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rave

noun
/ɹeɪv/

Etymology

From northern Middle English raven, from Old Norse ráfa (“to wander, roam”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Perhaps from a dissimilation of Proto-Germanic *wab(b)ōną (“to sway, waver, swing, shake, wobble, totter, reel, careen”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to move, swarm, waft”). Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk rava (“to wander, be delirious”). Doublet of rove. Compare also Middle Dutch reven (“to utter nonsense, rave, be drowsy”) (whence modern Dutch revelen (“to rave, talk nonsense”), Middle Low German rēven (“to be crazy, think and talk nonsensically”), Middle High German reben (“to move about, dream, be confused”) (compare Alemannic German räbeln (“to make loud noise”)).

  1. derived from *webʰ-✻ — “to move, swarm, waft”
  2. derived from *wab(b)ōną✻ — “to sway, waver, swing, shake, wobble, totter, reel, careen”
  3. derived from ráfa — “to wander, roam”
  4. inherited from raven

Definitions

  1. An enthusiastic review (such as of a play).

    • The first-night audience, yes. The first-night reviewers, not exactly. The notices have so far been mixed, only The Financial Times having delivered itself of an unequivocal rave.

  2. A large-scale dance party with strobe lights and fast-paced electronic dance music, often…

    A large-scale dance party with strobe lights and fast-paced electronic dance music, often illegally organized open-air or in underground venues.

  3. The genres of electronic dance music made to be played in rave parties.

    • Maybe I wear baggies / And white socks with flip-flops / Maybe I don't like listening to rave / And I'm not on the social mountaintops
  4. ›+ 10 more definitions

    1. To be mentally unclear

      To be mentally unclear; to be delirious; to talk or act irrationally; to be wild, furious, or raging.

      • Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast?
      • The mingled torrent of redcoats and tartans went raving down the valley to the gorge of Killiecrankie.

    2. To speak or write wildly or incoherently.

      • "She is in trance. Your daughter, sir, is a powerful medium." "A medium! You are raving."

    3. To talk with excessive enthusiasm, passion or excitement.

      • He raved about her beauty.
      • The hallowed scene / Which others rave on, though they know it not.
      • “A beautiful country!” “I suppose it is. Everybody says so.” “Your cousin Feenix raves about it, Edith,” interposed her mother from her couch.

    4. To rush wildly or furiously.

      • Under a mightie rocke, gainst which do rave The roaring billowes in their proud disdaine

    5. To attend a rave (dance party).

      • The situation with Tommy's parents made me grateful my parents hadn't caught on to my partying that summer. How had I gotten away with raving every weekend, and sometimes on Thursday nights too?

    6. To wander or roam.

    7. To stray or err.

    8. One of the upper side pieces of the frame of a wagon body or a sleigh.

      • It was astonishing to see how he had gnawed the rave of the sled.
      • The main lever rests upon the rave when not in use.
      • Next I weld a collar on, A, to keep the brake in place when on the sled; then make a two-eyed bolt to fasten the brake to the rave.

    9. simple past of rive

    10. A surname.

The neighborhood

Derived

algorave, all the rave, antirave, postrave, rave drug, ravewear, ravey, outrave, rant and rave

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for rave. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA