Ras - Ratchet

2. That which is rare; an uncommon thing; a thing valued for its scarcity.
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I saw three rarities of different kinds, which pleased me more than any other shows in the place. Addison.
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Ras (räs), n. See 2d .
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Rasante (rȧzäNt), a. [F., p. pr. 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. L. Scott.
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Rascal (răsk�l), n. [OE. rascaille rabble, probably from an OF. racaille, F. racaille the rabble, rubbish, probably akin to F. racler to scrape, (assumed) LL. rasiculare, rasicare, fr. L. radere, rasum. See , v.]
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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. [Obs.]
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He smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the rascal. Wyclif (1 Kings [1 Samuel] vi. 19).
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Poor men alone? No, no; the noblest deer hath them [horns] as huge as the rascal. Shak.
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2. A mean, trickish fellow; a base, dishonest person; a rogue; a scoundrel; a trickster.
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For I have sense to serve my turn in store,
And he's a rascal who pretends to more. Dryden.
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Rascal, a. Of or pertaining to the common herd or common people; low; mean; base. “The rascal many.” Spencer. “The rascal people.” Shak.
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While she called me rascal fiddler. Shak.
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Rascaldom (-dŭm), n. State of being a rascal; rascality; domain of rascals; rascals, collectively. Emerson.
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Rascaless, n. A female rascal. [Humorous]
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Rascality (răskălĭt�), n.; pl. Rascalities (răskălĭtĭz)
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1. The quality or state of being rascally, or a rascal; mean trickishness or dishonesty; base fraud.
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2. The poorer and lower classes of people. [Obs.]
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The chief heads of their clans with their several rascalities T. Jackson.
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Rascallion (răskălyŭn), n. [From ] A low, mean wretch; a rogue; same as , n.. 2; now disused, replaced by . [archaic] [Written also rascalion.]
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Rascally (răsk�ll�), a. Like a rascal; trickish or dishonest; base; worthless; -- often in humorous disparagement, without implication of dishonesty.
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Our rascally porter is fallen fast asleep. Swift.
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Rase (rāz), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rased (rāzd); p. pr. & vb. n. Rasing.] [F. raser, LL. rasare to scrape often, v. freq. fr. L. radere, rasum, to scrape, shave; cf. Skr. rad to scratch, gnaw, L. rodere to gnaw. Cf. , , , .] 1. To rub along the surface of; to graze. [Obsoles.]
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Was he not in the . . . neighborhood to death? and might not the bullet which rased his cheek have gone into his head? South.
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Sometimes his feet rased the surface of the water, and at others the skylight almost flattened his nose. Beckford.
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2. To rub or scratch out; to erase. [Obsoles.]
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Except we rase the faculty of memory, root and branch, out of our mind. Fuller.
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3. To level with the ground; to overthrow; to destroy; to raze. [In this sense raze is generally used.]
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Till Troy were by their brave hands rased,
They would not turn home. Chapman.
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☞ This word, rase, may be considered as nearly obsolete; graze, erase, and raze, having superseded it.
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Coloq. Rasing iron , a tool for removing old oakum and pitch from the seams of a vessel.
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Syn. -- To erase; efface; obliterate; expunge; cancel; level; prostrate; overthrow; subvert; destroy; demolish; ruin.
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Rase, v. i. To be leveled with the ground; to fall; to suffer overthrow. [Obs.]
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Rase, n. 1. A scratching out, or erasure. [Obs.]
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2. A slight wound; a scratch. [Obs.] Hooker.
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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.
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Rash (răsh), v. t. [For arace.] 1. To pull off or pluck violently. [Obs.]
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2. To slash; to hack; to cut; to slice. [Obs.]
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Rashing off helms and riving plates asunder. Spenser.
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Rash, n. [OF. rasche an eruption, scurf, F. rache; fr. (assumed) LL. rasicare to scratch, fr. L. radere, rasum, to scrape, scratch, shave. See , and cf. .] (Med.) A fine eruption or efflorescence on the body, with little or no elevation.
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Coloq. Canker rash . See in the Vocabulary. -- Coloq. Nettle rash . See . -- Coloq. Rose rash . See . -- Coloq. Tooth rash . See .
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Rash, n. [Cf. F. ras short-nap cloth, It. & Sp. raso satin (cf. ); or cf. It. rascia serge, G. rasch, probably fr. Arras in France (cf. ).] An inferior kind of silk, or mixture of silk and worsted. [Obs.] Donne.
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Rash, a. [Compar. Rasher (-ẽr); superl. Rashest.] [Probably of Scand. origin; cf. Dan. & Sw. rask quick, brisk, rash, Icel. röskr vigorous, brave, akin to D. & G. rasch quick, of uncertain origin.] 1. Sudden in action; quick; hasty. [Obs.] “Strong as aconitum or rash gunpowder.” Shak.
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2. Requiring sudden action; pressing; urgent. [Obs.]
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I scarce have leisure to salute you,
My matter is so rash. Shak.
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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.
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4. Uttered or undertaken with too much haste or too little reflection; as, rash words; rash measures.
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5. So dry as to fall out of the ear with handling, as corn. [Prov. Eng.] Grose.
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Syn. -- Precipitate; headlong; headstrong; foolhardy; hasty; indiscreet; heedless; thoughtless; incautious; careless; inconsiderate; unwary. -- , , . 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.
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Was never known a more adventurous knight. Dryden.
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Her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat. Milton.
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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.
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Rash (răsh), v. t. To prepare with haste. [Obs.] Foxe.
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Rasher (răshẽr), n. [In sense 1, probably fr. rash, a., as being hastily cooked.] 1. A thin slice of bacon.
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2. (Zoöl.) A California rockfish (Sebastichthys miniatus).
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Rashful (răshfụl), a. Rash; hasty; precipitate. [Obs.]
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Rashling (răshlĭng), n. A rash person. [Obs.]
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Rashly, adv. In a rash manner; with precipitation.
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He that doth anything rashly, must do it willingly; for he was free to deliberate or not. L'Estrange.
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Rashness, n. The quality or state of being rash.
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We offend . . . by rashness, which is an affirming or denying, before we have sufficiently informed ourselves. South.
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Syn. -- Temerity; foolhardiness; precipitancy; precipitation; hastiness; indiscretion; heedlessness; inconsideration; carelessness. See .
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Raskolnik (răskŏlnĭk), n.; pl. Raskolniki (răskŏlnĭkē) or Raskolniks (#). [Russ. raskol'nik dissenter, fr. raskol dissent.] The name applied by the Russian government to any subject of the Greek faith who dissents from the established church. The Raskolniki embrace many sects, whose common characteristic is a clinging to antique traditions, habits, and customs. The schism originated in 1667 in an ecclesiastical dispute as to the correctness of the translation of the religious books. The dissenters, who have been continually persecuted, are believed to number about 20,000,000, although the Holy Synod officially puts the number at about 2,000,000. They are officially divided into three groups according to the degree of their variance from orthodox beliefs and observances, as follows: I. “Most obnoxious.” the Coloq. Judaizers ; the Coloq. Molokane , who refuse to recognize civil authority or to take oaths; the Coloq. Dukhobortsy , or Coloq. Dukhobors , who are communistic, marry without ceremony, and believe that Christ was human, but that his soul reappears at intervals in living men; the Coloq. Khlysty , who countenance anthropolatory, are ascetics, practice continual self-flagellation, and reject marriage; the Coloq. Skoptsy , who practice castration; and a section of the Coloq. Bezpopovtsy , or priestless sect, which disbelieve in prayers for the Czar and in marriage. II. “Obnoxious:” the Coloq. Bezpopovtsy , who pray for the Czar and recognize marriage. III. “Least obnoxious:” the Coloq. Popovtsy , who dissent from the orthodox church in minor points only. [Written also rascolnik.]
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Rasores (rȧzōrēz), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. radere, rasum, to scratch. See , v. t.] (Zoöl.) An order of birds; the Gallinæ.
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☞ Formerly, the word Rasores was used in a wider sense, so as to include other birds now widely separated in classification.
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Rasorial (rȧzōrĭ�l; 277), a. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Rasores, or gallinaceous birds, as the peacock, domestic fowl, partridge, quail, and the like.
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Rasour (räs�r), n. Razor. [Obs.] Chaucer.
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Rasp (rȧsp), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rasped (rȧspt); p. pr. & vb. n. Rasping.] [OF. rasper, F. râper, to scrape, grate, rasp, fr. OHG. raspōn to scrape together, to collect, probably akin to E. rap. Cf. to snatch.]
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1. 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.
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2. Hence, figuratively: To grate harshly upon; to offend by coarse or rough treatment or language; as, some sounds rasp the ear; his insults rasped my temper.
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Rasp, n. [OE. raspe, OF. raspe, F. râpe. See , v.]
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1. A coarse file, on which the cutting prominences are distinct points raised by the oblique stroke of a sharp punch, instead of lines raised by a chisel, as on the true file.
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2. The raspberry. [Obs.] “Set sorrel amongst rasps, and the rasps will be the smaller.” Bacon.
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Coloq. Rasp palm (Bot.), a Brazilian palm tree (Iriartea exorhiza) which has strong aërial roots like a screw pine. The roots have a hard, rough surface, and are used by the natives for graters and rasps, whence the common name.
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Raspatorium (răspȧtōrĭŭm), n. [LL.] See .
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Raspatory (rȧspȧt�r�), n. [LL. raspatorium: cf. F. raspatoir. See , v.] A surgeon's rasp. Wiseman.
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Raspberry (răzbĕrr�; 277), n. [From E. rasp, in allusion to the apparent roughness of the fruit.] (Bot.) (a) The thimble-shaped fruit of the Rubus Idæus and other similar brambles; as, the black, the red, and the white raspberry. (b) The shrub bearing this fruit.
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☞ Technically, raspberries are those brambles in which the fruit separates readily from the core or receptacle, in this differing from the blackberries, in which the fruit is firmly attached to the receptacle.
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Rasper (rȧspẽr), n. One who, or that which, rasps; a scraper.
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Raspis (răspĭs), n. The raspberry. [Obs.] Langham.
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Raspy (rȧsp�), a. Like a rasp, or the sound made by a rasp; grating. R. D. Blackmore.
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Rasse (răs), n. [Cf. Malay rāsa taste, sensation.] (Zoöl.) A carnivore (Viverricula Mallaccensis) allied to the civet but smaller, native of China and the East Indies. It furnishes a perfume resembling that of the civet, which is highly prized by the Javanese. Called also Malacca weasel, and lesser civet.
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Rasure (rāzh�r; 135), n. [L. rasura, fr. radere, rasum, to scrape, to shave. See , v.] 1. The act of rasing, scraping, or erasing; erasure; obliteration.
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2. A mark by which a letter, word, or any part of a writing or print, is erased, effaced, or obliterated; an erasure. Ayliffe.
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Rat (răt), n. [AS. ræt; akin to D. rat, OHG. rato, ratta, G. ratte, ratze, OLG. ratta, LG. & Dan. rotte, Sw. råtta, F. rat, Ir. & Gael radan, Armor. raz, of unknown origin. Cf. .] 1. (Zoöl.) One of several species of small rodents of the genus Rattus (formerly included in Mus) and allied genera, of the family Muridae, distinguished from mice primarily by being larger. They infest houses, stores, and ships, especially the Norway rat, also called brown rat, (Rattus norvegicus formerly Mus decumanus), the black rat (Rattus rattus formerly Mus rattus), and the roof rat (formerly Mus Alexandrinus, now included in Rattus rattus). These were introduced into America from the Old World. The white rat used most commonly in laboratories is primarily a strain derived from Rattus rattus.
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2. A round and tapering mass of hair, or similar material, used by women to support the puffs and rolls of their natural hair. [Local, U.S.]
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3. One who deserts his party or associates; hence, in the trades, one who works for lower wages than those prescribed by a trades union. [Cant]
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☞ “It so chanced that, not long after the accession of the house of Hanover, some of the brown, that is the German or Norway, rats, were first brought over to this country (in some timber as is said); and being much stronger than the black, or, till then, the common, rats, they in many places quite extirpated the latter. The word (both the noun and the verb to rat) was first, as we have seen, leveled at the converts to the government of George the First, but has by degrees obtained a wider meaning, and come to be applied to any sudden and mercenary change in politics.” Lord Mahon.
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Coloq. Bamboo rat (Zoöl.), any Indian rodent of the genus Rhizomys. -- Coloq. Beaver rat , Coloq. Coast rat . (Zoöl.) See under and . -- Coloq. Blind rat (Zoöl.), the mole rat. -- Coloq. Cotton rat (Zoöl.), a long-haired rat (Sigmodon hispidus), native of the Southern United States and Mexico. It makes its nest of cotton and is often injurious to the crop. -- Coloq. Ground rat . See Ground Pig, under . -- Coloq. Hedgehog rat . See under . -- Coloq. Kangaroo rat (Zoöl.), the potoroo. -- Coloq. Norway rat (Zoöl.), the common brown rat. See . -- Coloq. Pouched rat . (Zoöl.) (a) See Pocket Gopher, under . (b) Any African rodent of the genus Cricetomys. Coloq. Rat Indians (Ethnol.), a tribe of Indians dwelling near Fort Ukon, Alaska. They belong to the Athabascan stock. -- Coloq. Rat mole . (Zoöl.) See Mole rat, under . -- Coloq. Rat pit , an inclosed space into which rats are put to be killed by a dog for sport. -- Coloq. Rat snake (Zoöl.), a large colubrine snake (Ptyas mucosus) very common in India and Ceylon. It enters dwellings, and destroys rats, chickens, etc. -- Coloq. Spiny rat (Zoöl.), any South American rodent of the genus Echinomys. -- Coloq. To smell a rat . See under . -- Coloq. Wood rat (Zoöl.), any American rat of the genus Neotoma, especially Neotoma Floridana, common in the Southern United States. Its feet and belly are white.
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Rat, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ratted; p. pr. & vb. n. Ratting.] 1. In English politics, to desert one's party from interested motives; to forsake one's associates for one's own advantage; in the trades, to work for less wages, or on other conditions, than those established by a trades union.
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Coleridge . . . incurred the reproach of having ratted, solely by his inability to follow the friends of his early days. De Quincey.
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2. To catch or kill rats.
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2. To be an informer (against an associate); to inform (on an associate); to squeal; -- used commonly in the phrase to rat on.
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Rata (rätȧ), n. [Maori.] (Bot.) A New Zealand forest tree (Metrosideros robusta), also, its hard dark red wood, used by the Maoris for paddles and war clubs.
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Ratability (rātȧbĭlĭt�), n. The quality or state of being ratable.
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Ratable (rātȧb'l), a. 1. Capable of being rated, or set at a certain value.
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Twenty oræ were ratable to [at] two marks of silver. Camden.
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2. Liable to, or subjected by law to, taxation; as, ratable estate.
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3. Made at a proportionate rate; as, ratable payments. -- Ratableness, n. -- Ratably, adv.
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ratable (rātȧb'l), n. a structure which may be rated, or set at a certain value, for the purpose of taxation, usually based on the value; as, with the deterioration of the center cities, the loss of ratables worsened the situation by removing valuable sources of tax revenue.
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Ratafia (rătȧfēȧ), n. [F., fr. Malay arak arrack + tāfīa a spirit distilled from molasses.] A spirituous liquor flavored with the kernels of cherries, apricots, peaches, or other fruit, spiced, and sweetened with sugar; -- a term applied to the liqueurs called noyau, curaçao, etc. [Written also ratifia and ratafee.]
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Ratan (rȧtăn), n. See .
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Ratany (rătȧn�), n. (Bot.) Same as .
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Rataplan (rȧtȧpläN), n. [F.] The iterative sound of beating a drum, or of a galloping horse.
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Ratch (răch), n. (Zoöl.) Same as .
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Ratch (răch), n. [See the instrument, .] A ratchet wheel, or notched bar, with which a pawl or click works.
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Ratchel (-ĕl), n. Gravelly stone. [Prov. Eng.]
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Ratchet (-ĕt), n. [Properly a diminutive from the same word as rack: cf. F. rochet. See 2d , the instrument.] 1. A pawl, click, or detent, for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc.
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2. A mechanism composed of a ratchet wheel, or ratch, and pawl. See Ratchet wheel, below, and 2d .
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Coloq. Ratchet brace (Mech.), a boring brace, having a ratchet wheel and pawl for rotating the tool by back and forth movements of the brace handle. -- Coloq. Ratchet drill , a portable machine for working a drill by hand, consisting of a hand lever carrying at one end a drill holder which is revolved by means of a ratchet wheel and pawl, by swinging the lever back and forth. -- Coloq. Ratchet wheel (Mach.), a circular wheel having teeth, usually angular, with which a reciprocating pawl engages to turn the wheel forward, or a stationary pawl to hold it from turning backward.
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☞ In the cut, the moving pawl c slides over the teeth in one direction, but in returning, draws the wheel with it, while the pawl d prevents it from turning in the contrary direction.
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