rainbow

English Online Dictionary. What means rainbow‎? What does rainbow mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English reinbowe, reinboȝe, from Old English reġnboga (“rainbow”), from Proto-West Germanic *regnabogō, from Proto-Germanic *regnabugô (“rainbow”), equivalent to rain +‎ bow (“arch”). Cognate with West Frisian reinbôge (“rainbow”), Dutch regenboog (“rainbow”), German Regenbogen (“rainbow”), Danish regnbue (“rainbow”), Swedish regnbåge (“rainbow”), Icelandic regnbogi (“rainbow”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪnboʊ/, /ˈɹeɪmboʊ/; enPR: rān'bō, rām'bō
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪnbəʊ/

Noun

rainbow (plural rainbows)

2. A multicoloured arch in the sky, produced by prismatic refraction of light within droplets of rain in the air.
4. Any prismatic refraction of light showing a spectrum of colours.
5. (often used with “of”) A wide assortment; a varied multitude.

7. (figurative) An illusion; a mirage.

9. (baseball) A curveball, particularly a slow one.
11. (poker slang) In Texas hold 'em or Omaha hold 'em, a flop that contains three different suits.
12. Rainbow trout.
14. (figurative, sometimes derogatory) A person within the LGBT community.

Synonyms

• (prismatic reflection): spectrum

Hyponyms

• lunar rainbow
• marine rainbow

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: alenbo

Translations

Adjective

rainbow (not comparable)

1. Multicolored.
2. (attributive, chiefly US) Made up of several races or ethnicities, or (more broadly) of several cultural or ideological factions.
   • 1994, John Simon, Of Dogs, Their Masters, and Others, in New York magazine, September 5 1994, page 51:

     That Asian-American actor Thomas Ikeda contributes a pleasingly frantic Panthino would not be considered rainbow enough.

   • 2007, Hooson, in a Letter to the Western Mail, 19 June 2007, published in Crossing the Rubicon: coalition politics Welsh style by John Osmond, page 28:

     […] it seemed to me to be naive indeed for the Liberal Democrats to believe that they could simply enter into a rainbow alliance against the Labour Government.
3. (attributive) LGBT.
4. (poker, chiefly of a flop) Composed entirely of different suits.
5. (mathematics, cryptography) Of or pertaining to rainbow tables.

Usage notes

• In the United States, 'rainbow' groups/families/alliances/coalitions were originally those made up of several races or ethnicities. The term is now used more broadly, to refer (in the 2007 quotation, for example) to an alliance of several political parties. Separately, use of a rainbow flag as an LGBT symbol has led to the term being used to refer to LGBT groups (initiatives, etc).

Synonyms

• (multicolored): motley, multihued, polychromatic; see also Thesaurus:multicolored
• (made up of several races or ethnicities): multiethnic, multiracial, rainbowed
• (made up of several factions): multipartisan

Translations

Verb

rainbow (third-person singular simple present rainbows, present participle rainbowing, simple past and past participle rainbowed)

1. (transitive) To brighten with, or as with, a rainbow; to pattern with the colours of the rainbow.
2. (intransitive) To take the appearance of a rainbow.
3. (climbing) In climbing gyms where the rocks to climb are colored to indicate suggested climbing routes, to climb rocks of different colors, thereby ignoring such routes.

Translations

See also

• 🌈

References

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN