rabbitとは意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (英国発音, 米国発音) enPR: răb'it, IPA^(key): /ˈɹæbɪt/
• 韻: -æbɪt
• (General Australian, weak vowel merger) enPR: răb'ət, IPA^(key): /ˈɹæbət/
• Homophone: rabbet

語源 1

From Middle English rabet, rabette, from Middle French *robotte, *rabotte or Anglo-Latin rabettus, from dialectal Old French rabotte, probably a diminutive of Middle Dutch or West Flemish robbe, perhaps related to robbe (“seal”), itself of uncertain origin; possibly some imitative verb, maybe robben, rubben (“to rub”) is used here to allude to a characteristic of the animal. See rub.

Related forms include Middle French rabouillet (“baby rabbit”) and in French rabot (“plane”)), coming via Walloon Old French (reflected nowadays as Walloon robète (“rabbit”)), from Middle Dutch robbe (“rabbit; seal”); also Middle Low German robbe, rubbe (“rabbit”), and the later Low German Rubbe (“seal”), West Frisian robbe (“seal”), Saterland Frisian Rubbe (“seal”), North Frisian rob (“seal”), borrowed into German Robbe (“seal”).

Meant "young rabbit" until the 19th c., when it came to replace the original general term coney, owing to the latter's resemblance to and use as a euphemism for cunny "vulva" (cf. ass かつ donkey).

名詞

rabbit (countable かつ uncountable, 複数形 rabbits)

1. A mammal of the family Leporidae, with long ears, long hind legs and a short, fluffy tail.

   The pioneers survived by eating the small game they could get: rabbits, squirrels and occasionally a raccoon.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The Old Punt: A Curious ‘Turnpike’”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175, pages 19–20:

     Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.

2. (uncountable) The meat from this animal.
3. (uncountable) The fur of a rabbit typically used to imitate another animal's fur.
4. A runner in a distance race whose goal is mainly to set the pace, either to tire a specific rival so that a teammate can win or to help another break a record; a pacesetter.
5. (cricket) A very poor batsman; selected as a bowler or wicket-keeper.
6. (computing theory) A large element at the beginning of a list of items to be bubble sorted, and thus tending to be quickly swapped into its correct position. Compare turtle.
7. Rarebit; Welsh rabbit or a similar dish: melted cheese served atop toast.
   • 2018, Helen Saberi, Teatimes: A World Tour, Reaktion Books (→ISBN)

     The cheese mixture may be served with toast on the side or poured on top of toast and grilled until golden brown and bubbling. Other variations include Buck rabbit, a Welsh rabbit with a poached egg on top, and Yorkshire rabbit with bacon  ...

   • 1858, Mrs. N. K. M. Lee, The American Family Cook Book, page 47:

     CHEESE TOASTED, OR RABBIT.

   • 2019, Mark Kurlansky, Milk: A 10,000-Year History, Bloomsbury Publishing (→ISBN)

     Hannah Glasse offered recipes for Scotch, Welsh, and English rabbit. This is her Scotch rabbit: Toast a piece of bread very nicely […] Cut a slice of cheese, […]

8. A pneumatically-controlled tool used to insert small samples of material inside the core of a nuclear reactor.
   • 2012, Joseph Cerny, Nuclear Spectroscopy and Reactions 40-A (part 1, page 249)

     This rabbit is constructed such that only that fraction of the beam that passes through the 15g-in. diameter target container reaches the Faraday cup behind the rabbit.

同意語

(animal):

• bunny (hypocoristic, colloquial, pet name)
• bunny rabbit (hypocoristic, colloquial, pet name)
• coney, cony (方言)

下位語

• bunny rabbit
• jackrabbit

派生語

• rabbiter
• rabbity

関連する語

動詞

rabbit (三人称単数 現在形 rabbits, 現在分詞 rabbitting または rabbiting, 過去形および過去分詞形 rabbitted または rabbited)

1. (intransitive) To hunt rabbits.
2. (US, intransitive) To flee.

   The informant seemed skittish, as if he was about to rabbit.

同意語

• (to flee): run off, scamper, bolt

参考

語源 2

From Cockney rhyming slang rabbit and pork, to talk.

動詞

rabbit (三人称単数 現在形 rabbits, 現在分詞 rabbiting, 過去形および過去分詞形 rabbited)

1. (Britain, intransitive) To talk incessantly and in a childish manner; to babble annoyingly.

   Synonym: rabbit on

   Stop your infernal rabbiting! Use proper words or nobody will listen to you!

同意語

• (to talk incessantly かつ childishly): babble, blather, prattle; see also Thesaurus:prattle

参考

• chew the fat
• chew the cud (英国用法)
• shoot the breeze (米国用法)

語源 3

Perhaps a corruption of rabate.

動詞

rabbit

1. Confound; damn; drat.
   • 1797, George Colman, The Heir at Law:

     LORD D. There, Dick, d'ye hear how the tutorer talks? oh rabbit it! he can ladle you out of latin by the quart;—and grunts greek like a pig.