rave

English

Pronunciation

enPR: rāv, IPA: /reɪv/, X-SAMPA: /reIv/
Rhymes: -eɪv

Etymology 1

From Old French raver, variant of resver, of uncertain origin.

Noun

rave (plural raves)

An enthusiastic review (such as of a play).
An all-night dance party filled with electronic dance music (techno, trance, drum and bass etc.) and possibly drug use.
(uncountable) The genre of electronic dance music associated with rave parties.
- 2009, Chrysalis Experiential Academy, Mind Harvesting (page 109)
  Maybe I wear baggies / And white socks with flip-flops / Maybe I don't like listening to rave / And I'm not on the social mountaintops

Translations

enthusiastic review

Finnish: ylistys (fi)

Italian: critica entusiasta (it) f

dance party

Finnish: reivit (fi) pl
Italian: orgia (it), baldoria (it), rave (it) m

Japanese: レイブ (reibu), レイヴ (reivu)

Verb

rave (third-person singular simple present raves, present participle raving, simple past and past participle raved)

To speak or write wildly or incoherently.
- 1748, David Hume, Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Section 3. § 5.
  A production without design would resemble more the ravings of a madman, than the sober efforts of genius and learning.
To attend a rave (dance party).

Translations

to speak or write incoherently

Finnish: houria (fi), horista (fi), höpistä (fi), höpöttää (fi)
Italian: delirare (it), farneticare (it)

Maori: tīhāhā (mi)
Portuguese: devanear (pt)

to attend a rave

Finnish: reivata (fi)

Etymology 2

English dialect raves, or rathes (“a frame laid on a wagon, for carrying hay, etc.”).

Noun

rave (plural raves)

One of the upper side pieces of the frame of a wagon body or a sleigh.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.