rathe

American  

[reyth] / reɪð /

Also rath

adjective

1. Archaic. growing, blooming, or ripening early in the year or season.

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rathe British  

/ reɪð, rɑːθ /

adjective

1. blossoming or ripening early in the season

2. eager or prompt

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Other Word Forms

• rathely adverb
• ratheness noun

Etymology

Origin of rathe

before 900; Middle English; Old English hræth, hræd quick, active; cognate with Dutch rad, Old Norse hrathr

Example Sentences

With harvest light the valley laughs, The sheaves in mellow sunshine sleep; —Too rathe the crop, too red the swathes Ere night the scythe of Death shall reap!

From The Visions of England Lyrics on leading men and events in English History by Morley, Henry

Aye, aye, vull rathe the zun mus' rise To meäke us tired o' zunny skies, A-sheenèn on the whole day drough, From mornèn's dawn till evenèn's dew.

From Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect by Barnes, William

The wood's green heart is a nest of dreams, The lush grass thickens and springs and sways, The rathe wheat rustles, the landscape gleams— Midsummer days!

From The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions Joints In Our Social Armour by Runciman, James

In that he is precocious, and, like the rathe primrose, will "forsaken die."

From In a Green Shade A Country Commentary by Hewlett, Maurice Henry

Crossley is, I believe, mistaken in his derivation of the word rathe from the Celtic raithe, signifying inclination, although rather seems indisputably to belong to it.

From Notes and Queries, Number 186, May 21, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Bell, George