ranine (ran in)

[F. ran in, Seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. Gen. xli. 5. Rank weeds, that every art and care defy, Reign o'er the land, and rob the blighted rye. Crabbe, Works, I. 5. As o'er the verdant waste I guide my steed, Among the high rank gra that sweeps his sides. Bryant, The Prairies. IMG:content-1619.jpg:[blocks in formation] 5. Causing strong growth; producing luxuriantly; rich and fertile. Where land is rank , 'tis not good to sow wheat after a fallow. Mortimer, Husbandry. 6. Strong to the senses; offensive; noisome; rancid: as, a rank taste or odor. To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds. Shak ., Sonnets, Ixix. And because they [the Caphrarians] always annoint themselues with grease and fat, they yeeld a ranke smell. Purchas , Pilgrimage, p. 693. Whence arise But weeds of dark luxuriance, tares of haste, Rank at the core, though tempting to the eyes. Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 120. A number held pipes between their teeth, filling the room with the rank smoke of the strongest and blackest tobacco. C. J. Bellamy , Breton Mills, ii. Hence-7. Coarse or gro morally; offensive to the mind; obscene; indecent; foul. My wife's a hobby-horse, deserves a name As rank as any flax-wench. Shak ., W. T., i. 2. 277. The London Cuckolds, the most rank play that ever succeeded, was then [in the time of King Charles II.] in the Life of Quin (reprint 1887), p. 14. breeding, adapted for ranging or running about, or indicating such adaptation; quick or easy in movement; of roving character or capability: as, a rangy yoke of oxen (that is, good travelers, capable of making good speed, as in plowing); rangy steers (that is, steers disposed to wander away to a distance, as on a stock-range). hadisesi in ged i lection plow The word is also sometimes applied to a roving person, as for a roving life, as that of a sailor. [U. S.] The ponies used for the circle-riding in the morning have need rather to be strong and rangey . T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, i. 2. Having or permitting range or scope; roomy; commodious. [U. S.] A large rangy shed for the horses. Sportsman's Gazetteer , p. 452.