rareとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源 1

From Middle English rare, borrowed from Old French rare, rere (“まれに, まれに”), from Latin rārus (“loose, spaced apart, thin, infrequent”), from Proto-Indo-European *er(e)-, *rē- (“friable, thin”). Replaced native Middle English gesen (“まれに, scarce”) (from 古期英語 gǣsne), Middle English seld (“まれに, まれに”) (from 古期英語 selden), and Middle English seldscene (“まれに, まれに seen, infrequent”) (from 古期英語 seldsēne; see seldsome).

形容詞

rare (comparative rarer, superlative rarest)

1. Very uncommon; scarce.

   Black pearls are very rare and therefore very valuable.

   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

   Synonyms: scarce, selcouth, seld, seldsome, selly, geason, uncommon; see also Thesaurus:rare

   Antonyms: common, frequent; see also Thesaurus:common

2. (of a gas) Thin; of low density.
3. (Britain, slang) Good; enjoyable.
   • 1981, Chris Difford (lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocal), "Vanity Fair" (song):

     Sees her reflection in a butcher shop.

     She finds it all quite rare

     That her meat's all vanity fair.

派生語

• rare bird
• rare earth mineral

関連する語

• rarity

名詞

rare (複数形 rares)

1. (gaming) A scarce or uncommon item.
   • 1995, George Baxter, Larry W. Smith, Mastering Magic Cards (page 116)

     Most of the time, you do this by trading low-valued rares for more valuable ones or trading uncommons for rares. Other times it's trading cards that are in print for ones that are out of print, or low-value rares for good uncommons.

語源 2

From a dialectal variant of rear, from Middle English rere, from 古期英語 hrēr, hrēre (“not thoroughly cooked, underdone, lightly boiled”), from hrēran (“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱera-, *ḱrā- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Related to 古期英語 hrōr (“stirring, busy, active, strong, brave”). More at rear.

別の表記

• reer, rere (British)

形容詞

rare (comparative rarer または more rare, superlative rarest または most rare)

1. (cooking) Particularly of meat, especially beefsteak: cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red.

   Antonym: well done

   • 1717, John Dryden, “Book VIII. [The Story of Baucis and Philemon.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 731548838, page 285:

     Then Curds and Cream, the Flow'r of Country Fare, / And new-laid Eggs, which Baucis’ buſie Care / Turn’d by a gentle Fire, and roaſted rare.

派生語

• medium rare

語源 3

Variant of rear.

動詞

rare (三人称単数 現在形 rares, 現在分詞 raring, 過去形および過去分詞形 rared)

1. (US, intransitive) To rear, rise up, start backwards.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 328:

     Frank pretended to rare back as if bedazzled, shielding his eyes with a forearm.

2. (US, transitive) To rear, bring up, raise.
   • 2013, Janet Peery, What the Thunder Said: A Novella and Stories, →ISBN:

     Here I have to say that I was walking along dark-hearted, my nose out of joint about Audie's notice of her, for just as quickly as my feelings kindled, my old envy rared.

使用する際の注意点

• Principal current, non-literary use is of the present participle raring with a verb in "raring to". The principal verb in that construction is go. Thus, raring to go ("eager (to start something)") is the expression in which rare is most often encountered as a verb.

語源 4

Compare rather, rath.

形容詞

rare (comparative more rare, superlative most rare)

1. (obsolete) early
   • 1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, OCLC 1002865976; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, OCLC 987451380:

     Rude mechanicals that rare and late / Work in the market place.

参照

• Rare in The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

アナグラム

• arré, rear