Range, verb. (old venery).—To whore; to grouse (q.v.).—B. E. (c. 1696). Whence ranger = (1) a whoremonger; and (2) the penis (see Prick): cf. the school-*boy rhyme—'Ye bitch of brass, hold up your arse Till I get in my ranger.
Ranger, subs. (old.)—1. A highwayman.
2. (old).—In pl. = mounted troops using short arms: cf. Connaught Rangers (late 88th and 94th Regiments).
3. See Range, verb.
Rank, adj. (old colloquial).—1. A generic intensive: unmitigated; utter (B. E., c. 1696; Grose, 1785; Vaux, 1819): e.g., a rank lie = a flat falsehood; a rank knave = a rogue of the first water; a rank outsider (see Outsider); a rank swell = a pink of fashion; a rank duffer = a downright fool; and so forth.
1465-70. Mallory, Morte d'Arthur [E. E. T. S.] l. 2402. The renke rebelle has been un-to my round Table, Redy aye with Romaynes!
d. 1547. Surrey, Ænid, ii. Whose sacred filletes all besprinkled were With filth of gory blod, and venim rank.
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii, 4, 148. Rank corruption, mining all within, Infects unseen.
c. 1616. Fletcher, Bonduca, iv. 2. Run, run, ye rogues, ye precious rogues, ye rank rogues.
d. 1719. Addison, Man of the Town. What are these but rank pedants.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, III. v. "A rank scamp!" cried the upright man; and this exclamation, however equivocal it may sound, was intended to be highly complimentary.
1894. Moore, Esther Waters, xxx. I saw that the favourites had been winning. But I know of something, a rank outsider, for the Leger.
2. (American).—Eager; anxious; impatient [Century]: e.g. 'I was rank to get back.'
Verb. (common).—To cheat.
Rank-and-riches, subs. phr.
(rhyming).—Breeches = trousers.
1887. Sims, Tottie [Referee, 7 Nov.]. And right through my rank-and-riches Did my cribbage-pegs assail.
Ranker, subs. (military).—An
officer risen from the ranks: cf.
Gentleman-ranker.
1878. Besant and Rice, By Celia's Arbour, xxxii. Every regiment has its rankers; every ranker his story. I should be a snob if I were ashamed of having risen.
1886. St. James's Gaz., 2 June, 12. The new Coast battalion, most of whose officers are rankers.
Rank-rider, subs. phr. (old).—1.
A highwayman; and (2) a jockey.
See Ride, verb. Whence rank-riding
= rough-riding.—B. E.
(c. 1696); Grose (1785).
1612. Drayton, Polyolbion, iii. 28. And on his match as much the Western horseman lays As the rank-riding Scots upon their Galloways.
Rannack (or Rannigal), subs.
(old).—A good-for-nothing.
Rannel, subs. (old Cant).—A
whore: see Tart.
1600. Gab. Harvey, Pierces Superer. Although she were a lusty rampe . . . yet she was not such a roinish rannel, such a dissolute Gillian-flirt.
Ransack, verb. (old).—To grope
(q.v.); to deflower; 'to explore
point by point.'—B. E. (c. 1696).
1485. Mallory, Morte d'Arthur, x. civ. And anone he ransakyed him.
