rape
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹeɪp/
rhymes: -eɪp
Forms: form: rapes
form: raping
form: raped
form: raped
Etymology: From Middle English rapen, rappen (“to abduct; ravish; seduce; rape; seize; snatch; carry off; transport”), probably from Latin rapiō (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”). Further, some senses may be from Etymology 3, an Old Norse word.
Senses: examples: text: 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."
ref: 2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian:
text: "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."
ref: 2007, Kunda: The Story of a Child Soldier, →ISBN, page 51:
glosses: To force sexual intercourse or other sexual activity upon (someone) without their consent.
examples: text: Dr Ashok's eyes had a tendency to pop whenever he wanted to rape your attention.
ref: 1978, Gore Vidal, Kalki:
text: It is six years since my just action to reclaim the armaments raped from here by the Lairds of Dalgetty and Tolly […].
ref: 1983, Alasdair Gray, “Logopandocy”, in Every Short Story 1951-2012, Canongate, published 2012, page 136:
glosses: To seize by force. (Now often with sexual overtones.)
examples: text: Paridell rapeth Hellenore:
 Malbecco her pursewes:
 Findes emongst Satyres, whence with him
 To turne she doth refuse.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: A Princess rap’d transcends a Navy storm'd.
ref: 1718, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, The Iliad:
glosses: To carry (someone, especially a woman) off against their will, especially for sex; to abduct.
examples: text: I raped your richest roadstead—I plundered Singapore!
ref: 1892, Rudyard Kipling, Barrack-Room Ballads:
text: 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.
ref: 1996, Stephen King, Desperation:
text: We've raped the land for power and possession / Two thousand years and all we'll have is a planetary toxic deathbed
ref: 2018, Power Trip, Armageddon Blues:
glosses: To plunder, to destroy or despoil.
examples: text: I attended, the mothers went around the circle, introducing themselves. They added a brief statement about their own experiences with vaccine for the reporter’s benefit. Dionne said that she felt “raped” when she was forced to give Tate some vaccinations.
ref: 2018 January 2, Samantha D. Gottlieb, “8. Mothers and Gardasil”, in Not Quite a Cancer Vaccine. Selling HPV and Cervical Cancer, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 121:
glosses: To subject (another person) to a painful or unfair experience.
examples: text: My experienced opponent will rape me at chess.
glosses: To subject (another person) to a painful or unfair experience.
To overpower, destroy (someone); to trounce.
examples: text: Have you seen the prices in that store lately? I got raped for $20 just buying a sandwich.
glosses: To subject (another person) to a painful or unfair experience.
To exploit an advantage, often involving money, where the other person has little choice but to submit.
Synonyms: sense: seize
word: theft
sense: seize
word: thievery
sense: force sexual intercourse
word: ravish
sense: force sexual intercourse
word: violate
sense: force sexual intercourse
word: vitiate
sense: abuse
word: plunder
sense: abuse
word: despoil
Derived terms: butt-rape
corrective rape
frape
I've been raped
rapable
rapeable
rapist
rerape