▪ I. ˈrathest, a. Obs. exc. dial. or arch.
[Superl. of rathe a.1]
† a. Quickest, soonest, most preferable, etc. Obs. b. Earliest.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xvi. §3 Swa hit is nu hraðost to secᵹanne..þæt nan wuht [etc.]. a 900 O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) an. 755 Þa þider urnon swa hwelc swa þonne ᵹearo wearþ & raðost. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 753 Thyn assis donge is rathest forto dight A gardyn with; sheep donge is next of myght. 1556 Lauder Tractate (1864) 1 Vnto quhose actionis, in speciall, suld Kyngis geue rathest attendence. 1611 Coryat Crudities 68 Barley almost ripe to be cut, whereas in England they seldome cut the rathest before the beginning of August. 1633 W. Vaughan Direct. Health 55, I will begin with strawberies, as the first and rathest fruit in the beginning of summer. 1892 J. Barlow Irish Idylls 221 Blackberries..in their rathest immaturity. |
▪ II. ˈrathest, adv.
[Superl. of rathe adv.]
† 1. Soonest, most readily. Also the rathest. Obs.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxiv. §10 Þær hit ᵹefret þæt hit hraðost weaxan mæᵹ & latost wealowian. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 512 Þone fisc ðe hine hraðost forswelhð, ᵹeopena his muð. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 186 He that repenteth rathest schulde arysen aftur, and greten sir Gloten. a 1400–50 Alexander 726 The hyest thyng raþest heldes oþer while. 1437 in Wars Eng. in France (1864) II. Pref. 69, I beseech you..to purvey some way how I shall mowe rathest neghe payment..of the said somme. 1553 N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices i. (1558) 53 What race of life they would the rathest run. 1597 Bacon Coulers Gd. & Evill i. (Arb.) 139 Whome next themselues they would rathest commend. |
† 2. Earliest. Obs.
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love i. v. (Skeat) I. 30 Nat the strongest; but he that rathest com and lengest abood. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 151 The rathest rypyng grapes. |
3. Most of all, most particularly, ‘chiefest’.
| 1549 Chaloner Erasm. on Folly I iij b, If any sainct amongs other, semeth rathest to be newfounde or poeticall [etc.]. c 1555 Cavendish Wolsey (1885) 162 God, whom I ought most rathest to have obeyed. 1619 W. Sclater Exp. 1 Thess. (1630) 248 Both, perhaps, had place in this people; rathest the latter. 1644 Hume Hist. Douglas 28 The enemie..not knowing which to pursue rathest, he might the better escape. Ibid. 248 He means rathest (as I think) George, now Lord Hume. 1884 B. Potter Jrnl. 27 Oct. (1966) 107, I would rathest of all copy the raised plaques of Wedgwood. |