Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Rash

Rash (răsh), v. t. [For arace.] 1. To pull off or pluck violently. [Obs.]

2. To slash; to hack; to cut; to slice. [Obs.]

Rashing off helms and riving plates asunder. Spenser.

Rash, n. [OF. rasche an eruption, scurf, F. rache; fr. (assumed) LL. rasicare to scratch, fr. L. radere, rasum, to scrape, scratch, shave. See Rase, and cf. Rascal.] (Med.) A fine eruption or efflorescence on the body, with little or no elevation.

Canker rash. See in the Vocabulary. — Nettle rash. See Urticaria. — Rose rash. See Roseola. — Tooth rash. See Red-gum.

Rash, n. [Cf. F. ras short-nap cloth, It. & Sp. raso satin (cf. Rase); or cf. It. rascia serge, G. rasch, probably fr. Arras in France (cf. Arras).] An inferior kind of silk, or mixture of silk and worsted. [Obs.] Donne.

Rash, a. [Compar. Rasher (-ẽr); superl. Rashest.] [Probably of Scand. origin; cf. Dan. & Sw. rask quick, brisk, rash, Icel. röskr vigorous, brave, akin to D. & G. rasch quick, of uncertain origin.] 1. Sudden in action; quick; hasty. [Obs.] "Strong as aconitum or rash gunpowder." Shak.

2. Requiring sudden action; pressing; urgent. [Obs.]

I scarce have leisure to salute you, My matter is so rash. Shak.

3. Esp., overhasty in counsel or action; precipitate; resolving or entering on a project or measure without due deliberation and caution; opposed to prudent; said of persons; as, a rash statesman or commander.

4. Uttered or undertaken with too much haste or too little reflection; as, rash words; rash measures.

5. So dry as to fall out of the ear with handling, as corn. [Prov. Eng.] Grose.

Syn. — Precipitate; headlong; headstrong; foolhardy; hasty; indiscreet; heedless; thoughtless; incautious; careless; inconsiderate; unwary. — Rash, Adventurous, Foolhardy. A man is adventurous who incurs risk or hazard from a love of the arduous and the bold. A man is rash who does it from the mere impulse of his feelings, without counting the cost. A man is foolhardy who throws himself into danger in disregard or defiance of the consequences.

Was never known a more adventurous knight. Dryden.

Her rash hand in evil hour Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat. Milton.

If any yet be so foolhardy To expose themselves to vain jeopardy; If they come wounded off, and lame, No honor 's got by such a maim. Hudibras.

Rash (răsh), v. t. To prepare with haste. [Obs.] Foxe.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.