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Rare
Definitions
- 1 Very uncommon; scarce.
"Black pearls are very rare and therefore very valuable."
- 2 Particularly of meat, especially beefsteak: cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red.
"Then Curds and Cream, the Flow'r of Country Fare, / And new-laid Eggs, which Baucis’ buſie Care / Turn’d by a gentle Fire, and roaſted rare."
- 3 Early. obsolete
"The men, that sway / In work of those tools that so fit our state, / Are rude mechanicals, that rare and late / Work in the market-place;"
- 4 Small in number (but not unusual); infrequent; sparse.
"The anterior and posterior skin of the upper chest and shoulders demonstrated irregularly jagged borders with areas of soot and charring focally. The soft and bony tissues underlying the borders were markedly damaged by presumed explosive injuries. There were rare abrasions and contusions of the chest and upper extremities. The lower extremities demonstrated rare abrasions and contusions as well as severe lacerations of the anteromedial knees with underlying fractures of the distal aspects of the femora (Image 4)."
- 5 Thin; of low density.
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- 6 Good; enjoyable. UK, slang
"Sees her reflection in a butcher shop. She finds it all quite rare That her meat's all vanity fair."
- 1 not widely distributed wordnet
- 2 not widely known; especially valued for its uncommonness wordnet
- 3 (of meat) cooked a short time; still red inside wordnet
- 4 recurring only at long intervals wordnet
- 5 marked by an uncommon quality; especially superlative or extreme of its kind wordnet
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- 6 having low density wordnet
- 1 A scarce or uncommon item.
"Most of the time, you do this by trading low-valued rares for more valuable ones or trading uncommons for rares. Other times it's trading cards that are in print for ones that are out of print, or low-value rares for good uncommons."
- 1 To rear, rise up, start backwards. US, intransitive
"Frank pretended to rare back as if bedazzled, shielding his eyes with a forearm."
- 2 To rear, bring up, raise. US, transitive
"Here I have to say that I was walking along dark-hearted, my nose out of joint about Audie's notice of her, for just as quickly as my feelings kindled, my old envy rared."
Etymology
From Middle English rare, from Old French rare, rere (“rare, uncommon”), from Latin rārus (“loose, spaced apart, thin, infrequent”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- (“friable, thin”). Displaced native English geason (“rare, scarce”) (from Middle English gesen, from Old English gǣsne); and replaced Middle English seld (“rare, uncommon”) (from Old English selden) and Middle English seldscene (“rare, rarely seen, infrequent”) (from Old English seldsēne).
From Middle English rare, from Old French rare, rere (“rare, uncommon”), from Latin rārus (“loose, spaced apart, thin, infrequent”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- (“friable, thin”). Displaced native English geason (“rare, scarce”) (from Middle English gesen, from Old English gǣsne); and replaced Middle English seld (“rare, uncommon”) (from Old English selden) and Middle English seldscene (“rare, rarely seen, infrequent”) (from Old English seldsēne).
From a dialectal variant of rear, from Middle English rere, from Old English hrēr, hrēre (“not thoroughly cooked, underdone, lightly boiled”), from hrēran (“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱroHs- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Related to Old English hrōr (“stirring, busy, active, strong, brave”). More at rear.
Variant of rear.
Compare rather, rath.
See also for "rare"
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