Rase word meaning and definition

[verb] tear down so as to make flat with the ground; "The building was levelled"

\Rase\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Rased}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Rasing}.] [F. raser, LL. rasare to scrape often, v. freq. fr. L. radere, rasum, to scrape, shave; cf. Skr. rad to scratch, gnaw, L. rodere to gnaw. Cf. {Raze}, {Razee}, {Razor}, {Rodent}.] 1. To rub along the surface of; to graze. [Obsoles.] Was he not in the . . . neighborhood to death? and might not the bullet which rased his cheek have gone into his head? --South. Sometimes his feet rased the surface of water, and at others the skylight almost flattened his nose. --Beckford. 2. To rub or scratch out; to erase. [Obsoles.] Except we rase the faculty of memory, root and branch, out of our mind. --Fuller. 3. To level with the ground; to overthrow; to destroy; to raze. [In this sense {rase} is generally used.] Till Troy were by their brave hands rased, They would not turn home. --Chapman. Note: This word, rase, may be considered as nearly obsolete; graze, erase, and raze, having superseded it. {Rasing iron}, a tool for removing old oakum and pitch from the seams of a vessel. Syn: To erase; efface; obliterate; expunge; cancel; level; prostrate; overthrow; subvert; destroy; demolish; ruin.
\Rase\, v. i. To be leveled with the ground; to fall; to suffer overthrow. [Obs.]
\Rase\, n. 1. A scratching out, or erasure. [Obs.] 2. A slight wound; a scratch. [Obs.] --Hooker. 3. (O. Eng. Law) A way of measuring in which the commodity measured was made even with the top of the measuring vessel by rasing, or striking off, all that was above it. --Burrill.

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