Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Nearby Entries
RAPS - 9 dictionary results

rap

1  [rap] verb, rapped, rap⋅ping, noun
Use RAPS in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to strike, esp. with a quick, smart, or light blow: He rapped the door with his cane.
2. to utter sharply or vigorously: to rap out a command.
3. (of a spirit summoned by a medium) to communicate (a message) by raps (often fol. by out).
4. Slang. to criticize sharply: Critics could hardly wait to rap the play.
5. Slang. to arrest, detain, or sentence for a crime.
6. Metallurgy. to jar (a pattern) loose from a sand mold.
–verb (used without object)
7. to knock smartly or lightly, esp. so as to make a noise: to rap on a door.
8. Slang. to talk or discuss, esp. freely, openly, or volubly; chat.
9. Slang. to talk rhythmically to the beat of rap music.
–noun
10. a quick, smart, or light blow: a rap on the knuckles with a ruler.
11. the sound produced by such a blow: They heard a loud rap at the door.
12. Slang. blame or punishment, esp. for a crime.
13. Slang. a criminal charge: a murder rap.
14. Slang. response, reception, or judgment: The product has been getting a very bad rap.
15. Slang.
a. a talk, conversation, or discussion; chat.
b. talk designed to impress, convince, etc.; spiel: a high-pressure sales rap.
16. rap music.
—Idioms
17. beat the rap, Slang. to succeed in evading the penalty for a crime; be acquitted: The defendant calmly insisted that he would beat the rap.
18. take the rap, Slang. to take the blame and punishment for a crime committed by another: He took the rap for the burglary.
Origin:
1300–50; 1960–65 for def. 8; ME rappen (v.), rap(p)e (n.); akin to Sw rappa to beat, drub, G rappeln to rattle; senses “to talk,” “conversation, talk” perh. of distinct orig., though the hypothesis that it is a shortening of repartee is questionable

rap

2  [rap]
–noun
1. the least bit: I don't care a rap.
2. a counterfeit halfpenny formerly passed in Ireland.
Origin:
1715–25; orig. uncert.

rap

3  [rap]
–verb (used with object), rapped or rapt, rap⋅ping. Archaic.
1. to carry off; transport.
2. to transport with rapture.
3. to seize for oneself; snatch.
Origin:
1520–30; back formation from rapt

rap music

 
–noun
a style of popular music, developed by disc jockeys and urban blacks in the late 1970s, in which an insistent, recurring beat pattern provides the background and counterpoint for rapid, slangy, and often boastful rhyming patter glibly intoned by a vocalist or vocalists.
Also called rap.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To RAPS
rap 1   (rāp)   
v.   rapped, rap·ping, raps

v.   tr.
  1. To hit sharply and swiftly; strike: rapped the table with his fist.
  2. To utter sharply: rap out a complaint.
  3. To criticize or blame.
v.   intr.
To strike a quick light blow: rapped on the door.
n.  
  1. A quick light blow or knock.
  2. A knocking or tapping sound.
  3. Slang
    1. A reprimand.
    2. A sentence to serve time in prison.
  4. Slang A negative quality or characteristic associated with a person or an object.

[Middle English rappen, possibly of imitative origin.]
rap 2   (rāp)   
tr.v.   rapt or rapped (rāpt), rap·ping, raps Archaic
  1. past participle rapt To enchant or seize with rapture.
  2. To snatch.

[Back-formation from rapt.]
rap 3   (rāp)   
n.   Informal
The least bit: I don't give a rap about office politics. I don't care a rap what you do.

[From obsolete rap, 18th-century Irish counterfeit halfpenny, from Irish Gaelic, alteration (possibly influenced by rap, piece, bit) of ropaire, cutthroat; see rapparee.]
rap 4   (rāp)   
n.  
  1. Slang A talk, conversation, or discussion.
    1. A form of popular music developed especially in African-American urban communities and characterized by spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics with a strong rhythmic accompaniment.
    2. A composition or performance of such music.
intr.v.   rapped, rap·ping, raps
  1. Slang To discuss freely and at length.
  2. To perform rap music.

[Possibly from rap1.]
Our Living Language  : The culture of hip-hop has been the source of dozens of words and expressions in American English, of which rap is one of the most familiar. The word is probably a development ultimately of rap meaning "to hit." It shows up in the early 1900s in the extended meaning "to express orally," as used by so notable a figure as Winston Churchill in 1933. Over the next few decades it came to mean "to discuss or debate informally," a meaning that was well established in the African-American community by the late 1960s. A decade later the word was applied to an evolving style of music characterized by, among other things, beat-driven rhymes of an often improvisatory nature. The slang that is integral to the lyrics of rap continues to be a source of borrowings into colloquial American English; recent examples include chill, meaning "to calm down," and dis, meaning "to show disrespect to." These are but the latest examples in a long series of such borrowings from Black English stretching back a century or more, many of them directly from popular music lyrics or from musicians' lingo.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
RAPS
  1. radiologists, anesthesiologists, pathologists
  2. regulated all-paper system
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see RAPS on Thesaurus | Reference