raphigraph 
actuated by a keyboard, and operating in con- 
junction with mechanism for shifting the paper. 
s The machine has proved practically valueless from its com- 
plication and its extreme slowness of operation, resulting 
from the requisite number of motions. 
raphis (ra'fis), n. ; pi. raptiides (raf 'i-dez). [NL. , 
< Gr. /xupit;, />a7r/f, a needle, pin, < frairretv, sew, 
stitch. Cf. raplie.] In bot., one of the acicular 
crystals, most often composed of oxalate of lime, 
which occur in bundles in the cells of many 
plants. The term has less properly been used to include 
crystals of other forms found in the same situations. Also 
rhaphig. 
rapid (rap'id), a. and n. [I. a. F. rapide (OF. 
vernacularly rade, ra) = Sp. rapido = Pg. It. 
rapido, swift, < L. rapidus, snatching, tearing, 
usually hasty, swift, lit. 'quick, '< rapere, snatch, 
akin to Gr. apTra(,uv, seize (see harpy): see rap 2 , 
rape 2 . II. n. F. rapide. a swift current in a 
stream, pi. rapides, rapids; from the adj.] I. 
a. 1. Moving or doing swiftly or with celer- 
ity; acting or performing with speed; quick in 
motion or execution : as, a rapid horse ; a rapid 
worker or speaker. 
Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal 
With rapid wheels. Milton, F. L., ii. 632. 
Be flx'd, you rapid orbs, that bear 
The changing seasons of the year. 
Carew, Coelum Britannicum, iv. 
Against his Will, you chain your frighted King 
On rapid Rhine's divided Bed. 
Prior, Imit. of Horace, ill. 2. 
2. Swiftly advancing; going on or forward at 
a fast rate ; making quick progress : as, rapid 
growth; rapid improvement; a rapid conflagra- 
tion. 
The rapid decline which is now wasting my powers. 
Farrar, Julian Home, xiv. 
3. Marked by swiftness of motion or action; 
proceeding or performed with velocity; exe- 
cuted speedily. 
My father's eloquence was too rapid to stay for any 
man ; away it went. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, v. 3. 
Thus inconsiderately, but not the less maliciously, Old- 
mixon filled his rapid page. 
/. D'Israeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 416. 
It pleased me to watch the curious effect of the rapid 
movement of near objects contrasted with the slow mo- 
tion of distant ones. 0. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 20. 
4. Gay. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] =8yn. 1-3. Fast, 
Ili-rt, expeditious, hasty, hurried. 
II. . A swift current in a river, where the 
channel is descending; a part of a river where 
the current runs with more than its ordinary 
celerity ; a sudden descent of the surface of a 
stream, more or less broken by obstructions, 
but without actual cataract or cascade : usually 
in the plural. 
No truer Time himself 
Can prove you, tho' he make you evermore 
Dearer and nearer, as the rapid of life 
Shoots to the fall. Tennyson, A Dedication. 
The rapids above are a series of shelves, bristling with 
jutting rocks and lodged trunks of trees. 
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 310. 
rapidamente (ra-pe-da-men'te), adv. [It.,< ra- 
pido, rapid: see rapid.'] In music, rapidly; in 
a rapid manner. 
rapidity (ra-pid'i-ti), n. [< F. rapidite(ef. Sp. 
Pg. rapidez) = It. rapiditA, < L. rapidita(t-)s, ra- 
pidity, swiftness, < rapidus, rapid: see rapid.'] 
The state orproperty of being rapid; celerity of 
motion or action; quickness of performance or 
execution; fast rate of progress or advance. 
Where the words are not monosyllables, we make them 
so by our rapidity of pronunciation. Addition. 
The undulations are present beyond the red and violet 
ends of the spectrum, for we have made them sensible 
through their actions on other reagents, and have mea- 
sured their rapidities. 
G. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, n. 20& 
= Syn. Speed, Swiftness, etc. (see quickness), haste, expedi- 
tion, despatch. 
rapidly (ran'id-li), adv. In a rapid manner; 
swiftly ; quickly ; at a fast rate. 
rapidness (rap'id-nes), n. The condition of 
being rapid, or of acting or proceeding rapidly; 
rapidity. 
rapido (rap'i-do), adv. [It.: see rapid.'] In 
music, with rapidity or agility: commonly ap- 
plied to a running passage. 
rapier (ra'pier), n. [= D. rapier, rappier = LG. 
rapier = G. rappier = 8w. Dan. rapier, < OF. ra- 
piere, raspiere,!?. rapiere, F. dial, raipeire (ML. 
rapperia), a rapier; prpb., as the form raspiere 
and various allusions indicate, of Spanish ori- 
gin, a name given orig. in contempt, as if ' a 
poker,' < Sp. raspadera, a raker, < raspar, rapar 
= Pg. rapar = OF. rasper, F. rdper, scrape, 
scratch, rasp, < OHG. raspon, rasp, etc. : see 
rasp 1 .'] 1. A long, narrow, pointed, two-edged 
4962 
sword, used, especially in the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, with a guard for the 
hand, adapted for both cutting and thrusting, 
but used chieflv for thrusting. Rapier practice 
was usually with a dagger or hand-buckler held in the left 
hand to parry the thrust. See cut under sword. 
And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart, 
Where it was forged, with my rapier's point. 
Skat., Rich, n., iv. 1. 40. 
Who had girt vnto them a Rapyer and Dagger, gilt, point 
pendante. Greene, Quip for an Upstart Courtier. 
Some . . . will not sticke to call Hercules himselfe a 
dastard, because forsooth he fought with a club and not 
at the rapyer and dagger. 
Sir J. Harington, tr. of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. 
The offense . . . caused her Majesty [Queen Elizabeth] 
to ... place selected grave citizens at every gate to cut 
the ruffes and break the rapiers' points of all passengers 
that exceeded a yard in length of their rapiers. 
Stowe, quoted in Encyc. Brit., IX. 70. 
2. In later English usage, a fencing-sword used 
only for thrusting. 
By a rapier is now always meant a sword for the thrust, 
in contradistinction to one adapted for cutting. 
Encyc. Brit., IX. 70. 
rapier-dancet (ra'pier-dans), n. A dance for- 
merly practised in Yorkshire, England, by men 
in costume who represented ancient heroes and 
flourished rapiers, ending with a mock execu- 
tion of one of their number by uniting their 
rapiers round his neck. See sword-dance. Hal- 
liiretl. 
rapier-fish (ra'pier-fish), n. A sword-fish. 
rapillo (ra-pil'6), n. [< F. rapille (Cotgrave) = 
It. rapillo, dross and ashes from a volcano, a 
kind of sand used in making mortar.] Pulver- 
ized volcanic substances. 
rapine (rap'in), n. [Early mod. E. also rapin; 
< OF. rapine, F. rapine = Pr. rapina = Sp. rapitta 
= Pg. It. rapina, < L. rapina, rapine, plunder, 
robbery, < rapere, seize : see rapid, rape%. Cf. 
rai'ine*, raven%, from the same source.] 1. The 
violent seizure and carrying off of property; 
open plunder by armed or superior force, as in 
war or by invasion or raid. 
They lived therefore mostly by rapin, pillaging their 
Neighbours, who were more addicted to trafnck than fight- 
ing. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 107. 
Plunder and rapine completed the devastations which 
war had begun. /;/.. Atteroury, Sermons, II. riii. 
2f. Violence; force; ravishment. 
Her graceful innocence, her every air 
Of gesture, or least action, overawed 
His malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved 
His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought. 
Milton, F. L, Ix. 461. 
= Syn. 1. Plunder, spoliation, robbery, depredation. See 
pillage. 
rapinet (rap'in), v. t. [< F. rapiner, rapine, 
plunder; from the noun. Cf. raven?, r., from 
the same source.] To plunder violently or by 
superior force. 
A Tyrant doth not only rapine his Subjects, but spoils 
and robs Churches. Sir 0. Buck, Hist. Richard III., v. 
raping (ra'ping),4>. a. [Ppr. of rape?, v.] 1. In 
her., devouring or tearing its prey: said of any 
carnivorous beast used as a bearing, it is neces- 
sary to mention the position of the creature, as rampant, 
etc., and also the nature of the prey. 
2. Eavishing. 
Or had the Syrens, on a neighbour shore, 
Heard in what raping notes she did deplore 
Her buried glory. W. Browne, Pastorals, i. 5. 
rapinpust (rap'i-nus), a. [= It. rapinoso, < ML. 
"rapinosus, < L. rapina, rapine : see rapine. Cf . 
ravenous, a doublet of rapinous.] Committing 
or characterized by rapine ; rapacious. 
All the close shrouds too, for his rapinota deedes 
In all the caue, he knew. 
Chapman, Homeric Hymn to Hermes. 
raplach (rap'lach), n. Same as raploch. 
raploch, raplock (rap 'loch, -lok), n. and a. 
[Also raplach, raplack; origin obscure.] I. n. 
Coarse woolen cloth, made from the worst kind 
of wool, homespun, and not dyed. '[Scotch 
and North. Eng.] 
II. a. Unkempt; rough; coarse. [Scotch.] 
My Muse, poor hizzie ! 
Tho' rough an' raploch be her measure, 
She *s seldom lazy. 
Burns, Second Epistle to Davie. 
raplyt (rap'li), adv. See rapely. 
rappt, r. t. An obsolete form of rap2. 
rappadura, n. See rapadura. 
rapparee, raparee (rap-a-re'), n. [< Ir. ra- 
paire, a noisy fellow, sloven, robber, thief, = 
Gael, repair, noisy fellow ; cf . Ir. rapal, noise ; 
rapaeh, noisy: see rabble' 1 .'] An armed Irish 
plunderer; in general, a vagabond. 
Obverse. Reverse. 
Rappen of Billon, 1803; British Mu- 
seum. (Size of original) 
rapprochement 
The frequent robberies, murders, and other notorious 
felonies committed by robbers, rapparees, and tories, upon 
their keeping, hath greatly discouraged the replanting of 
this kingdom. 
Laws of Will. III. (1695), quoted in Ribton-Turner's Va- 
[grants and Vagrancy, p. 396. 
The Irish formed themselves into many bodies . . . 
called rapparees. Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Times, an. 1690. 
The confiscations left behind them many "wood kerns," 
or, as they were afterwards called, rapparees, who were 
active in agrarian outrage, and a vagrant, homeless, half- 
savage population of beggars. 
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., vi. 
rappet, v. A Middle English form of rap 1 , 
rap 2 , etc. 
rappee (ra-pe'), n. [= G. rapee, rappeli = Dan. 
rupee, < F. rdpe, a kind of snuff, < rape, pp. of 
roper, rasp, scrape, grate : see rasp 1 .'] A strong 
kind of snuff, coarser than maccouba, of either 
a black or a brown color, made from the darker 
and ranker kinds of tobacco-leaves. 
In early times the duly sauced and fermented leaves 
were made up into "carottes" tightly tied up spindle- 
formed bundles, from the end of which the snuffer, by means 
of a "snuff rasp," rasped off his own supply, and hence the 
name "rapd," which we have still as rappee, to indicatea 
particular class of snuff. Encyc. Brit., XXin. 427. 
rappel (ra-pel'), n. [< F. rappel, OF. rapiel 
(ML. rapellum), verbal n. of rapeler, F. rap- 
peler, repeal, revoke: see repeal.] 1. The roll 
or beat of the drum to call soldiers to arms. 
2. An ancient musical instrument, still used 
in Egypt, consisting of a ring to which are 
attached small bells or metal plates, forming a 
sort of rattle. 
rappen (rap 'en), n.\ pi. rappen. [Swiss G. 
rappen, a coin of Basel, of small value, bearing 
the impress of a raven, < MHG. rappe, a coin 
first struck at Frei- 
burg in Baden, with 
the head of a bird on 
it representing the 
Freiburg coat of 
arms, < rappe, a col- 
lateral form of robe 
= E. raven: see ra- 
ven 1 .] A Swiss coin 
and denomination of money. At the present day 
the rappen is equivalent to a centime : thus, 100 rappen 
(equal to 100 centimes) make 1 franc. 
rapper (rap'er), n. [< rap 1 + -er 1 .] 1. One 
who raps or knocks ; specifically, a spirit-rap- 
per. 2. The knocker of a door. [Rare.] 3. 
In coal-mining, a lever with a hammer attached 
at one end, placed at the mouth of a shaft or 
incline for giving signals to the banksman, by 
rapping on an iron plate. 4. An extravagant 
oath or lie; a "whopper." See to rap out (a), 
under rap 1 , v. t. [Prov. Eng.] 
Bravely sworn t though this is no flower of the sun, yet 
I am sure it is something that deserves to be called a 
rapper. 
Bp. Parker, Reproof of Rehearsal Transposed, p. 200. 
rapping (rap'ing), n. [Verbal n. of rap 1 , .] 
The production of sound by a rap ; specifically, 
the sound of significant raps or knocks sup- 
posed to be produced by spirits through the 
instrumentality of mediums or spirit-rappers; 
spirit-rapping. 
rapping (rap'ing), a. [Ppr. of rap 1 , .] Re- 
markably large; of striking or astonishing 
size; "whopping." [Prov. Eng.] 
Rappist (rap'ist), . [< Rapp, name of the 
founder (see Harmonist, 4), + -ist.~] Same as 
Harmonist, 4. 
Rappite (rap'It), n. [< Rapp (see Rappist) + 
-4te*.~] Same as Harmonist, 4. 
rapport (ra-port'), v. i. [< F. rapporter, relate, 
refer: see report, v.] To have relation or 
reference; relate; refer. [Rare.] 
When God hath imprinted an authority upon a person, 
. . . others are to pay the duty which that impression 
demands ; which duty, because it rapports to God, and 
touches not the man, . . . extinguishes all pretences of 
opinion and pride. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), 1. 142. 
rapport (ra-por'), n. [F. rapport, OF. raport, 
account, also resemblance, correspondence, 
accord, agreement, = Pg. raporte = It. rap- 
porto, report, relation: see report, n.] 1. 
Harmonious relation ; correspondence ; accord 
or agreement; affinity; analogy: used as a 
French word, often in the phrase en rapport, 
in or into close relation, accord, or harmony. 
It is obvious enough what rapport there is, and must 
ever be, between the thoughts and words, the conceptions 
and languages of every country. 
Sir W. Temple, Anc. and Mod. Learning. 
2. In French law, a report on a case, or on a 
subject submitted ; a return, 
rapprochement (ra-pr6sh'mon),. [F., reunion, 
reconciliation, < rapprociier, approach again, < 
or 
