▪ I. rantipole, n. (and a.)
(ˈræntɪpəʊl)
Also 8 rante-, -pol; dial. 9 ranty-, -pow(l.
[? A fanciful formation on rant v.: cf. frampold.]
1. A romp; a wild, ill-behaved or reckless person; a scold, termagant. Now rare.
In southern dial. also applied to the wild-carrot, and in the north to the game of see-saw.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Rantipole, a rude wild Boy or Girl. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) I. 6 Good buye to the Change Where Rantepoles range. 1790 R. Tyler Contrast iii. i. (1887) 55 There was a poor, good-natured, curse of a husband, and a sad rantipole of a wife. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xv, I was always considered as a rantipole. |
2. attrib. or as adj. Wild, disorderly, rakish.
| 1700 Congreve Way of World iv. x, [To] comport your self at this Rantipole rate. 1728 Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. v. i. 93 Another rantipol Dame of Quality. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy xxiv. 212 My house is respectable..none o' your rantipole places, Sir. 1863 Sala in Temple Bar Dec. 9, I never knew such a set of rantipole maniacs. 1866 Hansard Commons 27 Apr. 91 But, notwithstanding all the statements that are made—notwithstanding this rantipole rhetoric—it is not true that the North of England is superior in population or property to the South. 1970 Times 7 Jan. 9/7 Four rantipole businessmen lament the problems faced by the wolfish married man. 1976 Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Mar. 297/4 [Marlborough's] letters to the duchess are intact and ample but allowances have to be made for anyone writing to that rantipole lady. |
▪ II. rantipole, v.
(ˈræntɪpəʊl)
[f. prec. n.]
intr. To go about, or behave, in a romping, rude or noisy fashion. † Also with it.
| 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull ii. iv, She used to Rantipole about the House, pinch the Children, kick the Servants. 1760 Murphy Way to Keep Him i. ii, Lord bless you, ma'am, they rantipole it about this town. 1841 Blackw. Mag. XLIX. 494 When they have once run rantipoling over the country after bullocks. |
Hence ˈrantipoling vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1754 Richardson Grandison VII. xliii, They go on without rantipoling, in the ordinary course of reasonable creatures. 1850 E. Warburton R. Hastings I. 6 Fitter for honest men than for the like of us rantipoling cavaliers. |