| 释义 |
▪ I. rare, a.1 (adv.1 and n.)|rɛə(r)|
Also 6–7 Sc. rair.
[ad. L. rār-us or a. F. rare (14th c.).]
1. a. Having the constituent particles not closely packed together. (Opposed to dense.) In later use chiefly of the air or gases (see sense 5 f).
c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 99 The londis fatte, or lene, or thicke, or rare. 1595Spenser Sonn. lv, Not ayre; for she is not so light or rare. 1610W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. viii. 16 Distinguishing betweene open and rare soyles, and such as are condense and close. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 47 All pure and rare bodies ascend, as the Fire more than the Air. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 275 A denser Fluid is hotter than a rarer. c1790J. Imison Sch. Arts I. 100 As the air rises above the earth's surface, it grows rarer, and consequently lighter, bulk for bulk. 1862H. Spencer First Princ. ii. v. §55 (1875) 181 A projectile would travel a far greater distance through a rare medium like air, than through a dense medium like water.
fig.1820Shelley Let. to Maria Gisborne 7 Spinning..From the fine threads of rare and subtle thought.
†b. Of colour: Thin, faint. Obs. rare—1.
1750tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 111 Those are reckoned the best, whose colour is neither too thick nor too rare.
†2.
a. Having the component parts widely set; of open construction; in open order. Obs. rare.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. xi. 494 A multitude of reysouns puld they take, And into rushy frayels rare [L. rariore contextu] hem gete. 1622Sir R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 197 They being rare shippes, and without any manner of close fights, in bourding with us, their men were all open unto us, and we under covert and shelter. 1647May Hist. Parl. iii. v. 100 One rare and slender ranke were to receive all the storme without seconds.
†b. Thinly attended or populated. Obs. rare.
1610J. Forbes Cert. Rec. x. (1846) 387 The Assemblie was so rare that they were not exceeding the number of nineteen Commissioners. c1789Gibbon Autobiog. (1854) 61 Our immediate neighbourhood was rare and rustic.
†3.
a. Placed or stationed at wide intervals; standing or keeping far apart. Obs.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 1033 Bowis ore it trayn So lough and rare, on hem that bees may dwelle. Ibid. iv. 183 Cvcumber in this mone is sowen rare. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 461 Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walk'd; Those rare and solitarie, these in flocks.
†b. Seldom appearing or seen. Obs.
c1450tr. De Imitatione i. viii. 9 Be rare amonge yonge peple & straunge folkes. 1784Cowper Task ii. 383 Frequent in Park with lady at his side,..But rare at home.
†c. Sparing. Const. in. Obs. rare—1.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 56 b, Pacyent in aduersytees, rare & sobre in wordes.
d. Infrequent. rare.
1707Floyer Physic. Pulse-Watch 128 The Pulse becomes..more languid, rare, slow. 1859Tennyson Elaine 164 He..Chose the green path that show'd the rarer foot.
4. (With pl. ns.) Few in number, and widely separated from each other (in space or time); forming a small and scattered class.
1555Act 2 & 3 Phil. & Mary, c. 13 The Fertility of the Ground is not apt to bring forth any Corn nor good Grass, but in rare Places. 1654Bramhall Just Vind. iv. (1661) 65 And the Legations from Rome were almost as rare as appeals to Rome,..untill the Norman conquest. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 199, I never saw but one Grey⁓ey'd and therefore I suppose them rare. 1784Cowper Tiroc. 700 Are such men rare? Perhaps they would abound Were occupation easier to be found. 1820Shelley Let. to Maria Gisborne 263 Clouds sail o'er the inverse deep,..And the rare stars rush through them. 1885Manch. Exam. 15 May 5/6 Brake appliances, to the development of which we mainly owe it that railway accidents are now so rare.
5. a. Of a kind, class, or description, seldom found, met with, or occurring; unusual, uncommon, exceptional.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 171 It is a veraye rare thyng in princes to feele the mocions and pangues of the graces. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 378 An Olyphaunt of Inde,..a rare spectacle, and a beast not often sene in Germany. 1611Bible Pref. ⁋15 Many rare names of certaine birds, beastes and precious stones. 1709Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) II. 269 The Book being very rare in England. 1755Man No. 15. 4 It is comparatively rare for brutes to die of sickness. 1779Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 139 The white bird of Paradise is the most rare... The first sort is very rare. 1812J. Wilson Isle of Palms iv. 399 Gathering rare shells, delighted children stray. 1863F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 42 How very rare it is to see a well-formed face. 1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 182 It was a rare event for Mrs. Skirlaugh to go from home.
b. it is rare that{ddd} (Cf. F. il est rare que{ddd}, and see rarely adv. 2 d.)
1788T. Taylor Proclus (1792) I. 34 It is very rare that philology and philosophy are united in the same person. 1855Prescott Philip II, I. ii. ii. 163 It was rare that the tone of remonstrance was heard in the halls of Castilian legislation.
c. rare earth (Chem.), any naturally occurring oxide of an element of the lanthanide series (usu. including lanthanum and freq. also scandium and yttrium); also (loosely), any of these elements themselves; a lanthanide. Hence rare-earth element, rare earth metal.
In earliest examples used in a less restricted sense, including oxides of other metals.
1875Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXVIII. 1001 (heading) The quantivalence of the metals of the rarer [sic] earths [= tr. G. seltenen Erdmetalle]. 1877Ibid. XXXI. 49 (heading) The quantivalence of the rare earth-metals. 1878Chem. News 13 Sept. 136/2, I found nearly one-half of the known elements represented, and separated a group of oxides belonging to the rare earths. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 710/1 Helium has since been extracted from a variety of minerals consisting of salts of uranium, yttrium, thorium and other rare earths. Ibid. 710/2 In the case of the rare-earth metals, the elements from air and the radio-active elements, the discovery of new elements has frequently been consequent on the introduction of novel methods. 1933Discovery Jan. 1/1 Samarium has an atomic number 62 and a mass of about 150. Chemically it is a ‘rare earth’. 1937, etc. [see lanthanide]. 1958Optima Mar. 22b/2 Thorium occurs chiefly in association with the rare-earth elements in monazite ore. 1959Nomencl. Inorg. Chem. (I.U.P.A.C.) 6 The name rare-earth metals may be used for the elements Sc, Y, and La to Lu inclusive. 1965D. Abbott Inorg. Chem. i. 36 The third transition series is interrupted after lanthanum by a set of elements known as the Rare Earths or Lanthanons. 1968Times 18 Oct. 16/8 Gadolinium belongs to the little known family of minerals called the rare earths... The name rare earth is something of a misnomer, since many of the minerals in the family are widely distributed throughout the earth's crust. 1972Nature 31 Mar. 197/1 Also concentrated in this liquid are a group of trace elements, including barium, yttrium, rare earths, zirconium, hafnium, phosphorus and niobium, about which are centred many of the geochemical arguments concerning the differences between terrestrial and lunar rocks.
d. rare bird = rara avis 1, 2.
1890G. B. Shaw in Star 21 Feb. 2/5 She [sc. the perfect dancer] is the rarest of rare birds. 1912R. Lynd Rambles in Ireland i. 45 In Ireland.. one drunk man is as conspicuous as a thousand sober ones... But he is, comparatively speaking, a rare bird and an exception for all the show he makes. 1934C. Day Lewis Hope for Poetry x. 66 The true lyric poet is a very rare bird indeed. 1950W. Saroyan Assyrian 21 The writer who is only a writer is a rare bird these days, most writers having taken posts at universities, [etc.]. 1962Which? Car Suppl. Oct. 141/1 The foreign cars are still somewhat rare birds. 1977Times 20 Oct. 16/3 That rare bird, a historian who was also a history-maker.
e. rare book, a book which is in demand and made valuable by its actual or prospective rarity. Also attrib.
[1862J. H. Burton Book-Hunter ii. 210 David Clement..lays it down with authority, that ‘a book which is difficult to find in the country where it is sought ought to be called simply rare’.] 1895W. Roberts Rare Bks. 7 This is a very unusual contingency even in the history of rare books. 1910A. W. Pollard in Encycl. Brit. IV. 223/1 The Boccaccio..went to Earl Spencer (d. 1834) for {pstlg}750, to pass with the rest of his rare books to Mrs Rylands in 1892. 1930R. Curie Collecting Amer. First Editions vi. 168 (heading) Rare books still obtainable. 1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? v. 97 One of the finest collections of rare books in the country. 1948J. Carter Taste & Technique in Book-Collecting p. ix, I am the first member of the rare book trade to have been appointed Sandars Reader. 1952― ABC for Book-Collectors 148 The First Folio Shakespeare and the Gutenberg Bible are certainly ‘rare books’ as the term is generally understood. 1967E. Grierson Crime of one's Own i. 12 The ‘rare book’ trade, which he was trying to build up. 1976‘O. Bleeck’ No Questions Asked ii. 22 The Library of Congress is an interesting place... The reading room of the Rare Book Division turned out to be a peaceful place. 1980Times 29 Jan. 14/6 It was a characteristic out-of-season sale, containing faulty copies of rare books.
f. rare gas (Chem.) = inert gas (b) s.v. inert a. 1 c. (Cf. sense 1 a.)
1901M. W. Travers Exper. Study Gases xi. 116 Mercury, which somewhat resembles the rare gases with regard to its low boiling-point and monatomic character, would be chemically inactive at 1000° C. 1937Discovery Aug. 227/2 The separation of the ‘rare gases’ from the atmosphere. 1963J. H. Pomeroy in H. H. Hyman Noble-Gas Compounds iii. 125, I..suspect that the discovery of the rare-gas compounds has been greeted with particular enthusiasm by the producers of textbooks in chemistry, since it gives them..a sort of windfall of unplanned obsolescence. 1972Nature 8 Dec. 345/2 Radon (222Rn)—a radioactive rare gas emanating essentially from large continental land areas.
6. a. Unusual in respect of some good quality; of uncommon excellence or merit; remarkably good or fine; † distinguished (quot. 1685).
1483Caxton Cato 2 b, Therin they fonde many noble and rare bookes. 1570Satir. Poems Reform. x. 140 Of quhais rair bewtie scho did sumpart farlie. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 27 One of the rarest Mathematicians of our age. 1639Fuller Holy War iii. xxv. (1840) 164 A more substantial tower was built, the rarest piece in that kind the world ever saw. 1685Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. x. 42 It is not only Charity to Preachers and rare Persons, but to the least Christians. 1779Cowper Yearly Distress 57 A rarer man than you In pulpit none shall hear. 1818Shelley Rev. Islam i. xxiii, A boat of rare device, which had no sail. 1874Bancroft Footpr. Time i. 67 This rare nation knew how to adapt its governments to its needs.
b. colloq. Splendid, excellent, fine.
Distinguished from prec. merely as applied to more trivial objects or employed in less dignified context. Intermediate applications are not uncommon in the 17th c.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ii. 116 Maister Bassanio, who indeede giues rare new Liuories. 1667Dryden Sir Martin Mar-All v. iii, Mill. You and I will disguise too... Mood. That will be most rare. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 59 He's a rare Fellow for giving a bad Captain a good Word. 1791‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. xviii. (1809) 140 My horse must have had a rare bit of bone in his back. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 283 The prisoner said it would be a rare thing to get at that mare which was first favourite. 1878Mrs. H. Wood Pomeroy Ab. I. 172 Guy will about die of it I expect. Rare fun if he does.
†c. Interjectionally in O rare!
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 72 Shall I? O rare! Ile be a braue Iudge. a1688Villiers Rehearsal iv. i, O rare! this is the most natural, refined fancy that ever I heard. 1761Sterne Tr. Shandy VI. xxxvi, ‘Ἐ̃υγε!’ O rare! 'tis fine reasoning, Sir, indeed! 1786Burns Ordination vii, Oh rare! to see our elbucks wheep.
d. colloq. in ironical use.
1600Rowlands Let. Humours Blood i. 48 Vttring rare lyes to be admired at. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull iii. x, Well, John, thou are got into rare company! One has a dumb devil [etc.]. 1789Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 323 This is a rare situation, for which they must thank themselves. 1837Mrs. Sherwood Henry Milner iii. v. 95 And do you mean always to go to bed at nine o'clock?..If that a'n't rare.
e. colloq. as an intensive, with ns. and adjs. (also rare and with adjs.).
1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger ii. vi. 121 They put me in a rare passion. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton ix. 49 We got a good supper, and grew rare and sleepy. 1877M. W. Hungerford Phyllis xxvii. (1884) 308 That's a rare good sign. 1879Stevenson Trav. Cevennes 61, I was rare and hungry.
7. absol. or as n.
†a. A rare thing; a rarity. Obs.
1566Banquett of Dainties A vj b, Of dainties these let me not fayle, with other rares among. 1611T. Bastard Paneg. Verses in Coryat's Crudities, Put downe, put downe, Tom Coryate, Our latest rares.
b. What is rare.
1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. v. (1674) 8 Of all other things which the rest had mentioned of rare in the State of Venice, this was to be preferred. 1813Scott Trierm. iii. xxxvii, That bower, the gazer to bewitch, Hath wondrous store of rare and rich.
†8. As adv. = rarely. Obs.—1
1721Ramsay Content 213 Rare she appears, unless on some fine day She grace a nuptial.
9. Comb., as rare-featured, rare-painted, rare-qualitied, rare-shaped adjs.; rare-spring attrib. Also used advb. (mainly poet.) with adjs. or ppl. adjs. rare-bred, rare-coming, rare-composed, rare-dear, rare-feathered, rare-felt, rare-grown, rare-seen, rare-spoken, rare-veined.
1877Coursing Calendar Autumn 1876 327 Westeria..was put out in a bad trial. She is a rare-bred one, being by Contango out of Joan-of-Arc.
1937Blunden Elegy 90 Where the dogs..regard The rare-coming stranger in the yard An excitement not to be missed.
1601Marston Jack Drums Entertainment sig. A2v, If he could..distill the quintessence of heauen In rare composed Sceanes.
1876G. M. Hopkins Wreck of Deutschland xxxv, in Poems (1967) 63 Let him [sc. our King]..be a crimson-cresseted east, More brightening her, rare-dear Britain, as his reign rolls.
1904Westm. Gaz. 19 Nov. 9/2 The class for pied, albino, or rare-feathered British birds contains a pure yellow, pink-eyed, yellow-hammer.
1607Wilkins Mis. Enforced Marriage F iv b, They are the moste rare featur'd..rare qualitied..gentlewoman.
1785T. Dwight Conquest of Canäan iv. 97 A rare-felt joy inspir'd the friendless band.
1922Blunden Shepherd 85 And rare-grown daisy in the meadow.
1818Scott Rob Roy xi, O rare-painted portrait!.. Vandyke was a dauber to you.
1794T. Dwight Greenfield Hill I. 18 The rare-seen felon startles every mind And fills each mouth with news.
1882H. De Windt Equator 37 The Deli pony is a rare-shaped little animal..with immense strength, and very fast.
1915D. H. Lawrence Rainbow i. 8 A rare-spoken, almost surly man.
1641Howell Vote in Lett. (1650) II. 142 No Pistolls or som rare-spring Carrabins.
1879G. M. Hopkins Duns Scotus's Oxford in Poems (1967) 79 Of realty the rarest-veinèd unraveller.
▪ II. rare, a.2|rɛə(r)|
[Later form of rear a.1]
†a. Of eggs: Left soft in cooking. Obs.
b. Of meat (now usu. of beef): Underdone. Also Comb.
In sense b, formerly often regarded as an Americanism, although it was current in many English dialects (cf. rear), and used by English writers in the first half of the 19th c.
a.1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. 137 A rare Egg any way dresst is lightest of Digestion, a hard Egg is most rebellious. Ibid., Eggs..being rare-roasted in embers..make thickest and strongest blood. 1836Public Ledger (Philadelphia) 19 Apr. 1/3 [Certain persons] in calling for boiled eggs, instead of ordering them to be done rare, order them to be ‘boiled soft’. 1856Knickerbocker XLVII. 249 ‘Do you like your eggs done rare?’ asked the good landlady.
b.1784in Life Longfellow (1891) II. xvii. 414 The lean should be quite rare, not so the fat. 1820Lamb Elia Ser. i. Christ's Hosp. 35 Yrs. Ago, The same flesh, rotten-roasted or rare, on the Tuesdays. 1830M. Donovan Dom. Econ. II. 289 The meat was in all cases a little rare at its centre. 1861G. F. Berkeley Sportsm. W. Prairies 26 The wood-cock and snipe..should be underdone or what the Americans call ‘rare’. [1890Lowell Introd. Biglow Papers Ser. ii. in Poems II. 181 The earliest form of the word with us was, and the commoner now in the inland parts still is, so far as I can discover, raredone.] 1904N.Y. Sun 6 Aug. 5 The waiter took his order for a sirloin rare. 1911E. Ferber Dawn O'Hara ii. 20 I've devoured rare porterhouse and roast beef day after day for weeks. 1940R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely xxv. 186 Would you like your steak rare or medium, sir? 1977Times 24 Aug. 14/8 A reader ordered a steak, rare, at a Yorkshire roadside café.
▪ III. rare, a.3 and adv.2 Obs. exc. dial.|rɛə(r)|
[Var. of rathe a.1: cf. rare-ripe.]
Early.
1574W. Bourne Regiment for Sea iii. (1577) 12 b, Sometime in the yeare you shall see the Moone rarer than at some other time, as this for example, from January to June you shall see the Moone within .24. houres after the chaunge. 1615Chapman Odyss. vi. 422 Rude mechanicals, that rare and late Work in the market-place. 1847Halliwell, Rare,..early. Devon. 1880in W. Cornwall Gloss.
▪ IV. rare, v. orig. U.S. and dial.
[Var. of rear v.1]
1. a. intr. = rear v.1 15.
1833Sketches & Eccentricities D. Crockett vii. 92 He just rared up upon his hind legs. 1898H. S. Canfield Maid of Frontier 100 Break 'em with a curb an' they rare an' fall back on you. 1938[see jes, jes'].
b. colloq. to be raring to (go, etc.), to be extremely eager or fully ready to (do something). Also transf.
1909E. Banks Mystery F. Farrington iv. 13/2 They make me raring, tearing mad to look at 'em. 1927F. N. Hart Bellamy Trial i. 10 Both sides are rarin' to go, and they are not liable to touch their peremptory challenges [of jurymen]. 1935Wodehouse Luck of Bodkins xv. 167 Keep it crisp, because I'm raring to go. 1957A. MacNab Bulls of Iberia viii. 79 The bull was a toro de bandera, the bravest of the brave,..and was ‘rarin' to fight’. 1971J. Tyndall Death in Lebanon vii. 114 He's laid it on that the preacher makes some inflammatory remarks..so that the congregation..will be rarin' to go. 1979Church Times 9 Feb. 9/1 We were at the starting-gate and raring to go.
2. trans. = rear v.1 9.
1901M. Franklin My Brilliant Career v. 24 It was my duty to ‘rare the poddies’. 1961‘F. O'Brien’ Hard Life ix. 67 Well, there's no doubt about it, we rare up strange characters in this country.
▪ V. rare
obs. form of rear, roar. |