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.