rant (rant)

i. [ Nay, an thou'lt mouth, I'll rant as well as thou. Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 307. They say you're angry, and rant mightily, Because I love the same as you. Cowley, The Mistre , Rich Rival. Make not your Hecuba with fury rage, And show a ranting grief upon the stage. Dryden and Soames, tr. of Boileau's Art of Poetry, iii. 563. 2. To be jovial or jolly in a noisy way; make noisy mirth. [North. Eng. and Scotch.] Wi' quaffing and laughing, They ranted and they sang. Burns , Jolly Beggars. rant (rant), n . [ rant , v .] 1. Boisterous, empty declamation; fierce or high-sounding langua language without much meaning or dignity of thought; bombast. This is stoical rant , without any foundation in the nature of man or reason of things. Atterbury . 2. A ranting speech; a bombastic or boisterous utterance. After all their rants about their wise man being happy in the bull of Phalaris, ., they yet allow'd him to dispatch himself if he saw cause. Stilling fleet , Sermons, I. v. He sometimes, indeed, in his rants , talked with Norman haughtine of the Celtic barbarians; but all his sympathies were really with the natives. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 3. The act of frolicking; a frolic; a boisterous merrymaking, generally accompanied with dancing. [Scotch.] Thou art the life o' public haunts; But [without] thee, what were our fairs and rants? Burns, Scotch Drink. The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia ranter1 (ran'tėr), n. [ rant + -er1.] 1. One who rants; a noisy talker; a boisterous preach- er, actor, or the like.-2. [ cap .] A name ap- plied-( a ) By way of reproach, to the mem- bers of an English Antinomian sect of the Commonwealth period, variously a ociated with the Familists, etc. (b) Also, opprobrious- ly, to the Primitive Methodists, who formed themselves into a society in 1810, although the founders had separated from the old Methodist society some years before, the ground of dis- agreement being that the new body favored street preaching, camp-meetings, etc.-3. A merry, roving fellow; a jolly drinker. [North. Eng. and Scotch.] Mistake me not, custom, I mean not tho, Of exce ive drinking, as great ranters do. Praise of Yorkshire Ale (1697), p. 5. ( Hall i well . ) Yours, saint or sinner, Rob the Ranter . ranter2 (ran'ter), v . i . [Cf. ranter2 , n.] liquor from a large into a smaller ve el. [Prov. Eng.] IMG:content-1629.png:[blocks in formation] ing on the tongue of cattle, dim. of rana , a frog: see Rana1 .] A cystic tumor caused by the ob- struct i on of the duct of a small mucous gland on the under surface of the tongue, the so-called Bland in-Nuhn gland. The term has been applied, however, with considerable loosene , to other tumors in or near this place presenting some resemblance to true ranule. ranular (ran'ū-lär), a . [= F. ranulaire ; as ran- ula + -ar3 .] Of or pertaining to a ranula; of the character of a ranula. Ranunculaceæ (ra-nung-kū-lā'sē-ē), n . pl . [NL. (A. L. de Ju ieu, 1789), Ranunculus + -aceæ .] An order of polypetalous plants of the cohort Ra- nales , characterized by the numerous stamens inserted on the receptacle, five deciduous and commonly colored sepals, not more than one complete circle of petals, and seeds with a mi- nute embryo in fleshy albumen, and without an aril. They have usually many separate pistils which ma- ture into distinct dry fruits, either achenes or follicles, or coalesce into berries. The species, estimated by some at 1,200, by Durand at 680, are included in 5 tribes and 30 gen- era. They occur throughout the world, but in the tropics more rarely and chiefly on mountains, elsewhere forming a conspicuous part of the flora of almost every region, especially in Europe, which contains one fifth, and in North America, which has one seventeenth, of all the species. Their wide distribution is aided by the long- continued vitality of the seeds, many of which are also re- markably slow to germinate after planting, those of sev- eral species requiring two They are annual or perennial herbs-rarely undershrubs, as Xanthorhiza . Many have di ected alternate or radical leaves, the petiole with an expanded sheathing base, but without stipules; Clematis is exceptional in its opposite leaves and climbing stem. The order is often known as the buttercup or crow- foot family, from the type, and contains an unusually large proportion of other characteristic plants, as the hepatica of America, the Christmas rose of Germany, and the le er celandine of England. It includes also many of the most beautiful flowers of garden cultivation. Most of the spe- cies contain in their colorle juice an acrid and caustic principle, which sometimes becomes a dangerous nar- cotic poison, is often of great medicinal value (see hellebore , aconite , Hydrastis , Actæa , Cimicifuga ), is usually most con- cent rated in the roots, but very volatile in the foliage and stems, and is di ipated by drying or in water, but intensi- fied by the action of acids, alcohol, etc. The order was one of the earliest to be defined by botanists with substantially its present limits (as Multisiliquæ by Linnæus, 1751), and has long been placed at the head of the polypetalous fami- lies of dicotyledons, standing as the first order of plants in the most widely accepted cla ifications, from De Candolle in 1819 to Durand in 1888. ranunculaceous (ra-nung-kū-lā'shius), a . NL. ranunculaceus , Ranunculus , q. v. Cf. Ranunculaceæ .] Of or pertaining to the Ra- Ranunculeæ (rā-nung-kūʻlē-ē), n . pl . [NL. (A. P. de Candolle, 1818), Ranunculus +-ex.] A tribe of plants of the order Ranunculaceæ . It is characterized by carpels with one ascending ovule, be- coming achenes in fruit, by numerous radical leaves, and (excepting in the two species of Oxy graph is ) by the add i- tional presence of alternate stem-leaves. It includes the type genus Ranunculus , and 3 other genera embracing 8 species. cut flowers, and especially the Persian R. Asiaticus , with three-parted leaves, parent of a hundred varieties, mostly double, and including scarlet and other colors. R.aconi- tifolius , a tall European species with five-parted leaves, is cultivated in white double-flowered varieties under the names bachelor's - buttons and fair - maids -of- France or -of- Kent . The bright-yellow flowers of R. in sign is , a densely woolly New Zealand species, are nearly 2 inches acro . growth in rock-crevices amid perpetual snow, especially R. glacial is of the Alps, and also the yellow-flowered R. Thora , the mountain wolf's-bane. A few weedy species have prickly fruit, as R. arvensis of England (for which see hunger weed , hedgehog , 3, and joy , 4). Many species are so acrid as to raise blisters when freshly gathered, but are sometimes eaten, when dried, by cattle. R. scelerat us , said to be the most acrid species, is eaten boiled as a salad in Wall a chia, as are also the roots of R. bulbosus , the acridity disappearing on boiling. R. auricomus (see goldilocks ) is exceptional in the absence of this acrid prin- ciple, as also R. aquatilis , which sometimes forms almost the entire food of cattle. This and several other species, the water-crowfoots, are immersed aquatics with finely dis- sected foliage, forming deep-green feathery ma es which bear white emersed flowers; among them is R. Lyalii of New Zealand, one of the most ornamental species, there known as water - lily . The yellow water-crowfoot, R. mul- tifidus , found from North Carolina to Point Barrow, has kidney-shaped and cut floating leaves. Several species with long and mainly undivided leaves are known as spearwort . For R. Ficaria , celebrated as one of the earliest English flowers, and as Words worth's flower , see celandine , 2, pile- wort , and figwort , 2. See also cut under achenium . 2. [l. c.; pl. ranunculi (-lī).] A plant of the genus Ranunculus . ran verset, v . t . See renverse . Ranvier's nodes. See nodes of Ranvier , under IMG:content-1630.png:[blocks in formation] Ranunculus (ra-nungʻkū-lus), n . [NL. (Kas- pard Bauhin, 1623), ranunculus , a medicinal plant, also called bat rach i on , perhaps crowfoot It. ranuncolo , Sp. ranúnculo , Pg. ranunculo , D. ranonkel , G. Dan. Sw. ranunkel , crowfoot), dim. of rana , a frog: see Ranal .] 1. A large genus of polypetalous plants, type of the order Ranun- culaceæ and of the tribe Ranunculeæ . It is charac- terized by the perfect flowers with from three to five cadu- cous sepals, three to five or even fifteen conspicuous petals, each marked at the base by a nectar-bearing scale or pit, and by the many achenes in a head or spike, each beaked with a short persistent style. There are about 200 species, scattered throughout the world, abundant in temper- ate and cold regions, with a few on mountain-tops in the tropics; 15 species are Brit- ish, and about 47 occur in the United States, besides at least 9 others in Alaska; 23 are found in the Atlantic States, The genus is remarkable for its development northward, Islands and Point Barrow, and even to Fort Conger, 81° 44' north. Others extend well to the south, as the Fue- gian R. biter nat us . The spe- cies have usually a perennial base or rootstock, and bear deeply divided leaves, entire in a few species, and yellow or white terminal flowers (pink in R. Anderson i of Ne- vada), which are generally bright and showy, and have numerous and conspicuous Flowering Plant of Ranunculus short yellow stamens and a bulbosus (buttercup). smaller central ma of yellow or greenish pistils. The more common species, with bright- yellow flowers and palmately divided leaves, are known rapl (rap), v.; pret. and pp. rapped or rapt , ppr. rapping . [ rappen , rappa , strike, beat, rap; cf. rap1 , n. Cf. MHG. freq. raffeln , G. rappeln , intr., rattle. Perhaps con- nected with rap2 .] I. trans . 1. To beat upon; strike heavily or smartly; give a quick, sharp blow to, as with the fist, a door-knocker, a stick, or the like; knock upon. His hote newe chosen love he chaunged into hate, And sodainly with mighty mace gan rap hir on the pate. Gas coigne, In Praise of Lady Sandes. With one great Peal they rap the Door, Like Footmen on a Visiting Day. rap One raps an oath, another deals a curse; He never better bowl'd; this never worse. Quarles, Emblems, i. 10. To rap out. (a) To throw out violently or suddenly in speech; utter in a forcible or striking manner: as, to rap out an oath or a lie. He could round lie rap out so manie vgle othes. Ascham , The Scholemaster, p. 57. The first was a judge, who rapped out a great oath at Add is on , Freeholder, No. 44. his footman, ( b ) To produce or indicate by rapping sounds; impart by a series of significant raps: as, to rap out a communication or a signal: used specifically of the supposed transmi ion of spiritual intelligence in this way through the instrumentality of mediums. Syn. 1. To thump, whack. II. in trans . 14. To deal a heavy blow or heavy blows; beat. The elementes gonne to rusche & rappe , And smet downe chirches & templis with crak. Political Poems , etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 206. 21. To fall with a stroke or blow; drop so as to strike. Now, by this time the tears were rapping down Upon her milk-white breast, aneth her gown. Ro , Helenore, p. 70. ( Jamie son .) 3. To strike a quick, sharp blow; make a sound by knocking, as on a door: as, to rap for admittance. Villain, I say, knock me at this gate, And rap me well. Shak ., T. of the S., i. 2. 12. Whan she cam to the king's court, She rappit wi' a ring. Earl Richard (Child's Ballads, III. 397). Comes a dun in the morning and raps at my door. Shenstone , Poet and Dun. 4. To take an oath; swear; especially, to swear falsely: compare to rap out (a), above. [Thieves' cant.] It was his constant maxim that he was a pitiful fellow who would stick at a little rapping for his friend. Fielding , Jonathan Wild, 1. 13. ( Davies .) rap1 (rap), n. [ The right arme with a rappe reft fro the shuldurs. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7680. And therewith (as in great anger) he clapped his fyste on the borde a great rappe. Hall , Edw. V. Bolus arriv'd, and gave a doubtful tap, Between a single and a double rap . Colman the Younger, Broad Grins, The Newcastle Apoth[ecary. We may first take the raps and the "astral bells," which Mr. Sinnett seems to regard as constituting important test phenomena. R. Hodgson , Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, III. 261. rap2 (rap), v . t . pret. and pp. rapped or rapt , ppr.rapping . [ ME.rappen , Sw.rappa , snatch, seize, carry off, = MHG. G. raffen , snatch; dial. (LG.) rappen , snatch up, take up (> ult. E. raff ). Cf. rapel and rape . The pp. rapped , rapt , became confused with rapt , rapt us , pp. of rapere , snatch, which is not connected with the Teut, word: see rapt1 , rapt2 .] 1†. To snatch or hurry away; seize by violence; carry off; transport; ravish. Some shall be rapt and taken alive, as St. Paul saith. 4960 All they could rap , and rend , and pilfer, To scraps and ends of gold and silver. S. Butler, Hudibras, II. ii. 789. From foe and from friend He'd rap and he'd rend , That Holy Church might have more to spend. Barham , In golds by Legends, II. 206. rap3 (rap), v. t.; pret. and pp. rapped, ppr. rap ping. [Also rape; prob. due in part to rap1, but in part representing ME. repen, G. rappen, scrape, = Icel. hreppa, catch, obtain, = Sw. rep a, scratch. Cf. rape6.] To scratch. Hall i well. [Prov. Eng.] rap4 (rap), п. [Perhaps a particular use of rap1. There is nothing to connect the word with MHG. G. rappe, a coin so called: see rappe2.] A counterfeit coin of bad metal which pa ed current in Ireland for a halfpenny in the reign of George I., before the i ue of Wood's halfpence. Its intrinsic value was half a farthing. Hence the phrases not worth a rap, to care not a rap, implying something of no value. It having been many years since copper halfpence or farthings were last coined in this Kingdom, they have been for some time very scarce, and many counterfeits pa ed about under the name of raps . Swift , Drapier's Letters, letter i. They [his pockets] was turned out afore, and the devil a rap 's left. Barham , In golds by Legends, I. 76. I don't care a rap where I go. C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 201. Rap halfpenny, a rap. It is not of very great moment to me that I am now and then imposed on by a rap halfpenny . Blackwood's Mag ., XCVI. 392. n. rap5t, A Middle English form of rope. rap6t. A Middle English preterit of reap. Wyclif. rap7 (rap), n. [Origin obscure.] A lay or skein of yarn containing 120 yards. E. H. Knight. Rapaces (rā-pā'sēz), n. pl. [NL., pl. of L. ra pax, rapacious: see rapacious.] 1. In mam mal., the beasts of prey; carnivorous quadru peds; the Carnivora, now called Feræ. Also Rapacia.-2. In ornith., the birds of prey; rapacious birds; the Accipitres or Raptores. Rapacia (ra-pā'shi-ä), n. pl. [NL., neut. pl. of L. rapax: see Rapaces.] Rapacious mammals; beasts of prey: synonymous with Rapaces, 1. rapacious (rā-pā'shus), a. [ = F. rapace = Pr. rapatz = Sp. rapaz = It. rapace, What trench can intercept, what fort withstand The brutal soldier's rude rapacious hand. Rowe , tr. of Lucan's Pharsalia, vii. A rapacious man he [Warren Hastings] certainly was not. Had he been so, he would infallibly have returned to his country the richest subject in Europe. Macaulay , Warren Hastings. 2. Of a grasping nature or character; characterized by rapacity; immoderately exacting; extortionate: as, a rapacious disposition; ra pacious demands. Well may then thy Lord, appeased, Redeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim. Milton , P. L., xi. 258. There are two sorts of avarice; the one is but of a bas rape Our wild profusion, the source of insatiable rapacity. Bolingbroke, To Pope. In the East the rapacity of monarchs has sometimes gone to the extent of taking from cultivators so much of their produce as to have afterwards to return part for seed. H. Spencer , Prin. of Sociol., § 443. = rapadura (rap-a-döʻrä), n. [ Also rappadura;