randall’s
(Jack, the Pugilist, formerly of the "Hole in the Wall," Chancery Lane) Diary of Proceedings at the House of Call for Genius, edited by Mr. Breakwindow, to which are added several of Mr. B.’s minor pieces, 12mo. 1820.
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randan
A boat impelled by three rowers, the midship man sculling, and the bowman and strokesman rowing with oars.
randle
A set of nonsensical verses, repeated in Ireland by schoolboys, and young people, who have been guilty of breaking wind backwards before any of their companions; if they neglect this apology, they are liable to certain kicks, pinches, and fillips, which are accompanied with divers admonitory couplets.
Randolph Churchill
After the formation of the Coalition Ministry in 1915 and, still more, after the granting of Home Rule to Ireland (1914 and 1920), the name tended to become obsolete though the party has never been formally dissolved.
random
Three horses driven in line. See TANDEM, SUDDEN DEATH, HARUM-SCARUM.
randy
A random.
randy
Obstreperous, unruly, rampant.
randy
Rampant, violent, warm.—North. RANDY-BEGGAR, a gipsy tinker.
ranging from
including a variety of things
rangling
Intriguing with a variety of women.
rank
Stinking, rammish, ill-flavoured; also strong, great. A rank knave; a rank coward: perhaps the latter may allude to an ill savour caused by fear.
rank
To cheat. Modification of RAMP.
rank and fashion
People of high social standing; the "Upper Ten." Rank and file. See FILE.
rank and file
Ordinary members of an organization, not leaders
rank and file
Soldiers and non-Com- missioned officers as apart from commissioned officers; hence, the followers in or private members of a movement as apart from its leaders. Rank refers to men standing abreast, file to men standing behind each other.
ranker
A commissioned officer in the army who has risen from the ranks. Usually employed in a disparaging sense. Purely military. Also, among street folk, a corruption of RANK DUFFER.
rant and rave
To talk or complain loudly and angrily
rantallion
One whose scrotum is so relaxed as to be longer than his penis, i.e. whose shot pouch is longer that the barrel of his piece.
ranting and raving
Talking loudly and angrily about something
rantipole
A rude romping boy or girl; also a gadabout dissipated woman. To ride rantipole; the same as riding St. George. See ST. GEORGE.
rantipoll
A noisy rude girl, a madcap.
rantum scantum
Playing at rantum scantum; making the beast with two backs.
ranz des vaches
Simple melodies played by the Swiss mountaineers on their Alp- horn when they drove their herds to pasture, or call them home. Des vaches means "of the cows"; the meaning of ranz is not so cer- tain, but it is thought to be a dialectal variation of ranger, the call being made pour ranger des vaches, to bring the cows home.
rap
A halfpenny; frequently used generically for money, thus:—"I haven’t a RAP," i.e., I have no money whatever; "I don’t care a RAP," &c. Originally a species of counterfeit coin used for small change in Ireland, against the use of which a proclamation was issued, 5th May, 1737. Small copper or base metal coins are still called RAPPEN in the Swiss cantons. Irish robbers were formerly termed RAPPAREES.
rap and rend
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
rap someone's knuckles
to punish or scold someone lightly
rape and pillage
to violently plunder and destroy
Rape of the Lock
Lord Petre, in a thought- less moment of frolic gallantry, cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor's hair, and this liberty gave rise to the bitter feud between the two families which Alexander Pope worked up into the best heroic-comic poem of the language. The first sketch was published in 1712 in two cantos, and the complete work, in- cluding the most happily conceived machinery of sylphs and gnomes, in five cantos in 1714.
Raphael and Gabriel
It passed into the possession of the Earl of Peterborough, thence to Lady Betty Germaine, by whom it was given to the Duke of Argyll, whose son Presented it to Horace Walpole. It was sold in 1 842, at the dispersal of the curiosities of Strawberry Hill.
rapo
A rapist.
rapparees
Irish robbers, or outlaws, who in the time of Oliver Cromwell were armed with short weapons, called in Irish RAPIERS, used for ripping persons up.
rapper
A swinging great lie.
rapping
Enormous; "a RAPPING big lie."
rapscallion
A low tattered wretch—not worth a RAP.
rare animal
an unusual or exceptional person
raree shew men
Poor Savoyards, who subsist by shewing the magic lantern and marmots about London.
Raree Show
A peep-show; a show carried about in a box. In the 17th century, when this word appears in England, most of the travel- ling showmen were Savoyards, and this repre- sents their attempt at English pronunciation.
raree-show
A collection of curiosities.
rascal
A rogue or villain: a term borrowed from the chase; a rascal originally meaning a lean shabby deer, at the time of changing his horns, penis, &c. whence, in the vulgar acceptation, rascal is conceived to signify a man without genitals: the regular vulgar answer to this reproach, if uttered by a woman, is the offer of an ocular demonstration of the virility of the party so defamed. Some derive it from RASCAGLIONE, an Italian word signifying a man. without testicles, or an eunuch.
raspberry tart
A fart.
rat
A ration.
rat
A drunken man or woman taken up by the watch, and confined in the watch-house. CANT. To smell a rat; to suspect some intended trick, or unfair design.
rat
A sneak, an informer, a turn-coat, one who changes his party for interest. The late Sir Robert Peel was called the RAT, or the TAMWORTH RATCATCHER, for altering his views on the Roman Catholic question. From RATS deserting vessels about to sink. The term is often used amongst printers to denote one who works under price. Old cant for a clergyman.
rat run
a route taken to avoid traffic
rat's nest
A confusing or tangled situation
ratatouille moment
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
ratcastle
a prison.
rather than
Used to indicate a preference or alternative
rather!
A ridiculous street exclamation synonymous with yes; "Do you like fried chickens?" "RATHER!" "Are you going out of town?" "RATHER!" Very often pronounced "RAYTHER!"
rats
Of these there are the following kinds: a black rat and a grey rat, a py-rat and a cu-rat.
Rats desert a sinking ship. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1150)
People abandon a failing enterprise or situation
rattening
The punishment inflicted on non-unionists by Sheffield grinders, through the instrumentality of "Mary Ann." See Parliamentary Inquiry Report on the subject.
rattle
A dice-box. To rattle; to talk without consideration, also to move off or go away. To rattle one off; to rate or scold him.
rattle off
To say or list something quickly and easily
rattle through
To do or say something quickly and carelessly
rattle-pate
A volatile, unsteady, or whimsical man or woman.
rattle-traps
A contemptuous name for any curious portable piece of machinery, or philosophical apparatus.
rattlecap
An unsteady, volatile person. Generally applied to girls.
rattler
A coach. Rattle and prad; a coach and horses.
rattler
A cab, coach, or cart.—Old Cant.