rap

Clipping of English and Rapa Nui Rapa Nui.

rap

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Rapa Nui.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Rapa Nui terms

• IPA^(key): /ɹæp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æp
• Homophone: wrap

From Middle English rap, rappe, of North Germanic origin, related to Norwegian rapp (“a blow, strike, lash”), Swedish rapp (“a blow, lash, crack”), Danish rap (“a tap, smart, blow”). Compare Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat”). More at rape.

rap (countable and uncountable, plural raps)

1. (countable) A sharp blow with something hard.
   • 1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

     The teacher sat at one end of the bench, with a meek little fellow by his side. When the others were disorderly, this young martyr received a rap; intended, probably, as a sample of what the rest might expect, if they didn't amend.

   • 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter II, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:

     He walked softly up the sanded path, tiptoed up the steps and across the piazza, and rapped at the front door, not too loudly, lest this too might attract the attention of the man across the street. There was no response to his rap. He put his ear to the door and heard voices within, and the muffled sound of footsteps. After a moment he rapped again, a little louder than before.

   • 1950 March, Eric S. Tonks, “The Whitacre—Hampton-in-Arden Line, L.M.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 187:

     The author (obviously a naturalist of no mean order) received an official rap over the knuckles for trespassing, and for encouraging others to do so. Evidently the instigator of this reprimand had not visited the railway in blackberry time!

2. (slang, with definite article) The blame for something.

   Synonyms: blame, fall

   You can't act irresponsibly and then expect me to take the rap.

3. (informal) A casual talk.
   • 1979 April 14, “Calendar”, in Gay Community News, page 16:

     Clearspace is holding a bisexuality rap at the center, 485 Mass Ave. 7:30pm. Topic of discussion will be femininity and masculinity.

4. (music, uncountable) Rap music.

   They like listening to rap.

5. A song, verse, or instance of singing in the style of rap music.
6. (Australia, informal) An appraisal.

   a good/great/bad rap

7. (Australia, informal) A positive appraisal; a recommendation.

   He gave the novel quite a rap.

• → Dutch: raps
  • ⇒ Dutch: rapsen
• → Finnish: rap
• → German: Rap
• → Japanese: ラップ (rappu)
• → Korean: 랩 (raep)
• → Macedonian: рап (rap)

From Middle English rappen, of North Germanic origin, related to Swedish rappa (“to strike, beat, rap”), German rappeln (“to rattle”).

rap (third-person singular simple present raps, present participle rapping, simple past and past participle rapped)

1. (intransitive) To strike something sharply with one's knuckles; knock.
   • 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review‎^[1], volume I, number II, New York, N.Y.; London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC:

     While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, / As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter II, in The House Behind the Cedars:

     He walked softly up the sanded path, tiptoed up the steps and across the piazza, and rapped at the front door, not too loudly, lest this too might attract the attention of the man across the street. There was no response to his rap. He put his ear to the door and heard voices within, and the muffled sound of footsteps. After a moment he rapped again, a little louder than before.

2. (transitive, dated) To strike with a quick blow; to knock on.
   • 1717, Matthew Prior, The Dove:

     With one great peal they rap the door.

   • 1904, Jack London, chapter 30, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC:

     Maud took an active part in the drive, and with her cries and flourishings of the broken oar was of considerable assistance. I noticed, though, that whenever one looked tired and lagged, she let it slip past. But I noticed, also, whenever one, with a show of fight, tried to break past, that her eyes glinted and showed bright, and she rapped it smartly with her club.

3. (metalworking) To free (a pattern) in a mould by light blows on the pattern, so as to facilitate its removal.
4. To utter quickly and sharply.

   The sergeant rapped out a word of command to the troops.

   • 1923, Ernest Bramah, The Eyes of Max Carrados:

     "My dear sir!" rapped out the distressed curate, "don't you think that I haven't worried about that? […] "

5. (ambitransitive) To speak (lyrics) in the style of rap music.

   He started to rap after listening to Tupac.

   He rapped a song to his girlfriend.

   • 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian‎^[2]:

     But the purported rise in violent videos online has led some MPs to campaign for courts to have more power to remove or block material on YouTube. The Labour MP Heidi Alexander said she was appalled after a constituent was robbed at knifepoint, and the attackers could be found brandishing weapons and rapping about gang violence online.

6. (informal, intransitive) To talk casually; to engage in conversation.
   • 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 129:

     Three languages rapped, fumbled or rumblingly oozed all the while.

   • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 432:

     Louie said, "I dig this Theo. I'm gonna learn Swahili and rap with him."

   • 1980 April 12, Mike Sassin, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, page 19:

     Got your address from NGTF, I could dig some mail and friends. I'll be released in July of '80, am 24, and like chess, body building, people and of course letters. Nice rapping to you.

• (strike something sharply with one's knuckles): knock, noogie

• emcee
• hip-hop

Uncertain.

rap (plural raps)

1. A lea or skein of yarn that forms the standard length taken from the reel, 80 yards of worsted or 120 yards of silk or cotton.
   • 1762, The Statutes at Large (Great Britain), page 386:

     […] and that every hank or skein that shall be used as a binder to tie up or bind together any pound or parcel of yarn shall contain the same number of threads in a rap or lea, and the same number of raps or leas as the other hanks or skeins in the said pound or parcel.

   • 1881, Alfred Spitzli, A Manual for Managers, Designers, Weavers, and All Others, page 22:

     At each rap the reel was moved slightly to one side, so that the next rap was wound separately, and so on until seven raps had been made, then the seven raps were made up into one hank, […]

   • 1885, Thomas Rotherforth Ashenhurst, A practical treatise on weaving and designing of textile fabrics:

     Thus, a rap may be reeled (of cotton or silk 120 yards, of worsted 80 yards), then as one rap is equal to one-seventh of a hank, 1000 grains will be equal to the one-seventh of a pound, so that whatever part of 1000 grains one rap weighs, or whatever number of raps are required to weigh1000 grains, that number of hanks will weigh one pound.

   • 1888, British Association for the Advancement of Science, Manchester Meeting, 1887 on the Regulation of Wages by Means of Lists in the Cotton Industry., page 19:

     The yarn rap reel is 1½ yard in circumference; 80 rounds or 120 yards make one rap; 7 raps or 840 yards one bank. In 1 lb. of cotton yarn there are 7,000 grains. When one rap weighs 1,000 grains, or seven raps 7,000 grains, the yarn is one hank to the pound, and when ten raps weigh 350 grains it is 28.57 hanks to the pound.

   • 1913, How to Build, Equip and Operate a Cotton Mill in the United States, page 408:

     Rule to find constant for beams: Multiply the number of yards in one rap by the number of ends in the beam, and by the number of raps on the beam and divide by 840.

Perhaps contracted from rapparee.

rap (plural raps)

1. (historical) Any of the tokens that passed current for a halfpenny in Ireland in the early part of the eighteenth century; any coin of trifling value.
   • 1724, Jonathan Swift, “Drapier's Letters”, in 1:

     Many counterfeits passed about under the name of raps.

   • 1886, Mrs. Alexander, Beaton's Bargain:

     Tie it [her money] up so tight that you can't touch a rap, save with her consent.

2. A whit; a jot.

   I don't care a rap.

   That's not worth a rap.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Scand., as Ice. hrapa, to rush headlong, cog. with Ger. raffen, to snatch.”)

rap (third-person singular simple present raps, present participle rapping, simple past and past participle rapped or rapt)

1. (transitive) To seize and carry off.
2. (transitive) To transport out of oneself; to affect with rapture.

From RAP (“record of arrest and prosecution”).

rap (plural raps)

1. (US, law enforcement) Acronym of record of arrest and prosecution.

   Synonym: RAP

2. (countable, slang) A charge, whether or not it results in a conviction.
   • 2014, James Neal Harvey, Mental Case:

     We got one maybe ID, but when we checked, we found out the suspect's been in Rikers for a year on a drug rap.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

rap (third-person singular simple present raps, present participle rapping, simple past and past participle rapped)

1. to rappel

• rap-full (etymologically unrelated)

• APR, ARP, Apr, Apr., Arp, PAR, PRA, Par, RPA, apr, arp, par

rap

1. near

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

Borrowed from Spanish rap, from English rap.

• IPA^(key): /rap/ [rap]
• Rhymes: -ap
• Hyphenation: rap

rap inan

1. rap music

• “rap”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

Uncertain. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈrap]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

rap m (plural raps)

1. monkfish

• rap vermell

• “rap”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Borrowed from English rap, from Middle English rap, rappe, of North Germanic origin.

rap

1. rap music
2. a song, verse, or instance of singing in the style of rap music

rap

1. to rap; to perform a rap

rap

1. quack (imitating the sound of a duck)

Of North Germanic and ultimately imitative origin; compare with Swedish rappa (“drub, beat, hit”).

rap n (indefinite plural rap)

1. a strike intended to motivate someone to do something (e.g. for punishment or to spur on an animal)
   • 2008, Bitten Clausen - historier fra et liv, Gyldendal A/S, →ISBN, page 14:

     Hvis man ikke kunne sit stof, fik man et rap med stokken.

     If one did not know the material, one was given a strike with the cane.

   • 1841, Frederik Barfod, Brage og idun: et nordisk fjærdingårsskrift, page 346:

     Skriftefaderen giver den Skriftende et Par Rap med sin Stok for hans Synders Skyld.

     The confessor gives the confessing one a couple of strikes with his cane for the sake of his sins.

   • 2016, Orla Narvedsen, Kaptajnens Åse, Lindhardt og Ringhof, →ISBN:

     Kusken svarede med et Grynt, tog Pisken og gav Hestene et Par Rap af den.

     The coachdriver replied with a grunt, seized the whip and gave the horses a couple of strikes with it.

rap (neuter rapt, plural and definite singular attributive rappe, comparative rappere, superlative (predicative) rappest, superlative (attributive) rappeste)

1. quick, rapid
   • 2010, Jette A. Kaarsbøl, Din næstes hus: roman, Gyldendal A/S, →ISBN, page 332:

     Et øjeblik stod jeg og ledte efter et rapt svar.

     For a moment, I stood searching for a quick reply.

   • 2016, Kåre Johannessen, Kejserhøgen, Lindhardt og Ringhof, →ISBN:

     “Motorcykler, der kan man bare se. Det er ellers nogle rappe maskiner. Har du kørt selv?“

     “Motor bikes, will you look at that. Those are indeed some fast machines. Have you driven them yourself?“

   • 2016, Kenneth Bøgh Andersen, Himmelherren, Rosinante & Co, →ISBN:

     Han var også tyveknægten, der ikke ejede andet end en skarpsleben lommekniv, nogle rappe fingre, en god portion vovemod og et frækt sindelag.

     He was also the thief-boy, who owned nothing but a sharply-ground pocket-knife, some quick fingers, a large portion of daring and a mischievous disposition.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

rap

1. imperative of rappe

rap

1. imperative of rappe

From Middle Dutch rap, probably derived from rapen (Dutch rapen) which originally also meant "to make haste"; compare reppen and also Old Norse hrapa.

• IPA^(key): /rɑp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑp

rap (comparative rapper, superlative rapst)

1. quick, fast

   Synonyms: snel, vlug, rad, kwiek, gezwind, ras

   Kom eens heel rap hier!

   Get over here real fast!

Declension of rap
uninflected	rap
inflected	rappe
comparative	rapper
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		rap	rapper	het rapst het rapste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	rappe	rappere	rapste
	n. sing.	rap	rapper	rapste
	plural	rappe	rappere	rapste
definite		rappe	rappere	rapste
partitive		raps	rappers	—

From English rap.

• IPA^(key): /rɛp/ (Netherlands), IPA^(key): /rɑp/ (Belgium) or as in English

• Audio:

  (file)

  (Netherlands),

  Audio:

  (file)

  (Belgium)
• Rhymes: -ɛp (Netherlands), Rhymes: -ɑp (Belgium)

rap m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. rap music

• rapmuziek
• rappen

Borrowed from English rap.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɑp/, [ˈrɑ̝p]
• IPA^(key): /ˈræp/, [ˈræp]
• Rhymes: -ɑp
• Syllabification^(key): rap
• Hyphenation^(key): rap

rap

1. rap, rap music

As the word "rap" does not sit well in Finnish grammatic structure, the term räppi is widely used. Also the compound form rap-musiikki is quite common.

• räppi

• räpätä
• räppäri

• “rap”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[3] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

From English rap.

• IPA^(key): /ʁap/
• Homophones: wrap, râpe

rap m (uncountable)

1. rap; rap music

• par

Unadapted borrowing from English rap.

• IPA^(key): [ˈrɛp]
• Rhymes: -ɛp

rap (usually uncountable, plural rapek)

1. (music) rap

Borrowed from Low Prussian Râp.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrap/
• Rhymes: -ap
• Syllabification: rap

rap m animal

1. (archaic) black horse
2. Tatar horse

   Synonym: bachmat

3. huge herring

• Jan Trepczyk (1994), “kary, bachmat”, in Słownik polsko-kaszubski (in Kashubian), volumes 1–2
• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “kary, bachmat”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[4]
• “rap”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

rap

1. alternative form of rop (“rope”)

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *rap (“mantel”).

rap

1. mantel (over a fireplace)

Cognate to Chinese 躐 (liè, “to trample”).

rap

1. to tread, trample

• Lorrain, J. Herbert (1940), “rap”, in Dictionary of the Lushai language, Calcutta: Asiatic Society

rap n (definite singular rapet, indefinite plural rap, definite plural rapa or rapene)

1. A burp; belch.

• rape

rap

1. imperative of rape

From Proto-West Germanic *raip, from Proto-Germanic *raipaz, *raipą (“rope, cord, band, ringlet”), from Proto-Indo-European *roypnós (“strap, band, rope”). Compare Old Frisian rāp (West Frisian reap), Old Dutch reip, rēp (Dutch reep), Old High German reif (German Reif).

• IPA^(key): /rɑːp/
• Rhymes: -ɑːp

rāp m

1. rope

Strong a-stem:

• Middle English: rop, rap, rope, roop, roope
  • English: rope, roap, roape (all obsolete)
    • → Irish: rópa
    • Tok Pisin: rop
  • Scots: raip
  • → Old French: rap

Deverbal of Latin rapiō.

rap oblique singular, m (oblique plural ras, nominative singular ras, nominative plural rap) (Anglo-Norman)

1. violent seizure
2. abduction
3. rape (unlawful sexual penetration)

• English: rape

Borrowed from Early Middle English rap, from Old English rāp.

rap oblique singular, m (oblique plural ras, nominative singular ras, nominative plural rap) (Anglo-Norman)

1. rope

• rap on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

• *rēp

From Proto-West Germanic *raip. Cognates include Old English rāp and Old Saxon *rēp.

• IPA^(key): /ˈraːp/

rāp m

1. rope

• North Frisian:

  Föhr-Amrum: riap

  Halligen: reep

  Mooring: ruup

  Wiedingharde: ruup

• Saterland Frisian: Roop
• West Frisian: reap

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /ˈrap/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ap
• Syllabification: rap
• Homophones: rab, Rab, wrap

Borrowed from English rap.

rap m inan (related adjective rapowy)

1. rap music

Perhaps borrowed from German Rapfen. Doublet of rapa.

rap m animal

1. asp fish (Aspius aspius, syn. Leuciscus aspius)

   Synonyms: boleń, boleń pospolity, chwat, rapa

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

rap f

1. genitive plural of rapa

• “rap I”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[5] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “rap II”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[6] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “rap”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[7] (in Polish)
• rap in PWN's encyclopedia

Unadapted borrowing from English rap.

rap m (plural raps)

1. rap music (music genre)

   Synonym: hip hop

• “rap”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “rap”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Unadapted borrowing from English rap.

rap n (uncountable)

1. (music) rap

Borrowed from English rap.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrap/ [ˈrap]
• Rhymes: -ap
• Syllabification: rap

rap m (plural raps)

1. rap (music genre)

• “rap”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Borrowed from English rap.

rap class IX (plural rap class X)

1. (music) rap, rap music

Back-formation of rapa (“to belch”), from Old Swedish rapa. Cognate with Norwegian rape (“to belch”).

rap c

1. a burp, a belch

• rapa

From English rap.

rap c

1. (uncountable) rap music

• “rap”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “rap”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “rap”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

• apr, par