1602. Shakspeare, Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2. But I would have the soil of her fair rape Wip'd off, in honourable keeping her, What treason were it to the ransack'd queen. . . .
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, i. 5. With sacrilegious Tools we rudely rend her, And ransack deeply in her bosom tender.
Ranshackle, subs. (common).—To
pillage; to ransack [On model
of 'ramshackle' (q.v.)].
?]. Jamie Telfer [Child, Ballads, vi. 106]. They loosed the kye out, ane and a' And ranshackled the house right well.
RANT, verb. (various: see definition).—1.
'To talk Big, High, or Boast
much' (B. E., c.1696); to storm;
to rave: in this sense rant has
always been literary, including
the corresponding subs., adj.,
&c. Whence, however, many
usages more or less colloquial:—Rantan
(randan, randy,
rand, randydan, rant, ranty,
rantan, or rantytan) = (1) a
jollification, (2) a wenching bout,
(3) the sound of a drum, and
(4) a drunken frolic; also as
verb. (or to go on the rantan,
&c.) = to go on a round
of debauchery; ranter = (1)
'Extravagants, Unthrifts, Lewd
Sparks, also of the Family of
Love' (B. E., c.1696); (2) = a
noisy talker, bawling singer, or
ruffian; (3) = a Primitive Methodist:
often extended to Dissenters
generally, and spec. to a
sect dating from 1822, self-registered
as such in the Census
returns; (4) in pl. = idle drunken
boistering; ranting, adj. = (1)
in high spirits; and (2) = amorous,
hot (q.v.); and (3) extravagant:
see quot. 1599; randy (or
ranty), subs. = (1) a beggar,
ballad singer, or tinker: espec.
such as bully or menace; (2) a
scold: also randy-dandy (or
ranty-tanty); (4) a ramping
wanton; (4) see rantan, supra;
as adj. = (1) vagrant; (2) thieving,
shrewish; (3) wanton, hot
(q.v.); as verb. = (1) see rantan,
supra; and (2) to beat
continuously, as a tinker; rantipole,
subs. = (1) a whore, and
(2) a romp (q.v.), a gallant hussy;
as verb. = to run about wildly;
and as adj. = 'wild, rakish,
jovial' (B. E., c.1696); to ride
rantipole (see Ride); rantum-*scantum
= copulation: see
Ride; rantankerous = quarrelsome;
rantallion = (Grose)
'One whose scrotum is so relaxed
as to be longer than his penis.'
1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, ii. 1. [Oliphant, New. Eng., ii. 25. There is the new Dutch verb. rant]. Look where my ranting host of the Garter comes.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe [Harl. Misc., vi. 153]. I would not . . . have it cast in my dishe that therefore I prayse Yarmouth so rantantingly, because I never elsewhere bayted my horse.
1601. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1. He was born to fill thy mouth . . . he will teach thee to tear and rand.
1630. Taylor, Workes, 110. There is rantan Tom Tinker and his Tib, And there's a jugler with his fingers glib.
1662. Wilson, Cheats, i. I was t'other night upon the randan, and who should I meet with but our old gang, some of St. Nicholas' clerks.
1697. Praise of Yorkshire Ale, 5. Mistake me not, Custom, I mean not tho, Of excessive drinking, as great ranters do.
1699. Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 10. What, at years of discretion, and comport yourself at this rantipole rate.
1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. John Bull, ii. iii. She used to rantipole about the house. Ibid. iii. viii. She threw away her money upon roaring swearing bullies and randy beggars that went about the streets.
1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, v. But couldst thou not learn, Timothy, who it is that the rantipole is going to marry?
