a. [ Compar. Rasher 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Requiring sudden action; pressing; urgent. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I scarce have leisure to salute you,
My matter is so rash. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Uttered or undertaken with too much haste or too little reflection; as, rash words; rash measures. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. So dry as to fall out of the ear with handling, as corn. [ Prov. Eng. ] Grose. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Was never known a more adventurous knight. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To prepare with haste. [ Obs. ] Foxe. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ For arace. ] 1. To pull off or pluck violently. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To slash; to hack; to cut; to slice. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Rashing off helms and riving plates asunder. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Canker rash. See in the Vocabulary. --
Nettle rash. See Urticaria. --
Rose rash. See Roseola. --
Tooth rash. See Red-gum. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ In sense 1, probably fr. rash, a., as being hastily cooked. ] 1. A thin slice of bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) A California rockfish (Sebastichthys miniatus). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Rash; hasty; precipitate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A rash person. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a rash manner; with precipitation. [ 1913 Webster ]

He that doth anything rashly, must do it willingly; for he was free to deliberate or not. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being rash. [ 1913 Webster ]

We offend . . . by rashness, which is an affirming or denying, before we have sufficiently informed ourselves. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Temerity; foolhardiness; precipitancy; precipitation; hastiness; indiscretion; heedlessness; inconsideration; carelessness. See Temerity. [ 1913 Webster ]