Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RARE-NESS, n.

1. The state of being uncommon; uncommonness; infrequency. And let the rareness the small gift commend. Dryden.
2. Value arising from scarcity. Bacon.
3. Thinness; tenuity; as, the rareness of air or vapor.
4. Distance from each other; thinness. Johnson.

RARE-RIPE, a. [Sax. aræran, to excite, to hasten.]

Early ripe; ripe before others, or before the usual season.

RARE-RIPE, n.

An early fruit, particularly a kind of peach which ripens early.

RAR'I-TY, n. [Fr. rareté; L. raritas.]

1. Uncommonness; infrequency. Far from being fond of a flower for its rarity. Spectator.
2. 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.
3. Thinness; tenuity; opposed to density; as, the rarity of air. Digby.

RAS'CAL, a.

1. Lean; as, a rascal deer.
2. Mean; low. Spenser.

RAS'CAL, n. [Sax. id. This word is said to signify a lean beast.]

A mean fellow; a scoundrel; in modern usage, a trickish dishonest fellow; a rogue; particularly applied to men und boys guilty of the lesser crimes, and indicating less enormity or guilt than villain. I have sense to serve my turn in store, / And he's a rascal who pretends to more. Dryden.

RAS-CAL'ION, n. [from rascal.]

A low mean wretch. Hudibras.

RAS-CAL'I-TY, n.

1. The low mean people. South.
2. Mean trickishness or dishonesty; base fraud. [This is its sense in present usage in America.]

RAS'CAL-LY, a.

1. Meanly trickish or dishonest; vile.
2. Mean; vile; base; worthless; as, a rascally porter. Swift.

RASE, n.

1. A cancel; erasure. [Not in use.]
2. A slight wound. [Not in use.]

RASE, v.t. [s as z. Fr. raser; Sp. and Port. rasar; It. rasare and raschiare; Arm. raza; L. rasus, rado. With these words accord the W. rhathu; to rub off; rhathell, a rasp, Eth. ረወተ root, to rub or wipe. See the verb to row, which is radically the same word. If g in grate is a prefix, the word is formed on the same radix. Class Rd, No. 10, 13, 17, 25, 35, 38, 42, 56, 58, 61, 62, 64, 81.]

1. To pass along the surface of a thing, with striking or rubbing it at the same time; to grime. Might not the bullet which rased his cheek, have gone into his head? [Obs.] South.
2. To erase; to scratch or rub out; or to blot out; to cancel. Milton. [In this sense, erase is generally used.]
3. To level with the ground; to overthrow; to destroy; as, to rase a city. Milton. [In this sense race is generally used. This orthography, rase, may therefore be considered as nearly obsolete; graze, erase and raze having superseded it.]

RASH, a. [D. and G. rasch, quick; Sw. and Dan. rask, id.; Sax. hrad, hræd, hræth, quick, hasty, ready, and hræs, ræs, impetus, force, and hreosan, reosan, ræsan, to rush. See Ready and Rush. The sense is advancing, pushing forward. Class Rd, No. 5, 9.]

1. Hasty in council or action; precipitate; resolving or entering on a project or measure without due deliberation and caution, and thus encountering unnecessary hazard; applied to persons; as, a rash statesman or minister; a rash commander.
2. Uttered or undertaken with too much baste or too little reflection; as, rash words; rash measures.
3. Requiring haste; urgent. I have scarce leisure to salute you, / My matter is so rash. Shak.
4. Quick; sudden; as, rash gunpowder. [Not in use.]

RASH, n.¹

Corn so dry as to fall out with handling. [Local.] Grose.

RASH, n.² [It. rascia.]

1. Satin.
2. An eruption or efflorescence on the body, with little or no elevation. [In Italian, raschia is the itch.]

RASH, v.t. [It. raschiare, to scrape or grate; W. rhâsg, rhasgyl, rhasgliaw; from the root of rase, graze.]

To slice; to cut into pieces; to divide. Spenser.

RASH'ED, pp.

Cut into slices; divided.

RASH'ER, n.

A thin slice of bacon; a thin cut. Shak.

RASH'LY, adv.

With precipitation; hastily; without due deliberation. He that doth any thing rashly, must do it willingly. L'Estrange. So rashly brave, to dare the sword of Theseus. Smith.

RASH'NESS, n.

1. Too much haste in resolving or in undertaking a measure; precipitation; inconsiderate readiness or promptness to decide or act, implying disregard of consequences or contempt of danger; applied to persons. The failure of enterprises is often owing to rashness. We offend by rashness, which is an affirming or denying before we have sufficiently informed ourselves. South.
2. The quality of being uttered or done without due deliberation; as, the rashness of words or of undertakings.

RASP, n. [Sw. and D. rasp; G. raspel; Dan. raspe; Fr. râpe, for raspe; It. and Sp. raspa. See Rase.]

1. A large rough file; a grater.
2. A raspberry, – which see. Bacon.
3. The rough bark of a tree.

RASP, v.t. [D. raspen; Dan. rasper; Sw. raspa; It. raspare; Sp. raspar; Fr. râper; W. rhathell, in a different dialect. See Rase.]

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. Wiseman. Moxon.

RASP'A-TO-RY, n.

A surgeon's rasp. Wiseman.

RASP'BER-RY, n. [from rasp, so named from the roughness of the fruit. G. kratzbeere, from kratzen, to scratch.]

The fruit of a bramble or species of Rubus; a berry growing on a prickly plant; as, the black raspberry; the red and the white raspberry.

RASP'BER-RY-BUSH, n.

The bramble producing raspberries.

RASP'ED, pp.

Rubbed or filed with a rasp; grated to a fine powder.