What does "rase" mean?
An act of cutting, scraping, or scratching; also, an erasure.
Rase
/ɹeɪz/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An act of cutting, scraping, or scratching; also, an erasure.
- Grammar: rase is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: align, beat down, blow down, blow over.
- Usage evidence: [T]he ſtones did ſeem / Too roare and bellow hoarce: and doggs too howle and raze extréeme: […]
How to use "rase"
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- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "rase" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "rase" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "rase" as the right word for your sentence.
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "rase" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
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3. Confirm with context
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Final meaning check
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When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An act of cutting, scraping, or scratching; also, an erasure. obsolete
"Raſe a ſcrapyng"
- 2 A measure in which the commodity assessed is made level with the top of the measuring vessel rather than heaped above it. obsolete, rare
"Toll ſhall be taken by the Raſe, and not by the Heap or Cantel. Ordinance for Bakers, Brevvers, &c. cap. 4. it ſeems to have been a meaſure of Corn, novv diſuſed"
- 3 Alternative spelling of raze (“a slight wound; a scratch; also, a cut, a slit”). alt-of, alternative, obsolete
"And verely the Emperour Nero vvas ſo greatly enamoured vpon one image of Alexander [the Great], that hee commaunded it to be guilded all over: but aftervvards, ſeeing that the more coſt vvas beſtovved upon it by laying on gold, the leſſe vvas the art ſeene of the firſt vvorkman [Lysippos], ſo that it loſt all the beautie and grace that it had by that means, he cauſed the gold to be taken off againe: and verely, the ſaid image thus unguilded as it vvas, ſeemed farre more precious than it vvas vvhiles it ſtood ſo enriched vvith gold, notvvithſtanding all the hackes, cuts, gaſhes, and raſes all over the bodie vvherein the gold did ſticke, remained ſtill, vvhich in ſome ſort might disfigure it."
Verb
- 1 To be extremely angry; to rage; specifically, of a dog or wolf: to snarl in rage. archaic, intransitive
"[T]he ſtones did ſeem / Too roare and bellow hoarce: and doggs too howle and raze extréeme: […]"
- 2 Alternative spelling of race (“to pluck or snatch (something); also, to pull (something)”). alt-of, alternative, archaic, transitive
"[T]his Night / He dreamt, the Bore had raſed off his Helme: […]"
- 3 Alternative spelling of raze. alt-of, alternative
"[T]he fire-dragon had rased the coastal region and reduced forts and earthworks to dust and ashes, so the war-king planned and plotted his revenge."
- 4 Of a natural marking on the head of an animal (chiefly a horse): to extend down the head. intransitive, obsolete, rare
- 5 tear down so as to make flat with the ground wordnet
Show 14 more definitions
- 6 Alternative spelling of raze.; To level or tear down (a building, a town, etc.) to the ground; to demolish. transitive
"The fortreſſe was raſed and beaten downe to the erthe⸝ whiche had coſt moche the makynge therof: […]"
- 7 Alternative spelling of raze.; To completely remove (someone or something), especially from a place, a situation, etc.; also, to remove from existence; to destroy, to obliterate. figuratively, transitive
"It is true, the Devil did not immediately raſe out the Notion of Religion and of a God from the Minds of Men, […]"
- 8 Alternative spelling of raze.; To erase (a record, text, etc.), originally by scraping; to rub out, to scratch out. also, figuratively, transitive
"Suppleyng to Fame, I besought her grace, / And that it wolde please her, full tenderly I prayd, / Owt of her bokis Apollo to rase."
- 9 Alternative spelling of raze.; To wound (someone or part of their body) superficially; to graze. regional, transitive
"For vvas he not in the neareſt Neighbourhood to Death? And might not the Bullet, that perhaps raſed his Cheek, have as eaſily gone into his Head?"
- 10 Alternative spelling of raze.; To alter (a document) by erasing parts of it. obsolete, transitive
"[page 650] A raſing or cancelling of a record by the order of that court, in vvhoſe cuſtody the record is, is no felony in him that doth it, nor in the court that commands it, for the court hath a ſuperintendence, as vvell over the record as over the clerks. […] It muſt be ſuch an embezzelling or avoiding of the record, by reaſon vvhereof a judgment is reverſed, […] [page 651] [I]f A. B. be ſued by the original to the exigent and outlavved, and aftervvard the exigent is made C. B. and the original is alſo made C. B. to make all agree, this is felony as vvell in the clerk that raſeth the original, as him that raſeth the exigent."
- 11 Alternative spelling of raze.; To carve (a line, mark, etc.) into something; to incise, to inscribe; also, to carve lines, marks, etc., into (something); to engrave. obsolete, transitive
"[Y]ou muſt mark the out-lines of your intended Hinge, […] either vvith Chalk, or elſe raſe upon the Plate vvith the corner of the Cold-Chiſſel, or any other hardned Steel that vvill ſcratch a bright ſtroke upon the Plate: […]"
- 12 Alternative spelling of raze.; To remove (something) by scraping; also, to cut or shave (something) off. obsolete, transitive
- 13 Alternative spelling of raze.; To rub lightly along the surface of (something); brush against, to graze. obsolete, transitive
"And novv [the Rhine] by this time augmented vvith ſnovv, melted and reſolved into vvater, and raſing as it goes the high bankes vvith their curving reaches, entreth into a round and vaſt lake (vvhich the Rhætians dvvelling thereby, call Brigantia) […]"
- 14 Alternative spelling of raze.; To scrape (something) to remove things from its surface; also, to reduce (something) to small pieces by scraping; to grate. obsolete, transitive
"And you are a ſoule, ſo vvhite, and ſo chaſte, / A table ſo ſmooth, and ſo nevvly ra'ſte, / As nothing cald foule, / Dare approach vvith a blot, / Or any leaſt ſpot; […]"
- 15 Alternative spelling of raze.; To shave (someone or part of their body) with a razor, etc. obsolete, transitive
"[A] ſharpe worde moued thée, when other whiles a ſworde will not, then a friendly checke killeth thée, when a raſor cannot raſe thée."
- 16 Alternative spelling of raze.; To cut, scratch, or tear (someone or something) with a sharp object; to lacerate, to slash. also, figuratively, obsolete, transitive
"Dravv forth thy ſvvord, thou mightie man at armes, / Intending but to raiſe my charmed ſkin: / And Ioue himſelfe vvill ſtretch his hand from heauen, / To vvard the blovv, and ſhield me ſafe from harme, […]"
- 17 Alternative spelling of raze.; To carve lines, marks, etc., into something. intransitive, obsolete
- 18 Alternative spelling of raze.; To graze or rub lightly along a surface. intransitive, obsolete
"Betwene theſe Ilandes and the continente, he entered into ſoo narowe ſtreyghtes, that he coulde ſcarſely turne backe the ſhippes: And theſe alſo ſo ſhalowe, that the keele of the ſhyps ſumtyme raſed on the ſandes."
- 19 Alternative spelling of raze.; To penetrate through something; to pierce. intransitive, obsolete
"[O]ne Robert Dutch of Ipſvvith, having been ſorely vvounded by a Bullet that raſed to his skull, and then mauled by the Indian Hatchets, left for dead by the Salvages,^([sic – meaning Savages]) and ſtript by them of all but his skin; […]"
Proper Noun
- 1 Acronym of Royal Agricultural Society of England. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
- 2 A minor river in Lincolnshire, England, a tributary of the River Ancholme; in full, the River Rase.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"[T]he ſtones did ſeem / Too roare and bellow hoarce: and doggs too howle and raze extréeme: […]"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "rase"?
Common synonyms include: align, beat down, blow down, blow over, bowl over, break down.
How do you use "rase" in a sentence?
[T]he ſtones did ſeem / Too roare and bellow hoarce: and doggs too howle and raze extréeme: […]
How do you pronounce "rase"?
Pronounced /ɹeɪz/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Late Middle English rasen, rasyn (“to rage; to enrage (?)”), probably from Middle Dutch râsen, râzen (“to be extremely angry, rage; to be mad, rave; to talk nonsense; of a dog: to be rabid”), from Old Dutch *rāson (modern Dutch razen), from Proto-West Germanic *rāsōn (“to rush”), Proto-Germanic *rēsōną (“to rush”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s- (“to flow; to rush”). cognates * Swedish rasa (“rage”)
Etymology 2
PIE word *wréh₂ds A variant of race (“(obsolete) to pluck; to pull off; to snatch; to tear”), partly influenced by raze.
Etymology 3
A variant of raze, from Middle English rasen: see further at raze.
Etymology 4
Probably either: * from Late Latin rāsum (neuter), rāsa (“level measure of grain”, feminine), a noun use of Latin rāsus (“scraped; shaved”, masculine), the perfect passive participle of rādō (“to scrape; to scratch; to shave; to touch upon, graze”), from Proto-Italic *razdō, further etymology unknown; or * from Anglo-Norman rase (“level measure of grain”), from Latin rāsus (see above).
Etymology 5
From rase, race (“(usually white) marking on the head of an animal, chiefly a horse”); further etymology uncertain, possibly a specific use of race (“(obsolete) mark; cut, scratch”, noun), from race (“to cut, slash; to scratch; to tear”) (southwest England), a variant of raze.
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