rabbit

Etymology 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"; whence Modern Dutch rob (“seal", also "rabbit”)); 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 and donkey).

noun

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.
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.
   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 ... 2018, Helen Saberi, Teatimes: A World Tour, Reaktion Books
   CHEESE TOASTED, OR RABBIT. 1858, Mrs. N. K. M. Lee, The American Family Cook Book, page 47
   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, […] 2019, Mark Kurlansky, Milk: A 10,000-Year History, Bloomsbury Publishing
8. A pneumatically-controlled tool used to insert small samples of material inside the core of a nuclear reactor.
   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. 2012, Joseph Cerny, Nuclear Spectroscopy and Reactions 40-A (part 1, page 249)

verb

1. (intransitive) To hunt rabbits.
2. (US, intransitive) To flee.
   The informant seemed skittish, as if he was about to rabbit.
   When the three friends heard someone behind them yell, "police, freeze!" they each rabbited in a different direction.

Etymology 2

From Cockney rhyming slang rabbit and pork, to talk.

verb

1. (Britain, intransitive) To talk incessantly and in a childish manner; to babble annoyingly.
   Stop your infernal rabbiting! Use proper words or nobody will listen to you!
   1941 They Die with their Boots On, Gerald Kersh, William Heinemann Ltd., London. To Barker, a row is a Bull-an'-a-Cow, a suit is a Whistle or Whistle-an'-flute, a kid is a Gord-Forbid ; a car is a Jam , or Jam-Jar ; talk is Rabbit , or Rabbit-an'-Pork ; beer is Pig's-Ear … and so on, up and down the language

Etymology 3

Perhaps a corruption of rabate.

verb

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