rare
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ɹɛə(ɹ)/
  • (Irish) IPA: [ɹɜɹ]
  • (America, Canada) IPA: /ɹɛɚ/, /ɹɛɹ/
Etymology 1

From Middle English rare, from Old French rare, rere, from Latin rārus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁-.

Adjective

rare (comparative rarer, superlative rarest)

  1. Very uncommon; scarce.
    Black pearls are very rare and therefore very valuable.
    Synonyms: scarce, selcouth, seld, selly, geason, uncommon, Thesaurus:rare
    Antonyms: common, frequent, Thesaurus:common
  2. (of a gas) Thin; of low density.
  3. (UK, slang) Good; enjoyable.
    • 1981, Chris Difford (lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocal), "Vanity Fair" (song):
      Sees her reflection in a butcher shop.
      She finds it all quite rare
      That her meat's all vanity fair.
Related terms Translations Translations Noun

rare (plural rares)

  1. (gaming) A scarce or uncommon item.
    • 1995, George Baxter, Larry W. Smith, Mastering Magic Cards, page 116:
      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.
Etymology 2

From a dialectal variant of rear, from Middle English rere, from Old English hrēr, hrēre, from hrēran, from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱroHs-.

Adjective

rare (comparative rarer, superlative rarest)

  1. (cooking) Particularly of meat, especially beefsteak: cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red.
    Antonyms: well done
    • 1717, John Dryden, “Book VIII. [The Story of Baucis and Philemon.]”, in Ovid's Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗, page 285 ↗:
      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.
Translations
  • French: saignant
  • German: blutig, englisch
  • Italian: al sangue
  • Portuguese: mal passado
  • Russian: непрожаренный
  • Spanish: crudo, poco hecho
Etymology 3

Variant of rear.

Verb

rare (rares, present participle raring; simple past and past participle rared)

  1. (US, intransitive) To rear, rise up, start backwards.
    • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 328:
      Frank pretended to rare back as if bedazzled, shielding his eyes with a forearm.
  2. (US, transitive) To rear, bring up, raise.
Etymology 4

Compare rather, rath.

Adjective

rare

  1. (obsolete) Early.
    • 1614–1615, Homer, “The Sixth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer's Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC ↗; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume I, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC ↗, page 147 ↗, lines 420–423:
      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;
      The spelling has been modernized.



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