rabbit
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹæbɪt/
enpr: răb'it
note: weak vowel merger
ipa: /ˈɹæbət/
note: weak vowel distinction
ipa: /ˈɹæbɪt/
note: General Australian, weak vowel merger
enpr: răb'ət
ipa: /ˈɹæbət/
note: General Australian, weak vowel merger
rhymes: -æbɪt
homophone: rabbet
Forms: form: rabbits
Etymology: From Middle English rabet, rabette, from Anglo-Latin rabettus, from dialectal Old French rabotte, probably a diminutive of Middle Dutch or West Flemish robbe (“rabbit, seal”), 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 (“rabbit", also "seal”)); also Middle Low German robbe, rubbe (“rabbit”), and the later German Low German Rubbe, Robb (“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 cony, owing to the latter's resemblance to and use as a euphemism for cunny, "vulva" (compare ass and donkey).
Senses: examples: text: The pioneers survived by eating the small game they could get: rabbits, squirrels and occasionally a raccoon.
text: Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The Old Punt: A Curious ‘Turnpike’”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 19–20:
glosses: A mammal of most genera of the family Leporidae, with long ears, long hind legs and a short, fluffy tail.
examples: text: She was cooking rabbit stew for dinner.
glosses: The meat from this animal.
glosses: The fur of a rabbit typically used to imitate another animal's fur.
glosses: 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.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A very poor batsman, selected as a bowler or wicket-keeper.
examples: text: Glenn McGrath dismissed Michael Atherton a record 19 times; hence Atherton is McGrath's rabbit.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
synonyms: bunny
glosses: A batsman who is frequently dismissed by the same bowler (said to be that player's rabbit).
topics: computing
computing-theory
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: 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.
examples: text: 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 ...
ref: 2018, Helen Saberi, Teatimes: A World Tour, Reaktion Books, →ISBN:
text: CHEESE TOASTED, OR RABBIT.
ref: 1858, Mrs. N. K. M. Lee, The American Family Cook Book, page 47:
text: 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, […]
ref: 2019, Mark Kurlansky, Milk: A 10,000-Year History, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:
glosses: Rarebit; Welsh rabbit or a similar dish: melted cheese served atop toast.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2012, Joseph Cerny, Nuclear Spectroscopy and Reactions 40-A (part 1, page 249)
glosses: A pneumatically-controlled tool used to insert small samples of material inside the core of a nuclear reactor.
examples: text: Rabbits come in many forms/In colors, shapes and sizes./ They satisfy a lady's needs,/Indulging her sweet vices.
ref: 2013 07, larry morgan, FOOTSTEPS: Poetic Reflections on the Opposite Sex and Life's Other Contradictions., iUniverse, →ISBN, page 37:
text: First, she showed us the standard dildos before moving on to the rabbits—vibrators with little ears to stimulate the clit.
ref: 2018 August 29, Vivienne Savage, A Man of Many Talons, Payne & Taylor:
text: She reached into her night stand for some lubricant and her rabbit vibrator.
ref: 2023 June 6, Madeline Cox, 250 Sexy Erotic Stories: Age Gap, Taboo Dark Reverse Harem, Forbidden Naughty Family, Tales for Adults, BDSM, Rough Daddies Dom, Sexy Hot Story for Women and Men, PaperGram LLC, →ISBN:
qualifier: genericized trademark
glosses: A vibrator with a shaft and a clitoral stimulator usually shaped like a rabbit's ears.
Synonyms: english: pet name
translation: pet name
word: bunny
english: pet name
translation: pet name
word: bunny rabbit
word: coney
word: cony
Hypernyms: fluffle
Hyponyms: bunny rabbit
Derived terms: Amami rabbit
angora rabbit
antelabbit
antirabbit
breed like rabbits
brush rabbit
buck rabbit
buy the rabbit
cabbit
California rabbit tobacco
common rabbit
cutaneous rabbit effect
cutaneous rabbit illusion
Dutch rabbit
dwarf rabbit
enough to make a rabbit bite a bulldog
European rabbit
frightened rabbit
fuck like rabbits
gutter rabbit
hog-rabbit
horse and rabbit stew
jack-rabbit
kill the rabbit
let the dog see the rabbit
lionhead rabbit
make a rabbit bite a bulldog
marsh rabbit
nonrabbit
one-rabbit
pull a rabbit from a hat
pull a rabbit out of a hat
rabbitat
rabbit ball
rabbit bandicoot
rabbit board
rabbitbrush
rabbitbush
rabbitdom
rabbit ear
rabbit-eared
rabbit-eared bandicoot
rabbit-ear iris
rabbit ear mite
rabbit ears
rabbiter
rabbit fever
rabbitfish
rabbit food
rabbit-foot
rabbit foot
rabbitfucker
rabbit-hearted
rabbit hole
rabbithood
rabbit hutch
rabbit in the headlights
rabbitish
rabbitkind
Rabbitland
rabbitless
rabbitlike
rabbitling
rabbit moth
rabbit-o
rabbito
rabbit-oh
rabbitpox
rabbit-proof
rabbit punch
rabbit raisins
rabbit rat
rabbit-rat
rabbit root
rabbitry
rabbit's foot
rabbitskin
rabbit starvation
rabbit stick
rabbit syndrome
rabbit test
rabbit tooth
rabbit trail
rabbit vibrator
rabbit warren
rabbitweed
rabbitwise
rabbitwood
rabbity
riverine rabbit
rock rabbit
roof rabbit
snowrabbit
snowshoe rabbit
swamp rabbit
the rabbit died
timid as a rabbit
tree rabbit
volcano rabbit
wabbit
Welsh rabbit
wererabbit
white rabbit