Part 41

Rant, n. High-sounding language, without importance or dignity of thought; boisterous, empty declamation; bombast; as, the rant of fanatics.

This is a stoical rant, without any foundation in the nature of man or reason of things.

Atterbury.

Rant"er (-r), n. 1. A noisy talker; a raving declaimer.

2. (Eccl. Hist.) (a) One of a religious sect which sprung up in 1645; -- called also Seekers. See Seeker. (b) One of the Primitive Methodists, who seceded from the Wesleyan Methodists on the ground of their deficiency in fervor and zeal; -- so called in contempt.

Rant"er*ism (-z'm), n. (Eccl. Hist.) The practice or tenets of the Ranters.

Rant"ing*ly, adv. In a ranting manner.

Rant"i*pole (-*pl), n. [Ranty + pole, poll, head.] A wild, romping young person. Marryat.

Rant"i*pole, a. Wild; roving; rakish.

Rant"i*pole, v. i. To act like a rantipole.

She used to rantipole about the house.

Arbuthnot.

Rant"ism (-z'm), n. (Eccl. Hist.) Ranterism.

Rant"y (-), a. Wild; noisy; boisterous.

||Ran"u*la (rn"*l), n. [L., a little frog, a little swelling on the ||tongue of cattle, dim. of rana a frog.] (Med.) A cyst formed under ||the tongue by obstruction of the duct of the submaxillary gland.

Ra*nun`cu*la"ceous (r*n`k*l"shs), a. [See Ranunculus.] (Bot.) Of or pertaining to a natural order of plants (Ranunculaceæ), of which the buttercup is the type, and which includes also the virgin's bower, the monkshood, larkspur, anemone, meadow rue, and peony.

Ra*nun"cu*lus (r*n"k*ls), n.; pl. E. Ranunculuses (- z), L. Ranunculi (-l). [L., a little frog, a medicinal plant, perhaps crowfoot, dim. of rana a frog; cf. raccare to roar.] (Bot.) A genus of herbs, mostly with yellow flowers, including crowfoot, buttercups, and the cultivated ranunculi (R. Asiaticus, R. aconitifolius, etc.) in which the flowers are double and of various colors.

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||Ranz" des` vaches" (räNs" d` vsh"). [F., the ranks or rows of cows, ||the name being given from the fact that the cattle, when answering ||the musical call of their keeper, move towards him in a row, preceded ||by those wearing bells.] The name for numerous simple, but very ||irregular, melodies of the Swiss mountaineers, blown on a long tube ||called the Alpine horn, and sometimes sung.

Rap (rp), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] A lay or skein containing 120 yards of yarn. Knight.

Rap, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rapped (rpt); p. pr. & vb. n. Rapping.] [Akin to Sw. rappa to strike, rapp stroke, Dan. rap, perhaps of imitative origin.] To strike with a quick, sharp blow; to knock; as, to rap on the door.

Rap, v. t. 1. To strike with a quick blow; to knock on.

With one great peal they rap the door.

Prior.

2. (Founding) To free (a pattern) in a mold by light blows on the pattern, so as to facilitate its removal.

Rap, n. A quick, smart blow; a knock.

Rap, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rapped (rpt), usually written Rapt; p. pr. & vb. n. Rapping.] [OE. rapen; akin to LG. & D. rapen to snatch, G. raffen, Sw. rappa; cf. Dan. rappe sig to make haste, and Icel. hrapa to fall, to rush, hurry. The word has been confused with L. rapere to seize. Cf. Rape robbery, Rapture, Raff, v., Ramp, v.] 1. To snatch away; to seize and hurry off.

And through the Greeks and Ilians they rapt The whirring chariot.