rathe-ripe, rath-ripe, a. and n. Now poet. and dial.
(ˈreɪð-, ˈrɑːθ-, -æ-)
[f. rathe a.1 + ripe a. (cf. OE. rædr{iacu}pe and rare-ripe). With ref. to grain the usual spelling is rath-.]
A. adj.
1. Of fruits, grain, etc.: Coming early to maturity; ripening early in the year.
Usually applied to special kinds or varieties, as rathe-ripe barley, rathe-ripe pease, etc.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xlii. 712 There be diuers sortes of Peares,..whereof some be rathe ripe, some haue a later riping. 1620 Venner Via Recta (1650) 184 Those hard Rathe-ripe Pease, which are brought to the Markets by the middle or end of May. 1677 Phil. Trans. XII. 876 A rath-ripe Barley, sow'd and return'd again into the Barn in two months time. 1745 tr. Columella's Husb. x. 615 Then from twice-bearing tree the rathe-ripe fig Descends. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food of Man 61 Spring Barley... Of this species farmers distinguish two sorts; the common, and..the rath-ripe barley. 1840 Browning Sordello ii. 313 Fruits like the fig-tree's, rathe-ripe, rotten-rich. 1879– in dial. glossaries (Devon, Dorset, Hants, E. Anglia). |
2. fig. Precocious, early developed in mind or body. Now dial.
| 1617 Bp. Hall Quo Vadis? §4 These rathe-ripe wits preuent their owne perfection. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 217 Being extraordinary rath ripe [he]..was entred into his Accedence at five years of age. 1703 Whitby Comm. N.T. I. 118 Quintilian saith of the rath-ripe wit, that it rarely comes to maturity. 1886 W. Som. Word-bk. s.v., A girl who developed into a woman at an early age would be called rathe-ripe by elderly educated people. |
B. n. Applied to various early fruits and vegetables, esp. peas and apples.
| 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 153 The small Rathe-ripes [Peas]..for poor and gravelly [Land]. 1825 Britton Wiltsh. Words, Rathe-ripes signifies early peas. 1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. iii. 36 A Quarrington grafted on a Tom Putt, and a Rathe-ripe upon top o' that again. 1887 ― Woodlanders ii. ix. 151 The mellow countenances of..costards, stubbards, ratheripes. |