Wiktionary

raze

See also: raže, rażę, ráze, and ráže

English edit

WOTD – 8 January 2016

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Middle English rasen, racen, rase (“to scrape; to shave; to erase; to pull; to strip off; to pluck or tear out; to root out (a tree, etc.); to pull away, snatch; to pull down; to knock down; to rend, tear apart; to pick clean, strip; to cleave, slice; to sever; to lacerate; to pierce; to carve, engrave; to dig; (figuratively) to expunge, obliterate; to alter”) [and other forms],[1] from Anglo-Norman raser, rasere, rasser, Middle French, Old French raser (“to shave; to touch lightly, graze; to level off (grain, etc.) in a measure; to demolish, tear down; to erase; to polish; to wear down”), from Vulgar Latin *raso (“to shave; to scrape; to scratch; to touch lightly, graze”), from Latin rāsus (“scraped; shaved”), the perfect passive participle of rādō (“to scrape, scratch; to shave; to rub, smooth; to brush along, graze”),[2] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁d- (“to scrape, scratch; to gnaw”). Doublet of rash (etymology 2 and etymology 7).

Verb edit

raze (third-person singular simple present razes, present participle razing, simple past and past participle razed)

  1. (transitive) To demolish; to level to the ground.
    • 2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in The Guardian‎[1], London:
      Just as significant in the long term, Chelsea were also granted permission this season for their new on-site mega-stadium, a 60,000-seat upgrade that will mean the current Stamford Bridge is razed and replaced by something that looks like a vast alien space yurt made of giant Martian redwood stems.
  2. (transitive) To destroy; to strike out of existence; to obliterate.
  3. (transitive) To scrape as if with a razor.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
      Draw forth thy ſword, thou mightie man at armes,
      Intending but to raiſe my charmed ſkin:
      And Ioue himſelfe will ſtretch his hand from heauen,
      To ward the blow, and ſhield me ſafe from harme, […]
Synonyms edit
Translations edit

Etymology 2 edit

Noun edit

raze

  1. Obsolete spelling of race (rhizome of ginger).

Etymology 3 edit

Noun edit

raze (plural razes)

  1. A swinging fence in a watercourse to prevent cattle passing through.

References edit

  1. ^ “rāsen, v.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Compare “raze, v.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “raze, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Dutch edit

Verb edit

raze

  1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of razen

Anagrams edit

Friulian edit

Etymology 1 edit

Uncertain; possibly of South Slavic or substrate origin. Compare Slovene raca, Romanian rață.

Noun edit

raze f (plural razis)

  1. duck

Etymology 2 edit

Compare Italian razza.

Noun edit

raze f (plural razis)

  1. race
  2. breed
  3. strain

Haitian Creole edit

Etymology edit

From French raser.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

raze

  1. to shave

References edit

  • Targète, Jean and Urciolo, Raphael G. Haitian Creole-English dictionary (1993; →ISBN)

Romanian edit

Pronunciation edit

IPA(key): [ˈraze]

Noun edit

raze f

  1. inflection of rază:
    1. indefinite genitive/dative singular
    2. indefinite nominative/accusative/genitive/dative plural
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