Ragout, subs. (old: now recognised).—'A Relishing Bit, with a high Sawce.'—B. E. (c.1696).
Rags-and-bones, subs. phr.
(popular).—A miserable remnant;
a pell-mell of rubbish.
Thus rag and bone shop (also
rag-shop) = a crapulous and
tumbled room; a piggery (q.v.).
c.1890. Elizabeth Bellwood, Music Hall Song, 'The Man that Struck O'Hara.' Rags and bones was all that was left, Of the man that struck O'Hara.
Rag-splawger (or -gorger),
subs. phr. (old).—A rich man;
'generally used in conversation
to avoid direct mention of names'
(Grose): Fr. riflard.
Rag-water, subs. phr. (old).—1.
'Any common spirit.'—B. E.
(c.1696); (2) = gin (Grose).
Raid. To raid the market
(Stock Exchange).—To derange
prices by exciting distrust or causing
a panic.
Rails, subs. (American).—A curtain
lecture: whence, a dish of
rails = a regular jobation.
Front (or head-) rails, subs. phr. (common).—The teeth.
See Ride.
Raillery, subs. (old).—'Drolling.
To railly, or Droll. A Railleur,
or Droll.'—B. E. (c.1696).
Railings, To count the railings,
verb. phr. (common).—To
go hungry: see Peckham.
Railroad, subs. (American).—See
quot. and Drinks.
18.. Neal, Charcoal Sketches, 1. 117 [De Vere]. Now he is asked to take a Stone Fence, and now a railroad, but both are simple whisky, so called, in the latter case, "because of the rapidity with which it hurries men to the end of their journey."
Verb. (American).—To run a matter with all speed; to rush (q.v.).
1889. Sci. Am., N.S., lvii. 37. The Alien Act that was railroaded through at the close of the last session.
1889. Pop. Sci. Monthly, xxxii. 758. A New York daily some time ago reported that a common thief . . . was railroaded through court in a few days.
Rain. Proverbs and sayings—'It
never rains but it pours' =
misfortunes never come singly;
'If it should rain pottage, he
would want his dish,' said of a
wastrel or star-gazer (q.v.).
'It rains by planets,' i.e., partially;
to get out of the rain
= to absent oneself, to refrain
from meddling. See also Cats-and-Dogs,
Right, &c.
1749. Smollett, Gil Blas [Routledge], 18. As it never rains but it pours, I was in the front of the battle . . . that I might lose no time in learning to stand fire.
1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, 95. Ham was one of 'em—he was. He 'knew sufficient to get out of the rain.'
Rainbow, subs. (old).—1. A mistress;
(2) a footman in livery:
also knight of the rainbow;
and (3) a pattern book. [Dressed
in or exhibiting variety of colour.]
1821. Egan, Life in London, ii. i. The pink of the ton and his rainbow—the Whitechapel knight of the cleaver and his fat rib— . . . they are "all there." Ibid. ii. vi. It was the custom of Logic never to permit the Rainbow to announce him. Ibid. 'Now, Dicky, out with your rainbow.' 'Here are the patterns, gentlemen, the very latest fashions.'
