▪ I. rebate, n.1
(ˈriːbeɪt, rɪˈbeɪt)
[ad. F. rabat, n. f. rabattre rebate v.1]
A deduction from a sum of money to be paid, a discount; also, a repayment, drawback.
| 1656 H. Phillips Purch. Patt. (1676) 103 What is the rebate out of 500 pound due 6 months hence, to be paid at present? 1694 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 332 Such as subscribe before Sunday will be allowed 50s. per cent. rebate. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Rebate, Rebatement, in commerce, a term much used at Amsterdam for a discount or abatement in the price of certain commodities. 1882 Contemp. Rev. Aug. 234 The company gives the settler a rebate, or payment back, of 5s. for every acre of land so improved. 1891 Law Times XCII. 94/1 The company..had made payments in advance under its agreement without receiving any discount or rebate. 1955 Times 10 May 15/3 An interesting feature of German price lists for the outside world is the appearance of rebates to shipbuilders—rebates for indirect exports, which recall the cartel. 1957 Clark & Gottfried University Dict. Business & Finance 292 In current usage, a rebate is distinguished from a discount in that the former is not taken out or deducted in advance, but is handed back after payment of the full amount. 1965 H. K. Compton Gloss. Purchasing & Supplies Managem. Terms 115 Rebate, an allowance (or discount) on price, usually given after the completion of the contract, and most frequently based on some relationship with the business turnover. 1965 McGraw-Hill Dict. Mod. Econ. 426 Rebates to large and more favored shippers were used extensively in the U.S. railroad industry in the nineteenth century as a form of price discrimination. |
| attrib. and Comb. 1869 Bradshaw's Railway Man. XXI. 448 Rebate account..{pstlg}1,348. 1894 Daily News 4 Dec. 7/1 Returning the amount in the form of a ‘rebate’ coupon entitling the possessor to a ten per cent. reduction on the prices of..articles. 1907 Daily Chron. 9 Dec. 4/3 They cannot dislodge the Welsh makers [of tin-plates] from their hold of the rebate trade. 1908 Times 1 Feb. 5/2 The rebate-taker, the franchise-trafficker, the manipulator of securities..and the man-killer all alike work at the same web of corruption. 1908 Daily Chron. 1 Feb. 5/3 The President [sc. Roosevelt] attacks by name..the Atchison and Santa Fé Railway..for its rebate practices and intervention in the money market. 1976 Milton Keynes Express 2 July 21/2 The decision to ban rebate tenants at Fishermead was revealed in this month's issue of the magazine ‘City Limits’. |
▪ II. rebate, n.2
(rɪˈbeɪt)
[Respelling of rabbet n., on analogy of prec. and rebate v.1]
A rabbet.
The pron. (rɪˈbeɪt) is given in all Dicts. from 1845 onwards, but in technical use the word is commonly pronounced as if written rabbet.
| 1674 Gouldman Eng.-Lat. Dict., A rebate, rebating or chamfering, strix. 1731 Bailey, Vol. II. (ed. 2), Rebáte (with Architects), chamfering or fluting. 1785 Peacock in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 370 Fix the..groove..in the rebate. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 421 Cottage and some kinds of church windows are glazed in squares, or other figures, in leaden rebates. 1894 S. R. Bottone Elect. Instr. Making (ed. 6) 201 The movable back fits into a rebate in the bottom of this box. |
b. attrib., as rebate-joint, rebate-plane.
| 1797 Trans. Soc. Arts XV. 261 The sort of planes I have used are what, by the joiners, are called the levelled rebate plane, and small rounds. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 582 A third sort of rebate-planes, called a fillister, is used for sinking or cutting away the edge of a piece of wood, to form the rebate. 1875 Carpentry & Join. 27 The rebate plane is..made as follows. 1886 Lockwood Dict. Terms, Rebate-Joint, a joint which is made by the overlapping of the edges of material. |
▪ III. rebate, n.3 rare—0.
[App. for rabbet, ad. F. rabot: cf. rabat n.]
a. = rabbit n.3, rab1. b. ‘An iron tool sharpened something like a chisel, and employed in dressing and polishing wood, etc.’
| 1826 J. Elmes Dict. Fine Arts. Hence in Webster (1847) and later Dicts. |
▪ IV. rebate, n.4 rare—0.
[Of obscure origin.]
‘A kind of hard freestone used in the formation of pavements’ (Elmes 1826).
▪ V. rebate, v.1
(rɪˈbeɪt)
Also 5 rabat, 6 rabb-, rabate, 6–7 rebait, 7 rebayte.
[ad. OF. rabattre, f. re- re- + abattre abate v.1 (cf. bate v.2).]
† 1. trans. a. Falconry. To bring back (a ‘bating’ hawk to the fist). Also intr. of the hawk: To settle down. Obs.
Cf. bate v.1 2, and OF. rebat n. in Godef. VI. 636.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans A vj, The secunde [term] is rebate youre hawke to yowre fyst, & thatt is whan yowre hawke batith the leest meuyng that ye can make with yowre fyst she will rebate ayen vppon yowre fyst. 1632 [see rabate v.]. 1677 Coles Eng.-Lat. Dict., To Rebait a hawk, accipitrem relicere. |
† b. Of a horse: (cf. abate v.1 19). rare—0.
| 1611 Cotgr., Rabatre,..also, a horse to rebate his curuet. 1727 Boyer Dict. Royal I. s.v. Rabattre, A Horse that rebates his Curvets very handsomely. |
2. † a. To deduct (a certain amount from a sum); to subtract (one quantity or number from another). Obs.
| 1427 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 257/2 Yf [Silver] be as good in alay as the old Sterlyng, to take it wythoute gruchyng.., and yif it be wars, to rebate truly the disavaill therof, after the feblenesse of the alay. 1472–3 Ibid. VI. 4/2 The Rentes and Services goyng oute of the seid Londes..therof oonly to be deducte and rebated. 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes E iij b, Than do I rebate 6 out of 8, & there resteth 2. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. ii. iv. (1821) 275 Detaining only, and rebating to her Highnesse use, twelue pence sterling upon every twentie shillings. 1675 Gregory in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 273 Ye say ye are owing me 44s., but ye are not owing so much. You have to rebate the price of the Archimedes [etc.]. |
| absol. 1440 in Wars Eng. in France (Rolls) II. 587 The king may rebate yerely of the said som as shalbe thoughte resonable. 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes E iij, If you shoulde go aboute to rebate, you muste haue two sundry summes proposed. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. iii. xix. (1589) 81 God..with a Plague did crosse The Brutons, that had els at least rebated from their losse. |
† b. To reduce or diminish (a sum or amount). Obs. (Cf. 3.)
| 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 175 Al such rentys as be inhaunsyd by memory of man schold be rebatyd, and set to the old stynt. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 43 We began..to rebate our allowance of drinke, to make it indure the longer. |
| transf. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves ii. x, If I be able to do a Courtesie, I rebate it by remembring it. |
† c. To give or allow a reduction to (a person).
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxliv. 543 Therle was set to his raunsome to pay sixscore M. frankes, so that whan he had maryed the lady Maude, than to be rebated threscore thousande, and the other threscore thousande to pay. 1656 H. Phillips Purch. Patt. (1676) 19 All the money the Landlord receives for the Fines of those Leases, he rebates his Tenant for it. 1669–70 Marvell Corr. cxxxvii. Wks. 1872–5 II. 303 The merchant paying down the duty in ready mony is to be rebated blank per cent. |
d. To pay back (a sum of money) as a rebate; to give a rebate on.
| 1957 Clark & Gottfried University Dict. Business & Finance 292/2 Under customs regulations..import duties paid on goods which are later re-exported may be rebated in part or in full. 1977 Time 21 Feb. 49/1 Much of the energy tax would have to be rebated in some form to the poor to help them meet higher living expenses. |
3. a. To reduce, lessen, diminish (a condition, quality, feeling, activity, etc.). Now rare.
Common c 1575–1725, with a large variety of objects.
| c 1450 Cov. Myst. viii. (Shaks. Soc.) 76, I xal sey here the same here sorwys to rebate. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxxii. 689 Pulegium hath the vertue..to rebate [1398 abate] ventosyte. 1562 Leigh Armorie 123 b, Who so killeth his prisoner..with hys owne hande, rebateth his honor. 1593 Munday Def. Contraries 98 Dearth of victuals..rebateth the pride of the highest mounted. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 128 Their fury was not onely rebated, but their hastinesse intercepted. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. xii. 322 Warmth it self, when dull'd and rebated by the Affluence of the contrary, is not wholly bound up. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) V. xxxvi. 349 To pacify her, or, at least, to rebate her first violence. 1759 Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. II. 182 The Sulphur has so sufficiently rebated the Acidity. 1897 F. Thompson New Poems 144 Thou dost rebate thy rigid purposes. |
b. To reduce the effect or force of (physical agencies, a blow, stroke, etc.). Now rare.
| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 278/2 This fire will be put out, or so rebated that we shall burne no more as we were woont to do. 1586 Bright Melanch. xi. 53 The poysons, being maistred or at least rebated by..remedies. 1609 Heywood Brit. Troy vi. xlviii. 124 To yeeld way, rebates the greatest stroke. 1663 in Boyle's Wks. (1772) VI. 371 The flesh of the viper rebateth the poison of the viper. 1713 C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 93 When the Coquette..Assumes a soft, a melancholy Air, And of her Eyes rebates the wand'ring Fires. 1814 Southey Roderick xxv. 493 Many a foin and thrust Aim'd and rebated. |
† c. To lessen the vigour or activity of (the mind, etc.); to repress, stop (a person or action).
| 1581 Savile Tacitus, Hist. iv. lxvii. (1591) 220 The success of the Sequani rebated and stayed the course of the warre. 1597 Beard Theatre God's Judgem. (1612) 34 His malicious and bloudthirstie mind was somewhat rebated and repressed from doing that which he pretended. Ibid. 472 He..was cut short and rebated by a small and base creature, and constrained to leaue this life. 1645 King's Cabinet Open. in Select. fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 356 Digby's sanguine complexion, not to be rebated from sending good news. a 1683 Oldham Wks. (1686) 42 Let no defeat Your sprightly Courage, and Attempts rebate. 1788 Trifler No. 30. 384 Where universal torpidity rebates the animal spirits. |
4. To make dull, to blunt: a. the edge or point of a weapon, or fig. of a feeling, action, person, etc. Now rare.
Common c 1590–1720 in both lit. and fig. contexts.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Gladiorum aciem praestringit, it rebateth or dulleth. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxxix. xiv, Takes he his weapon? thou the edge rebatest. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 193 The footemen try it out at sword and buckler with point and edge rebated. 1686 A. Horneck Crucif. Jesus xx. 577 When the very tools whereby the soul is to work, are blunt, and their edge rebated. 1715–20 Pope Iliad xi. 304 The broad belt,..The point rebated, and repell'd the wound. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. iii. i. 123 Armed with a pointless sword, having the edges rebated. |
| fig. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 251 Compassion so rebated the edge of Choler. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xxiv. 585 So long would I rebate Mine own edge set to sack your town. 1630 S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. ii. iii. (1670) 249, I will here adde a word or two..to rebate and blunt the point of detraction. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. iii. 502 The keener edge of battel to rebate. 1773 J. Allen Serm. St. Mary's, Oxf. 16 To..rebate the edge of Erastian insolence. |
b. a weapon, or something compared to one.
| 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1584) 210 His rule commaunded, that they shoulde not torney more than thirtie with thirty, and with swords rebated. a 1625 Fletcher Faithf. Friends iii. iii, This shirt of mail worn near my skin Rebated their sharp steel. 1676 Marvell Mr. Smirke 48 He forthwith relented, he rebated the Sword of the Executioner. 1708 Ozell tr. Boileau's Lutrin 101 My Front rebates your soft Artillery. 1814 Southey Carmina Aulica vi. i, Of arrows and of spears they told Which fell rebated from his mortal mould. 1863 W. Thornbury True as Steel (1868) I. 136 To see that the horses were well shoed and the spear-heads properly ‘rebated’ or blunted. |
| fig. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, cvii, Nature will not, (haveing forg'd him vp To Life, and Edge) rebate him, in her Shoppe. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. To Rdr., By rebating the satire, where justice would allow it, from carrying too sharp an edge. |
5. a. Her. To diminish (a charge) by removal of a portion, esp. a point or projection. Cf. rebatement 3. b. To remove (a point, etc.) from a charge.
| 1562 Leigh Armorie 122 b, When the father is dead, it may please y⊇ prince to adde agayne to the sonne that, that was rebated from the father. Ibid. 127 b, The fielde is Geules, three Escocheons Argent, one rebated on the Sinister chiefe point. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iii. ii. 87 To shew that the Canton doth not rebate the Starre in the Dexter point. 1637 Heywood Dial. iv. Wks. 1874 VI. 163 Some of the raies are broke, others rebated. 1868 Cussans Her. iv. 60 A Cross Moline, with its eight points rebated, or cut off. |
† 6. To repulse, drive back. Obs.
| 1590 Lodge Rosalind L, Hee was not onely rebatted, but sore wounded. 1590 Greene Orl. Fur. Wks. 1831 I. 34 This is the city of great Babylon, Where proud Darius was rebated from. 1633 W. Struther True Happines 46 Hatred, Feare.., and Sorrow..which serve to rebate and keep us in Separation from it. |
† 7. intr. a. To diminish, lessen, abate. Obs.
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 133 When the infant falleth away, and the flesshe rebateth remaynyng nothynge but as it ware skynne and bone. 1557 N. Grimalde Cicero's Death in Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 124 Rage rebated, when They his bare neck beheld, and his hore heyres. 1597 Beard Theatre Gods' Judgem. (1612) 170 He had scarce ended these speeches, but the Christians battell and courage began to rebate. |
† b. To grow blunt. Obs.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xvi. (1617) 280 The edge of vnderstanding rebateth at the outside of the least things that are. 1614 C. Brooke Rich. III Poems (1872) 141 But soone my archers slack their strongest bent, My souldiers' steel rebated. |
† c. To depart, fall away from a thing. Obs.—1
| 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 1951/2 In king Edwardes dayes, he began a litle to rebate from certeine poynts of Popery, and somewhat to smell of the gospell. |
† 8. (Meaning not clear: cf. rebating vbl. n.1)
| 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 110, ix. tonne of good Ciuill oyle, vessels fylled, the gauge payde and rebated. Ibid. 113 Which tonne wyne wele rebatid ful and gawge J. Alman byndith him..to delyuer. |
Hence rebatable (rɪˈbeɪtəb(ə)l, ˈriːˌbeɪtəb(ə)l) a.
| 1972 Daily Tel. 15 Feb. 17 The CBI's two main recommendations are a 2½ p.c. cut in corporation tax..and a halving of the rebatable heavy oil duty. |
▪ VI. rebate, v.2
[Later spelling of rabbet v., on analogy of prec. For pron. see rebate n.2]
1. trans. To make a rebate or rabbet in.
| 1674 Gouldman Eng.-Lat. Dict., To rebate or make rebates, strio. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To rebate, to channel or chamfer. 1785 Peacock in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 368 The edges of the said board are to be rebated. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 583 This kind of plane is usually employed to rebate narrow pieces of wood, such as are used in sashes. 1863 Wynter Subtle Brains & Lissom Fingers 275 Another machine rebated and bearded the keel. |
2. To join together with a rebate.
| 1838 London's Arch. Mag. V. 579 It will be seen that the headers and stretchers are rebated together. 1847 Smeaton Builder's Man. 90 A lap dovetail, which, when put together, shows only a joint, as if the pieces were rebated together. |