▪ I. † rape, n.1 Obs.
Also 3 rap.
[Related to rape v.1]
Haste, speed, hurry; chiefly in phrases to have rape and in rape.
| a 1300 K. Horn 1532 Horn him wok of slape, So a man þat hadde rape. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 2368 (Kölbing), He stirt vp al in rape. Ibid. 4850 Fleand oway with gret rape. c 1374 Chaucer To Scriv. 7 Al is thorugh thy necglygence and rape. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 1644 Thei saw come many a lord,..With mychel spede and mychel rape. c 1400 Promp. Parv. 423/2 Rape, or hast, festinacio. |
| Prov. c 1300 Prov. Hending xxxi. in Salomon & Sat. (1848) 278 Ofte rap reweþ, quoþ Hendyng. 1473 Marg. Paston in P. Lett. III. 78 Bydde hym that he be not to hasty of takyng of orderes..for oftyn rape rewith. |
b. With a, in phr. in a rape, in a hurry.
| c 1320 Sir Beues (MS. A.) 642 Beues slouȝ hem in a rape. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5633 Row forthe in a rape right to the banke, Tit vnto Troy, tary no lengur. |
▪ II. rape, n.2
(reɪp)
[a. AF. rap, raap, rape (Britton, etc. in sense 3), prob. a back-formation from L. rapĕre: see rape v.2]
† 1. The act of taking anything by force; violent seizure (of goods), robbery. Also with a: A case or instance of this. Obs.
In later use perh. transf. from 2 or 3.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 4926 Right, þat vs riches for rape of our godes. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 238 All vnlawfull vsurpyng..of the temporall goodes of ony persone, by rape, pykyng..or ony other maner of stelyng. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. vii. 5 He liu'd all on rauin and on rape Of men and beasts. 1646–8 G. Daniel Poems Wks. 1878 I. 204 Soe farre Humanitie enforces..In the Sterne Rape of Power. 1706 De Foe Jure Divino xi. 246 When Kings their Crowns without Consent obtain, 'Tis all a mighty Rape, and not a Reign. 1712 Pope (title) The Rape of the Lock. |
2. The act of carrying away a person, esp. a woman, by force.
Sometimes (as in quot. 1436) involving also sense 3.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 3539 Menelay..was told Of the rape vnrightwis of his Riche qwene. 1436 Rolls of Parlt. I. 497 There the seid Besecher [he] felonousely and moste horribely ravysshed, and her..ledde with him into the wylde and desolate places of Wales; of the which rape, he..is endited. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 405 Rape call you it..to cease [seize] my owne, My true betrothed Loue. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle Cert. Poems (1871) 128 So death is cruell,..of all he makes his rape. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 490 All the Rapes of Gods, and ev'ry Love. 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. v. 77 He..sung the Rape of Proserpine by Pluto. 1829 Scott Rob Roy Introd. 31 We need not refer to the rape of the Sabines. |
3. a. Violation or ravishing of a woman. Also, in mod. usage, sexual assault upon a man.
| 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 95 There rauysschyd he and forcyd my wyf..See my lorde thys fowle mater, this is murdre rape and Treson. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. i. 48 This..treates of Tereus treason and his rape, And rape I feare was roote of thine annoy. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 713 Marrying or prostituting, as befell, Rape or Adulterie. 1768 Blackstone Comm. IV. 15 An attempt to rob, to ravish, or to kill, is far less penal than the actual robbery, rape, or murder. 1869 Lecky Europ. Mor. II. i. 69 The rape of a slave woman was also in this reign punished like that of a free woman, by death. 1976 Listener 27 May 683/1 The brutal assault with flagellation and homosexual rape. 1981 Times 9 Mar. 4/8 The president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association..is bringing a summons against the director of the play..over the scene of homosexual rape. |
b. With a and pl. An instance of this.
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 190 Let adulteries,..rapes, and incestes bee put to exile. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle vi. 2460 The daunger of the lawe, which for a rape Awardeth death. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 84 ¶1 At the Old-Bailey when a Rape is to be try'd. 1757 Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. ii. iii. Wks. (1812) 283 Rapes, and vows of perpetual chastity, succeeded each other in the same persons. 1834 Cycl. Pract. Medicine III. 583/1 An assault, with intent to commit a rape. 1977 New Yorker 24 Oct. 64/3 Hardly a year goes by without a gang rape at Green Haven. On New Year's Eve, 1976,..a..man was forcibly assaulted and sodomized. |
c. transf. and fig. (Freq. in 17th c.)
| 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 97 Thou hast..done a rape Vpon the maiden vertue of the Crowne. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. i. v. 13 When they set Abel to till the ground, and send Cain to keep sheep..they commit a rape on nature. 1677 Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 76 If thou yield, will not God account it a rape upon thine integrity? a 1704 T. Brown Sat. French King Wks. 1730 I. 60 Old Jerom's volumes next I made a rape on. 1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Oct. 1217/5 It is his job to save Juli from the hangman and, in the final court scene, he does it by the public rape of the boy's secret personality and the destruction of his genius. |
4. concr. One (esp. a woman) who is raped. ? Obs.
| 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. i. ii. viii. (1589) 29 And hauing brought his trembling Rape into a vallie, said: Se Deianira how thy Loue an end of me hath made. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. iii. (1626) 45 The God, arriuing with his Rape At sacred Creet, resumes his heauenly shape. a 1683 Oldham Wks. (1686) 20 Ravish at th' Altar,..Make them your Rapes, and Victims too in one. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as rape fiend, rape hound, rape-novel, rape-scene; rape-happy adj.; rape artist, one who successfully plans and executes a rape or rapes.
| 1974 News & Courier (Charleston, S. Carolina) 28 Apr. e–2/1 The majority result from spur-of-the-moment urges, although ‘rape artists’ who plan their assaults ahead of time and attack on a regular basis, do exist. |
| 1935 N. Ersine Underworld & Prison Slang 61 Rape fiend, rape hound, a person serving time on a rape rap. He is held in contempt by all cons on other charges. 1973 C. Himes Black on Black 40 You dirty, lying rape fiend, I hope they beat you up. |
| 1953 ‘M. Spillane’ Kiss Me, Deadly i. 7 Damn rape-happy dame. You think all guys are the same? |
| 1961 R. Williams Long Revolution 336 The horror-film, the rape-novel. |
| 1961 John o' London's 3 Aug. 163/2 A truly Moravian rape-scene in a ruined church. 1981 Times 11 Mar. 14/8 The rape scene is handled with a casual certainty that robs it of all offence. |
▸ rape alarm n. a portable alarm which, when activated, alerts others that the user is in danger of rape or assault.
| 1977 Los Angeles Times 23 Oct. g1 (heading) *Rape alarms and turtles. Santa's Little Helpers go ape for Akron. 1999 Jerusalem Post (Electronic ed.) 24 Aug. The rape alarm..is the size of a transistor radio and emits a loud siren when the assaulted person pulls a string. 2005 S. Wales Echo (Nexis) 6 June 12 ‘That's a lovely name, what are its origins?’ ‘It's Apache for {oqq}go away before I pull the pin out of my rape alarm{cqq}.’ |
▪ III. rape, n.3 Obs. exc. dial.
(reɪp)
[a. F. râpe † raspe rasp n.1]
A rasp, rough file.
| 1502 Arnolde Chron (1811) 245 The toel y{supt} belongeth to my crafte, as saues,..hameres, rapis, filis. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. de Invent. ii. xii. 56 b, Ciniras also deuised the tonges, fyle or rape, leuer and stithe. 1639 T. de Grey Compl. Horsem. 101 Take a rape, or a drawing-iron, and with eyther of these make the coffin of the hoofe fine and thin. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Shoeing of horses, The Raggedness also on the out side of the Coffin, should be filed away with a Rape. 1888 in Sheffield Gloss. |
| attrib. 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. cii. 385 The best cure is with a fine rape-file to smooth the wrinckles away. |
▪ IV. rape, n.4
(reɪp)
Also 1 rap, 4 rope.
[Of unknown etym.; first found in Domesday Book, but possibly of OE. origin.
The form of the word is decisive against any connexion with Icel. hreppr poor-law district, parish, which is freq. given as the source. Advocates of this etym. have further attempted to explain the term as meaning land measured by the ‘rope’ (OE. ráp, ON. reip); but the one suggestion necessarily excludes the other. The latter is phonetically possible, but there is no positive evidence for it.]
One of the six administrative districts into which Sussex was divided, each comprising several hundreds.
| c 1086 Domesday Bk. II. 17 b, De his hiðis jacent .iii. hiðæ..in Rap de Hastinges. 1376 Rolls of Parlt. II. 348/1 En les Rapes de Cicestre & Arundell. 1380 Ibid. III. 95/2 Le Rope d'Arundell', en quele Rope sont contenuz pluseurs Hundredes. 1495 Ibid. VI. 500/1 The Ferme and Issues of the Rape of Chichestre. 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. xii. 52 b, Lathes, Rapes, and Wapentakes, be so called of the divisions of partes of shires. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. v. (1614) 9/2 This country is principally divided into six Rapes, containing a river, a castle, and forrest in themselves. 1717 Gay To William Lowndes Esq. 12 Great Lownds his praise should swell the trump of fame, And rapes and wapentakes resound his name. 1832 Act 2 & 3 Will. IV, c. 64 §22 Such Eastern Division shall include..the several rapes of Lewes, Hastings, and Pevensey. 1888 Archæol. Rev. Mar. 59 In West Sussex the rape also survives for the important purpose of liability to the repair of bridges. |
b. Comb.: † rape reeve, the official charged with the administration of a rape. Obs.
| 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 116 These had formerly their lathe-reeves and rape-reeves acting in subordination to the Shire-reeve. |
▪ V. rape, n.5
(reɪp)
[ad. L. rāpum neut., rāpa fem., a turnip. In sense 2 perh. partly from Du. raap turnip, rape; cf. G. (now obs. or dial.) rape, rabe(n, räbe(n turnip.]
† 1. (With a or in pl.) a. A turnip (? or radish). b. A plant of rape (2 b). Obs.
In 15th c. glossaries rape is used to render both rāpa and raphanus. In K. Alis. (Weber) 4983 rabben is not a form of rape, but an error for crabben of the MS.
| ? c 1390 Form of Cury in Warner Antiq. Culin. (1791) 4 Take rapus, and make hem clene..parboile hem [etc.]. c 1440 Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 426 Take rapes and scrape hom wel..and then cut hom on peces. 1551 Turner Herbal ii. 112 Rapum..is called in English of them of the South countre, turnepe, of other countre men a rape. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 25 Plinie would not haue Rapes sowen, but in very well dunged ground. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ii. 179 Wild Turneps or Rapes haue long, broad, and rough leaues like those of Turneps. 1634 W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. (1865) 15 This land likewise affoards Hempe and Flax..with Rapes if they bee well managed. 1667 ‘Ephelia’ Females Poems 46 Filberts, or Strawberries, or the Roots of Rapes. 1714 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. 11, Nāpus,..Turnep, or naphew, naphew gentle, or long rapes. |
2. As a plant-name. † a. The common turnip. Obs. b. An annual or biennial yellow-flowered herb, a variety of Brassica napus or a closely related species, belonging to the family Cruciferæ, widely cultivated in Europe, North America, and Japan and used as cattle fodder or the source of a seed yielding an edible oil; also known as cole or coleseed.
There has been much confusion between rape and coleseed, either plant being known under both names; the former is sometimes called winter rape and the latter summer rape. The older writers usually distinguish the turnip and rape by the adjectives round and long(-rooted) respectively.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth De. P.R. xvii. cxxxviii. (Bodl. MS.), Of sede of þe Rape and also of þe Raphane is oile made. 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 55, I haue hearde sume cal it [napus] in englishe a turnepe, and other some a naued or nauet, it maye be called also longe Rape or nauet gentle. 1551 ― Herbal ii. 113 The great round rape called commonly a turnepe groweth..more about London than in other place of England that I knowe of. Ibid., The long rooted rape groweth very plenteously a litle from Linne where as much oyle is made of the sede of it. 1597 [see rape-oil]. 1651 R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 9 To sow Turneps, Carrets,..Pease, Rape. 1760 Sterne Tr. Shandy IV. xxxi, It was plain he should reap a hundred lasts of rape..the very first year. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. xvi. (1813) 272 Rape or coleseed is sown for a sallad herb to be eat in the seed leaf. 1842 J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 91 The nominal duty on the cake made from rape was reduced. 1889 G. S. Boulger Uses of Plants III. 133 Rape..yields from its seeds an oil still largely used for lamps and lubricating. 1937 A. F. Hill Econ. Bot. ix. 218 The rape..is extensively cultivated in Europe. 1958 Gill & Vear Agric. Bot. ix. 119 Rapes are forms with..rather small leaves. 1970 J. G. Vaughan Structure & Utilization of Oil Seeds 49 The rapes and mustards are crops adapted to temperate regions and also to certain subtropical areas. 1976 Western Producer (Saskatoon) 24 June c7/2 On the other hand a field of rape shining glowing and bright—as yellow as any field of mustard. |
† c. Ellipt. for rape-oil. Obs. rare—1.
| 1641 Heywood Reader. Here you'l plainly see 6 When our sope of sweetest oyle was made..These by an ingrost Patent coveting gaine Compos'd it all of stinking rape and traine. |
3. wild rape, Charlock or Field-Mustard.
| 1551 Turner Herbal ii. 112 The thyrde [kind] whiche is called the wilde rape..rinneth furth a long. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ii. 179 Charlocke or the wild Rape, hath leaues like vnto the former [the wild Turnip] but lesser, and not so rough. 1766 Museum Rust. VI. 272 note, The wild rape or charlock, and wild navew, or bunias, which have both been used in making oil; and are frequently confounded under the name of rape-seed. 1805 Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 563 The rough-leaved charlock, or wild mustard; the smooth-leaved, or wild rape. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as rape crop, rape culture, rape field, rape-leaf, rape-leaved adj., rape-mill, rape plant, rape root, rape-shearing, rape-thresher, rape-threshing; rape-cloth, a cloth on which rape is threshed; † rape-cole, the turnip-cabbage, kohlrabi; † rape crowfoot, Ranunculus bulbosus; rape-dust, rapeseed ground to powder and used as manure; † rape radish, the round radish; † rape violet, Cyclamen europæum. Also rape-cake, -oil, -seed.
| 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 212 The size of our *rape-cloths is so great, that [etc.]. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal xxxvii. 251 The first kinde of *Rape Cole hath one single long roote [etc.]. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. xi. 37 The Coley-florey, Rape-cole, Muske-melon, Cucumber. |
| 1788 W. Marshall Yorksh. II. 49 There have been instances..in which the produce of the *rape crop has been equal to the purchase-value of the land. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. lxxiii. 421 We may call it *Rape Crowfoote. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccclxviii. (1633) 957 St. Anthonies Rape may be called in English Rape Crowfoot. |
| 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits v. 99 The fens of Lincolnshire..have been drained, and put on equality with the best for *rape-culture and grass. |
| 1807 Beverley & Kexby Road Act 6 Mould, dung, *rape-dust, soot, compost or manure. |
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Vne Navitiere, a *Rape field. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 212 People who have rape-fields bespeak them [rape-cloths] long before. |
| 1538 Elyot, Rapacia, *rape leaues. |
| 1816–20 Green Herbal II. 521/2 Salvia Napifolia, *Rape-leaved sage. |
| 1634–5 Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 43 Hence we went to see a *rape-mill turned by an horse at Swammerdam. |
| 1766 Museum Rust. VI. 271 The *rape plant..is a species of wild turnep. 1842 E. J. Lance Cottage Farmer 15 The Rape Plant is of the cabbage kind, and is good feed for sheep. |
| 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 67 This maye be called in englishe, an Alman radice, or *rape radice. |
| 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1539) 24 b, *Rape rotes and Nauews. The iuyce made by them, is very grosse. 1606 Holland Suetonius 241 In a seditious commotion: there were Rape-rootes [marg. Or Turneps] flung at his head. |
| 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 206 A great *rape-shearing in our constablery. |
| Ibid. 212 The disconcerting of the whole series of *rape-threshers. |
| Ibid. 206 Description of a *rape-threshing..in the North-Riding of Yorkshire. |
| 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 33 It might well be called in englishe *Rape Violet because it hath a roote lyke a Rape & floores lyke a Violet. 1552 Elyot, Cyclaminus..is named in english rape violet. |
Add: [4.] rape methyl ester, a liquid fuel derived from rapeseed oil by the addition of methanol and glycerine and used as an alternative to diesel. Abbrev. RME s.v. *R II. 2.
| 1991 South Aug. 58/2 Bio-diesel is made by mixing rape seed oil (ESO) with Methyl Alcohol to produce Methyl RSO. Glycerol is then added to produce Rape Methyl Ester (RME)—known as MRE in Germany and diester in France. 1992 Farmers Weekly 14 Aug. 40/1 Within five years 600,000t of the new rape-based bio-fuel rape methyl ester (RME) will be produced on the Continent. |
▪ VI. rape, n.6
(reɪp)
Also 7 rappe.
[In branch I a. F. râpe = Prov. and Sp. raspa, It. raspo, med.L. raspa (1202 in Du Cange). In II properly rapé, a. F. râpé (:—OF. raspeit, 12–13th c.) f. râpe.]
I. 1. The stalks of grape-clusters, or refuse of grapes from which wine has been expressed, used in making vinegar. Also pl. in same sense.
| 1657 Bk. of Values, Rape of grape, the tun..l. 06. 1682 Art & Myst. Vintners (1703) 64 Then wash your Rapes clear out, and put it in the Hogshead. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Vinegar, Put in some Rape, or Husks of Grapes,..then letting the Rape settle, draw off the liquid Part. 1830 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 321 The rape used in this process is kept for a succession of other processes. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1880/2 It derives its name from being charged with rapes. |
2. A vessel used in the manufacture of vinegar.
| 1805 Shannon Brewing iii. 64 Small rapes..that do not but hold but from 1500 to 3000 gallons, whereas the rapes in general hold 20,000 gallons. 1885 Gardner Acetic Acid 68 This operation [of filtering vinegar] is performed in large casks with false bottoms called ‘rapes’. |
3. attrib., as rape-shed, rape tun, rape-vinegar.
| 1747–96 H. Glasse Cookery xix. 299 If you can get rape-vinegar, use that instead of salt and water. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 7 These rape tuns are worked by pairs. 1845 G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. 5th Ser. iv. 76 In a building called the ‘rape-shed’ are some enormous wooden vessels called ‘rapes’. |
II. † 4. (More fully rape wine, = F. vin râpé.) Wine made either from the rape (sense 1 above) by addition of water, or from fresh grapes and light wine placed together in a cask. Obs.
| 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme vi. xvi. 756 He shall make it in this sort after the manner of a rappe vine. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Rape wine [copying Cotgr. s.v. râpé]. 1726 in Bailey. 1733 Miller Gard. Dict. (ed. 2) s.v. Vitis, Concerning Rapes, or New Wines. They make a Rape of Cuttings only, without any mixture of Grapes. |
† 5. The grapes used in making vin râpé (see 4).
| 1704 Ray Creation (ed. 4) 31 The Juice of Grapes is drawn as well from the Rape, where they remain whole, as from a Vat, where they are bruis'd. |
▪ VII. † rape, a. and adv. Obs. rare.
[? Back-formation from rapely adv.]
a. adj. Quick, hasty. b. adv. Hastily.
| c 1400 Gamelyn 101 Than bispak his brother, that rape was of rees, ‘Stond stille, gadelyng’. c 1400 Rom. Rose 6516, I sey, and swere him ful rape, That riche men [etc.]. a 1585 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 884 Then Will, as angrie as an ape, Ran ramping, sweiring, rude and rape. |
▪ VIII. † rape, v.1 Obs.
Also inf. 3–4 rapen, 5 rapyn.
[a. ON. hrapa (MSw. rapa) to hasten.]
1. refl. To betake (oneself) in haste or with speed.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2376 He..bad hem rapen hem homward swiðe. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 7748 A-wey þey scaped, Ouer se til oþer land þeym raped. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 399 ‘What! awake, renke!’ quod repentance, and rape þe to shrifte’. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 2665 He wolle rape hym on A Resse..to the holy londe. |
b. Const. with inf.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1221 Abraham rapede him sone in sped for to fulfillen godes reed. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iv. 7, I comaunde þe..Þat þou Rape þe to ride. a 1460 Play Sacram. 659, I shalle rape me redely anon To plucke owt the naylys. |
c. trans. To cause to hasten, to hurry on.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 284 Ȝour clerke ȝe þider rape with our messengere. Ibid. 309 Þe tyme he will not rape, no set a certeyn day. |
2. intr. To hasten, hurry, make haste.
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 7474 (Kölbing) Of hem fiue þousand, þat wald scape Toward king Oriens gan rape. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1897 Pas fro my presens..And rape of my rewme in a rad haste. c 1430 Syr Gener. 122 To his felows he gan to rape. |
▪ IX. rape, v.2
(reɪp)
[Prob. ad. L. rapĕre to seize, take by force: cf. AF. raper (1400 in Godef.), obs. and dial. F. raper (ibid.). The relationship of (M)LG. and (M)Du. rāpen in the same sense is not clear (cf. rap v.3).]
1. a. trans. To take (a thing) by force. Also absol., transf. and fig. (in some examples, also influenced by sense 3).
| 1388 Wimbleton Serm. in MS. Hatton 57 fol. 16 Rauenous fisches han sum mesure; whanne þei hungren thei rapyn; whanne þei ben ful þey sparyn. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 140 To rape & deuour the..sustenaunce of the poore seruauntes of god. 1596 Drayton Legends iv. 749 What their Fathers gave her..The Sonnes rap'd from her with a violent Hand. 1635 Heywood Hierarch. 349 As before, They rape, extort, forsweare,..Oppresse. 1807 J. Barlow Columb. v. 693 So Leda's Twins from Colchis raped the Fleece. 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xvii. 421 Steadily clutching all that he had raped. 1927 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 494/2 The stone walls on either side pressed close, threatening to rape from us our faithful caravan. 1949 Wyndham Lewis Let. 6 Aug. (1963) 502 Their women rape ‘culture’ (clubs, ‘circles’ for weekly absorption of potted literature etc). 1950 D. Gascoyne Vagrant 27 Rockets released tonight rush up to rape the grapebloom sky. 1976 Bookseller 14 Feb. 811 (Advt.), Browning, whose life he saved in 1944, is now his rival, raping the Great Land with oil-wells and pipelines. 1977 Undercurrents June–July 41/2 We are not going to ‘subsistence production’ because the capitalists have raped our land and resources. 1978 G. Vidal Kalki ii. 30 Dr Ashok's eyes had a tendency to pop whenever he wanted to rape your attention. |
b. In alliterative and riming phrases, as † rape and renne, rape rend, rape wring (obs.); rape and scrape dial. (Cf. rap v.3 1 b.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 869 Al that ye may rape and renne. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. x. 217 Thei euer couete, and..rape and rende from other. 1610 Holland tr. Camden's Brit. i. 259 To scrape and rape money to himselfe. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 230 Whatsoever I could rape or wring from them. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. i. §12 She..snatched all she could rape and rend, unto herself. 1887 S. Cheshire Gloss., Rape an' scrape, to rake and scrape together. |
† c. To pull down. Obs. rare—1.
| 1597 J. King On Jonas (1618) 78 They..rend and rape downe tackles, sailes, all implements. |
d. To rob, strip, plunder (a place). Also used with a group of people as object.
| a 1721 D'Urfey Ariadne i. ii, I can..Rape the tow'ring Eagle's Nest. 1892 R. Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 177, I raped your richest roadstead, I plundered Singapore. 1972 Business Week 18 Mar. 70/1 ‘Our underwriter raped us,’ reports the president of a small New York company that sold $250,000 in stock in 1968. 1973 Black Panther 21 July p. b, The Reading administration will continue to rape the poor. |
2. To carry off (a person, esp. a woman) by force. ? Obs.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. x. heading, Paridell rapeth Hellenore; Malbecco her poursewes. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. ii. v, These houshold precedents; which are strong And swift to rape youth, to their precipice. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 46/2 The flower of virgins..By ruthless destiny is ta'ne away, And rap'd from earth. 1715–20 Pope Iliad xiii. 782 A princess raped transcends a navy storm'd. |
3. To ravish, commit rape on (a woman). Also, with a man as the sexual object and a man or woman as the subject.
| 1577 Test. 12 Patriarchs (1604) 45 marg., The Sichemites raped Dina; persecuted strangers; ravished their wives. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 343 To..torment their bodies, rape their wives and daughters. 1861 Times 18 July, She charged that..he had violently assaulted and raped her. 1885 Law Times LXXVIII. 240/2 Females who have been raped or indecently assaulted. 1928 D. H. Lawrence Let. ? 28 Oct. (1962) II. 1096 Why do men only thrill to a woman who'll rape them? 1971 Southerly XXXI. 6 The first of the series of sexually voracious women who seek virtually to rape him. 1972 Times 31 Oct. 2/4 The girls had taken their clothes off and intended to rape him. 1977 New Society 1 Sept. 449/2 These women have been confined for a variety of offences, chief among which are soliciting and manslaughter. When a man finds his way into their midst, he is promptly raped. 1977 New Yorker 24 Oct. 64/3 A man..claimed he had been assaulted and raped by four other prisoners. |
4. To transport, ravish, delight. Now rare.
| 1613 Drayton Ecl. v. 60 To rape the fields with touches of her string. 1675 Baxter Cath. Theol. i. iii. 91 This grace..rapeth the will so that it is scarce perceived to act. 1852 Meanderings of Mem. I. 87 With art's refinement he would..rape the soul. |
Hence raped ppl. a.1
| 1675 Penn Eng. Pres. Interest 41 There is no such Excitement to Revenge, as a rap'd Conscience. 1960 O. Manning Great Fortune xiv. 180 The raped boys who, once corrupted, sold themselves for a few lei. 1977 Sunday Times 30 Jan. 38/1 Squads of sexologists, whole studios full of raped girls, etc., etc. |
▪ X. rape, v.3 Obs. exc. dial.
[a. F. râper, f. râpe rape n.3]
trans. To rasp. (In mod. south-western dial., to scratch.)
| 1596 P. Barrough Meth. Physick (ed. 3) 369 Take and rape it [wood]. Ibid., After you have raped it. 1633 [J. Partridge] Treas. Hid. Secrets cxvii, Put into the pot one pound and halfe of your Wood small raped. |
Hence raped ppl. a.2, raping vbl. n.
| 1596 P. Barrough Meth. Physick (ed. 3) 369 Take one pound of the raped wood. Ibid., The last proofe of this wood is, to boile the rapings thereof. |
▪ XI. rape
obs. form of reap n. (sheaf).
▪ XII. rape
Sc. and north. f. rope.