rascal 
objurgation with much latitude, and often, like 
rogue, with slight meaning. Compare rascally. 
I have matter in my head . . . against your cony-catch- 
ing rascal*, Bardolpl), Nym, and Pistol. 
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 1. 128. 
Shall a rascal, because he has read books, talk pertly to 
me? Cibber. 
There were many men who wore green turbans, he said, 
that were very great rascals; but he was a Saint, which 
was better than a sherrin'e. Bruce, Source of the N tie, 1. 76. 
H. (i. 1. Paltry; worthless; unworthy of con- 
sideration ; in a special use, unfit for the chase, 
as a lean deer : used of things or animals. [Ob- 
solescent.] 
When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, 
To lock such rascal counters from his friends, 
Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts ! 
Shak., J. C. ( iv. 3. 80. 
2. Low; mean; base; common; ignoble; vulgar; 
knavish : used of persons, formerly with refer- 
ence to class or occupation, but now only with 
an implication of moral baseness or dishonesty. 
[Not now common as an adjective.] 
Paul, being in prison in Rome, did write divers epistles, 
in which he expresseth the names of many which were in 
comparison of Peter but rascal personages ; but of Peter 
he speaketh never a word. 
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 145. 
Metaphore ... as one should in reproch say to a poore 
man, thou raskall knaue, where raskall is properly the 
hunter's terme giuen to young deere, leane and out of sea- 
son, and not to people. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesio (ed. Arber), p. 191. 
Clodius shrieked for help. His rascal followers rushed 
in with lighted torches. Froude, Ctesar, xv. 
rascaldom (ras'kal-dum), i. [<rascal + -dom.] 
1. The sphere or'domain of rascals; a class or 
body of rascally persons. 
How has this turbulent Alexandrian rascaldom been be- 
having itself iu my absence? Kingdey, Hypatia, ii. 
View of the rascaldom of Paris, tragical at this time (for 
where is now that reiving and stealing, that squeaking 
and jabbering of lies?), otherwise unprofitable. 
Carlyle, iu Froude (First Forty Years, II. xvii.). 
2. Rascally character or action ; the spirit or 
practice of rascals ; rascalism. [Rare.] 
The "three R's," if no industrial training has gone along 
with them, are apt, as Miss Nightingale observes, to pro- 
duce a fourth R of rascaldom. 
Froude, at St. Andrews, March, 1869. 
Falstaff . . . is a character of the broadest comedy, . . . 
enjoying the confusion betwixt reason and the negation of 
reason in other words, the rank rascaldom he is calling 
by its name. 
Emerson, Letters and Social Aims, The Comic. 
rascaldryt (ras'kal-dri), n. [For "rascalry, < 
rascal + -n/.] A body or the class of rascals; 
the common herd ; the rabble. [Rare.] 
So base a rascaldry 
As is too farre from thought of chyualry. 
Breton, Pasquil's Fooles-cappe, p. 21. (Dames.) 
rascalism (ras'kal-izm), n. [< rascal + -ism.~\ 
The spirit or practice of a rascal or of rascals ; 
rascally character or quality. 
A tall handsome man with ex-military whiskers, with a 
look of troubled gaiety and rascalism. 
Carlyle, Diamond Necklace, xiv. (Davies.) 
rascality (ras-kal'i-ti), n. [< rascal + -&/.] 
1. Low or mean people collectively; rascals 
in general; rascaldom: now used chiefly in the 
moral sense. See rascal, a., 2. 
Your baboons, and your jackanapes, being the scum and 
rascality of all hedge-creepers, they go in jerkins and man- 
dilions. Dekker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 69. 
Pretended philosophers judge as ignorantly in their way 
as the rascality in theirs. Olanrille. 
A favorite remedy [expulsion] with the Scotch for the 
purpose of disembarrassing themselves of their superflu- 
ous rascality. 
Ribton-Twrner, Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 129. 
2. The character or an action of a rascal ; the 
quality of being a rascal ; low or mean trick- 
ery; base or dishonest procedure; villainy; 
fraud. 
Why, goodman Hobby-hoise, if we out of our gentility 
offer'd you to begin, must you out of your rascality needs 
take it? R. Taylor, Hog hath Lost its Pearl, iii. 
This letter (full of rascallilies against King Ch. II. and 
his Court). Wood, Athenee Oxon., II. 629. 
rascal-like (ras'kal-llk), . Like a rascal, in 
any sense; in the quotation, like a lean deer. 
If we be English deer, be then in blood ; 
Not rascal-like, to fall down with a pinch. 
Shale., 1 Hen. VI., iv. 2. 49. 
rascallion (ras-kal'ypn), n. [< rascal + -ion. 
Hence var. rapscallion.] A low, mean wretch ; 
a rapscallion. 
Used him so like a base ratcallion. 
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. iii. 327. 
rascally (ras'kal-i\. [< nixi-itl + -/// 1 .] Like 
or characteristic of a rascal : base ; mean ; 
4965 
trickish ; scampish : used of persons or things 
with much latitude, often with slight meaning. 
These same abominable, vile. . . . rascally verses. 
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 3. 
Well, Mr. Sharper, would you think it? In all this 
time as I hope for a Truncheon this rascally liazette- 
writt'r never so much as once mention'd me. 
Congreve, Old Batchelor, ii. 2. 
None of your rascally "dips" but sound, 
Round, ten-penny moulds of four to the pound. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 94. 
rasclet, '' ' See raxle. 
rase 1 , raze 1 (raz), . t. ; pret. and pp. rased, 
ppr. rasing. [Early mod. E. also race (con- 
fused with racc6); < ME. rasen, racen (= D. 
rasen = G. rasiren = Sw. rasera), < OF. raser, 
F. raser = Sp. Pg. rasar = It. rasare, < ML. 
rasare, freq. of L. radere, pp. rasus, scrape, 
scratch, shave, rub, smooth, level, graze, 
touch, strip ; akin to rodere, gnaw (see rodent). 
Hence ult. erase, razor, razee, rascal, rash 6 , 
abrade, etc.] 1. To scrape or glance along 
the surface of; scratch; graze; shave. 
A friendly checke killeth thee, when a rasor cannot rase 
thee. Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 381. 
Have you been stung by wasps, or angry bees, 
Or rased with some rude bramble or rough briar? 
B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, iL 2. 
His breast 's of such well tempered proofe 
It may be rac'd, not pearc't, by savage tooth 
Of foaming malice. 
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, II., ii.2. 
Nor miss'd its aim, but where the plumage danc'd 
Raz'd the smooth cone, and thence obliquely glanc'd. 
Pope, Iliad, xi. 454. 
This inside line is rased or scratched in. 
Thearle, Naval Arch., 39. 
2. To obliterate by scraping; erase; cancel; 
hence, to strike out of existence; annul; de- 
stroy: often with out. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
I have a licence and all ; it is but razing out one name 
and putting in another. 
B. Jansan, Bartholomew Fair, v. 2. 
I write, indite, I point, I rase, I quote, 
I interline, I blot, correct, I note. 
Drayton, Matilda to K. John. 
And in derision sets 
Upon their tongues a various spirit, to rase 
Quite out their native language. 
Milton, P. L., xii. 53. 
He razeth all his foes with fire and sword. 
Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great, I., iv. 1. 
3. To level with the ground or the supporting 
surface; tear down or demolish; reduce to 
ruins : in this sense now always spelled raze. 
Bellona storms, 
With all her battering engines bent to rate 
Some capital city. Stilton, P. L., ii. 923. 
We touch'd with joy 
The royal hand that razed unhappy Troy. 
Dryden, Mueid, xi. 378. 
Sacrilegious and rebellious hands had razed the church, 
even to the foundation thereof, and laid the honour of the 
crown low in the dust. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. xvii. 
The strangers . . . who found a fiendish pleasure in 
razing magnificent cities. Macaulay, Machiavelli. 
= Syn. 3. Raze, Demolish. See demolish. 
rase 1 , raze 1 (raz), n. [< rase 1 , .] A scratch ; 
an abrasion ; a slight wound. 
They whose tenderness shrinketh at the least rase of a 
needlepoint. Hooker, Eccles. Polity. (Latham.) 
rase 2 t, n. A Middle English form of race 1 . 
rase 3 t, v. t. Same as race&. 
rased (razd), a. [< rase 1 + -ed?.] In her., same 
as raguly. 
rasee (ra-za'), a. [< F. rust, pp. of raser, rase: 
see rose 1 .] In her., same as raguly. 
rasgado (ras-ga'do), n. [Sp., a rent, break, la- 
ceration^ rasgar, rend, break: see rascal. "\ In 
guitar-playing, an effect produced by sweeping 
the strings with the thumb ;- a kind of arpeggio. 
rash 1 (rash), a. [< ME. rash, rasch, hasty, 
headstrong; not found in AS. except in the 
rare verb rxscan, move quickly (of light), quiv- 
er, glitter, rsescettan, crackle, sparkle (= OHG. 
raskezzaii, sparkle) ; = D. rasch, quick, swift, = 
MLG-. rasch = OHG. rase, also roscli, MHG. 
rasch, also resch, risch, G. rasch, quick, swift, 
= Dan. Sw. rask, brisk, quick, rash, = Icel. 
riiskr. strong, vigorous (> roskir, quick); with 
adj. formative -sk (-sh), from the root of AS. 
rsede, quick (> rsednes, quickness), = MD. rade, 
raede, D. rod = MLG. rat (rod-), quick (see 
rath 1 ), and of OFries. reth, rad = MD. D. rad = 
MLG. rat, LG. rad = OHG. rad, MHG. rut, G. 
rad, wheel, = Ir. roth = L. rota = Lith. ratax, 
wheel, = Skt. ratlia, a wagon, chariot, war- 
chariot. Cf. ras/( 2 .] If. Quick; sudden; hasty. 
Ouer meruelous meres so mad arayed, 
Of raas [race, way, course] thag I were rasch & ronk, 
get rapely ther-inne I watz restayed. 
Alliterative 7 ) on(ed. Morris\ i. 1166. 
rash 
As strong 
Aa aconitum or rash gunpowder. 
Shak., -i Hen. IV., iv. 4. 48. 
2. Hasty in council or action; precipitate; 
headstrong; impetuous; venturesome: as, a 
rash statesman or minister; a rash commander. 
In her faire eyes two living lamps did flame, . . . 
That quite bereav'd the rash beholders sight. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 23. 
Be not rash with thy mouth. Eccl. v. 2. 
For, though I am not splenitive and rash, 
Yet have I something in me dangerous. 
Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 284. 
Her rash hand in evil hour 
Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluck'd, she eat ! 
Milton, P. L, ix. 780. 
Of the dead what hast thou heard 
That maketh thee so rash and unafeared? 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 240. 
3. Marked by or manifesting inconsiderate 
haste in speech or action; resulting from te- 
merity or recklessness: as, rash words; rash 
measures. 
Of all my rash adventures past 
This frantic feat must prove the last ! 
Scott, L. of the L., iv. 28. 
The plan is rash; the project desperate. 
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 62. 
4f. Requiring haste ; urgent. 
My lord, I scarce have leisure to salute you, 
My matter is so rash. Shak., T. and C., iv. 2. 62. 
=Syn. 2 and 3. Enterprising, Foolhardy, etc. (see adven- 
turous), precipitate, hasty, headlong, inconsiderate, care- 
less, heedless. See list under reckless. 
rash 1 (rash), v. t. [<rash l ,a. Cf. AS. rtescan 
= G. raschen = Sw. raska, move quickly, = 
Dan. raske, refl., rise; from the adj.] If. To 
put together hurriedly ; prepare with haste. 
In my former edition of Acts and Monuments, so hastily 
rashed [var. raked] vp at that present, in such shortnesse 
of time. Foxe, Martyrs, p. 645, an. 1439. (Richardson.) 
2. To publish imprudently; blab. Jamieson. 
[Scotch.] 3. To cook too rapidly ; burn from 
haste : as, the beef has been rashed in the roast- 
ing. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
rasa 2 (rash), a. and n. [Prob. < Sw. Dan. rask, 
quick, = Icel. riiskr, strong, vigorous ; cf . Icel . 
rosJcvask, refl., ripen (said of persons): see 
rash 1 ."] I. a. So ripe or dry as to break or fall 
readily, as corn from dry straw in handling. 
[Local, Eng.] 
II. n. Corn in the straw, so dry as to fall out 
with handling. [Local, Eng.] 
rash s t (rash), . t. [By apheresis from *arash, 
var. otarace, < ME. aracen, araseti, also arachen, 
< AF. aracer, OF. aracier, arachier, mixed with 
erachier, esrachier, F. arracher, uproot, tear up, 
eradicate: see arace 1 and eradicate, and ef. 
race 6 . But the form and sense seem to be due 
in part to the verb rash 1 . Hence perhaps rash- 
er 1 .] To tear or slash violently; lacerate; rend; 
hack; hew; slice. 
Lfke two mad mastiffes, each on other flew, 
And shields did share, and mailes did rash, and helmes 
did hew. Spenser, F. Q., IV. ii. 17. 
He dreamt the boar had rashed off his helm. 
Shak., Rich. III., iii. 2. 11. (Hares.) 
He strikes Clarindo, and rashes off his garland. 
Daniel, Hymen's Triumph, iv. 3. (Nares.) 
I mist my purpose in his arm, rashed his doublet-sleeve, 
ran him close by the left cheek, and through his hair. 
B.*Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, iv. 4. 
rash 4 (rash), n. [(a) = D. LG. ras = G. rasch, 
woolen cloth, = Dan. rask, serge, = Sw. rask, 
a kind of cloth ; prob. < OF. ras, a woolen stuff, 
F. ras, shorfr-nap cloth, = Sp. It. raso, a smooth 
cloth material ; cf. Sp. dim. rasilla, serge; per- 
haps < L. rasus, pp. of radere, scrape, rub: 
see rase 1 , (b) Cf. It. rascia, serge, 'rash,' 
said by Muratori to be < Eascia, a region in 
Bosnia where this stuff is said to have origi- 
nated, (c) Cf. also arras, tapestry, = It. arazzo 
= MHG. arras, arras (ML. arrasium, arracium), 
also, by apheresis, It. razzo = Pg. raz, arras, < 
F. Arras, alsoAras, a town in northern France 
where arras was first made. Some confusion 
of these forms seems to have occurred.] A 
kind of inferior manufacture of silk or of silk 
and stuff. 
Be it therefore enacted, for the maintenance of the same 
trade in velvets, satins, sylkes, rashe, and other stuffs, as 
fltt for tearing as fine for wearing . . . 
Sixth Decree of Christmas Prince, p. 21. (Nares.) 
Sleeveless his jerkin was, and it had been 
Velvet, but 'twas now (so much ground was seen) 
Become tufftaffaty ; and our children shall 
See it plain rash awhile, then nought at all. 
Donne, Satires, iv. 34. 
I see it, mistress ; 'tis good stuff indeed ; 
It is a silk rash ; I can pattern it. 
Middletnn, Anything for a Qniet Life, Iv. 3. 
