Rapt (răpt), imperfect & past participle of Rap , to snatch away.

Rapt adjective
1. Snatched away; hurried away or along.

Waters rapt with whirling away.

Spenser.

2. Transported with love, admiration, delight, etc.; enraptured. "The rapt musician." Longfellow.

3. Wholly absorbed or engrossed, as in work or meditation. " Rapt in secret studies." Shak.

Rapt noun [ From French rapt abduction, rape, Latin raptus , from rapere to seize and carry off, to transport; or from English rapt , adjective See Rapt , adjective , and Rapid .]
1. An ecstasy; a trance. [ Obsolete] Bp. Morton.

2. Rapidity. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne.

Rapt transitive verb
1. To transport or ravish. [ Obsolete] Drayton.

2. To carry away by force. [ Obsolete] Daniel.

Rapter (răp"tẽr) noun A raptor. [ Obsolete] Drayton.

Raptor (răp"tẽr) noun [ Latin raptor , from rapere to ravish. See Rapid .] A ravisher; a plunderer. [ Obsolete]

Raptores (răp*tō"rēz) noun plural [ New Latin See Raptor .] (Zoology) Same as Accipitres . Called also Raptatores .

Raptorial (-rĭ* a l) adjective (Zoology) (a) Rapacious; living upon prey; -- said especially of certain birds. (b) Adapted for seizing prey; -- said of the legs, claws, etc., of insects, birds, and other animals. (c) Of or pertaining to the Raptores. See Illust. (f) of Aves .

Raptorious (-ŭs) adjective [ Latin raptorius .] (Zoology) Raptorial.

Rapture (răp"tur; 135) noun [ Latin rapere , raptum , to carry off by force. See Rapid .]
1. A seizing by violence; a hurrying along; rapidity with violence. [ Obsolete]

That 'gainst a rock, or flat, her keel did dash
With headlong rapture .

Chapman.

2. The state or condition of being rapt, or carried away from one's self by agreeable excitement; violence of a pleasing passion; extreme joy or pleasure; ecstasy.

Music, when thus applied, raises in the mind of the hearer great conceptions; it strengthens devotion, and advances praise into rapture .

Addison.

You grow correct that once with rapture writ.

Pope.

3. A spasm; a fit; a syncope; delirium. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Syn. -- Bliss; ecstasy; transport; delight; exultation.

Rapture transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Raptured (-turd; 135); present participle & verbal noun Rapturing .] To transport with excitement; to enrapture. [ Poetic] Thomson.

Rapturist noun An enthusiast. [ Obsolete] J. Spencer.

Rapturize (-īz) transitive verb & i. To put, or be put, in a state of rapture. [ R.]

Rapturous (-ŭs) adjective Ecstatic; transporting; ravishing; feeling, expressing, or manifesting rapture; as, rapturous joy, pleasure, or delight; rapturous applause.

Rapturously adverb In a rapturous manner.

Rare (râr) adjective [ Confer Rather , Rath .] Early. [ Obsolete]

Rude mechanicals that rare and late
Work in the market place.

Chapman.

Rare adjective [ Compar. Rarer (râr"ẽr); superl. Rarest .] [ Confer Anglo-Saxon hrēr , or English rare early. √18.] Nearly raw; partially cooked; not thoroughly cooked; underdone; as, rare beef or mutton.

New-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care
Turned by a gentle fire, and roasted rare .

Dryden.

» This word is in common use in the United States, but in England its synonym underdone is preferred.

Rarebit (râr"bĭt) noun A dainty morsel; a Welsh rabbit. See Welsh rabbit , under Rabbit .

Raree-show (râr"e-shō`) noun [ Contr. from rarity-show .] A show carried about in a box; a peep show. Pope.

Rarefaction (răr`e*făk"shŭn) noun [ Confer French raréfaction . See Rarefy .] The act or process of rarefying; the state of being rarefied; -- opposed to condensation ; as, the rarefaction of air.

Rarefiable (răr"e*fī`ȧ*b'l) adjective [ Confer French raréfiable .] Capable of being rarefied. Boyle.

Rarefy (răr"e*fī; 277) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Rarefied (- fīd); present participle & verbal noun Rarefying (- fī`ĭng).] [ French raréfier ; Latin rarus rare + -ficare (in comp.) to make; confer Latin rarefacere . See -fy .] To make rare, thin, porous, or less dense; to expand or enlarge without adding any new portion of matter to; -- opposed to condense .

Rarefy intransitive verb To become less dense; to become thin and porous. "Earth rarefies to dew." Dryden.

Rarely (râr"lȳ) adverb
1. In a rare manner or degree; seldom; not often; as, things rarely seen.

2. Finely; excellently; with rare skill. See 3d Rare , 2.

The person who played so rarely on the flageolet.

Sir W. Scott.

The rest of the apartments are rarely gilded.

Evelyn.

Rareness noun The state or quality of being rare.

And let the rareness the small gift commend.

Dryden.

Rareripe (-rīp`) adjective [ Rare early + ripe . Confer Rathripe .] Early ripe; ripe before others, or before the usual season.

Rareripe noun An early ripening fruit, especially a kind of freestone peach.

Rarification (răr`ĭ*fĭ*kā"shŭn) noun See Rarefaction . [ R.] Am. Chem. Journal.

Rarity (răr"ĭ*tȳ; 277) noun ; plural Rarities (- tĭz). [ Latin raritas : confer French rareté . See Rare .]
1. The quality or state of being rare; rareness; thinness; as, the rarity (contrasted with the density ) of gases.

2. That which is rare; an uncommon thing; 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.

Ras (räs) noun See 2d Reis .

Rasante (rȧ`zäNt") adjective [ French, present participle of raser to graze.] (Fort.) Sweeping; grazing; -- applied to a style of fortification in which the command of the works over each other, and over the country, is kept very low, in order that the shot may more effectually sweep or graze the ground before them. H. Latin Scott.

Rascal (răs"k a l) noun [ Middle English rascaille rabble, probably from an Old French racaille , French racaille the rabble, rubbish, probably akin to French racler to scrape, (assumed) Late Latin rasiculare , rasicare , from Latin radere , rasum . See Rase , v. ]

1. One of the rabble; a low, common sort of person or creature; collectively, the rabble; the common herd; also, a lean, ill-conditioned beast, esp. a deer. [ Obsolete]

He smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the rascal .

Wyclif (1 Kings [ 1 Samuel] vi. 19).

Poor men alone? No, no; the noblest deer hath them [ horns] as huge as the rascal .

Shak.

2. A mean, trickish fellow; a base, dishonest person; a rogue; a scoundrel; a trickster.

For I have sense to serve my turn in store,
And he's a rascal who pretends to more.

Dryden.

Rascal adjective Of or pertaining to the common herd or common people; low; mean; base. "The rascal many." Spenser. "The rascal people." Shak.

While she called me rascal fiddler.

Shak.

Rascaldom (-dŭm) noun State of being a rascal; rascality; domain of rascals; rascals, collectively. Emerson.

Rascaless noun A female rascal. [ Humorous]

Rascality (răs*kăl"ĭ*tȳ) noun ; plural Rascalities (- tĭz).

1. The quality or state of being rascally, or a rascal; mean trickishness or dishonesty; base fraud.

2. The poorer and lower classes of people. [ Obsolete]

The chief heads of their clans with their several rascalities .

T. Jackson.

Rascallion (răs*kăl"yŭn) noun [ From Rascal .] A low, mean wretch. [ Written also rascalion .]

Rascally (răs"k a l*lȳ) adjective Like a rascal; trickish or dishonest; base; worthless; -- often in humorous disparagement, without implication of dishonesty.

Our rascally porter is fallen fast asleep.

Swift.

Rase (rāz) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Rased (rāzd); present participle & verbal noun Rasing .] [ French raser , Late Latin rasare to scrape often, v. freq. from Latin radere , rasum , to scrape, shave; confer Sanskrit rad to scratch, gnaw, Latin rodere to gnaw. Confer Raze , Razee , Razor , Rodent .]
1. To rub along the surface of; to graze. [ Obsoles.]

Was he not in the . . . neighborhood to death? and might not the bullet which rased his cheek have gone into his head?

South.

Sometimes his feet rased the surface of the water, and at others the skylight almost flattened his nose.

Beckford.

2. To rub or scratch out; to erase. [ Obsoles.]

Except we rase the faculty of memory, root and branch, out of our mind.

Fuller.

3. To level with the ground; to overthrow; to destroy; to raze. [ In this sense raze is generally used.]

Till Troy were by their brave hands rased ,
They would not turn home.

Chapman.

» This word, rase , may be considered as nearly obsolete; graze , erase , and raze , having superseded it.

Rasing iron , a tool for removing old oakum and pitch from the seams of a vessel.

Syn. -- To erase; efface; obliterate; expunge; cancel; level; prostrate; overthrow; subvert; destroy; demolish; ruin.

Rase intransitive verb To be leveled with the ground; to fall; to suffer overthrow. [ Obsolete]

Rase noun
1. A scratching out, or erasure. [ Obsolete]

2. A slight wound; a scratch. [ Obsolete] Hooker.

3. (O. Eng. Law) A way of measuring in which the commodity measured was made even with the top of the measuring vessel by rasing, or striking off, all that was above it. Burrill.

Rash (răsh) transitive verb [ For arace .]
1. To pull off or pluck violently. [ Obsolete]

2. To slash; to hack; to cut; to slice. [ Obsolete]

Rashing off helms and riving plates asunder.

Spenser.

Rash noun [ Old French rasche an eruption, scurf, French rache ; from (assumed) Late Latin rasicare to scratch, from Latin radere , rasum , to scrape, scratch, shave. See Rase , and confer Rascal .] (Medicine) A fine eruption or efflorescence on the body, with little or no elevation.

Canker rash . See in the Vocabulary. -- Nettle rash . See Urticaria . -- Rose rash . See Roseola . -- Tooth rash . See Red-gum .

Rash noun [ Confer French ras short-nap cloth, Italian & Spanish raso satin (cf. Rase ); or confer Italian rascia serge, German rasch , probably from Arras in France (cf. Arras ).] An inferior kind of silk, or mixture of silk and worsted. [ Obsolete] Donne.

Rash adjective [ Compar. Rasher (-ẽr); superl. Rashest .] [ Probably of Scand. origin; confer Dan. & Swedish rask quick, brisk, rash, Icelandic röskr vigorous, brave, akin to D. & German rasch quick, of uncertain origin.]
1. Sudden in action; quick; hasty. [ Obsolete] "Strong as aconitum or rash gunpowder." Shak.

2. Requiring sudden action; pressing; urgent. [ Obsolete]

I scarce have leisure to salute you,
My matter is so rash .

Shak.

3. Esp., overhasty in counsel or action; precipitate; resolving or entering on a project or measure without due deliberation and caution; opposed to prudent ; said of persons; as, a rash statesman or commander.

4. Uttered or undertaken with too much haste or too little reflection; as, rash words; rash measures.

5. So dry as to fall out of the ear with handling, as corn. [ Prov. Eng.] Grose.

Syn. -- Precipitate; headlong; headstrong; foolhardy; hasty; indiscreet; heedless; thoughtless; incautious; careless; inconsiderate; unwary. -- Rash , Adventurous , Foolhardy . A man is adventurous who incurs risk or hazard from a love of the arduous and the bold. A man is rash who does it from the mere impulse of his feelings, without counting the cost. A man is foolhardy who throws himself into danger in disregard or defiance of the consequences.

Was never known a more adventurous knight.

Dryden.

Her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat.

Milton.

If any yet be so foolhardy
To expose themselves to vain jeopardy;
If they come wounded off, and lame,
No honor 's got by such a maim.

Hudibras.

Rash (răsh) transitive verb To prepare with haste. [ Obsolete] Foxe.

Rasher (-ẽr) noun [ In sense 1, probably from rash , adjective , as being hastily cooked.]
1. A thin slice of bacon.

2. (Zoology) A California rockfish ( Sebastichthys miniatus ).

Rashful (-ful) adjective Rash; hasty; precipitate. [ Obsolete]

Rashling (-lĭng) noun A rash person. [ Obsolete]

Rashly adverb In a rash manner; with precipitation.

He that doth anything rashly , must do it willingly; for he was free to deliberate or not.

L'Estrange.