Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
verb (used without object), rared, rar·ing. Older Use.
adjective
- not widely known; not frequently used or experienced; uncommon or unusuala rare word
- occurring seldoma rare appearance
- not widely distributed; not generally occurringa rare herb
- (of a gas, esp the atmosphere at high altitudes) having a low density; thin; rarefied
- uncommonly great; extremekind to a rare degree
- exhibiting uncommon excellence; superlatively good or finerare skill
- highly valued because of its uncommonnessa rare prize
adjective
- (of meat, esp beef) very lightly cooked
“unusual,” late 14c., “thin, airy, porous;” mid-15c., “few in number and widely separated, sparsely distributed, seldom found;” from Old French rere “sparse” (14c.), from Latin rarus “thinly sown, having a loose texture; not thick; having intervals between, full of empty spaces,” from PIE *ra-ro-, from root *ere- “to separate; adjoin” (cf. Sanskrit rte “besides, except,” viralah “distant, tight, rare;” Old Church Slavonic rediku “rare,” Old Hittite arhaš “border,” Lithuanian irti “to be dissolved”). “Few in number,” hence, “unusual.” Related: Rareness. In chemistry, rare earth is from 1818.
“undercooked,” 1650s, variant of Middle English rere, from Old English hrere “lightly cooked,” probably related to hreran “to stir, move, shake, agitate,” from Proto-Germanic *hror- (cf. Old Frisian hrera “to stir, move,” Old Saxon hrorian, Dutch roeren, German rühren, Old Norse hroera), from PIE base *kere- “to mix, confuse; cook” (cf. Greek kera- “to mix,” krasis “mixture”). Originally of eggs, not recorded in reference to meat until 1784, and according to OED, in this sense “formerly often regarded as an Americanism, although it was current in many English dialects ….”
“rise up,” 1833, dialectal variant of rear (v.). Sense of “eager” (in raring to go) first recorded 1909. Related: Rared; raring.