rate 
No words may rate, nor rigour him remove 
From greedy hold ot that his blouddy feaBt. 
Spenser, V. Q., IV. ix. 31. 
II. intrant. To utter vehement censure or 
reproof; inveigh scoklingly: with at. 
Yea, the Moores, meeting with this beast, doe rate and 
braule at him. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 42. 
Such a one 
As all day long hath rated at her child, 
And vext his day. 
Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette. 
rate 2 (rat), i. [<OF. rate, price, value,=Pr. Sp. 
Pg. It. rata = Or. rate, < ML. rate, rate, pro- 
portion (L. pro rata par te, or pro ruta portion?, 
or simply pro rata, according to a certain part 
or portion (see pro rata, pro-rate)); fern, of L. 
ratits, determined, fixed, settled, pp. of rerl (ind. 
rear), think, deem, judge, orig. reckon, calcu- 
late. From the same L. verb are ult. derived 
E. rote 3 , ratio, ration^reason, areason, arraign 1 , 
etc., ratify, etc.] 1. A reckoning by compara- 
tive values or relations ; proportional estima- 
tion according to some standard; relative 
amount, quantity, range, or degree : as, the rate 
of interest is 6 per cent, (that is, $6 for every 
$100 for every year) ; the rate per mile of rail- 
road charges, expenses, or speed ; a rapid rate 
of growth or of progress. 
He lends out money gratis, and brings down 
The rate of usance here with us in Venice. 
Shale., M. ofV., i. 3. 46. 
One of the necessary properties of pure Motion is Velo- 
city. It is not possible to think of Motion without think- 
ing of a corresponding Rate of motion. 
A. Daniell, Prin. of Physics, p. 52. 
As regards travelling, the fastest rate along the high 
roads was ten miles an hour. 
W. Bezant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 6. 
It was no longer practicable to levy the duties on the 
old plan of one rate for unrefined and another rate for re- 
fined sugars. S. Dowell, Taxes in England, IV. 31. 
2. Charge or valuation according to a scale or 
standard ; comparative price or amount of de- 
mand ; a fixed measure of estimation. 
A Jewel that I have purchased at an infinite rate. 
Shak., M. W. of W., ii. 2. 213. 
I am not . . . content to part with my commodities at 
a cheaper rate than I accustomed ; look not for it. 
B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1. 
They have no Goods but what are brought from Manilo 
at an extraordinary dear rate. Dumpier, Voyages, I. 308. 
Servants could be hired of their nominal owners at a 
barley-corn rate. The Century, XXXTX. 139. 
3. A fixed public tax or imposition assessed on 
property for some local purpose, usually ac- 
cording to income or value : as, poor-rates or 
church-rotes in Great Britain. 
They paid the Church and Parish Rate, 
And took, but read not the Receit. 
Prior, An Epitaph. 
The empowering of certain boards to borrow money re- 
payable from the local rates, to employ and pay those out 
of work. H. Spencer, Man vs. State, p. 9. 
A sewers rate, however, was known as early as the sixth 
year of llenry VI. (1427). 
Mayhem, London Labour and London Poor, II. 477. 
4f. A proportion allotted or permitted ; an al- 
lotment or provision ; a regulated amount or 
supply. 
The one right feeble through the evill rate 
Of food which in her duresse she had found. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. viii. 19. 
The people shall go out and gather a certain rate every 
day. Ex. xvi. 4. 
5. A relative scale of being, action, or conduct ; 
comparative degree or extent of any mode of 
existence or procedure ; proportion in manner 
or method: as, an extravagant rate of living or 
of expenditure. See at any rate, at no rate, below. 
With wyse men there is rest & peace, after a blessed rate. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 92. 
With might and delight they spent all the night, 
And liv'd at a plentiful rate. 
Robin Hood and the Ranger (Child's Ballads, V. 210); 
Tom hinting his dislike of some trifle his mistress had 
said, she asked him how he would talk to her after mar- 
riage, if he talked at this rate before. Addison. 
Hence 6f. Mode or manner of arrangement; 
order; state. 
Thus sate they all around in seemely rate. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. x. 52. 
7f. Degree, rank, or estimation; rating; ap- 
praisement: used of persons and their qualities. 
I am a spirit of no common rate. 
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 1. 157. 
With the common rate of men there is nothing com- 
mendable but what they themselves may hope to be par- 
takers of. Steele, Spectator, No. 188. 
8. The order or class of a vessel, formerly reg- 
ulated in the United States navy by the num- 
ber of guns carried, but now by the tonnage 
displacement. Vessels of 5,000 tons displacement and 
4969 
over are of the first rate, of 3,000 and above but below 
5,000 tons of the second rate, of 1,000 and above but be- 
low 3,000 tons of the third rate, of less than 1,000 tons of 
the fourth rate. In classifying the navies of England, 
France, and the other principal European powers the 
term claw is used instead of rate, and relates not so much 
to the actual weight or power of the ships as to arbi. 
trary divisions of types of vessels, and to their relative 
importance as battle ships, cruisers, etc. 
9. In the United States navy, the grade or po- 
sition of any one of the crew: same as ratim/-, 
2. 10. In horology, the daily gain or loss of a 
chronometer or other timepiece. A losing rate is 
called by astronomers a positive rate, because it entails a 
positive correction to the difference of readings of the 
clock-face. At any rate, in any manner, or by any means : 
in any case; at all events; positively; assuredly: as, I 
shall stay at any rate ; at any rate the claim is a valid one. 
I have no friend, 
Project, design, or country but your favour, 
Which I'll preserve at any rate. 
Fletcher (and another). False One, L 1. 
At no rate*, in no manner ; by no means ; not at all. 
[Rare.] 
This day at no rate 
Shalt thou performe thy worke, least thou doe draw 
My heavy wrath vpon thee. 
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 16. 
County rates, landing-rates, police rate, etc. See 
county!, landing, etc. Kate of change, in math., the 
ratio of an infinitesimal increment of any function to that 
of the independent variable. Thus, the rate of change of 
z2 relatively to x is :'r. Rate Of exchange. Same as 
course of exchange (which see, under exchange}. Rate of 
profit. Seeprofit. (See also church-rate, poor-rate. )=Syn. 
3. Asse&rment, Impost, etc. See tax. 
rate 2 (rat), v. ; pret. and pp. roteo", ppr. rating. 
[< rate 2 , n.~\ I. trans. 1. To reckon by com- 
parative estimation ; regard as of such a value, 
rank, or degree ; hold at a certain valuation or 
estimate ; appraise ; fix the value or price of. 
If thou be'st rated by thy estimation. 
Shak., M. ofV., ii. 7. 26. 
The frigid productions of a later age are rated at no more 
than their proper value. Macaulay, Dryden. 
2. To assess as to payment or contribution; fix 
the comparative liability of, for taxation or the 
like ; reckon at so much in obligation or capa- 
bility ; set a rate upon. 
Tell us (I pray you) how ye would have the sayd landes 
rated, that both a rente may rise thereout unto the 
Queene, and also the souldiours paye. 
Spenser, State of Ireland. 
Look on my George ; I am a gentleman ; 
Hull 1 me at what thou wilt, thou shall be paid. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 1. 30. 
Charles S. What do you rate him at, Moses ? 
Moses. Four guineas. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. 1. 
3. To fix the relative scale, rank, or position 
of: as, to rate a ship; to rate a seaman. 4. 
To determine the rate of, or rate-error of, as a 
chronometer or other timepiece. See rate 1 , ., 
10. 
Our chronometers, rates' but two weeks ago at Uper- 
navik. Kane, Sec. Grinn. Exp., 1. 68. 
Rating-instrument, a rude transit-instrument for de- 
termining time accurately to half a second, in order to 
rate watches. 
II. intrans. To have value, rank, standing, or 
estimation: as, the vessel rates as a ship of the 
line. 
When he began milling in a small way at the Falls of St. 
Anthony, Minneapolis flour rated very low. 
The Century, XXXII. 46. 
rate 3 ! (rat), . [< ML. rata, f., a stipulation, 
contract, ratum, neut., a decision, fem. or neut. 
of L. ratus, pp. of reri, think, deem, judge: see 
rote 2 .] A ratification. 
Neuer without the rates 
Of all powers else. Chapman, Iliad, i. 508. 
rate 3 t, v. t. [< rote 3 , n. Cf. ratify.'] To ratify. 
To rate the truce they swore. Chapman. 
rateable, a. See ratable. 
rate-book (rat'buk), w. A book in which a rec- 
ord of rates is kept; a book of valuations. 
Horses by papists are not to be ridden ; 
But sure the Muses' horse was ne'er forbidden ; 
For in no rate-book was it ever found 
That Pegasus was valued at five pound. 
Dryden, Don Sebastian, Prol., 1. 43. 
rateen, . See ratteen. 
rate! (ra'tel), n. [< F. rate?, dim. of rat, a rat : 
see rat 1 .'] A carnivorous quadruped of the 
family Mustelidse and subfamily Mettivorinse, 
as Mellivora capensis or M. ratellus, the honey- 
ratel of the Cape of Good Hope, and M. indica, 
that of India ; a honey-badger. See Mellivora, 
and cut in next column. 
ratepayer (rat'pa/er), n. One who is assessed 
and pays a rate or local tax. [Great Britain.] 
In the vestry-meeting the freemen of the township, the 
ratepayers, still assemble for purposes of local interest, 
not involved in the manorial jurisdiction. 
Stubbx, Const. Hist, $ 43. 
rath 
Ratel (Mttlfixra cafentisl. 
They have already in many towns supplied us, at the 
expense of the ratepayers, with hospitals, museums, free 
libraries, art galleries, baths, and parks. 
Westminster Rev., CXX.V. 17. 
ratepaying (rafpa/'ing), a. Paying a local tax ; 
relating to taxation by assessment. 
In addition to the . . . eccentricity from an Australian 
point of view of a ratepaying or property basis for the par- 
liamentary franchise, Tasmania has another legislative 
peculiarity which she copied from Victoria, and shares 
only with that colony and with New Zealand. 
Sir C. W. bake, Probs. of Greater Britain, il. 4. 
rater (ra'ter), n. [< rate 2 + -fr 1 .} One who 
rates or sets a value ; one who makes an esti- 
mate. 
rate-tithe (rat'tlTH), n. In old Eng. law, a 
tithe paid for sheep or cattle which are kept in 
a parish for less than a year, in which case the 
owner must pay tithe for them pro rata, accord- 
ing to the custom of the place. Sir A. Fitzher- 
bert, Natura Brevium (1534 and later). 
rat-fish (raffish), n. A selachian fish, the 
Chimsera collisei. [Pacific coast, U. S.] 
rat-goose (rat'gos), n. [< rat-, said to be imi- 
tative, + goose. Cf. clack-goose, another name 
of the same bird.] The brent- or brant-goose, 
Sernicla brenta: so called from its cry. 
rath 1 (ra5H), a. [Also improp. rathe; < ME. 
rath, rad, reed, quick, early, < AS. hraeth, hreth, 
also hrxd (pi. lirade), quick, swift, fleet, sud- 
den, active, = D. rad = MLG. rat (rad-) = 
OHG. hrad, hrat, rat, MHG. rad, rat = Icel. 
hradhr, quick, swift, fleet ; root uncertain ; the 
forms without the aspirate merge with simi- 
lar forms mentioned under rash 1 , q. v. Hence 
rotffl, adv., and rather.] If. Quick; swift; 
speedy. 2. Early; coming before others, or 
before the usual time ; youthful. [Obsolete or 
archaic.] 
Last of all, vnto quhose actionis, in special!, suld Kyngis 
geue rathest actendence. 
Lauder, Dewtie of Kyngis (E. E. T. S.X To the Redar. 
The rather lambes bene starved with cold. 
Spenser, Shep. CaL, Februarie. 
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies. 
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 142. 
Thy converse drew us with delight, 
The men of rathe and riper years. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, ex. 
3f. Near; proximate. 
rath 1 (raTH), adv. [Also rathe; < ME. rathe, < 
AS. hrathe, quickly, < hreeth, quick: see rath 1 , 
a.] If. Quickly; swiftly; speedily. 
With hise sal te teris gan he bathe 
The ruby in his signet, and it sette 
Upon the wex deliverliche and rathe. 
Chaucer, Troilus, il. 1088. 
Thane this ryche mane rathe arayes his byernez, 
Rowlede his Romaynez, and reaUe knyghtez. 
J/orte Arthure (E. E. T. .\ L 2022. 
2. Early; soon. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
Dobet is hir damoisele sire Doweles dougter, 
To serue this lady lelly bothe late and rathe. 
Piers Plowman (B), ix. 13. 
What eyleth yow so rathe for to ryse? 
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 99. 
But lesynges with her false flaterye . . . 
Accepte ben now rathegt unto grace. 
Lydgate, Complaint of the Black Knight, 1. 427. 
Itntlii' she rose, half-cheated in the thought 
She needs must bid farewell to sweet Lavaine. 
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine. 
Rath ripe, early ripe. See rathripe. 
rath 2 (rath), n. [Early mod. E. also rathe; ^ 
Ir. rath, an earthen fort or fortified dwelling.] 
A fortified dwelling of an ancient Irish chief. 
The word occurs as the initial element in many 
Irish place-names, as liathkeale, Itathlin, etc. 
There is a great use amongst the Irish to make great as- 
semblyes togither upon a rath or hill, there to parley (they 
say) about matters of wronge betwene towneship and 
towneship, or one private person and another. 
Spenser, State of Ireland, p. 642. 
The Rath was a simple circular wall or enclosure of 
raised earth, enclosing a space of more or less extent, in 
which stood the residence of the chief and sometimes the 
dwellings of one or more of the officers or chief men of 
