rare
English edit
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɹɛə(ɹ)/
- (Irish) IPA(key): [ɹɜɹ]
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /ɹɛɚ/, /ɹɛɹ/
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- Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English rare, from Old French rare, rere (“rare, uncommon”), from Latin rārus (“loose, spaced apart, thin, infrequent”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- (“friable, thin”). Replaced native Middle English gesen (“rare, scarce”) (from Old English gǣsne), Middle English seld (“rare, uncommon”) (from Old English selden), and Middle English seldscene (“rare, rarely seen, infrequent”) (from Old English seldsēne).
Adjective edit
rare (comparative rarer, superlative rarest)
- Very uncommon; scarce.
- Black pearls are very rare and therefore very valuable.
- Synonyms: scarce, selcouth, seld, selly, geason, uncommon; see also Thesaurus:rare
- Antonyms: common, frequent; see also Thesaurus:common
- 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
- Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.
- 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Technology: Augmentations Codex entry:
- While many material components in Andromeda are familiar, we have also discovered rarer and more valuable materials; attributable to exposure to the Scourge, or mysterious alien technology.
- (of a gas) Thin; of low density.
- (UK, slang) Good; enjoyable.
- 1981, Chris Difford (lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocal), "Vanity Fair" (song):
- Sees her reflection in a butcher shop.
- She finds it all quite rare
- That her meat's all vanity fair.
- 1981, Chris Difford (lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocal), "Vanity Fair" (song):
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
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Noun edit
rare (plural rares)
- (gaming) A scarce or uncommon item.
- 1995, George Baxter, Larry W. Smith, Mastering Magic Cards, page 116:
- Most of the time, you do this by trading low-valued rares for more valuable ones or trading uncommons for rares. Other times it's trading cards that are in print for ones that are out of print, or low-value rares for good uncommons.
Etymology 2 edit
From a dialectal variant of rear, from Middle English rere, from Old English hrēr, hrēre (“not thoroughly cooked, underdone, lightly boiled”), from hrēran (“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱroHs- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Related to Old English hrōr (“stirring, busy, active, strong, brave”). More at rear.
Alternative forms edit
Adjective edit
rare (comparative rarer or more rare, superlative rarest or most rare)
- (cooking) Particularly of meat, especially beefsteak: cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red.
- Antonym: well done
- 1717, John Dryden, “Book VIII. [The Story of Baucis and Philemon.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 285:
- Then Curds and Cream, the Flow'r of Country Fare, / And new-laid Eggs, which Baucis’ buſie Care / Turn’d by a gentle Fire, and roaſted rare.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
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Etymology 3 edit
Variant of rear.
Verb edit
rare (third-person singular simple present rares, present participle raring, simple past and past participle rared)
- (US, intransitive) To rear, rise up, start backwards.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 328:
- Frank pretended to rare back as if bedazzled, shielding his eyes with a forearm.
- (US, transitive) To rear, bring up, raise.
- 2013, Janet Peery, What the Thunder Said: A Novella and Stories, →ISBN:
- Here I have to say that I was walking along dark-hearted, my nose out of joint about Audie's notice of her, for just as quickly as my feelings kindled, my old envy rared.
Usage notes edit
- Principal current, non-literary use is of the present participle raring with a verb in "raring to". The principal verb in that construction is go. Thus, raring to go ("eager (to start something)") is the expression in which rare is most often encountered as a verb.
Etymology 4 edit
Adjective edit
rare (comparative more rare, superlative most rare)
- (obsolete) Early.
- 1614–1615, Homer, “The Sixth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume I, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC, page 147, lines 420–423:
- The men, that sway / In work of those tools that so fit our state, / Are rude mechanicals, that rare and late / Work in the market-place;
References edit
- Rare in The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
Anagrams edit
Danish edit
Adjective edit
rare
- plural and definite singular attributive of rar
Dutch edit
Alternative forms edit
- raren (Brabantian)
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
rare
- inflection of raar:
Noun edit
rare m (plural raren, diminutive rareke n)
- weird person
- Synonym: rare vogel
References edit
French edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed (in this form) from Latin rārus. Compare the inherited Old French rer, rere.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
rare (plural rares)
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “rare”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams edit
German edit
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
rare
- inflection of rar:
Ido edit
Pronunciation edit
Adverb edit
rare
Italian edit
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
rare
Anagrams edit
Latin edit
Etymology 1 edit
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈraː.reː/, [ˈräːreː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈra.re/, [ˈräːre]
Adverb edit
rārē (comparative rārius, superlative rārissimē)
Etymology 2 edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈraː.re/, [ˈräːrɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈra.re/, [ˈräːre]
Adjective edit
rāre
References edit
- “rare”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- rare in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Old French rer and Latin rārus.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
rare
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
References edit
- “rār(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-29.
Norman edit
Etymology edit
Adjective edit
rare m or f
Derived terms edit
- rarement (“rarely”)
Norwegian Bokmål edit
Adjective edit
rare
Norwegian Nynorsk edit
Adjective edit
rare
Swedish edit
Adjective edit
rare
Anagrams edit
Yola edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English rare, from Old French rer, from Latin rārus.
Adjective edit
rare
- rare
- 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 116, lines 2-4:
- ye wake o'hopes ee-blighte, stampe na yer zwae be rare an lightzom.
- the consequence of disappointed hopes, confirms your rule to be rare and enlightened.
References edit
- Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 116