raspberry-borer 
raspberry-borer (raz'ber-i-bqr"er), n. 
The 
larva of one of the clear-winged sphinxes 
or hornet - moths, 
Bembecia maei;/<ita, 
common in the 
United States, it 
bores the roots of rasp- 
berries and blackber- 
ries. The larva of a 
beetle, Oberea bimacu- 
lata, which also bores 
into the same plants, 
is often called by this 
name. 
raspberry-bush 
(niz'ber-i-bush), n. 
The shrub, bush, or 
bramble producing 
any of the kinds of 
raspberry, 
raspberry-jam tree 
(raz'ber-i-jam tre). 
One of the Austra- 
lian wattle - trees, 
Acacia acuminata. 
Its wood is used in cabinet-work, and has the 
odor of jam made from raspberries, 
rasped (raspt), a. [Pp. of rasp 1 , i>.] 1. Affected 
Raspberry-borer (Bembecia 
mafulata). 
male; *, female. (Natural size.) 
4967 
capsules, covered with tubercles and used as 
graters. 
rasp-punch (rasp'punch), . A tool, rather more 
like a cold-chisel than a punch, used for form- 
ing the teeth of rasps by cutting into, and turn- 
ing upward above the surface, parts at the metal 
before it has been hardened and tempered. 
raspy (ras'pi), a. [< ra.sp 1 + -y 1 .] Grating; 
harsh ; rough. 
Such a raspy, untamed voice as that of his I have hardly 
heard. Carlyle, Misc., IV. 197. (Dames.) 
rasse 1 (ras), n. [< Javanese rasa, smell, taste, 
< Skt. rasa, sap, taste, savor.] A kind of civet- 
cat; the lesser civet, a viverrine quadruped 
of the genus Viverricula, V. malaccensis, widely 
distributed in China, India, the Malay penin- 
sula, Java, etc. It is about 20 inches long without the 
tail, and is sometimes called the Malacca weasel. Its per- 
fume, called by the natives dedes, is secreted in a double 
pouch like that of the civet; it is much valued by the 
.Javanese. For its sake the animal is often kept in cap- 
tivity. It is savage and irritable, and can inflict a very 
severe bite. 
rasse 2 t, . [ME.] An eminence; a mound; a 
summit. 
On a rasse of a rok hit reste at the laste, 
On the mounte of Mararach of Armene hilles. 
__ T ____ ... _ . ... Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 446. 
as if byrasping; hoarse orraucous, as the voice; ras t ra i ( ra s'tral), n. [< rostrum + -*.] Same 
raspy ; nervous or irritable, as from continued ^ rostrum 
slight provocations. 2. In bookbinding, said of rastri ' te (ras'trlt), n. A zoophyte of the genus 
book-covers which have the sharp angles taken Bastri tes; a graptolite. 
off, but are not beveled. Eastrltes (ras-tri'tez), n. [NL., < L. rostrum, 
rasper (ras'per), n. [< rasp* + -er 1 .] 1. One a rak + v ^n A " nu of ' fossil Sllurian 
who or that which rasps ; a cutting scraper ZO 6phytes: same as Graptolifhus. 
Specifically (<i) A coarse file for removing the burnt crust + * *_ , 00 , f _, m \ fi ~ n t rf , / +,.x\ rMT 
from over-baked bread. (6) A rasping-machine ; an in- rastrum (ras trum), n, ; pl. rostra (-tra). [WL,., 
strument for rasping sugar-cane, beet-root> or the like to < L. rostrum, a rake, hoe, mattock, < radere, 
shreds ; a large grater. 
The typical representative of the internal system of grat- 
ing is Champonnois' rasper. 
scrape: see rase 1 .] 1. A five-pointed pen for 
ruling staffs for music; a music-pen. 2. A 
herse. 
rt Kncyc. Manuf II 1838. rasur( ; (rg/ ^r), n. [Early mod. E. also razure; 
fence. [Colloq.] < F rasu re " s p . p g . it. rastira, a shaving, a 
2. In hunting, a difficult 
Three fourths of our fences . -. . average somewhat 
better than four feet in height, with an occasional rasper 
that will come well up to five. The Century, XXXII. 336. 
3. A contrivance for taking fish, consisting of 
several bare hooks fastened back to back, to 
be jerked through the water with a line ; a 
pull-devil. [Canada.] 
rasp-house (rasp'hous), re. A place where wood 
is dressed or reduced to powder by rasping, for 
use in dyeing, etc. 
We went to see the Rasp-house, where the lusty knaves 
are compell'd to worke, and the rasping of Brasill and 
Logwood is very hard labour. 
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 19, 1641. 
raspicet, . Same as rasp 2 . 
rasping (ras'ping), re. [Verbal n. of rasp 1 , .] rat i ( rat ) w- [Formerly also ratt; < ME. *atte, 
A particle rasped off from a body or mass of rotte pl rattes < AS. rtet (reett-) = MD. ratte, 
matter. Compare filing^, 2. 
The wood itself, either reduced to shavings, raspings, or 
powder. W. Crookes, Dyeing and Calico-printing, p. 887. 
rasping (ras'ping), p. a, [Ppr. of rasp 1 , 0.] 1 . 
Characterized by grating or scraping: as, a 
rasping sound; hence, irritating; exasperating. 
2. In hunting, said of a fence difficult to take. 
You cannot . . . make him keep his seat over a rasping 
fence. 
blotting off, also the priest's tonsure, < L. ra- 
sura, a shaving, scraping, < radere, pp. rasus, 
scrape: see rase 1 . Cf . erasure.] 1. The act of 
scraping or shaving; a rasing or erasing; a 
scratch. [Rare.] 
With the tooth of a small beast like a rat they race some 
their faces, some their bodies, after diners formes, as if it 
were with the scratch of a pin, the print of which rasure 
can neuer be done away againe during life. 
Hdkluyt's Voyages, III. 674. 
A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time 
And razure of oblivion. Shak., M. for M., v. 1. 13. 
2f. Same as erasure. 
There were many ramrei in the book of the treasury. 
Bp. Burnet. 
D. rat = OLG. ratta, MLG. ratte, LG. rattc, 
also rat, rot = OHG. rato, m., ratta, f., MHG. 
rat, rate, m., ratte, rate, f., MHG. also rate, 
ratze, G. raize, m., = Icel. rotta = Sw. ratta 
= Dan. rotte, a rat; cf. F. Pr. rat = Sp. Pg. 
rato = It. ratio = ML. ratus, rattus; cf. also 
Ir. Gael. radan, Bret, raz, a rat. The relations 
of the Teut., Bom., and Celtic groups to one an- 
. . 11KIHC null utep ilia Beat uvci a. tuejsnty aji. tiio AVUVM ivvyiii., uuvt vyx/iuv/ g* \j\+^/a w v. 
Dr. J. Brown, Spare Hours, 3d ser., p. 60. other, and the ult. source of the word, are un- 
raspingly (ras ' ping -li), adv. With a harsh, 
rasping sound or effect; in a coarse, harsh 
manner; gratingly; irritatingly ; exasperat- 
ingly. 
I told him to stay at home, quite raspingly, and he was 
very ready to admit that I had done him a good turn in 
doing so. F. H. Burnett, Pretty Polly Pemberton, vii. 
rasping-machine (ras'ping-ma-shen'''), re. 1. A 
known. Some refer the word to the root seen 
in L. radere, scratch, scrape (see rase 1 , rare 1 ), 
rodere, gnaw (see rodent). The forms of the 
word cat are equally wide-spread.] 1. A ro- 
dent of some of the larger species of the ge- 
nus Mus, as M. rattus, the black rat, and M. 
decumanus, the gray, brown, or Norway rat : 
distinguished from mouse. The distinction between 
ies to animals 
and familiar. 
" _ ' . * . ' a ' t_* i_ i DUI ineBc art) simpiv icu'ticr <iuu bmuiier species of the 
2. A machine for grating beet-root, for mak- 8ame genu8i very (fiosely related zoologically, and in the 
ing sugar. E. H. Knight. application of the two names to the many other species of 
rasping-mill (ras'ping-mil), re. A saw-like the same genus all distinction between them is lost, 
machine for reducing a substance to shreds or 2. Any rodent of the family Mundee ; a mu- 
fine particles, as a bark-cutter or a grinding-mill rine ; in the plural, .the Muridee. in this sense, rat 
Includes mouse. American rats or mice are a particular 
section of the subfamily Murinse, called Sigmodontes, con- 
fined to America, where no other Murinse are indigenous. 
Field-rats, water-rats, meadow-mice, or voles are Muridsf 
of the subfamily Anicolinse. See cuts under Arvicola, 
Muridse, muskrat, Neotoma, Nesokia, and Nesomys. 
:, v r _ ,, . 
machine for rasping wood and bark for making rat and mouse, in the application of the name 
rlTTQo tinntni-oo oto a Viavlf nutriTiir mnphiriR everywhere parasitic with man, is obvious a 
dyes, tinctures, etc., a DarK-ci line. But ' thcse ar ^ 8l j l r and 8maller 8p 
- - 
for beet-roots ; a rasping-machine ; a rasper, 
raspist, n. Same as rasp 2 . 
The raspis is planted in gardens. Gerard. 
Raspis are of the same vertue that common brier or 
bramble is of. It were good to keepe some of the Juyce 
of raspis-berries in some wooden vessel, and to make it, as 
it were, raspis wine. Langham, Garden of Health, p. 522. 
3. Any rodent of the suborder Myomorpha. 
Different animals of several families, as Dipodidx, Zapo- 
didse, Saccomyidse, Oemnyidee, Spalacidee, are often known 
r r * i f -- ,. - as rats of some kind distinguished by qualifying words 
the Amazon region, Iriartea exorhizo, notable or compound names. See cut under mole-rat. 
in that its stem is supported by a cone of aerial 4. Some other rodent, or some insectivore, 
roots, of sufficient height for a man to pass be- marsupial, or other animal like or likened to a 
rat. Thus, among hystricomorphic rodents, many spe- 
cies of Octodontida are called rats: as, the spiny rats of 
the subfamily Echinamyinse. Some large aquatic shrews 
are known as muskrats. (See Myonale.) Some rat like 
neath. These roots are covered with hard tu- 
bercles, and are used by the natives as graters, 
whence the name. 
rasp-pod (rasp 'pod), . An Australian tree, 
FMnaersi 
raid uustralis: so named from its woody 
marsupials are known as kangaroo-rats. (See bettong, and 
cuts under kangaroo-rat and Echimys.) 
rat 
5. A person who is considered to act in some 
respect in a manner characteristic of rats: so 
called in opprobrium . Specifically (a) A man who 
deserts a party or an association of any kind for one op- 
posed to it in order to gain some personal advantage or 
benefit ; a self-seeking turncoat ; a renegade. [Colloq. ] 
He [Wentworth] was the first of the Rats, the first of 
those statesmen whose patriotism had been only the co- 
quetry of a political prostitution, and whose profligacy has 
taught governments to adopt the old maxim of the slave- 
market, that it is cheaper to buy than to breed, to import 
defenders from an Opposition than to rear them in a Min- 
istry. Macaulay, Hallam's Const. Hist. 
(b) A workman who accepts lower wages than those cur- 
rent at the time and place or required by an authorized 
scale, or one who takes a position vacated by a striker, or 
one who refuses to strike when others do. [Colloq.] 
The men who agree to go into the strike are always the 
more united and determined class. The rats who refuse 
suffer accordingly. The American, III. 181. 
(ct) A clergym an : so called in contempt. Halliwell. 
6. Something suggesting the idea of a rat, as 
a curving roll of stuffed cloth or of crimped 
hair-work, with tapering ends, formerly (about 
1860-70) and still occasionally used by women 
to puff out the hair, which was turned over it. 
At one time even a small amount of natural hair easily 
served the purpose of covering the crescent-shaped pillows 
on which it was put up, the startling names of which were 
rats and mice. The Century, XXXVI. 769. 
Alexandrian rat, a gray or rufous-backed and white-bel- 
lied variety of M us rattus, to which the name M. alexan- 
drinus has been applied, owing to its having been first dis- 
covered at Alexandria in Egypt, but which is not specifi- 
cally distinct from the black rat. Bamboo-rat, an Indian 
murine rodent mammal of the genus Rhizomys, as R. suma- 
tranus. The bay bamboo-rat is R. badiux. The species 
are also called canets. See cut under Rhiiomys. Ban- 
dicoot rat. (a) The Anglo-Indian name of the large 
murine rodents of India, of the family Muridse, subfamily 
Phloemnyinee, and genus Nesokia, of which there are several 
species, all Indian. N. griffithi is an example. See cut 
under Nesokia. (b) Same as bandicoot, 2. Black rat, 
Mus rattus, one of the most anciently known rats, now 
almost cosmopolitan, and typically of a blackish color, but 
very variable in this respect. It is rather smaller than the 
Norway gray rat. In one of its varieties it is known as roof- 
rat (Mus tectorum) and white-bellied rat. See cut under Mu- 
ridse. Hare-tailed rat. See lemming. Maori rat, the 
black rat, Mus rattus, introduced and naturalized in New 
Zealand. Mountain rat, the large bushy-tailed wood- 
rat of the Rocky Mountain region, Neotoma cinerea; the 
pack-rat. [U. S. ] Norway rat, the common rat, Mus de- 
cumanus. Pack-rat, the mountain rat, Neotoma cinerea : 
so called on account of its curious and inveterate habit of 
dragging off to its hole any object it can move. [Western 
U. 8.) Pharaonlc rat, Pharaoh's rat, the ichneumon : 
a phrase traceable back at least to Belon (about 1555). See 
Herpestes. Also called Pharaoh's mouse. Pouched rat. 
See pouched. To have a rat in the garret, to be 
slightly crack-brained : same as to have a bee in one's bon- 
net (which see, under bee). To smell a rat, to be sus- 
picious that all is not right ; have an inkling of some mis- 
chief, plot, or underhand proceeding. 
Quoth Hudibras, " I smell a rat : 
Ralpho, thou dost prevaricate." 
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. i. 821. 
rat 1 (rat), .; pret. und pp. ratted, ppr. ratting. 
[< rat 1 , .] I.intrans. 1. To catch or kill rats ; 
follow the business of a ratter or rat-catcher. 
2. To go over from one party or cause to 
another, especially from a party or cause that 
is losing or likely to lose, as rats run fron: a 
falling house ; desert one's party or associates 
for advantage or gain ; become a renegade. 
[Colloq.] 
His ci-devant friends curse the hour that he ratted. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 885. 
I am fully resolved to oppose several of the clauses. But 
to declare my intention publicly, at a moment when the 
Government is in danger, would have the appearance of 
ratting. Xacaulay, in Trevelyan, I. 275. 
3. To work for less than current wages, to re- 
fuse to strike with fellow-workmen, or to take 
the place of one who has struck: often with 
indefinite it. See rati, n., 5 (6). [Colloq.] 
II. trans. 1 . To puff out (the hair) by means 
of a rat. See rat 1 , n., 6. [Rare.] 
Next morning, at breakfast, Sin Saxon was as beautifully 
ruffled, ratted, and crimped as gay, as bewitching, and 
defiant as ever. Mrs. Whitney, Leslie Goldthwaite, x. 
2. To displace or supplant union workers in: 
as, to rat an office or a shop. [Colloq.] 
rat' 2 t (rat), re. [Usually in pl. rats, < ME. rattes, 
rags ; either from the verb, ME. ratten, tear (see 
rat 2 , .), or < Icel. hrat, hrati, rubbish, trash, = 
Norw. rat, rubbish : cf. Sw. Norw. rato, reject, 
refuse (see rate 1 ).] A rag; tatter. [Prov.Eng.] 
I rattes and i clutes. Old Eng. Homilies, L 227. 
rat' 2 t (rat), v. t. [< ME. ratten = MHG. rateex, 
tear; cf. rat 2 , .] To tear. 
How watj thou hardy this hous for thyn vnhap [to] neje, 
In on so ratted a robe & rent at the sydesV 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 144. 
rat 3 (rat), r. t. [Prob. a var. of rot; cf. drat 2 , 
in similar use.] A term of objurgation, used 
in the imperative. 
