▪ I. rean Obs. exc. dial.
(riːn)
Forms: 6 reian, 6–7, 9 reane, 7, 9 reean, 9 rean(n, reen(e, etc.
[App. a var. of rain n.2, but the difference in vowel over the northern area is difficult to explain. In the west perhaps associated with reen rhine.]
1. A water-furrow; = rain n.2 2.
| ? a 1500 Chester Pl. ii. 478 Cornes fayre and cleane that groweth on ridges out of the reane. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §21 He taketh up the wede, and casteth it in the reane. Ibid. §33 It wolde be water-forowed bytwene the landes, there-as the reane shulde be. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. iii. 73 A Reean, is the distance between two Buts. 1859 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XX. i. 221 The work being thus all ‘cops’ and ‘reanes’, not only was there a waste of ground from such a redundance of water-furrows, but there was a great loss of time in ploughing. 1879– in dial. glossaries (Northumb., Lanc., Chesh., Shropsh., Glouc.). |
† b. A streamlet; = rain n.2 2 b. Obs.—1
| 1611 Cotgr., Ruisselet, a small brooke or gullet; a reane, or gutter of running water. |
2. A balk, ridge, terraced strip, etc.; = rain n.2 1.
| 1781 Hutton Tour to Caves (ed. 2) Gloss., Rean, a dale, or rig in a field. 1869– in northern glossaries (Cumb., Northumb., Durh., Yks., Derby). 1883 Seebohm Eng. Village Comm. x. 381 Similar terraces in the Dales of Yorkshire..are still called by the Dalesmen ‘reeans’ or ‘reins’. |
▪ II. rean
obs. form of rein n.