Definition of "rash"

rash¹

/ɹæʃ/

adjective
comparative rasher, superlative rashest
1. Acting too quickly without considering the consequences and risks; not careful; hasty.
  Quotations
  […] Eusebius doth report that Ireneus dyd reprooue Victor byshop of Rome for his rash sentēce in excōmunicating the Churches of Grece, concerning the obseruation of the feast of Easter.
  1563 March 30, John Foxe, “Examinations and Martyrdom of John Philpot”, in Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], book V, page
  For ſitting in his [Marcus Junius Brutus's] tent, penſive and troubled vvith the horrour of his raſh act, it vvas not hard for him, ſlumbering in the cold, to dream of that vvhich moſt affrighted him; […]
  1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of Imagination”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], 1st part (Of Man), page 7
  [T]hrough the raſh adventure and fool-hardineſs of ſome fevv, an overture only made, and ſome advantage got of performing a great piece of ſervice and vvorthy exploit.
  1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book X]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], page 310
  I vvas a fool, too raſh, and quite miſtaken / In vvhat I thought vvould have ſucceeded beſt.
  1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], page 57, lines 8–9
  He will tell you in how few moments ſhe repented of the raſh meſſage ſhe had ſent you— […]
  1761, [Laurence Sterne], “Slawkenbergius’s Tale”, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume IV, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], page 65
  So ſhould an ideot vvhile at large he ſtrays, / Find the ſvveet lyre on vvhich an artiſt plays, / VVith raſh and aukvvard force the chords he ſhakes, / And grins vvith vvonder at the jar he makes; […]
  1782, William Cowper, “Conversation”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 257
  Take then no vow at random: ta'en, with faith / Preserve it; yet not bent, as Jephthah once, / Blindly to execute a rash resolve, / Whom better it had suited to exclaim, / 'I have done ill,' than to redeem his pledge / By doing worse: […]
  1814, Dante Alighieri, “Canto V”, in H[enry] F[rancis] Cary, transl., The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. [...] In Three Volumes, volume III (Paradise), London: […] [J. Barfield] for Taylor and Hessey, […], pages 21–22, lines 63–68
  She did a rash thing. She sent a letter to Ivy Bolton, enclosing a note to the keeper, and asking Mrs Bolton to give it to him.
  1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter XVIII, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, authorized British edition, London: Martin Secker […], published February 1932 (May 1932 printing), page 283
2. (Northern England, archaic) Of corn or other grains: so dry as to fall out of the ear with handling.
3. (obsolete, rare)
  1. Requiring swift action; pressing; urgent.
    Quotations
    My Lord, I ſcarce haue leiſure to ſalute you, / My matter is ſo raſh: […]
    c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene ii]
  2. Taking effect quickly and strongly; fast-acting.
    Quotations
    [T]he vnited veſſel of their bloud, / […] / Shall neuer leake, though it doe vvorke as ſtrong, / As Aconitum, or raſh gunpovvder.
    c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, [Act IV, scene iii]
    Sir (my Lord) / I could doe this, and that vvith no raſh Potion, / But with a lingring Dram, that ſhould not vvorke / Maliciouſly, like Poyſon.
    c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii], page 280, column 1
    [T]he inboard seas run swirling and hawling; / The rash smart sloggering brine / Blinds her; […]
    1875–1876, Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Wreck of the Deutschland”, in Robert Bridges, editor, Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Now First Published […], London: Humphrey Milford, published 1918, part 2, stanza 19, page 17
adverb
comparative more rash, superlative most rash
1. (archaic) Synonym of rashly (“in a rash manner; hastily or without due consideration”)
  Quotations
  Soft Gooddie Sheepe (then ſaid the Foxe) not ſoe: / Vnto the King ſo raſh ye may not goe, / He is vvith greater matter buſied, / Than a Lambe, or the Lambes ovvne mothers hed.
  1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […]
  VVhy do you ſpeake ſo ſtartingly and raſh?The First Quarto (1622), page 57, uses the word rashly.
  c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iv], page 327, column 2
  But the right thing 'ud be for Tulliver to go and make it up with her himself, and say he was sorry for speaking so rash.
  1860, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “To Garum Firs”, in The Mill on the Floss […], volume I, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, book I (Boy and Girl), pages 178–179

rash²

/ɹæʃ/

noun
plural rashes
1. (dermatology, medicine) An area of inflamed and irritated skin characterized by reddened spots that may be filled with fluid or pus; also, preceded by a descriptive word (rare or obsolete), an illness characterized by a type of rash.
2. (figuratively)
  1. An irregular distribution or sprinkling of objects resembling a rash (sense 1).
  2. An outbreak or surge in problems; a spate, string, or trend.
    Quotations
    Wet through and through: with her feet squelching and squashing in her shoes whenever she moved; with a rash of rain upon her classical visage; […]
    1854, Charles Dickens, “Lower and Lower”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], book the second (Reaping), page 252
    Until the recent rash of North London line maps appeared on station billboards in the London area of BR, the service undoubtedly suffered from meagre and ineffectual publicity.
    1964 July, “News and Comment: The Broad Street-Richmond line”, in Modern Railways, page 17
    Science has tried and failed to come to a consensus about the hygienic superiority of one product over the other. Even so, the paper towel industry has funded or promoted a rash of studies claiming that hand dryers turn bathrooms into mosh pits of pathogens.
    2019 April 25, Samanth Subramanian, “Hand dryers v paper towels: the surprisingly dirty fight for the right to dry your hands”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, archived from the original on 31 January 2022

rash³

/ɹæʃ/

noun
uncountable
1. (historical) Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a fabric with a smooth texture woven from silk, worsted, or a mixture of the two, intended as an inferior substitute for silk.
  Quotations
  Sleeveleſſe his jerkin vvas, and it had beene / Velvet, but 'tvvas novv (ſo much ground vvas ſeene) / Become Tufftaffatie; and our children ſhall / See it plaine Raſhe avvhile, or nought at all.
  p. 1597, J[ohn] Donne, “[Satyres] Satyre IIII”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, page 338

rash⁴

/ɹæʃ/

noun
plural rashes
1. (obsolete) A soft crackling or rustling sound.
  Quotations
  Look on thoſe grave plodding fellovvs, […] I'll undertake three parts of four are going to their Courtezans. I tell thee, Jack, the vvhiſking of a Silk-Govvn, and the raſh of a Tabby-Pettycoat, are as comfortable ſounds to one of theſe rich Citizens, as the chink of their Pieces of Eight.
  1668 June 22 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Dryden, An Evening’s Love, or The Mock-Astrologer. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1671, Act I, scene i, page 3

rash⁵

/ɹæʃ/

verb
third-person singular simple present rashes, present participle rashing, simple past and past participle rashed
1. (transitive)
  1. To forcefully move or push (someone or something) in a certain direction.
    Quotations
    Reg[an]. VVherefore to Douer ſir? / Gloſt[er, i.e., Gloucester]. Becauſe I vvould not ſee thy cruell nayles / Pluck out his poore old eyes, nor thy fierce ſiſter / In his aurynted fleſh raſh boriſh phangs, […]The corresponding phrase in the First Folio (1623), page 300, is: “In his Annointed fleſh, ſticke boariſh phangs.”
    c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, [Act III, scene vii]
  2. To break (something) forcefully; to smash.
    Quotations
    Fair lordes sayd syre Launcelot leue your noyse and your rassyng and I shalle sette open this dore and thenne may ye doo with me what it lyketh yow."Fair lords, said Sir Launcelot, leave your noise and your rashing, and I shall set open this door, and then may ye do with me what it liketh you."
    1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XX, Chapter iv, leaf 401v
  3. To emit or issue (something) hastily.
  4. (rare) Usually followed by up: to prepare (something) with haste; to cobble together, to improvise.
    Quotations
    Retur[n]e to the places of Peter, the one in his firſt epiſtle, the other in the latter: and ſo be you contented with this preſent anſvver raſhed up in haſte.
    1610 October, John Foxe, “”, in The Second Volume of the Ecclesiasticall Historie, Containing the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs, for the Company of Stationers, book VIII, page 987, column 1
2. (intransitive)
  1. To move forcefully, hastily, or suddenly; to dash, to rush.
  2. Of rain: to fall heavily.
  3. Chiefly followed by against, at, or upon: to collide or hit.

rash⁶

/ɹæʃ/

verb
third-person singular simple present rashes, present participle rashing, simple past and past participle rashed
1. Chiefly followed by away, down, off, out, etc.: to pluck, pull, or rip (something) violently.
  Quotations
  There Marinell great deeds of armes did ſhevv; / And through the thickeſt like a Lyon flevv, / Raſhing off helmes, and ryuing plates a ſonder, / That euery one his daunger did eſchevv.
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, stanza 8, page 214
  His Creſt is raſh'd away; his ample Shield / Is falſify'd and round with Jav'lins fill'd.
  1697, Virgil, “The Ninth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], page 496, lines 1094–1095

rash⁷

/ɹæʃ/

verb
third-person singular simple present rashes, present participle rashing, simple past and past participle rashed
1. To hack, slash, or slice (something).
  Quotations
  And dravving both their ſvvords vvith rage extreme, / Like tvvo mad maſtiffes each on other flevv, / And ſhields did ſhare, & mailes did raſh, and helmes did hevv.
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, stanza 17, page 26
  [N]ovv he, comes violently on, and vvithall aduancing his rapier to ſtrike, […] Sir, I miſt my purpoſe in his arme, raſht his doublet ſleeue, ran him cloſe by the left cheek, and through his haire.
  1599 (first performance; published 1600), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man out of His Humour. A Comicall Satyre. […]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, Act IIII, scene vi, page 148
2. (rare) Chiefly followed by out: to scrape or scratch (something); to obliterate.

Definition of "rash"

rash1

adjective

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adverb

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rash2

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rash3

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rash4

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rash5

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rash6

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rash7

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rash¹

rash²

rash³

rash⁴

rash⁵

rash⁶

rash⁷