rape

Etymology 1

From Middle English rapen, rappen (“to abduct; ravish; seduce; rape; seize; snatch; carry off; transport”), probably from Latin rapere (verb), possibly through or influenced by Anglo-Norman rap, rape (noun) (compare also ravish). But compare Swedish rappa (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), Low German rapen (“to snatch, seize”), Dutch rapen (“to pick up, gather, collect”); the relationship with Germanic forms is not clear. Cognate with Lithuanian reikėti (“to be in need”). Compare also rap (“seize, snatch”).

noun

1. (now rare) The taking of something by force; seizure, plunder.
   the Rape of Nanking
   Ruin'd orphans of thy rapes complain. 1638, George Sandys, chapter XXII, in A Paraphrase upon Job
   1712, Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock:
   Ellery Queen deals entirely in murders; you are not fobbed off, as you are with Mr. Leslie Charteris's Saint, with pablum about the rape of the dowager's emeralds, or the theft of the blueprint of the newest submarine. 1959, Dorothy Parker, “Ellery Queen: The New York Murders”, in The Portable Dorothy Parker, New York: Penguin, published 1976, pages 566–8
   She worked under the great tapestry with its glowing but subdued tones—huntsmen with lofted horns had been running down a female stag. After the rape, leaving the grooms to bring the trophy home, they galloped away into the soft brumous Italian skyline; […] 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur or The Prince of Darkness: A Novel, London: Faber and Faber; republished in The Avignon Quintet: Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian, Quinx, London: Faber and Faber, 1992, page 23
   Few of the Teleri were willing to go forth to war, for they remembered the slaying at the Swanhaven, and the rape of their ships. 1977, JRR Tolkien, The Silmarillion
2. (now archaic) The abduction of a woman, especially for sexual purposes.
   The tale of the rape of Lucretia, for example, is hardly tellable - as many Roman writers themselves discovered - without raising the question of where seduction ends and rape begins; the rape of the Sabines puts a similar question mark over the distinction between rape and marriage. 8 Sep 2000, Mary Beard, The Guardian
3. The act of forcing sex upon another person without their consent or against their will; originally coitus forced by a man on a woman, but now generally any sex act forced by any person upon another person; by extension, any non-consensual sex act forced on or perpetrated by any being.
   Last April the media world exploded in indignation at the rape and beating of a jogger in Central Park. 22 Jan 1990, ‘Turning Victims into Saints’, Time
   Castor and Pollux are one set of twins birthed by Leda after her rape by Zeus in swan form; […] 2013, William Butler Yeats, The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Volume XIII: A Vision: The Original 1925 Version, Simon and Schuster
   For quotations using this term, see Citations:rape.
4. (obsolete) That which is snatched away.
5. (obsolete) Movement, as in snatching; haste; hurry.
6. (slang, sometimes offensive) Overpowerment; utter defeat.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To seize by force. (Now often with overtones of later senses.)
   Dr Ashok's eyes had a tendency to pop whenever he wanted to rape your attention. 1978, Gore Vidal, Kalki
   It is six years since my just action to reclaim the armaments raped from here by the Lairds of Dalgetty and Tolly […]. 1983, Alasdair Gray, “Logopandocy”, in Every Short Story 1951-2012, Canongate, published 2012, page 136
2. (transitive) To carry (someone, especially a woman) off against their will, especially for sex; to abduct.
   A Princess rap’d transcends a Navy storm'd. 1718, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, The Iliad
3. (chiefly transitive) To force sexual intercourse or other penetrative sexual activity upon (someone) without their consent.
   The prosecution case was that the men forced the sisters to strip, threw their clothes over the bridge, then raped them and participated in forcing them to jump into the river to their deaths. As he walked off the bridge, Clemons was alleged to have said: "We threw them off. Let's go." 21 August 2012, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian
   They taught us nothing but how to cheat, curse and abuse. I never killed in cold blood even if I was known as one of the most fearless fighters. Yes, I abducted several children, I robbed and beat, but I never raped. 2007, Kunda: The Story of a Child Soldier, page 51
4. (transitive) To plunder, to destroy or despoil.
   I raped your richest roadstead—I plundered Singapore! 1892, Rudyard Kipling, Barrack-Room Ballads
   They come out here in their perky little foreign cars, fifty pounds of American copper in each one, and tell us we're earth-raping monsters. 1996, Stephen King, Desperation
   We've raped the land for power and possession / Two thousand years and all we'll have is a planetary toxic deathbed 2018, Power Trip, Armageddon Blues
5. (slang, sometimes offensive) To overpower, destroy (someone); to trounce.
   My experienced opponent will rape me at chess.

Etymology 2

Generally considered to derive from Old English rāp (“rope”), in reference to the ropes used to delineate the courts that ruled each rape. Compare Dutch reep and the parish of Rope, Cheshire. In the 18th century, Edward Lye proposed derivation from Old Norse hreppr (“tract of land”), but this was rejected by the New English Dictionary and is considered "phonologically impossible" by the English Place-Name Society. Others, considering it improbable that the Normans would have adopted a local word, suggest derivation from Old French raper (“take by force”). See Wikipedia for more.

noun

1. (now historical) One of the six former administrative divisions of Sussex, England.
   It seems to me very clear that the rapes of Sussex were divisions already existing there when the Normans landed. 1888 March 20, Henry H. Howorth, in a letter to The Archaeological Review, volume 1 (March–August 1888), page 230
   There is little, if any, doubt that the division of Sussex into six rapes had been carried out before the Conquest, though the term is not mentioned in any Old English record. 1971, Frank Merry Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England
   These four castles dominated the Sussex rapes named after them; the fifth rape, Bramber, held by William de Braose, was in existence by 1084. 1997, Ann Williams, The English and the Norman Conquest, page 18

Etymology 3

From Middle English rapen, from Old Norse hrapa (“to fall, rush headlong, hurry, hasten”), from Proto-Germanic *hrapaną (“to fall down”). Cognate with Norwegian rapa (“to slip, fall”), Danish rappe (“to make haste”), German rappeln (“to hasten, hurry”).

verb

1. (obsolete, intransitive or reflexive) To make haste; to hasten or hurry.

noun

1. (obsolete) Haste; precipitancy; a precipitate course.

adv

1. (obsolete) Quickly; hastily.

Etymology 4

table From Latin rapa, from rāpum (“turnip”).

noun

1. Synonym of rapeseed, Brassica napus.
   After the Industrial Revolution, it was discovered that rape also yields oil suitable for lubrication. 2001, Bill Lambrecht, Dinner at the New Gene Café, page 231

Etymology 5

From Middle English rape, from rape (“grape stalk, rasper”), from Old French raper, rasper (“to rasp, scratch”), from Old Frankish *raspōn (“to scratch”), related to Old High German raspōn (“to scrape”), Old English ġehrespan (“to strip, spoil”).

noun

1. The stalks and husks of grapes from which the must has been expressed in winemaking.
2. A filter containing the stalks and husks of grapes, used for clarifying wine, vinegar, etc.
3. (obsolete) Fruit plucked in a bunch.
   a rape of grapes
   rape of Cistus 1682, John Ray, Methodus Plantarum Nova
   With regard to this obligation, the Council, on 26 October 1971[,] also arranged for certain producers to be totally or partially exempted from it, either because their wine production is very low (less than 50 hectolitres in one marketing year), or because they deliver their rapes of grapes to oenological merchants, or because they make quality wines […] 1971, Bulletin of the European Communities