rape

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

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹeɪp/
• Rhymes: -eɪp

Etymology 1

From Middle English rapen, rappen (“to abduct; ravish; seduce; rape; seize; snatch; carry off; transport”), probably from Latin rapere (verb), possibly through or influenced by Anglo-Norman rap, rape (noun) (compare also ravish). But compare Swedish rappa (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), Low German rapen (“to snatch, seize”), Dutch rapen (“to pick up, gather, collect”); the relationship with Germanic forms is not clear. Cognate with Lithuanian reikėti (“to be in need”). Compare also rap (“seize, snatch”). Further, some senses may be from Etymology 3, an Old Norse word.

Noun

rape (countable and uncountable, plural rapes)

1. The act of forcing sex upon another person without their consent or against their will; originally coitus forced by a man on a woman, but now generally any sex act forced by any person upon another person; by extension, any non-consensual sex act forced on or perpetrated by any being. [from 15th c.]
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:rape.
2. (slang, sometimes offensive) An experience that is pleasant for one party and unpleasant for the other, particularly when the unwilling partner's suffering is worse than necessary.
   1. Overpowerment; utter defeat.
   2. (Can we clean up⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) An insult to one's senses so severe that one feels that they cannot ever be the same afterwards.

3. (now rare) The taking of something by force; seizure, plunder. [from early 14th c.]
4. (now archaic) The abduction of a woman, especially for sexual purposes. [from 15th c.]
5. (obsolete) That which is snatched away.
6. (obsolete) Movement, as in snatching; haste; hurry.

Usage notes

In legal contexts, the definition of the crime of rape can have a significantly narrower scope than in common modern parlance.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

rape (third-person singular simple present rapes, present participle raping, simple past and past participle raped)

1. (chiefly transitive) To force sexual intercourse or other sexual activity upon (someone) without their consent. [from 16th c.]
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:rape.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To seize by force. (Now often with sexual overtones.) [from late 14th c.]
3. (transitive) To carry (someone, especially a woman) off against their will, especially for sex; to abduct. [from 15th c.]
4. (transitive) To plunder, to destroy or despoil. [from 17th c.]
5. (men's slang, sometimes offensive) To subject (another person) to a painful or unfair experience.
   1. To overpower, destroy (someone); to trounce. [from 20th c.]

   2. To exploit an advantage, often involving money, where the other person has little choice but to submit.

Synonyms

• (seize): theft, thievery
• (force sexual intercourse): ravish, violate, vitiate (uncommon)
• (abuse): plunder, despoil

Derived terms

• butt-rape
• corrective rape
• frape
• I've been raped
• rapable, rapeable
• rapist
• rerape

Translations

Further reading

• rape on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Generally considered to derive from Old English rāp (“rope”), in reference to the ropes used to delineate the courts that ruled each rape. Compare Dutch reep and the parish of Rope, Cheshire.

In the 18th century, Edward Lye proposed derivation from Old Norse hreppr (“tract of land”), but this was rejected by the New English Dictionary and is considered "phonologically impossible" by the English Place-Name Society. Others, considering it improbable that the Normans would have adopted a local word, suggest derivation from Old French raper (“take by force”).

See Wikipedia for more.

Noun

rape (plural rapes)

1. (now historical) One of the six former administrative divisions of Sussex, England. [from 11th c.]
   • 1888 March 20, Henry H. Howorth, in a letter to The Archaeological Review, volume 1 (March–August 1888), page 230:

     It seems to me very clear that the rapes of Sussex were divisions already existing there when the Normans landed.

See also

• hundred
• wapentake

Further reading

• Rape (county subdivision) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 3

From Middle English rapen, from Old Norse hrapa (“to fall, rush headlong, hurry, hasten”), from Proto-Germanic *hrapaną (“to fall down”). Cognate with Norwegian rapa (“to slip, fall”), Danish rappe (“to make haste”), German rappeln (“to hasten, hurry”).

Verb

rape (third-person singular simple present rapes, present participle raping, simple past and past participle raped)

1. (obsolete, intransitive or reflexive) To make haste; to hasten or hurry. [14th–16th c.]

Noun

rape (plural rapes)

1. (obsolete) Haste; precipitancy; a precipitate course. [14th–17th c.]

Adverb

rape (comparative more rape, superlative most rape)

1. (obsolete) Quickly; hastily. [14th–19th c.]

Etymology 4

From Middle English rape, from Latin rāpa, from rāpum (“turnip”).

Noun

rape (plural rape)

1. Synonym of rapeseed, Brassica napus. [late 14th c.]

Derived terms

Etymology 5

From Middle English rape, from rape (“grape stalk, rasper”), from Old French raper, rasper (“to rasp, scratch”), from Old Frankish *raspōn (“to scratch”), related to Old High German raspōn (“to scrape”), Old English ġehrespan (“to strip, spoil”).

Noun

rape (countable and uncountable, plural rapes)

1. The stalks and husks of grapes from which the must has been expressed in winemaking.
2. A filter containing the stalks and husks of grapes, used for clarifying wine, vinegar, etc.
3. (obsolete) Fruit plucked in a bunch.

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Earp, Pera, aper, pare, pear, prae-, præ-, reap

Afrikaans

Noun

rape

1. plural of raap

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈraː.pə/

Verb

rape

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of rapen

Anagrams

• pare

Galician

Verb

rape

1. inflection of rapar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Guaraní

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɾa.ˈpe/

Noun

rape

1. dependent form of tape

Haitian Creole

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɣape/

Etymology 1

From French râper.

Verb

rape

1. to grate (ice)

Etymology 2

From French happer.

Verb

rape

1. to snatch, seize, nab

References

• Targète, Jean and Urciolo, Raphael G. Haitian Creole-English dictionary (1993; →ISBN)

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈra.pe/
• Rhymes: -ape
• Hyphenation: rà‧pe

Noun

rape f

1. plural of rapa

Anagrams

• apre, arpe, pare, pera

Latin

Verb

rape

1. second-person singular present active imperative of rapiō

Middle English

Noun

rape

1. haste; hurry

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Imitative, related to Old Norse ropa. Compare Danish ræbe, Icelandic ropa.

Verb

rape (imperative rap, present tense raper, simple past rapa or rapet or rapte, past participle rapa or rapet or rapt, present participle rapende)

1. To belch or burp.

References

• “rape” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Old English

Noun

rāpe

1. dative singular of rāp

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ra‧pe
• Rhymes: -api, -apɨ

Verb

rape

1. inflection of rapar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrape/ [ˈra.pe]
• Rhymes: -ape
• Syllabification: ra‧pe

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Catalan rap (“monkfish”), possibly from Latin rāpum (“turnip”).

Noun

rape m (plural rapes)

1. monkfish

   Synonym: pejesapo

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Deverbal from rapar.

Noun

rape m (plural rapes)

1. shaving, hair crop

Derived terms

Verb

rape

1. inflection of rapar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “rape”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Anagrams

• rapé
• pera
• pare
• paré