Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RAP'INE, n. [Fr. from L. rapina; rapio, to seize.]

1. The act of plundering; the seizing and carrying away of, things by force.
2. Violence; force. – Milton.

RAP'INE, v.t.

To plunder. – Buck.

RAP'IN-ED, pp.

Plundered.

RAP-PA-REE', n.

A wild Irish plunderer; so called from rapery, a half pike that he carries. – Todd.

RAP-PEE', n.

A coarse kind of snuff.

RAP'PER, n. [from rap.]

1. One that raps or knocks.
2. The knocker of a door. [Not in common use.]
3. An oath or a lie. [Not in use.] – Parker.

RAP'PORT, n. [Fr. from re and porter, to bear.]

Relation; proportion. [Not in use.] – Temple.

RAPT, n.

1. An ecstasy; a trance. – Morton.
2. Rapidity. [Not in use.]

RAPT, pp. [from rap.]

Transported; ravished.

RAPT, v.t.

To transport or ravish. [Not legitimate nor in use.] – Chapman.

RAP'TER, or RAP'TOR, n. [L. raptor.]

A ravisher; a plunderer. – Drayton.

RAP'TURE, n. [L. raptus, rapio.]

1. A seizing by violence. [Little used.] – Chapman.
2. Transport; ecstasy; violence of a pleasing passion; extreme joy or pleasure. Music when thus applied, raises in the mind of the hearer great conceptions; it strengthens devotion and advances praise into rapture. – Spectator.
3. Rapidity with violence; a hurrying along with velocity; as, rolling with torrent rapture. – Milton.
4. Enthusiasm; uncommon heat of imagination. You grow correct, that once with rapture writ. – Pope.

RAP'TUR-ED, a.

Ravished; transported. – Thomson. [But enraptured is generally used.]

RAP'TUR-IST, n.

An enthusiast. – Spenser.

RAP'TUR-OUS, a.

Ecstatic; transporting; ravishing; as, rapturous joy, pleasure or delight. – Collier.

RA'RA-A-VIS, n. [L.]

A rare bird; an unusual person.

RARE, a. [L. rarus, thin; Sp. Port. and It. raro; Fr. rare; D. raar; G. and Dan. rar.]

1. Uncommon; not frequent; as, a rare event; a rare phenomenon.
2. Unusually excellent; valuable to a degree seldom found. Rare work, all fill'd with terror and delight. – Cowley. Above the rest I judge one beauty rare. – Dryden.
3. Thinly scattered. Those rare and solitary, these in flocks. – Milton.
4. Thin; porous; not dense; as, a rare and attenuate substance. Water is nineteen times lighter and by consequence nineteen tines rarer than gold. Newton.
5. [Sax. hrere.] Nearly raw; imperfectly roasted or boiled as, rare beef or mutton; eggs roasted rare. – Dryden.

RA'REE-SHOW, n. [rare and show.]

A show carried in a box. – Pope.

RAR-E-FAC'TION, n. [Fr. See Rarefy.]

The act or process of expanding or distending bodies, by separating the parts and rendering the bodies more nice or porous, by which operation they appear under a larger bulk, or require more room, without an accession of new matter; opposed to condensation; as, the rarefaction of air. – Encyc.

RAR'E-FI-A-BLE, a.

Capable of being rarefied.

RAR'E-FI-ED, pp.

Made thin or less dense.

RAR'E-FY, v.i.

To become thin and porous. – Dryden.

RAR'E-FY, v.t. [Fr. rarefier; L. rarefacio; rarus, rare, and facio, to make.]

To make thin and porous or less dense; to expand or enlarge a body without adding to it any new portion of its own matter; opposed to condense. – Encyc. Thomson.

RAR'E-FY-ING, ppr.

Making thin or less dense.

RARE-LY, adv.

1. Seldom; not often; as, things rarely seen.
2. Finely; nicely. [Little used.] – Shak.