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.