rare
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɹɛə(ɹ)/
- (Irish) IPA(key): [ɹɜɹ]
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /ɹɛəɹ/, /ɹɛɹ/
Audio (US) | (file) |
Audio (CA) | (file) |
- Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
Etymology 1Edit
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).
AdjectiveEdit
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 termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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NounEdit
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.
- 1995, George Baxter, Larry W. Smith, Mastering Magic Cards (page 116)
Etymology 2Edit
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 formsEdit
AdjectiveEdit
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 termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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Etymology 3Edit
Variant of rear.
VerbEdit
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 2007, p. 328:
- Frank pretended to rare back as if bedazzled, shielding his eyes with a forearm.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 328:
- (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 notesEdit
- 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 4Edit
AdjectiveEdit
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, lines 420–423, page 147:
- 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;
ReferencesEdit
- Rare in The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
AnagramsEdit
DanishEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rare
- plural and definite singular attributive of rar
DutchEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- raren (Brabantian)
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rare
NounEdit
rare m (plural raren, diminutive rareke n)
- weird person
- Synonym: rare vogel
ReferencesEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed (in this form) from Latin rārus. Compare the inherited Old French rer, rere.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rare (plural rares)
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “rare”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
AnagramsEdit
GermanEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rare
- inflection of rar:
IdoEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdverbEdit
rare
ItalianEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rare
AnagramsEdit
LatinEdit
Etymology 1Edit
PronunciationEdit
AdverbEdit
rārē (comparative rārius, superlative rārissimē)
Etymology 2Edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rāre
ReferencesEdit
- “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 EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French rer and Latin rārus.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rare
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “rār(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-29.
NormanEdit
EtymologyEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rare m or f
Derived termsEdit
- rarement (“rarely”)
Norwegian BokmålEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rare
Norwegian NynorskEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rare
SwedishEdit
AdjectiveEdit
rare
AnagramsEdit
YolaEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English rare, from Old French rer, from Latin rārus.
AdjectiveEdit
rare
- rare
- 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, line 3:
- stampe na yer zwae be rare an lightzom.
- confirms your rule to be rare and enlightened.
ReferencesEdit
- 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