▪ I. razee, n.
(rəˈziː)
Also 8 † raze.
[ad. F. rasé(e, pa. pple. of raser to rase v.1: cf. raze v. and -ee1.]
a. Naut. A war-ship or other vessel reduced in height by the removal of her upper deck or decks.
| 1794 R. F. Greville Diary 14 Sept. (1930) 335 Two large Ships razes which are line of Battle Ships cut down & mounted with very heavy guns 24 Pdrs. 1803 Sir R. Wilson in Life (1862) I. iv. 216 The Captain of a twenty-four-razee. 1815 Burney Falconer's Mar. Dict. s.v., The Indefatigable, Majestic.., and Saturn have been cut down for Razees. 1844 Harwood Irish Rebellion 232 Two frigates and a sixty-gun razee bearing down upon him. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay iv, This was the sole cause of my chest being converted into a razee. 1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie V. xviii. (1891) 253 The hulks and the razees of enslaved or half-enslaved intelligences. |
▪ II. razee, v.
(rəˈziː)
[f. razee n.]
1. trans. To cut down (a ship) to a lower size by reducing the number of decks.
| 1842 Brande Dict. Mech. s.v. Razee, By razeeing, the draught of water is diminished, while the centre of gravity is lowered, and the qualities of the vessel have generally..been improved. 1862 W. H. Russell in Times 27 Mar., The Merrimac..has been razeed and iron-plated. 1894 C. N. Robinson Brit. Fleet 240 In 1793..old sixty-fours were cut down a deck, or ‘razeed’ (a term that now came into use) into forty-fours. |
2. fig. To abridge, prune, dock.
| 1820 Deb. Congress U.S. 28 Jan. (1855) 1008 It would not follow that they should have power to razee a State..by depriving the admitted State of equal rights. 1837 Marryat Dog-fiend v, He was like a man razéed or cut down. 1882 Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 77 They were razeed to the smallest possible dimensions as to numbers and endowment. |
Hence raˈzeed ppl. a.
| 1847 Knickerbocker June 496 The ‘Chicken Mauma’ was persecuting the Cherokee advocate with her razeed (i.e., reduced,) offers in reference to the sale of the ‘funny chickens’. 1867 Harper's Mag. Oct. 679/2 This ‘mittimus’ of the Squire's was a razeed, square-topped old chaise. 1884 Daily News 23 Sept. 3/1 The..Castles of Walmer, Deal, and razeed Sandown. a 1895 Adm. Paget Autobiog. iii. (1896) 71 The command of the Aigle, razeed frigate. |