rathe
Americanadjective
adjective
-
blossoming or ripening early in the season
-
eager or prompt
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rathe
before 900; Middle English; Old English hræth, hræd quick, active; cognate with Dutch rad, Old Norse hrathr
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The robin piped his morning song for him; The wild crab there exhaled its rathe perfume; The loon laughed loud and by the river's brim The water willow waved its verdant plume.
From The Hills of Hingham by Sharp, Dallas Lore
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
Swithe forth and rathe, quickly forth, and soon, 2594.
From The Lay of Havelok the Dane by Unknown
Drink is the dainty harvester; no puny ears for him, no faint and bending stalks: he reaps the rathe corn, and there is only the choicest of the choice in his sheaves.
From The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions Joints In Our Social Armour by Runciman, James
Whereof the effect be—faith That, some far day, were found Ripeness in things now rathe, Wrong righted, each chain unbound, Renewal born out of scathe.
From Browning's England A Study in English Influences in Browning by Clarke, Helen Archibald
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
