Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.