n. [ Etymol. uncertain. ] A lay or skein containing 120 yards of yarn. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. conversation; also, rapping. [ PJC ]

2. (ca. 1985) a type of rhythmic talking, often with accompanying rhythm instruments; rap music. [ PJC ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Rapped p. pr. & vb. n. Rapping. ] [ Akin to Sw. rappa to strike, rapp stroke, Dan. rap, perhaps of imitative origin. ] To strike with a quick, sharp blow; to knock; as, to rap on the door. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Perhaps contr. fr. raparee. ] A popular name for any of the tokens that passed current for a half-penny in Ireland in the early part of the eighteenth century; any coin of trifling value. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many counterfeits passed about under the name of raps. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tie it [ her money ] up so tight that you can't touch a rap, save with her consent. Mrs. Alexander. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not to care a rap, to care nothing. --
Not worth a rap, worth nothing. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To strike with a quick blow; to knock on. [ 1913 Webster ]

With one great peal they rap the door. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Founding) To free (a pattern) in a mold by light blows on the pattern, so as to facilitate its removal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A quick, smart blow; a knock. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Rapped usually written Rapt; p. pr. & vb. n. Rapping. ] [ OE. rapen; akin to LG. & D. rapen to snatch, G. raffen, Sw. rappa; cf. Dan. rappe sig to make haste, and Icel. hrapa to fall, to rush, hurry. The word has been confused with L. rapere to seize. Cf. Rape robbery, Rapture, Raff, v., Ramp, v. ] 1. To snatch away; to seize and hurry off. [ 1913 Webster ]

And through the Greeks and Ilians they rapt
The whirring chariot. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

From Oxford I was rapt by my nephew, Sir Edmund Bacon, to Redgrove. Sir H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To hasten. [ Obs. ] Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To seize and bear away, as the mind or thoughts; to transport out of one's self; to affect with ecstasy or rapture; as, rapt into admiration. [ 1913 Webster ]

I'm rapt with joy to see my Marcia's tears. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rapt into future times, the bard begun. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To exchange; to truck. [ Obs. & Low ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To engage in a discussion, converse. [ PJC ]

6. (ca. 1985) to perform a type of rhythmic talking, often with accompanying rhythm instruments. It is considered by some as a type of music; see rap music. [ PJC ]

To rap and ren,
To rap and rend. [ Perhaps fr. Icel. hrapa to hurry and ræna plunder, fr. rān plunder, E. ran. ] To seize and plunder; to snatch by violence. Dryden. “[ Ye ] waste all that ye may rape and renne.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ] All they could rap and rend and pilfer. Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ] --
To rap out, to utter with sudden violence, as an oath. [ 1913 Webster ] A judge who rapped out a great oath. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. See Rapacious. ] (Zool.) Same as Accipitres. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. rapax, -acis, from rapere to seize and carry off, to snatch away. See Rapid. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Given to plunder; disposed or accustomed to seize by violence; seizing by force. “ The downfall of the rapacious and licentious Knights Templar.” Motley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Accustomed to seize food; subsisting on prey, or animals seized by violence; as, a tiger is a rapacious animal; a rapacious bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Avaricious; grasping; extortionate; also, greedy; ravenous; voracious; as, rapacious usurers; a rapacious appetite. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Thy Lord ] redeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Greedy; grasping; ravenous; voracious. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Ra*pa"cious*ly, adv. -- Ra*pa"cious*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. rapacitas: cf. F. rapacité. See Rapacious. ] 1. The quality of being rapacious; rapaciousness; ravenousness; as, the rapacity of pirates; the rapacity of wolves. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act or practice of extorting or exacting by oppressive injustice; exorbitant greediness of gain. “The rapacity of some ages.” Sprat. [ 1913 Webster ]