raze
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English rasen, racen, rase (“to scrape; to shave; to erase; to pull; to strip off; to pluck or tear out; to root out (a tree, etc.); to pull away, snatch; to pull down; to knock down; to rend, tear apart; to pick clean, strip; to cleave, slice; to sever; to lacerate; to pierce; to carve, engrave; to dig; (figurative) to expunge, obliterate; to alter”), from Anglo-Norman raser, rasere, rasser, Middle French raser, and Old French raser (“to shave; to touch lightly, graze; to level off (grain, etc.) in a measure; to demolish, tear down; to erase; to polish; to wear down”), from Vulgar Latin *raso (“to shave; to scrape; to scratch; to touch lightly, graze”), from Latin rāsus (“scraped; shaved”), the perfect passive participle of rādō (“to scrape, scratch; to shave; to rub, smooth; to brush along, graze”). Doublet of rash (etymology 2 and etymology 7).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Inflected forms:
form: razes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: razing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: razed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: razed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: raze
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: raze
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: razed
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: raze
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: razest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: razed
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: razedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: razes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: razeth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: razed
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: raze
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: razed
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: raze
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: razed
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: raze
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: razing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: razed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: race
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: rase
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To level or tear down (a building, a town, etc.) to the ground; to demolish.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The fortreſſe was raſed and beaten downe to the erthe⸝ whiche had coſt moche the makynge therof: […]
Theſe are his ſubſtance, ſinevves, armes, and ſtrength, / VVith vvhich he yoaketh your rebellious Neckes, / Razeth your Cities, and ſubuerts your Tovvnes, / And in a moment makes them deſolate.
Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jeruſalem; who ſayd, raſe it, raſe it: euen to the foundation thereof.
[N]ovv I find, / Theſe men vvould render thee the ſhame, of all men; nor vvould pay, / Their ovvne vovves to thee, vvhen they tooke, their free and honord vvay, / From Argos hither; that till Troy, vvere by their braue hands rac't, / They vvould not turne home; […]
For his further ſecuritie he [Don Roderigo] diſarmed his ſubjects; ſuch Caſtles and ſtrengths as hee vvas jealous of vvere raced, […]
Some ſaid, that I the Temple to the floore / In three dayes raz'd, and raiſed as before.
[A]fter they had deſtroyed Religion, they pulled dovvn Churches, (as being then of no Uſe) and raſed the nobleſt Structures in the Land, to ſell the Materials; […]
Thou vvoundeſt the Head of the Houſe of the VVicked; / Thou raſedſt the Foundation even to the Rock; / Thou piercedſt thro' vvith thy Scepter the Head of the Villages.
[Edward I of England] cauſed Henry Cobham, […] to race the caſtle that Robert de Crevequer had erected, becauſe Crevequer (that vvas the ovvner of it, and heire to Robert) vvas of the number of the nobles that moved and mainteined vvare againſt him; […]
The fortifications vvere razed to the ground; and not a veſtige vvas left, that the city of Maogamalcha had ever existed.
He [Hernán Cortés] made the same professions of amity as befo0re, promising oblivion of all past injuries; but, if this proffer was rejected, he would visit their capital as a conqueror, raze every house in it to the ground, and put every inhabitant to the sword!
Just as significant in the long term, Chelsea were also granted permission this season for their new on-site mega-stadium, a 60,000-seat upgrade that will mean the current Stamford Bridge is razed and replaced by something that looks like a vast alien space yurt made of giant Martian redwood stems.
After his actions were challenged by foreign governments and Parliament initially tried to put a stop to his action, Denman returned home and argued his case with enough force that, by 1848, the Royal Navy was handed active permission and encouragement to raze every last slave factory they could find to the ground, and full authority to stop any ship, of any flag, that was thought to be a slaver, with a guarantee with^([sic]) no censure from the government.
gloss: To completely remove (someone or something), especially from a place, a situation, etc.; also, to remove from existence; to destroy, to obliterate.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: Yet at the laſt, caſting with my ſelf, that yͤ heat of thy loue might cleane be razed with yͤ coldnes of my letter, I thought it good to commit an inconuenience, that I might preuent a miſchiefe, chuſing rather to cut thée off ſhort by rigour, then to giue thée any iot of hope by ſilence.
VVithout reſpect of ſex, degree or age. / He raceth all his foes vvith fire and ſvvord.
Ile find a day to maſſacre them all, / And race their faction and their familie, […]
It is true, the Devil did not immediately raſe out the Notion of Religion and of a God from the Minds of Men, […]
[I]t seemed his desire to raze every trace of sorrow from the memory of his child; and to conceal the ravages of death under the appearance at least of wild and unceasing gaiety.
gloss: To erase (a record, text, etc.), originally by scraping; to rub out, to scratch out.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
transitive
examples: Suppleyng to Fame, I besought her grace, / And that it wolde please her, full tenderly I prayd, / Owt of her bokis Apollo to rase.
The wound alas happe in some other place, / From whence no toole away the skar can race.
[D]rowſie drouping Age, / incroaching on apace, / With penſiue Plough will raze your hue / and Beauties beames deface.
[N]o malice of ſucceeding daies, / can raſe thoſe records of thy laſting praiſe.
Thus there he ſtood, vvhyleſt high ouer his head, / There vvritten vvas the purport of his ſin, / In cyphers ſtrange, that fevv could rightly read, / BON FONS: but bon that once had vvritten bin, / VVas raced out, and Mal vvas novv put in.
Goodl[ack]. My name is Captaine Thomas Good—— / Beſſ[e Bridges]. I can ſee no good in thee, Race that ſyllable / Out of thy name.
The painefull vvarrier famoſed for vvorth, / After a thouſand victories once foild, / Is from the booke of honour raſed quite, / And all the reſt forgot for vvhich he toild: […]
[O]f those Books that passe for authentick who knows what hath bin tamper'd withall, what hath bin raz'd out, what hath bin inserted, […]
Though we carry a ſimple and ſingle remembrance of our loſſes unto the grave, it being impoſſible to do other-waies (except we raze the faculty of memory Roote and Branch out of our mind) yet let us not keep any record of them with the leaſt reflection of revenge.
Though of their Names in heavenly Records novv / Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd / By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life.
That the right honourable Henry earl of Clarendon, the party promovent, had the originall papers, or some of the original papers, […] and altered the aforesaid originall papers, by razing out many lines, sentences, and words or inserting many lines, sentences and words relating to the character or characters of Edward late earl of Clarendon, without the knowledge or consent of Mr. Wood.
Inſcription is an Obligation made in VVriting, vvhereby the Accuſer binds himſelf to undergo the ſame Puniſhment, if he ſhall not prove the Crime vvhich he objects to the Party accuſed in his accuſatory Libel, […] And if ſuch Articles are not legally inſcrib'd, as aforeſaid, then the Name of the Defendant ſhall be raſed out, and the Defendant ſhall be reſtor'd to his former ſtate of Innocence.
Our quick-returning Folly cancels all; / As the Tide ruſhing raſes vvhat is vvrit / In yielding Sands, and ſmooths the Letter'd Shore.
Thy goods are confiscate unto the state, / Thy name is razed from out her records, […]
They were two cousins, almost like two twins, / Except that from the catalogue of sins / Nature had razed their love—which could not be / But by dissevering their nativity.
[W]hy makest thou thine own similitude thy mark, and razest out the similitude of God within thee?
We both loved her now and for all time, she was stamped and carven on our hearts, and no other woman or interest could ever raze that splendid die.
Knit your brows against her; shake your head and raze her name from that catalogue of saints whereon you have inscribed it in anticipation.
O stiffly shapen houses that change not, / What conjuror's cloth was thrown across you, and raised, / To show you thus transfigured, changed, / Your stuff all gone, your menace almost rased?
gloss: To wound (someone or part of their body) superficially; to graze.
pos: verb
tags: regional
transitive
examples: [T]he ſvvorde more mercifull then hee to himſelfe, vvith the ſlipping of the pommel, the point ſvvarued, and razed him but vpon the ſide: […]
For vvas he not in the neareſt Neighbourhood to Death? And might not the Bullet, that perhaps raſed his Cheek, have as eaſily gone into his Head?
I cou'd not bear / To raze thy Skin [with a dagger], to ſave the VVorld from Ruin.
Yet did a splinter of his lance / Through Alexander's visor glance, / And razed the skin—a puny wound.
gloss: To alter (a document) by erasing parts of it.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: This indenture is raced all the worlde may ſe it: Ceſte indenture eſt faulcée tout le monde le peult veoyr.
But I vvill take another order novv, / And race th'eternall Regiſter of time: […]
[page 650] A raſing or cancelling of a record by the order of that court, in vvhoſe cuſtody the record is, is no felony in him that doth it, nor in the court that commands it, for the court hath a ſuperintendence, as vvell over the record as over the clerks. […] It muſt be ſuch an embezzelling or avoiding of the record, by reaſon vvhereof a judgment is reverſed, […] [page 651] [I]f A. B. be ſued by the original to the exigent and outlavved, and aftervvard the exigent is made C. B. and the original is alſo made C. B. to make all agree, this is felony as vvell in the clerk that raſeth the original, as him that raſeth the exigent.
gloss: To carve (a line, mark, etc.) into something; to incise, to inscribe; also, to carve lines, marks, etc., into (something); to engrave.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Generally, Barbarous People, that goe Naked, doe not onely paint Themſelues, but they povvnce and raze their Skinne, that the Painting may not be taken forth; And make it into VVorks.
[Y]ou muſt mark the out-lines of your intended Hinge, […] either vvith Chalk, or elſe raſe upon the Plate vvith the corner of the Cold-Chiſſel, or any other hardned Steel that vvill ſcratch a bright ſtroke upon the Plate: […]
This vvas the heart thou piercedſt, theſe are the vvounds thou razedſt, and this is the blood thou ſpilledſt: […]
gloss: To remove (something) by scraping; also, to cut or shave (something) off.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
gloss: To rub lightly along the surface of (something); brush against, to graze.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: And novv [the Rhine] by this time augmented vvith ſnovv, melted and reſolved into vvater, and raſing as it goes the high bankes vvith their curving reaches, entreth into a round and vaſt lake (vvhich the Rhætians dvvelling thereby, call Brigantia) […]
Sometimes, his feet raſed the ſurface of the water; and, at others, the ſkylight almoſt flattened his noſe.
gloss: To scrape (something), with or as if with a razor, to remove things from its surface; also, to reduce (something) to small pieces by scraping; to grate.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: And you are a ſoule, ſo vvhite, and ſo chaſte, / A table ſo ſmooth, and ſo nevvly ra'ſte, / As nothing cald foule, / Dare approach vvith a blot, / Or any leaſt ſpot; […]
gloss: To shave (someone or part of their body) with a razor, etc.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: [A] ſharpe worde moued thée, when other whiles a ſworde will not, then a friendly checke killeth thée, when a raſor cannot raſe thée.
Do you fancy him retir'd that […] conſumes his time trifling amongſt Barbers, razing and ſprucing himſelf, Povvdering, Combing, and ſummoning a Council upon every Hair?
gloss: To cut, scratch, or tear (someone or something) with a sharp object; to lacerate, to slash.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
obsolete
transitive
examples: Buckles and agglettes at vnwares, ſhall race his bowe, a thinge both euill for the fight, ⁊ perillous for freatinge.
His death did raze hir heart.
Dravv forth thy ſvvord, thou mightie man at armes, / Intending but to raiſe my charmed ſkin: / And Ioue himſelfe vvill ſtretch his hand from heauen, / To vvard the blovv, and ſhield me ſafe from harme, […]
Paine in a horſſes teeth commeth either from pride and corruption of blood, or els from cold rhums, […] the cure is, vvith a ſharp knife to race him alongſt his gummes, cloſe vnder his teeth, both of the inſide and outſide: and then to rubbe them all ouer, either vvith pepper & ſalt vvel mingled together, or vvith claret vvine and pepper heated vpon the fire, […]
Againe, a horſe vvill haue great paine in his teeth vvhen his vpper iavv teeth be ſo farre grovvne as they ouer-hang the neather iavv teeth; and therevvith alſo be ſo ſharpe, as in mouing his iavves they cut and raze the inſides of his cheekes, euen as they vvere razed vvith a knife.
Then File one edge very ſtraight by laying a ſtraight Ruler juſt vvithin the edge of it, and dravving or raceing vvith a point of hardned Steel a bright line by the ſide of the Ruler: […]
VVheels o'er the harden'd VVaters ſmoothly glide, / And raſe vvith vvhiten'd Tracks the ſlipp'ry Tide.
gloss: To carve lines, marks, etc., into something.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
gloss: To graze or rub lightly along a surface.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: Betwene theſe Ilandes and the continente, he entered into ſoo narowe ſtreyghtes, that he coulde ſcarſely turne backe the ſhippes: And theſe alſo ſo ſhalowe, that the keele of the ſhyps ſumtyme raſed on the ſandes.
Rádere, […] to raze or go along the ſhore as a ſhip doth, or to flye leuell to the ground as ſome birds do.
gloss: To penetrate through something; to pierce.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: [O]ne Robert Dutch of Ipſvvith, having been ſorely vvounded by a Bullet that raſed to his skull, and then mauled by the Indian Hatchets, left for dead by the Salvages,^([sic – meaning Savages]) and ſtript by them of all but his skin; […]
gloss: Of a horse: to wear down its corner teeth as it ages, losing the black marks in their crevices.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
rare
Related words: razor
Derived words: razer
unrazed
Translations: