
cooked; underdone; as, rare beef or mutton.
New-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care Turned by a gentle fire, and
roasted rare.
Dryden.
This word is in common use in the United States, but in England its
synonym underdone is preferred.
Rare, a. [Compar. Rarer (râr"r); superl. Rarest.] [F., fr. L. rarus
thin, rare.] 1. Not frequent; seldom met with or occurring; unusual;
as, a rare event.
2. Of an uncommon nature; unusually excellent; valuable to a degree
seldom found.
Rare work, all filled with terror and delight.
Cowley.
Above the rest I judge one beauty rare.
Dryden.
3. Thinly scattered; dispersed.
Those rare and solitary, these in flocks.
Milton.
4. Characterized by wide separation of parts; of loose texture; not
thick or dense; thin; as, a rare atmosphere at high elevations.
Water is nineteen times lighter, and by consequence nineteen times
rarer, than gold.
Sir I. Newton.
Syn. -- Scarce; infrequent; unusual; uncommon; singular; extraordinary;
incomparable. -- Rare, Scarce. We call a thing rare when but few
examples, specimens, or instances of it are ever to be met with; as, a
rare plant. We speak of a thing as scarce, which, though usually
abundant, is for the time being to be had only in diminished
quantities; as, a bad harvest makes corn scarce.
A perfect union of wit and judgment is one of the rarest things in
the world.
Burke.
When any particular piece of money grew very scarce, it was often
recoined by a succeeding emperor.
Addison.
Rare"bit (râr"bt), n. A dainty morsel; a Welsh rabbit. See Welsh
rabbit, under Rabbit.
Rar"ee-show` (râr"-sh`), n. [Contr. fr. rarity-show.] A show carried
about in a box; a peep show. Pope.
Rar`e*fac"tion (rr`*fk"shn), n. [Cf. F. raréfaction. See Rarefy.] The
act or process of rarefying; the state of being rarefied; -- opposed to
condensation; as, the rarefaction of air.
Rar"e*fi`a*ble (rr"*f`*b'l), a. [Cf. F. raréfiable.] Capable of being
rarefied. Boyle.
Rar"e*fy (rr"*f; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rarefied (- fd); p. pr. &
vb. n. Rarefying (- f`ng).] [F. raréfier; L. rarus rare + -ficare (in
comp.) to make; cf. L. rarefacere. See -fy.] To make rare, thin,
porous, or less dense; to expand or enlarge without adding any new
portion of matter to; -- opposed to condense.
Rar"e*fy, v. i. To become less dense; to become thin and porous. "Earth
rarefies to dew." Dryden.
Rare"ly (râr"l), adv. 1. In a rare manner or degree; seldom; not often;
as, things rarely seen.
2. Finely; excellently; with rare skill. See 3d Rare, 2.
The person who played so rarely on the flageolet.
Sir W. Scott.
The rest of the apartments are rarely gilded.
Evelyn.
Rare"ness, n. The state or quality of being rare.
And let the rareness the small gift commend.
Dryden.
Rare"ripe` (-rp`), a. [Rare early + ripe. Cf. Rathripe.] Early ripe;
ripe before others, or before the usual season.
Rare"ripe`, n. An early ripening fruit, especially a kind of freestone
peach.
Rar`i*fi*ca"tion (rr`*f*k"shn), n. See Rarefaction. [R.] Am. Chem.
Journal.
Rar"i*ty (rr"*t; 277), n.; pl. Rarities (- tz). [L. raritas: cf. F.
rareté. See Rare.] 1. The quality or state of being rare; rareness;
thinness; as, the rarity (contrasted with the density) of gases.
<! p. 1190 pr=vmg !>
2. That which is rare; an uncommon thing; a thing valued for its
scarcity.
I saw three rarities of different kinds, which pleased me more than
any other shows in the place.
Addison.
Ras (räs), n. See 2d Reis.
||Ra`sante" (r`zäNt"), a. [F., p. pr. of raser to graze.] (Fort.)
||Sweeping; grazing; -- applied to a style of fortification in which
||the command of the works over each other, and over the country, is
||kept very low, in order that the shot may more effectually sweep or
||graze the ground before them. H. L. Scott.
Ras"cal (rs"kal), n. [OE. rascaille rabble, probably from an OF.
racaille, F. racaille the rabble, rubbish, probably akin to F. racler
to scrape, (assumed) LL. rasiculare, rasicare, fr. L. radere, rasum.
See Rase, v.]
1. One of the rabble; a low, common sort of person or creature;
collectively, the rabble; the common herd; also, a lean,
ill-conditioned beast, esp. a deer. [Obs.]
He smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the
rascal.
Wyclif (1 Kings [1 Samuel] vi. 19).
Poor men alone? No, no; the noblest deer hath them [horns] as huge
as the rascal.
Shak.
2. A mean, trickish fellow; a base, dishonest person; a rogue; a
scoundrel; a trickster.
For I have sense to serve my turn in store, And he's a rascal who
pretends to more.
Dryden.
Ras"cal, a. Of or pertaining to the common herd or common people; low;
mean; base. "The rascal many." Spenser. "The rascal people." Shak.
While she called me rascal fiddler.
Shak.
Ras"cal*dom (-dm), n. State of being a rascal; rascality; domain of
rascals; rascals, collectively. Emerson.
Ras"cal*ess, n. A female rascal. [Humorous]
Ras*cal"i*ty (rs*kl"*t), n.; pl. Rascalities (- tz).
1. The quality or state of being rascally, or a rascal; mean
trickishness or dishonesty; base fraud.
2. The poorer and lower classes of people. [Obs.]
The chief heads of their clans with their several rascalities.
T. Jackson.
Ras*cal"lion (rs*kl"yn), n. [From Rascal.] A low, mean wretch. [Written
also rascalion.]
Ras"cal*ly (rs"kal*l), a. Like a rascal; trickish or dishonest; base;
worthless; -- often in humorous disparagement, without implication of
dishonesty.
Our rascally porter is fallen fast asleep.
Swift.
Rase (rz), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rased (rzd); p. pr. & vb. n. Rasing.]
[F. raser, LL. rasare to scrape often, v. freq. fr. L. radere, rasum,
to scrape, shave; cf. Skr. rad to scratch, gnaw, L. rodere to gnaw. Cf.
Raze, Razee, Razor, Rodent.] 1. To rub along the surface of; to graze.
[Obsoles.]
Was he not in the . . . neighborhood to death? and might not the
bullet which rased his cheek have gone into his head?
South.
Sometimes his feet rased the surface of the water, and at others
the skylight almost flattened his nose.
Beckford.
2. To rub or scratch out; to erase. [Obsoles.]
Except we rase the faculty of memory, root and branch, out of our
mind.
Fuller.
3. To level with the ground; to overthrow; to destroy; to raze. [In
this sense raze is generally used.]
Till Troy were by their brave hands rased, They would not turn
home.
Chapman.
This word, rase, may be considered as nearly obsolete; graze, erase,
and raze, having superseded it.
Rasing iron, a tool for removing old oakum and pitch from the seams of
a vessel.
Syn. -- To erase; efface; obliterate; expunge; cancel; level;
prostrate; overthrow; subvert; destroy; demolish; ruin.
Rase, v. i. To be leveled with the ground; to fall; to suffer
overthrow. [Obs.]
Rase, n. 1. A scratching out, or erasure. [Obs.]
2. A slight wound; a scratch. [Obs.] Hooker.
3. (O. Eng. Law) A way of measuring in which the commodity measured was
made even with the top of the measuring vessel by rasing, or striking
off, all that was above it. Burrill.
Rash (rsh), v. t. [For arace.] 1. To pull off or pluck violently.
[Obs.]
2. To slash; to hack; to cut; to slice. [Obs.]
Rashing off helms and riving plates asunder.
Spenser.
Rash, n. [OF. rasche an eruption, scurf, F. rache; fr. (assumed) LL.
rasicare to scratch, fr. L. radere, rasum, to scrape, scratch, shave.
See Rase, and cf. Rascal.] (Med.) A fine eruption or efflorescence on
the body, with little or no elevation.
Canker rash. See in the Vocabulary. -- Nettle rash. See Urticaria. --
Rose rash. See Roseola. -- Tooth rash. See Red-gum.
Rash, n. [Cf. F. ras short-nap cloth, It. & Sp. raso satin (cf. Rase);
or cf. It. rascia serge, G. rasch, probably fr. Arras in France (cf.
Arras).] An inferior kind of silk, or mixture of silk and worsted.
[Obs.] Donne.
Rash, a. [Compar. Rasher (-r); superl. Rashest.] [Probably of Scand.
origin; cf. Dan. & Sw. rask quick, brisk, rash, Icel. röskr vigorous,
brave, akin to D. & G. rasch quick, of uncertain origin.] 1. Sudden in
action; quick; hasty. [Obs.] "Strong as aconitum or rash gunpowder."
Shak.
2. Requiring sudden action; pressing; urgent. [Obs.]
I scarce have leisure to salute you, My matter is so rash.
Shak.
3. Esp., overhasty in counsel or action; precipitate; resolving or
entering on a project or measure without due deliberation and caution;
opposed to prudent; said of persons; as, a rash statesman or commander.
4. Uttered or undertaken with too much haste or too little reflection;
as, rash words; rash measures.
5. So dry as to fall out of the ear with handling, as corn. [Prov.
Eng.] Grose.
Syn. -- Precipitate; headlong; headstrong; foolhardy; hasty;
indiscreet; heedless; thoughtless; incautious; careless; inconsiderate;
unwary. -- Rash, Adventurous, Foolhardy. A man is adventurous who
incurs risk or hazard from a love of the arduous and the bold. A man is
rash who does it from the mere impulse of his feelings, without
counting the cost. A man is foolhardy who throws himself into danger in
disregard or defiance of the consequences.
Was never known a more adventurous knight.
Dryden.
Her rash hand in evil hour Forth reaching to the fruit, she
plucked, she eat.
Milton.
If any yet be so foolhardy To expose themselves to vain jeopardy;
If they come wounded off, and lame, No honor 's got by such a maim.
Hudibras.
Rash (rsh), v. t. To prepare with haste. [Obs.] Foxe.
Rash"er (-r), n. [In sense 1, probably fr. rash, a., as being hastily
cooked.] 1. A thin slice of bacon.
2. (Zoöl.) A California rockfish (Sebastichthys miniatus).
Rash"ful (-fl), a. Rash; hasty; precipitate. [Obs.]
Rash"ling (-lng), n. A rash person. [Obs.]
Rash"ly, adv. In a rash manner; with precipitation.
He that doth anything rashly, must do it willingly; for he was free
to deliberate or not.
L'Estrange.
Rash"ness, n. The quality or state of being rash.
We offend . . . by rashness, which is an affirming or denying,
before we have sufficiently informed ourselves.
South.
Syn. -- Temerity; foolhardiness; precipitancy; precipitation;
hastiness; indiscretion; heedlessness; inconsideration; carelessness.
See Temerity.
||Ras*kol"nik (rs*kl"nk), n. [Russ. raskolenik' schismatic, heretic.]
||(Eccl.) One of the separatists or dissenters from the established or
||Greek church in Russia. [Written also rascolnik.]
||Ra*so"res (r*z"rz), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. radere, rasum, to scratch.
||See Rase, v. t.] (Zoöl.) An order of birds; the Gallinæ.
Formerly, the word Rasores was used in a wider sense, so as to include
other birds now widely separated in classification.
Ra*so"ri*al (-r*al; 277), a. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Rasores,
or gallinaceous birds, as the peacock, domestic fowl, partridge, quail,
and the like.
Ra"sour (rä"sr), n. Razor. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Rasp (rsp), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rasped (rspt); p. pr. & vb. n.
Rasping.] [OF. rasper, F. râper, to scrape, grate, rasp, fr. OHG. raspn
to scrape together, to collect, probably akin to E. rap. Cf. Rap to
snatch.]
1. To rub or file with a rasp; to rub or grate with a rough file; as,
to rasp wood to make it smooth; to rasp bones to powder.
2. Hence, figuratively: To grate harshly upon; to offend by coarse or
rough treatment or language; as, some sounds rasp the ear; his insults
rasped my temper.
Rasp, n. [OE. raspe, OF. raspe, F. râpe. See Rasp, v.]
1. A coarse file, on which the cutting prominences are distinct points
raised by the oblique stroke of a sharp punch, instead of lines raised
by a chisel, as on the true file.
2. The raspberry. [Obs.] "Set sorrel amongst rasps, and the rasps will
be the smaller." Bacon.
Rasp palm (Bot.), a Brazilian palm tree (Iriartea exorhiza) which has
strong aërial roots like a screw pine. The roots have a hard, rough
surface, and are used by the natives for graters and rasps, whence the
common name.
||Ras`pa*to"ri*um (rs`p*t"r*m), n. [LL.] See Raspatory.
Rasp"a*to*ry (rsp"*t*r), n. [LL. raspatorium: cf. F. raspatoir. See
Rasp, v.] A surgeon's rasp. Wiseman.
Rasp"ber*ry (rz"br*r; 277), n. [From E. rasp, in allusion to the
apparent roughness of the fruit.] (Bot.) (a) The thimble-shaped fruit
of the Rubus Idæus and other similar brambles; as, the black, the red,
and the white raspberry. (b) The shrub bearing this fruit.
Technically, raspberries are those brambles in which the fruit
separates readily from the core or receptacle, in this differing from
the blackberries, in which the fruit is firmly attached to the
receptacle.
Rasp"er (rsp"r), n. One who, or that which, rasps; a scraper.
Ras"pis (rs"ps), n. The raspberry. [Obs.] Langham.
Rasp"y (rsp"), a. Like a rasp, or the sound made by a rasp; grating. R.
D. Blackmore.
Rasse (rs), n. [Cf. Malay rsa taste, sensation.] (Zoöl.) A carnivore
(Viverricula Mallaccensis) allied to the civet but smaller, native of
China and the East Indies. It furnishes a perfume resembling that of
the civet, which is highly prized by the Javanese. Called also Malacca
weasel, and lesser civet.
Ra"sure (r"zhr; 135), n. [L. rasura, fr. radere, rasum, to scrape, to
shave. See Rase, v.] 1. The act of rasing, scraping, or erasing;
erasure; obliteration.
2. A mark by which a letter, word, or any part of a writing or print,
is erased, effaced, or obliterated; an erasure. Ayliffe.
Rat (rt), n. [AS. ræt; akin to D. rat, OHG. rato, ratta, G. ratte,
ratze, OLG. ratta, LG. & Dan. rotte, Sw. råtta, F. rat, Ir. & Gael.
radan, Armor. raz, of unknown origin. Cf. Raccoon.] 1. (Zoöl.) One of
several species of small rodents of the genus Mus and allied genera,
larger than mice, that infest houses, stores, and ships, especially the
Norway, or brown, rat (M. decumanus), the black rat (M. rattus), and
the roof rat (M. Alexandrinus). These were introduced into America from
the Old World.
2. A round and tapering mass of hair, or similar material, used by
women to support the puffs and rolls of their natural hair. [Local,
U.S.]
3. One who deserts his party or associates; hence, in the trades, one
who works for lower wages than those prescribed by a trades union.
[Cant]
"It so chanced that, not long after the accession of the house of
Hanover, some of the brown, that is, the German or Norway, rats, were
first brought over to this country (in some timber as is said); and
being much stronger than the black, or, till then, the common, rats,
they in many places quite extirpated the latter. The word (both the
noun and the verb to rat) was first, as we have seen, leveled at the
converts to the government of George the First, but has by degrees
obtained a wider meaning, and come to be applied to any sudden and
mercenary change in politics." Lord Mahon.
Bamboo rat (Zoöl.), any Indian rodent of the genus Rhizomys. -- Beaver
rat, Coast rat. (Zoöl.) See under Beaver, and Coast. -- Blind rat
(Zoöl.), the mole rat. -- Cotton rat (Zoöl.), a long-haired rat
(Sigmodon hispidus), native of the Southern United States and Mexico.
It makes its nest of cotton and is often injurious to the crop. --
Ground rat. See Ground Pig, under Ground. -- Hedgehog rat. See under
Hedgehog. -- Kangaroo rat (Zoöl.), the potoroo. -- Norway rat (Zoöl.),
the common brown rat. See Rat. -- Pouched rat. (Zoöl.) (a) See Pocket
Gopher, under Pocket. (b) Any African rodent of the genus Cricetomys.
-- Rat Indians (Ethnol.), a tribe of Indians dwelling near Fort Ukon,
Alaska. They belong to the Athabascan stock. -- Rat mole. (Zoöl.) See
Mole rat, under Mole. -- Rat pit, an inclosed space into which rats are
put to be killed by a dog for sport. -- Rat snake (Zoöl.), a large
colubrine snake (Ptyas mucosus) very common in India and Ceylon. It
enters dwellings, and destroys rats, chickens, etc. -- Spiny rat
(Zoöl.), any South American rodent of the genus Echinomys. -- To smell
a rat. See under Smell. -- Wood rat (Zoöl.), any American rat of the
genus Neotoma, especially N. Floridana, common in the Southern United
States. Its feet and belly are white.
Rat, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ratted; p. pr. & vb. n. Ratting.] 1. In
English politics, to desert one's party from interested motives; to
forsake one's associates for one's own advantage; in the trades, to
work for less wages, or on other conditions, than those established by
a trades union.
Coleridge . . . incurred the reproach of having ratted, solely by
his inability to follow the friends of his early days.
De Quincey.
2. To catch or kill rats.
Ra"ta (rä"t), n. [Maori.] (Bot.) A New Zealand forest tree
(Metrosideros robusta), also, its hard dark red wood, used by the
Maoris for paddles and war clubs.
Rat`a*bil"i*ty (rt`*bl"*t), n. The quality or state of being ratable.
Rat"a*ble (rt"*b'l), a. 1. Capable of being rated, or set at a certain
value.
Twenty oræ were ratable to [at] two marks of silver.
Camden.
2. Liable to, or subjected by law to, taxation; as, ratable estate.
3. Made at a proportionate rate; as, ratable payments. --
Rat"a*ble*ness, n. -- Rat"a*bly, adv.
Rat`a*fi"a (rt`*f"), n. [F., fr. Malay arak arrack + tfa a spirit
distilled from molasses.] A spirituous liquor flavored with the kernels
of cherries, apricots, peaches, or other fruit, spiced, and sweetened
with sugar; -- a term applied to the liqueurs called noyau, curaçao,
etc. [Written also ratifia and ratafee.]
Ra*tan" (r*tn"), n. See Rattan.
Rat"a*ny (rt"*n), n. (Bot.) Same as Rhatany.
||Ra`ta`plan" (r`t`pläN"), n. [F.] The iterative sound of beating a
||drum, or of a galloping horse.
Ratch (rch), n. (Zoöl.) Same as Rotche.
Ratch (rch), n. [See Rack the instrument, Ratchet.] A ratchet wheel, or
notched bar, with which a pawl or click works.
Ratch"el (-l), n. Gravelly stone. [Prov. Eng.]
Ratch"et (-t), n. [Properly a diminutive from the same word as rack:
cf. F. rochet. See 2d Ratch, Rack the instrument.] 1. A pawl, click, or
detent, for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc.
2. A mechanism composed of a ratchet wheel, or ratch, and pawl. See
Ratchet wheel, below, and 2d Ratch.
Ratchet brace (Mech.), a boring brace, having a ratchet wheel and pawl
for rotating the tool by back and forth movements of the brace handle.
-- Ratchet drill, a portable machine for working a drill by hand,
consisting of a hand lever carrying at one end a drill holder which is
revolved by means of a ratchet wheel and pawl, by swinging the lever
back and forth. -- Ratchet wheel (Mach.), a circular wheel having
teeth, usually angular, with which a reciprocating pawl engages to turn
the wheel forward, or a stationary pawl to hold it from turning
backward.
In the cut, the moving pawl c slides over the teeth in one direction,
but in returning, draws the wheel with it, while the pawl d prevents it
from turning in the contrary direction.
<! p. 1191 pr=vmg !>
Rate (rt), v. t. & i. [Perh. fr. E. rate, v. t., to value at a certain
rate, to estimate, but more prob. fr. Sw. rata to find fault, to blame,
to despise, to hold cheap; cf. Icel. hrat refuse, hrati rubbish.] To
chide with vehemence; to scold; to censure violently. Spenser.
Go, rate thy minions, proud, insulting boy!
Shak.
Conscience is a check to beginners in sin, reclaiming them from it,
and rating them for it.
Barrow.
Rate, n. [OF., fr. L. rata (sc. pars), fr. ratus reckoned, fixed by
calculation, p. p. of reri to reckon, to calculate. Cf. Reason.] 1.
Established portion or measure; fixed allowance.
The one right feeble through the evil rate Of food which in her
duress she had found.
Spenser.
2. That which is established as a measure or criterion; degree;
standard; rank; proportion; ratio; as, a slow rate of movement; rate of
interest is the ratio of the interest to the principal, per annum.
Heretofore the rate and standard of wit was different from what it
is nowadays.
South.
In this did his holiness and godliness appear above the rate and
pitch of other men's, in that he was so . . . merciful.
Calamy.
Many of the horse could not march at that rate, nor come up soon
enough.
Clarendon.
3. Valuation; price fixed with relation to a standard; cost; charge;
as, high or low rates of transportation.
They come at dear rates from Japan.
Locke.
4. A tax or sum assessed by authority on property for public use,
according to its income or value; esp., in England, a local tax; as,
parish rates; town rates.
5. Order; arrangement. [Obs.]
Thus sat they all around in seemly rate.
Spenser.
6. Ratification; approval. [R.] Chapman.
7. (Horol.) The gain or loss of a timepiece in a unit of time; as,
daily rate; hourly rate; etc.
8. (Naut.) (a) The order or class to which a war vessel belongs,
determined according to its size, armament, etc.; as, first rate,
second rate, etc. (b) The class of a merchant vessel for marine
insurance, determined by its relative safety as a risk, as A1, A2, etc.
Rate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rated; p. pr. & vb. n. Rating.] 1. To set a
certain estimate on; to value at a certain price or degree.
To rate a man by the nature of his companions is a rule frequent
indeed, but not infallible.
South.
You seem not high enough your joys to rate.
Dryden.
2. To assess for the payment of a rate or tax.
3. To settle the relative scale, rank, position, amount, value, or
quality of; as, to rate a ship; to rate a seaman; to rate a pension.
4. To ratify. [Obs.] "To rate the truce." Chapman.
To rate a chronometer, to ascertain the exact rate of its gain or loss
as compared with true time, so as to make an allowance or computation
dependent thereon.
Syn. -- To value; appraise; estimate; reckon.
Rate, v. i. 1. To be set or considered in a class; to have rank; as,
the ship rates as a ship of the line.
2. To make an estimate.
Rate"a*ble (-*b'l), a. See Ratable.
Ra"tel (r"tl), n. [F.] (Zoöl.) Any carnivore of the genus Mellivora,
allied to the weasels and the skunks; -- called also honey badger.
Several species are known in Africa and India. The Cape ratel (M.
Capensis) and the Indian ratel (M. Indica) are the best known. The back
is gray; the lower parts, face, and tail are black. They are fond of
honey, and rob the nests of wild bees.
Rate"pay`er (-p`r), n. One who pays rates or taxes.
Rat"er (rt"r), n. One who rates or estimates.
Rat"er, n. One who rates or scolds.
Rat"fish` (rt"fsh`), n. (Zoöl.) Same as Rat-tail.
Rath (rth), n. [Ir. rath.] 1. A hill or mound. [Ireland] Spenser.
2. A kind of ancient fortification found in Ireland.
{ Rath, Rathe } (rth), a. [AS. hræð, hræd, quick, akin to OHG. hrad,
Icel. hraðr.] Coming before others, or before the usual time; early.
[Obs. or Poetic]
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies.
Milton.
{ Rath, Rathe, } adv. Early; soon; betimes. [Obs. or Poetic]
Why rise ye up so rathe?
Chaucer.
Too rathe cut off by practice criminal.
Spenser.
Rath"er (r"r), a. [Compar. of Rath, a.] Prior; earlier; former. [Obs.]
Now no man dwelleth at the rather town.
Sir J. Mandeville.
Rath"er (r"r; 277), adv. [AS. hraðor, compar. of hraðe, hræðe, quickly,
immediately. See Rath, a.]
1. Earlier; sooner; before. [Obs.]
Thou shalt, quod he, be rather false than I.
Chaucer.
A good mean to come the rather to grace.
Foxe.
2. More readily or willingly; preferably.
My soul chooseth . . . death rather than my life.
Job vii. 15.
3. On the other hand; to the contrary of what was said or suggested;
instead.
Was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.
Mark v. 26.
4. Of two alternatives conceived of, this by preference to, or as more
likely than, the other; somewhat.
He sought throughout the world, but sought in vain, And nowhere
finding, rather feared her slain.
Dryden.
5. More properly; more correctly speaking.
This is an art Which does mend nature, change it rather, but The
art itself is nature.
Shak.
6. In some degree; somewhat; as, the day is rather warm; the house is
rather damp.
The rather, the more so; especially; for better reason; for particular
cause.
You are come to me in happy time, The rather for I have some sport
in hand.
Shak.
-- Had rather, or Would rather, prefer to; prefers to; as, he had, or
would, rather go than stay. "I had rather speak five words with my
understanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." 1 Cor.
xiv. 19. See Had rather, under Had.
Rath"ripe` (rth"rp`), a. Rareripe, or early ripe. -- n. A rareripe.
[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
Such who delight in rathripe fruits.
Fuller.
Rat`i*fi*ca"tion (rt`*f*k"shn), n. [Cf. F. ratification.] The act of
ratifying; the state of being ratified; confirmation; sanction; as, the
ratification of a treaty.
Rat"i*fi`er (rt"*f`r), n. One who, or that which, ratifies; a
confirmer. Shak.
Rat"i*fy (-f), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ratified (-fd); p. pr. & vb. n.
Ratifying (- f`ng).] [F. ratifier, fr. L. ratus fixed by calculation,
firm, valid + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See Rate, n., and -fy.] To
approve and sanction; to make valid; to confirm; to establish; to
settle; especially, to give sanction to, as something done by an agent
or servant; as, to ratify an agreement, treaty, or contract; to ratify
a nomination.
It is impossible for the divine power to set a seal to a lie by
ratifying an imposture with such a miracle.
South.
Rat`i*ha*bi"tion (-h*bsh"n), n. [L. ratihabitio; ratus fixed, valid +
habere to hold.] Confirmation or approbation, as of an act or contract.
[Obs.] Jer. Taylor.
Ra"ti*o (r"sh* or r"sh), n. [L., fr. reri, ratus, to reckon, believe,
think, judge. See Reason.] 1. (Math.) The relation which one quantity
or magnitude has to another of the same kind. It is expressed by the
quotient of the division of the first by the second; thus, the ratio of
3 to 6 is expressed by or ½; of a to b by a/b; or (less commonly) the
second term is made the dividend; as, a:b = b/a.
Some writers consider ratio as the quotient itself, making ratio
equivalent to a number.
The term ratio is also sometimes applied to the difference of two
quantities as well as to their quotient, in which case the former is
called arithmetical ratio, the latter, geometrical ratio. The name
ratio is sometimes given to the rule of three in arithmetic. See under
Rule.
2. Hence, fixed relation of number, quantity, or degree; rate;
proportion; as, the ratio of representation in Congress.
Compound ratio, Duplicate ratio, Inverse ratio, etc. See under
Compound, Duplicate, etc. -- Ratio of a geometrical progression, the
constant quantity by which each term is multiplied to produce the
succeeding one.
Ra`ti*oc"i*nate (rsh`*s"*nt), v. i. [L. ratiocinatus, p. p. of
ratiocinari, fr. ratio reason. See Ratio.] To reason, esp. deductively;
to offer reason or argument.
Ra`ti*oc`i*na"tion (-n"shn), n. [L. ratiocinatio: cf. F.
ratiocination.] The process of reasoning, or deducing conclusions from
premises; deductive reasoning.
Ra`ti*oc"i*na*tive (- s"*n*tv), a. [L. ratiocinativus.] Characterized
by, or addicted to, ratiocination; consisting in the comparison of
propositions or facts, and the deduction of inferences from the
comparison; argumentative; as, a ratiocinative process.
The ratiocinative meditativeness of his character.
Coleridge.
Ra`ti*oc"i*na*to*ry (-n*t*r), a. Ratiocinative. [R.]
Ra"tion (r"shn or rsh"n), n. [F., fr. L. ratio a reckoning,
calculation, relation, reference, LL. ratio ration. See Ratio.] 1. A
fixed daily allowance of provisions assigned to a soldier in the army,
or a sailor in the navy, for his subsistence.
Officers have several rations, the number varying according to their
rank or the number of their attendants.
2. Hence, a certain portion or fixed amount dealt out; an allowance; an
allotment.
Ra"tion, v. t. To supply with rations, as a regiment.
Ra"tion*al (rsh"n*al), a. [L. rationalis: cf. F. rationnel. See Ratio,
Reason, and cf. Rationale.] 1. Relating to the reason; not physical;
mental.
Moral philosophy was his chiefest end; for the rational, the
natural, and mathematics . . . were but simple pastimes in
comparison of the other.
Sir T. North.
2. Having reason, or the faculty of reasoning; endowed with reason or
understanding; reasoning.
It is our glory and happiness to have a rational nature.
Law.
3. Agreeable to reason; not absurd, preposterous, extravagant, foolish,
fanciful, or the like; wise; judicious; as, rational conduct; a
rational man.
4. (Chem.) Expressing the type, structure, relations, and reactions of
a compound; graphic; -- said of formulæ. See under Formula.
Rational horizon. (Astron.) See Horizon, 2 (b). -- Rational quantity
(Alg.), one that can be expressed without the use of a radical sign, or
in exact parts of unity; -- opposed to irrational or radical quantity.
-- Rational symptom (Med.), one elicited by the statements of the
patient himself and not as the result of a physical examination.
Syn. -- Sane; sound; intelligent; reasonable; sensible; wise; discreet;
judicious. -- Rational, Reasonable. Rational has reference to reason as
a faculty of the mind, and is opposed to irrational; as, a rational
being, a rational state of mind, rational views, etc. In these cases
the speculative reason is more particularly referred to. Reasonable has
reference to the exercise of this faculty for practical purposes, and
means, governed or directed by reason; as, reasonable desires or plans;
a reasonable charge; a reasonable prospect of success.
What higher in her society thou find'st Attractive, human,
rational, love still.
Milton.
A law may be reasonable in itself, although a man does not allow
it, or does not know the reason of the lawgivers.
Swift.
Ra"tion*al, n. A rational being. Young.
Ra`tion*a"le (rsh`n*"l), n. [L. rationalis, neut. rationale. See
Rational, a.] An explanation or exposition of the principles of some
opinion, action, hypothesis, phenomenon, or the like; also, the
principles themselves.
Ra"tion*al*ism (rsh"n*al*z'm), n. [Cf. F. rationalisme.] 1. (Theol.)
The doctrine or system of those who deduce their religious opinions
from reason or the understanding, as distinct from, or opposed to,
revelation.
2. (Philos.) The system that makes rational power the ultimate test of
truth; -- opposed to sensualism, or sensationalism, and empiricism.
Fleming.
Ra"tion*al*ist, n. [Cf. F. rationaliste.] One who accepts rationalism
as a theory or system; also, disparagingly, a false reasoner. See
Citation under Reasonist.
{ Ra`tion*al*is"tic (-s"tk), Ra`tion*al*is"tic*al (-t*kal), } a.
Belonging to, or in accordance with, the principles of rationalism. --
Ra`tion*al*is"tic*al*ly, adv.
Ra`tion*al"i*ty (-l"*t; 277), n.; pl. -ties (- tz). [F. rationalité, or
L. rationalitas.] The quality or state of being rational; agreement
with reason; possession of reason; due exercise of reason;
reasonableness.
When God has made rationality the common portion of mankind, how
came it to be thy inclosure?
Gov. of Tongue.
Well-directed intentions, whose rationalities will never bear a
rigid examination.
Sir T. Browne.
Ra`tion*al*i*za"tion (rsh`n*al**z"shn), n. The act or process of
rationalizing.
Ra"tion*al*ize (rsh"n*al*z), v. t. 1. To make rational; also, to
convert to rationalism.
2. To interpret in the manner of a rationalist.
3. To form a rational conception of.
4. (Alg.) To render rational; to free from radical signs or quantities.
Ra"tion*al*ize, v. i. To use, and rely on, reason in forming a theory,
belief, etc., especially in matters of religion: to accord with the
principles of rationalism.
Theodore . . . is justly considered the chief rationalizing doctor
of antiquity.
J. H. Newman.
Ra"tion*al*ly, adv. In a rational manner.
Ra"tion*al*ness, n. The quality or state of being rational;
rationality.
||Ra*ti"tæ (r*t"t), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. ratis a raft; cf. L. ratitus
||marked with the figure of a raft.] (Zoöl.) An order of birds in which
||the wings are small, rudimentary, or absent, and the breastbone is
||destitute of a keel. The ostrich, emu, moa, and apteryx are examples.
Rat"i*tate (rt"*tt), a. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Ratitæ.
Rat"ite (rt"t), a. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Ratitæ. - - n. One
of the Ratitæ.
{ Rat"lines, Rat"lins } (rt"lnz), n. pl. [Of uncertain origin.] (Naut.)
The small transverse ropes attached to the shrouds and forming the
steps of a rope ladder. [Written also ratlings, and rattlings.] Totten.
Rat"on (rt"n), n. [Cf. Raccoon.] A small rat. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.
Ra*toon" (r*tn"), n. 1. Same as Rattoon, n.
2. A rattan cane. [Obs.] Pepys.
Ra*toon", v. i. Same as Rattoon, v. i.
Rats"bane` (rts"bn`), n. [Rat + bane.] Rat poison; white arsenic.
Rats"baned` (-bnd`), a. Poisoned by ratsbane.
Rat"-tail` (rt"tl`), a. Like a rat's tail in form; as, a rat-tail file,
which is round, slender, and tapering. See Illust. of File.
Rat"-tail`, n. 1. (Far.) pl. An excrescence growing from the pastern to
the middle of the shank of a horse.
2. (Zoöl.) (a) The California chimæra. See Chimæra. (b) Any fish of the
genus Macrurus. See Grenadier, 2.
Rat"-tailed` (-tld`), a. (Zoöl.) Having a long, tapering tail like that
of a rat.
Rat-tailed larva (Zoöl.), the larva of a fly of the genus Eristalis.
See Eristalis. -- Rat-tailed serpent (Zoöl.), the fer- de-lance. --
Rat-tailed shrew (Zoöl.), the musk shrew.
Rat*tan" (rt*tn"), n. [Malay rtan.] [Written also ratan.] (Bot.) One of
the long slender flexible stems of several species of palms of the
genus Calamus, mostly East Indian, though some are African and
Australian. They are exceedingly tough, and are used for walking
sticks, wickerwork, chairs and seats of chairs, cords and cordage, and
many other purposes.
Rat*teen" (-tn"), n. [F. ratine.] A thick woolen stuff quilled or
twilled.
Rat"ten (rt"t'n), v. t. [Prov. E. ratten a rat, hence the verb
literally means, to do mischief like a rat.] To deprive feloniously of
the tools used in one's employment (as by breaking or stealing them),
for the purpose of annoying; as, to ratten a mechanic who works during
a strike. [Trades-union Cant] J. McCarthy.
Rat"ter (-tr), n. 1. One who, or that which, rats, as one who deserts
his party.
2. Anything which catches rats; esp., a dog trained to catch rats; a
rat terrier. See Terrier.
Rat`ti*net" (-t*nt"), n. A woolen stuff thinner than ratteen.
Rat"ting (rt"tng), n. 1. The conduct or practices of one who rats. See
Rat, v. i., 1. Sydney Smith.
2. The low sport of setting a dog upon rats confined in a pit to see
how many he will kill in a given time.
Rat"tle (-t'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rattled (-t'ld); p. pr. & vb. n.
Rattling (-tlng).] [Akin to D. ratelen, G. rasseln, AS. hrætele a
rattle, in hrætelwyrt rattlewort; cf. Gr. kradai`nein to swing, wave.
Cf. Rail a bird.] 1. To make a quick succession of sharp, inharmonious
noises, as by the collision of hard and not very sonorous bodies shaken
together; to clatter.
And the rude hail in rattling tempest forms.
Addison.
'T was but the wind, Or the car rattling o'er the stony street.
Byron.
<! p. 1192 pr=vmg !>
2. To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering; as, we rattled
along for a couple of miles. [Colloq.]
3. To make a clatter with the voice; to talk rapidly and idly; to
clatter; -- with on or away; as, she rattled on for an hour. [Colloq.]
Rat"tle (rt"t'l), v. t. 1. To cause to make a rattling or clattering
sound; as, to rattle a chain.
2. To assail, annoy, or stun with a rattling noise.
Sound but another [drum], and another shall As loud as thine rattle
the welkin's ear.
Shak.
3. Hence, to disconcert; to confuse; as, to rattle one's judgment; to
rattle a player in a game. [Colloq.]
4. To scold; to rail at. L'Estrange.
To rattle off. (a) To tell glibly or noisily; as, to rattle off a
story. (b) To rail at; to scold. "She would sometimes rattle off her
servants sharply." Arbuthnot.
Rat"tle, n. 1. A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the
rattle of a drum. Prior.
2. Noisy, rapid talk.
All this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and
frivolous conceit.
Hakewill.
3. An instrument with which a rattling sound is made; especially, a
child's toy that rattles when shaken.
The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough
resemble each other.
Sir W. Raleigh.
Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw.
Pope.
4. A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
It may seem strange that a man who wrote with so much perspicuity,
vivacity, and grace, should have been, whenever he took a part in
conversation, an empty, noisy, blundering rattle.
Macaulay.
5. A scolding; a sharp rebuke. [Obs.] Heylin.
6. (Zoöl.) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce
a rattling sound.
The rattle of a rattlesnake is composed of the hardened terminal
scales, loosened in succession, but not cast off, and so modified in
form as to make a series of loose, hollow joints.
7. The noise in the throat produced by the air in passing through mucus
which the lungs are unable to expel; -- chiefly observable at the
approach of death, when it is called the death rattle. See Râle.
To spring a rattle, to cause it to sound. -- Yellow rattle (Bot.), a
yellow-flowered herb (Rhinanthus Crista-galli), the ripe seeds of which
rattle in the inflated calyx.
Rat"tle*box` (-bks`), n. 1. A toy that makes a rattling sound; a
rattle.
2. (Bot.) (a) An American herb (Crotalaria sagittalis), the seeds of
which, when ripe, rattle in the inflated pod. (b) Any species of
Crotalaria, a genus of yellow-flowered herbs, with inflated,
many-seeded pods.
Rat"tle-brained` (-brnd`), a. Giddy; rattle-headed.
Rat"tle*head` (-hd`), n. An empty, noisy talker.
Rat"tle-head`ed, a. Noisy; giddy; unsteady.
Rat"tle*mouse` (-mous`), n. A bat. [Obs.] Puttenham.
Rat"tle*pate` (-pt`), n. A rattlehead. C. Kingsley.
Rat"tle-pat`ed, a. Rattle- headed. "A noisy, rattle-pated fellow." W.
Irving.
Rat"tler (-tlr), n. One who, or that which, rattles.
Rat"tle*snake` (rt"t'l*snk`), n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of
venomous American snakes belonging to the genera Crotalus and
Caudisona, or Sistrurus. They have a series of horny interlocking
joints at the end of the tail which make a sharp rattling sound when
shaken. The common rattlesnake of the Northern United States (Crotalus
horridus), and the diamond rattlesnake of the South (C. adamanteus),
are the best known. See Illust. of Fang.
Ground rattlesnake (Zoöl.), a small rattlesnake (Caudisona, or
Sistrurus, miliaria) of the Southern United States, having a small
rattle. It has nine large scales on its head. -- Rattlesnake fern
(Bot.), a common American fern (Botrychium Virginianum) having a
triangular decompound frond and a long- stalked panicle of spore cases
rising from the middle of the frond. -- Rattlesnake grass (Bot.), a
handsome American grass (Glyceria Canadensis) with an ample panicle of
rather large ovate spikelets, each one composed of imbricated parts and
slightly resembling the rattle of the rattlesnake. Sometimes called
quaking grass. -- Rattlesnake plantain. (Bot.) See under Plantain. --
Rattlesnake root (Bot.), a name given to certain American species of
the composite genus Prenanthes (P. alba and P. serpentaria), formerly
asserted to cure the bite of the rattlesnake. Called also lion's foot,
gall of the earth, and white lettuce. -- Rattlesnake's master. (Bot.)
(a) A species of Agave (Agave Virginica) growing in the Southern United
States. (b) An umbelliferous plant (Eryngium yuccæfolium) with large
bristly-fringed linear leaves. (c) A composite plant, the blazing star
(Liatris squarrosa). -- Rattlesnake weed (Bot.), a plant of the
composite genus Hieracium (H. venosum); -- probably so named from its
spotted leaves. See also Snakeroot.
Rat"tle*trap` (-trp`), n. Any machine or vehicle that does not run
smoothly. [Colloq.] A. Trollope.
Rat"tle*weed` (-wd`), n. (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Astragalus. See
Milk vetch.
Rat"tle*wings` (-wngz`), n. (Zoöl.) The golden-eye.
Rat"tle*wort` (-wûrt`), n. [AS. hrætelwyrt.] (Bot.) Same as Rattlebox.
Rat"tlings (rt"tlngz), n. pl. (Naut.) Ratlines.
Rat*toon" (rt*tn"), n. [Sp. retoño.] One of the stems or shoots of
sugar cane of the second year's growth from the root, or later. See
Plant-cane.
Rat*toon", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rattooned (-tnd"); p. pr. & vb. n.
Rattooning.] [Cf. Sp. retoñar.] To sprout or spring up from the root,
as sugar cane from the root of the previous year's planting.
Rau"cid (r"sd), a. [L. raucus hoarse; cf. LL. raucidus.] Hoarse;
raucous. [R.] Lamb.
Rau"ci*ty (r"s*t), n. [L. raucitas, from raucus hoarse: cf. F.
raucité.] Harshness of sound; rough utterance; hoarseness; as, the
raucity of a trumpet, or of the human voice.
Rau"cous (r"ks), a. [L. raucus.] Hoarse; harsh; rough; as, a raucous,
thick tone. "His voice slightly raucous." Aytoun. -- Rau"cous*ly, adv.
Raught (rt), obs. imp. & p. p. of Reach. Shak.
Raught, obs. imp. & p. p. of Reck. Chaucer.
Raunch (rnch), v. t. See Ranch. Spenser.
Raun*soun" (rn*sn"), n. Ransom. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Rav"age (rv"j; 48), n. [F., fr. (assumed) L. rapagium, rapaticum, fr.
rapere to carry off by force, to ravish. See Rapacious, Ravish.]
Desolation by violence; violent ruin or destruction; devastation;
havoc; waste; as, the ravage of a lion; the ravages of fire or tempest;
the ravages of an army, or of time.
Would one think 't were possible for love To make such ravage in a
noble soul?
Addison.
Syn. -- Despoilment; devastation; desolation; pillage; plunder; spoil;
waste; ruin.
Rav"age, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ravaged (-jd); p. pr. & vb. n. Ravaging
(-*jng).] [F. ravager. See Ravage, n.] To lay waste by force; to
desolate by violence; to commit havoc or devastation upon; to spoil; to
plunder; to consume.
Already Cæsar Has ravaged more than half the globe.
Addison.
His lands were daily ravaged, his cattle driven away.
Macaulay.
Syn. -- To despoil; pillage; plunder; sack; spoil; devastate; desolate;
destroy; waste; ruin.
Rav"a*ger (-*jr), n. One who, or that which, ravages or lays waste;
spoiler.
Rave (rv), obs. imp. of Rive.
Rave, n. [Prov. E. raves, or rathes, a frame laid on a wagon, for
carrying hay, etc.] One of the upper side pieces of the frame of a
wagon body or a sleigh.
Rave (rv), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Raved (rvd); p. pr. & vb. n. Raving.]
[F. rêver to rave, to be delirious, to dream; perhaps fr. L. rabere to
rave, rage, be mad or furious. Cf. Rage, Reverie.] 1. To wander in mind
or intellect; to be delirious; to talk or act irrationally; to be wild,
furious, or raging, as a madman.
In our madness evermore we rave.
Chaucer.
Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast?
Addison.
The mingled torrent of redcoats and tartans went raving down the
valley to the gorge of Killiecrankie.
Macaulay.
2. To rush wildly or furiously. Spenser.
3. To talk with unreasonable enthusiasm or excessive passion or
excitement; -- followed by about, of, or on; as, he raved about her
beauty.
The hallowed scene Which others rave of, though they know it not.
Byron.
Rave, v. t. To utter in madness or frenzy; to say wildly; as, to rave
nonsense. Young.
Rave"hook (rv"hk), n. (Shipbuilding) A tool, hooked at the end, for
enlarging or clearing seams for the reception of oakum.
Rav"el (rv"'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raveled (-'ld) or Ravelled; p. pr.
& vb. n. Raveling or Ravelling.] [OD. ravelen, D. rafelen, akin to LG.
rebeln, rebbeln, reffeln.] 1. To separate or undo the texture of; to
take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by out;
as, to ravel a twist; to ravel out a stocking.
Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleave of care.
Shak.
2. To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle.
3. To pull apart, as the threads of a texture, and let them fall into a
tangled mass; hence, to entangle; to make intricate; to involve.
What glory 's due to him that could divide Such raveled interests?
has the knot untied?
Waller.
The faith of very many men seems a duty so weak and indifferent, is
so often untwisted by violence, or raveled and entangled in weak
discourses!
Jer. Taylor.
Rav"el, v. i. 1. To become untwisted or unwoven; to be disentangled; to
be relieved of intricacy.
2. To fall into perplexity and confusion. [Obs.]
Till, by their own perplexities involved, They ravel more, still
less resolved.
Milton.
3. To make investigation or search, as by picking out the threads of a
woven pattern. [Obs.]
The humor of raveling into all these mystical or entangled matters.
Sir W. Temple.
Rav"el*er (-r), n. [Also raveller.] One who ravels.
Rave"lin (rv"ln; 277), n. [F.; cf. Sp. rebellin, It. revellino,
rivellino; perhaps fr. L. re- again + vallum wall.] (Fort.) A detached
work with two embankments which make a salient angle. It is raised
before the curtain on the counterscarp of the place. Formerly called
demilune, and half-moon.
Rav"el*ing (rv"'l*ng), n. [Also ravelling.] 1. The act of untwisting or
of disentangling.
2. That which is raveled out; esp., a thread detached from a texture.
Ra"ven (r"v'n), n. [AS. hræfn; akin to D. raaf, G. rabe, OHG. hraban,
Icel. hrafn, Dan. ravn, and perhaps to L. corvus, Gr. ko`rax.
√19.] (Zoöl.) A large black passerine bird (Corvus corax),
similar to the crow, but larger. It is native of the northern parts of
Europe, Asia, and America, and is noted for its sagacity.
Sea raven (Zoöl.), the cormorant.
Ra"ven, a. Of the color of the raven; jet black; as, raven curls; raven
darkness.
Rav"en (rv"'n), n. [OF. raviné impetuosity, violence, F. ravine ravine.
See Ravine, Rapine.] [Written also ravin, and ravine.] 1. Rapine;
rapacity. Ray.
2. Prey; plunder; food obtained by violence.
Rav"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ravened (-'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Ravening.]
[Written also ravin, and ravine.]
1. To obtain or seize by violence. Hakewill.
2. To devour with great eagerness.
Like rats that ravin down their proper bane.
Shak.
Rav"en, v. i. To prey with rapacity; to be greedy; to show rapacity.
[Written also ravin, and ravine.]
Benjamin shall raven as a wolf.
Gen. xlix. 27.
||Rav`e*na"la (rv`*nä"l), n. [Malagasy.] (Bot.) A genus of plants
||related to the banana.
Ravenala Madagascariensis, the principal species, is an unbranched tree
with immense oarlike leaves growing alternately from two sides of the
stem. The sheathing bases of the leafstalks collect and retain rain
water, which flows freely when they are pierced with a knife, whence
the plant is called traveler's tree.
Rav"en*er (rv"'n*r), n. 1. One who, or that which, ravens or plunders.
Gower.
2. A bird of prey, as the owl or vulture. [Obs.] Holland.
Rav"en*ing, n. Eagerness for plunder; rapacity; extortion. Luke xi. 39.
Rav"en*ing, a. Greedily devouring; rapacious; as, ravening wolves. --
Rav"en*ing*ly, adv.
Rav"en*ous (rv"'n*s), a. [From 2d Raven.] 1. Devouring with rapacious
eagerness; furiously voracious; hungry even to rage; as, a ravenous
wolf or vulture.
2. Eager for prey or gratification; as, a ravenous appetite or desire.
-- Rav"en*ous*ly, adv. -- Rav"en*ous*ness, n.
Ra"ven's-duck` (r"v'nz-dk`), n. [Cf. G. ravenstuch.] A fine quality of
sailcloth. Ham. Nav. Encyc.
Rav"er (rv"r), n. One who raves.
Rav"in (rv"'n), a. Ravenous. [Obs.] Shak.
{ Rav"in, Rav"ine } (rv"'n), n. [See 2d Raven.] Food obtained by
violence; plunder; prey; raven. "Fowls of ravyne." Chaucer.
Though Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shrieked against
his creed.
Tennyson.
{ Rav"in, Rav"ine, } v. t. & i. See Raven, v. t. & i.
Ra*vine" (r*vn"), n. [F., a place excavated by a torrent, a ravine, fr.
ravir to snatch or tear away, L. rapere; cf. L. rapina rapine. See
Ravish, and cf. Rapine, Raven prey.] 1. A torrent of water. [Obs.]
Cotgrave.
2. A deep and narrow hollow, usually worn by a stream or torrent of
water; a gorge; a mountain cleft.
Rav"ing (rv"ng), a. Talking irrationally and wildly; as, a raving
lunatic. -- Rav"ing*ly, adv.
Rav"ish (rv"sh), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ravished (-sht); p. pr. & vb. n.
Ravishing.] [OE. ravissen, F. ravir, fr. L. rapere to snatch or tear
away, to ravish. See Rapacious, Rapid, and - ish.] 1. To seize and
carry away by violence; to snatch by force.
These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin Will quicken, and
accuse thee.
Shak.
This hand shall ravish thy pretended right.
Dryden.
2. To transport with joy or delight; to delight to ecstasy. "Ravished .
. . for the joy." Chaucer.
Thou hast ravished my heart.
Cant. iv. 9.
3. To have carnal knowledge of (a woman) by force, and against her
consent; to rape. Shak.
Syn. -- To transport; entrance; enrapture; delight; violate; deflour;
force.
Rav"ish*er (-r), n. One who ravishes (in any sense).
Rav"ish*ing, a. Rapturous; transporting.
Rav"ish*ing*ly, adv. In a ravishing manner.
Rav"ish*ment (-ment), n. [F. ravissement. See Ravish.] 1. The act of
carrying away by force or against consent; abduction; as, the
ravishment of children from their parents, of a ward from his guardian,
or of a wife from her husband. Blackstone.
2. The state of being ravished; rapture; transport of delight; ecstasy.
Spenser.
In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment Attracted by thy
beauty still to gaze.
Milton.
3. The act of ravishing a woman; rape.
Rav"is*sant (rv"s*snt), a. [F.] (Her.) In a half-raised position, as if
about to spring on prey.
<! p. 1193 pr=vmg !>
Raw (r), a. [Compar. Rawer (-r); superl. Rawest.] [AS. hreáw; akin to
D. raauw, LG. rau, G. roh, OHG. r, Icel. hrr, Dan. raa, Sw. rå, L.
crudus, Gr. kre`as flesh, Skr. kravis raw flesh. √18. Cf. Crude,
Cruel.] 1. Not altered from its natural state; not prepared by the
action of heat; as, raw sienna; specifically, not cooked; not changed
by heat to a state suitable for eating; not done; as, raw meat.
2. Hence: Unprepared for use or enjoyment; immature; unripe;
unseasoned; inexperienced; unpracticed; untried; as, raw soldiers; a
raw recruit.
Approved himself to the raw judgment of the multitude.
De Quincey.
3. Not worked in due form; in the natural state; untouched by art;
unwrought. Specifically: (a) Not distilled; as, raw water. [Obs.]
Bacon. (b) Not spun or twisted; as, raw silk or cotton. (c) Not mixed
or diluted; as, raw spirits. (d) Not tried; not melted and strained;
as, raw tallow. (e) Not tanned; as, raw hides. (f) Not trimmed,
covered, or folded under; as, the raw edge of a piece of metal or of
cloth.
4. Not covered; bare. Specifically: (a) Bald. [Obs.] "With skull all
raw." Spenser (b) Deprived of skin; galled; as, a raw sore. (c) Sore,
as if by being galled.
And all his sinews waxen weak and raw Through long imprisonment.
Spenser.
5. Disagreeably damp or cold; chilly; bleak; as, a raw wind. "A raw and
gusty day." Shak.
Raw material, material that has not been subjected to a (specified)
process of manufacture; as, ore is the raw material used in smelting;
leather is the raw material of the shoe industry. -- Raw pig, cast iron
as it comes from the smelting furnace.
Raw, n. A raw, sore, or galled place; a sensitive spot; as, to touch
one on the raw.
Like savage hackney coachmen, they know where there is a raw.
De Quincey.
Raw"bone` (r"bn`), a. Rawboned. [Obs.] Spenser.
Raw"boned` (-bnd`), a. Having little flesh on the bones; gaunt. Shak.
Raw"head` (r"hd`), n. A specter mentioned to frighten children; as,
rawhead and bloodybones.
Raw"hide` (r"hd`), n. A cowhide, or coarse riding whip, made of
untanned (or raw) hide twisted.
Raw"ish, a. Somewhat raw. [R.] Marston.
Raw"ly, adv. 1. In a raw manner; unskillfully; without experience.
2. Without proper preparation or provision. Shak.
Raw"ness, n. The quality or state of being raw.
Ray (r), v. t. [An aphetic form of array; cf. Beray.] 1. To array.
[Obs.] Sir T. More.
2. To mark, stain, or soil; to streak; to defile. [Obs.] "The filth
that did it ray." Spenser.
Ray, n. Array; order; arrangement; dress. [Obs.]
And spoiling all her gears and goodly ray.
Spenser.
Ray, n. [OF. rai, F. rais, fr. L. radius a beam or ray, staff, rod,
spoke of a wheel. Cf. Radius.] 1. One of a number of lines or parts
diverging from a common point or center, like the radii of a circle;
as, a star of six rays.
2. (Bot.) A radiating part of a flower or plant; the marginal florets
of a compound flower, as an aster or a sunflower; one of the pedicels
of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius. See Radius.
3. (Zoöl.) (a) One of the radiating spines, or cartilages, supporting
the fins of fishes. (b) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially
one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
4. (Physics) (a) A line of light or heat proceeding from a radiant or
reflecting point; a single element of light or heat propagated
continuously; as, a solar ray; a polarized ray. (b) One of the
component elements of the total radiation from a body; any definite or
limited portion of the spectrum; as, the red ray; the violet ray. See
Illust. under Light.
5. Sight; perception; vision; -- from an old theory of vision, that
sight was something which proceeded from the eye to the object seen.
All eyes direct their rays On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they
gaze.
Pope.
6. (Geom.) One of a system of diverging lines passing through a point,
and regarded as extending indefinitely in both directions. See
Half-ray.
Bundle of rays. (Geom.) See Pencil of rays, below. -- Extraordinary ray
(Opt.), that one of two parts of a ray divided by double refraction
which does not follow the ordinary law of refraction. -- Ordinary ray
(Opt.), that one of the two parts of a ray divided by double refraction
which follows the usual or ordinary law of refraction. -- Pencil of
rays (Geom.), a definite system of rays. -- Ray flower, or Ray floret
(Bot.), one of the marginal flowers of the capitulum in such composite
plants as the aster, goldenrod, daisy, and sunflower. They have an
elongated, strap-shaped corolla, while the corollas of the disk flowers
are tubular and five-lobed. -- Ray point (Geom.), the common point of a
pencil of rays. -- Röntgen ray (rnt"gn) (Phys.), a kind of ray
generated in a very highly exhausted vacuum tube by the electrical
discharge. It is capable of passing through many bodies opaque to
light, and producing photographic and fluorescent effects by which
means pictures showing the internal structure of opaque objects are
made, called radiographs, or sciagraphs.. So called from the
discoverer, W. C. Röntgen. -- X ray, the Röntgen ray; -- so called by
its discoverer because of its enigmatical character, x being an
algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity.
Ray, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rayed (rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Raying.] [Cf. OF.
raier, raiier, rayer, L. radiare to irradiate. See Ray, n., and cf.
Radiate.] 1. To mark with long lines; to streak. [Obs.] Chaucer.
2. [From Ray, n.] To send forth or shoot out; to cause to shine out;
as, to ray smiles. [R.] Thomson.
Ray, v. i. To shine, as with rays. Mrs. Browning.
Ray, n. [F. raie, L. raia. Cf. Roach.] (Zoöl.) (a) Any one of numerous
elasmobranch fishes of the order Raiæ, including the skates, torpedoes,
sawfishes, etc. (b) In a restricted sense, any of the broad, flat,
narrow-tailed species, as the skates and sting rays. See Skate.
Bishop ray, a yellow-spotted, long-tailed eagle ray (Stoasodon
nàrinari) of the Southern United States and the West Indies. --
Butterfly ray, a short-tailed American sting ray (Pteroplatea Maclura),
having very broad pectoral fins. -- Devil ray. See Sea devil. -- Eagle
ray, any large ray of the family Myliobatidæ, or Ætobatidæ. The common
European species (Myliobatis aquila) is called also whip ray, and
miller. -- Electric ray, or Cramp ray, a torpedo. -- Starry ray, a
common European skate (Raia radiata). -- Sting ray, any one of numerous
species of rays of the family Trygonidæ having one or more large,
sharp, barbed dorsal spines on the whiplike tail. Called also
stingaree.
||Ra"yah (r"y or rä"y), n. [Ar. ra'iyah a herd, a subject, fr. ra'a to
||pasture, guard.] A person not a Mohammedan, who pays the capitation
||tax. [Turkey]
Ray" grass` (r" grs`). [Etymol. of ray is uncertain.] (Bot.) A
perennial European grass (Lolium perenne); -- called also rye grass,
and red darnel. See Darnel, and Grass.
Italian ray, or rye, grass. See Darnel, and Grass.
Ray"less (r"ls), a. Destitute of rays; hence, dark; not illuminated;
blind; as, a rayless sky; rayless eyes.
Ray"on (r"n), n. [F.] Ray; beam. [Obs.] Spenser.
Ray"on*nant (r"n*nnt), a. [F.] (Her.) Darting forth rays, as the sun
when it shines out.
Raze (rz), n. [See Race.] A Shakespearean word (used once) supposed to
mean the same as race, a root.
Raze, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Razed (rzd); p. pr. & vb. n. Razing.] [F.
raser. See Rase, v. t.] [Written also rase.] 1. To erase; to efface; to
obliterate.
Razing the characters of your renown.
Shak.
2. To subvert from the foundation; to lay level with the ground; to
overthrow; to destroy; to demolish.
The royal hand that razed unhappy Troy.
Dryden.
Syn. -- To demolish; level; prostrate; overthrow; subvert; destroy;
ruin. See Demolish.
Razed (rzd), a. Slashed or striped in patterns. [Obs.] "Two Provincial
roses on my razed shoes." Shak.
Ra*zee" (r*z"), n. [F. vaisseau rasé, fr. raser to raze, to cut down
ships. See Raze, v. t., Rase, v. t.] (Naut.) An armed ship having her
upper deck cut away, and thus reduced to the next inferior rate, as a
seventy-four cut down to a frigate. Totten.
Ra*zee", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Razeed (r*zd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Razeeing.]
To cut down to a less number of decks, and thus to an inferior rate or
class, as a ship; hence, to prune or abridge by cutting off or
retrenching parts; as, to razee a book, or an article.
Ra"zor (r"zr), n. [OE. rasour, OF. rasur, LL. rasor: cf. F. rasoir, LL.
rasorium. See Raze, v. t., Rase, v. t.] 1. A keen-edged knife of
peculiar shape, used in shaving the hair from the face or the head.
"Take thee a barber's razor." Ezek. v. 1.
-->
2. (Zoöl.) A tusk of a wild boar.
Razor fish. (Zoöl.) (a) A small Mediterranean fish (Coryphæna
novacula), prized for the table. (b) The razor shell. -- Razor grass
(Bot.), a West Indian plant (Scleria scindens), the triangular stem and
the leaves of which are edged with minute sharp teeth. -- Razor grinder
(Zoöl.), the European goat-sucker. -- Razor shell (Zoöl.), any marine
bivalve shell belonging to Solen and allied genera, especially Solen,
or Ensatella, ensis, ∧ Americana, which have a long, narrow,
somewhat curved shell, resembling a razor handle in shape. Called also
razor clam, razor fish, knife handle. -- Razor stone. Same as
Novaculite. -- Razor strap, or Razor strop, a strap or strop used in
sharpening razors.
Ra"zor*a*ble (-*b'l), a. Ready for the razor; fit to be shaved. [R.]
Shak.
Ra"zor*back` (-bk`), n. (Zoöl.) The rorqual.
Ra"zor-backed` (-bkt`), a. (Zoöl.) Having a sharp, lean, or thin back;
as, a razor-backed hog, perch, etc.
Ra"zor*bill` (-bl`), n. (Zoöl.) (a) A species of auk (Alca torda)
common in the Arctic seas. See Auk, and Illust. in Appendix. (b) See
Cutwater, 3.
Ra"zure (r"zhr; 135), n. [See Rasure.] 1. The act of erasing or
effacing, or the state of being effaced; obliteration. See Rasure.
Shak.
2. An erasure; a change made by erasing.
||Raz"zi*a (rä"z*ä), n. [F., fr. Ar. ghza (pron. razia in Algeria).] A
||plundering and destructive incursion; a foray; a raid.
Re- (r-). [L. re-, older form (retained before vowels) red-: cf. F.
re-, ré-.] A prefix signifying back, against, again, anew; as, recline,
to lean back; recall, to call back; recede; remove; reclaim, to call
out against; repugn, to fight against; recognition, a knowing again;
rejoin, to join again; reiterate; reassure. Combinations containing the
prefix re- are readily formed, and are for the most part of obvious
signification.
Re (r). [It.] (Mus.) A syllable applied in solmization to the second
tone of the diatonic scale of C; in the American system, to the second
tone of any diatonic scale.
Re`ab*sorb" (r`b*sôrb"), v. t. To absorb again; to draw in, or imbibe,
again what has been effused, extravasated, or thrown off; to swallow up
again; as, to reabsorb chyle, lymph, etc.; -- used esp. of fluids.
Re`ab*sorp"tion (-sôrp"shn), n. The act or process of reabsorbing.
Re`ac*cess" (r`k*ss" or r*k"ss), n. A second access or approach; a
return. Hakewill.
Re`ac*cuse" (r`k*kz"), v. t. To accuse again.
Reach (rch), v. i. To retch. Cheyne.
Reach, n. An effort to vomit. [R.]
Reach, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reached (rcht) (Raught, the old preterit, is
obsolete); p. pr. & vb. n. Reaching.] [OE. rechen, AS. rcan, rcean, to
extend, stretch out; akin to D. reiken, G. reichen, and possibly to AS.
rce powerful, rich, E. rich. √115.] 1. To extend; to stretch; to
thrust out; to put forth, as a limb, a member, something held, or the
like.
Her tresses yellow, and long straughten, Unto her heeles down they
raughten.
Rom. of R.
Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side.
John xx. 27.
Fruit trees, over woody, reached too far Their pampered boughs.
Milton.
2. Hence, to deliver by stretching out a member, especially the hand;
to give with the hand; to pass to another; to hand over; as, to reach
one a book.
He reached me a full cup.
2 Esd. xiv. 39.
3. To attain or obtain by stretching forth the hand; to extend some
part of the body, or something held by one, so as to touch, strike,
grasp, or the like; as, to reach an object with the hand, or with a
spear.
O patron power, . . . thy present aid afford, Than I may reach the
beast.
Dryden.
4. To strike, hit, or touch with a missile; as, to reach an object with
an arrow, a bullet, or a shell.
5. Hence, to extend an action, effort, or influence to; to penetrate
to; to pierce, or cut, as far as.
If these examples of grown men reach not the case of children, let
them examine.
Locke.
6. To extend to; to stretch out as far as; to touch by virtue of
extent; as, his land reaches the river.
Thy desire . . . leads to no excess That reaches blame.
Milton.
7. To arrive at; to come to; to get as far as.
Before this letter reaches your hands.
Pope.
8. To arrive at by effort of any kind; to attain to; to gain; to be
advanced to.
The best account of the appearances of nature which human
penetration can reach, comes short of its reality.
Cheyne.
9. To understand; to comprehend. [Obs.]
Do what, sir? I reach you not.
Beau. & Fl.
10. To overreach; to deceive. [Obs.] South.
Reach, v. i. 1. To stretch out the hand.
Goddess humane, reach, then, and freely taste!
Milton.
2. To strain after something; to make efforts.
Reaching above our nature does no good.
Dryden.
3. To extend in dimension, time, amount, action, influence, etc., so as
to touch, attain to, or be equal to, something.
And behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached
to heaven.
Gen. xxviii. 12.
The new world reaches quite across the torrid zone.
Boyle.
4. (Naut.) To sail on the wind, as from one point of t
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