rabbit

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English

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A rabbit (sense 1).

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English rabet, rabette, from Anglo-Latin rabettus, from dialectal Old French rabotte, probably a diminutive of Middle Dutch or West Flemish robbe (“rabbit, seal”), of uncertain origin; possibly some imitative verb, maybe robben, rubben (“to rub”) is used here to allude to a characteristic of the animal. See rub.

Related forms include Middle French rabouillet (“baby rabbit”) and in French rabot (“plane”)), coming via Walloon Old French (reflected nowadays as Walloon robète (“rabbit”)), from Middle Dutch robbe ("rabbit; seal"; whence Modern Dutch rob (“seal", also "rabbit”)); also Middle Low German robbe, rubbe (“rabbit”), and the later German Low German Rubbe, Robb (“seal”), West Frisian robbe (“seal”), Saterland Frisian Rubbe (“seal”), North Frisian rob (“seal”), borrowed into German Robbe (“seal”).

Meant "young rabbit" until the 19th c., when it came to replace the original general term coney, owing to the latter's resemblance to and use as a euphemism for cunny, "vulva" (compare ass and donkey).

Noun

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rabbit (countable and uncountable, plural rabbits)

  2. A mammal of the family Leporidae, with long ears, long hind legs and a short, fluffy tail.
    The pioneers survived by eating the small game they could get: rabbits, squirrels and occasionally a raccoon.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The Old Punt: A Curious ‘Turnpike’”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 19–20:
      Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
  3. (uncountable) The meat from this animal.
  4. (uncountable) The fur of a rabbit typically used to imitate another animal's fur.
  5. A runner in a distance race whose goal is mainly to set the pace, either to tire a specific rival so that a teammate can win or to help another break a record; a pacesetter.
  6. (cricket) A very poor batsman, selected as a bowler or wicket-keeper.
  7. (cricket) A batsman who is frequently dismissed by the same bowler (said to be that player's rabbit).
    Synonym: bunny
    Glenn McGrath dismissed Michael Atherton a record 19 times; hence Atherton is McGrath's rabbit.
  8. (computing theory) A large element at the beginning of a list of items to be bubble sorted, and thus tending to be quickly swapped into its correct position. Compare turtle.
  9. Rarebit; Welsh rabbit or a similar dish: melted cheese served atop toast.
    • 2018, Helen Saberi, Teatimes: A World Tour, Reaktion Books, →ISBN:
      The cheese mixture may be served with toast on the side or poured on top of toast and grilled until golden brown and bubbling. Other variations include Buck rabbit, a Welsh rabbit with a poached egg on top, and Yorkshire rabbit with bacon  ...
    • 1858, Mrs. N. K. M. Lee, The American Family Cook Book, page 47:
      CHEESE TOASTED, OR RABBIT.
    • 2019, Mark Kurlansky, Milk: A 10,000-Year History, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:
      Hannah Glasse offered recipes for Scotch, Welsh, and English rabbit. This is her Scotch rabbit: Toast a piece of bread very nicely […] Cut a slice of cheese, […]
  10. A pneumatically-controlled tool used to insert small samples of material inside the core of a nuclear reactor.
    • 2012, Joseph Cerny, Nuclear Spectroscopy and Reactions 40-A (part 1, page 249)
      This rabbit is constructed such that only that fraction of the beam that passes through the 15g-in. diameter target container reaches the Faraday cup behind the rabbit.
  11. (genericized trademark) A vibrator with a shaft and a clitoral stimulator usually shaped like a rabbit's ears.
    • 2013 07, larry morgan, FOOTSTEPS: Poetic Reflections on the Opposite Sex and Life's Other Contradictions., iUniverse, →ISBN, page 37:
      Rabbits come in many forms/In colors, shapes and sizes./ They satisfy a lady's needs,/Indulging her sweet vices.
    • 2018 August 29, Vivienne Savage, A Man of Many Talons, Payne & Taylor:
      First, she showed us the standard dildos before moving on to the rabbits—vibrators with little ears to stimulate the clit.
    • 2023 June 6, Madeline Cox, 250 Sexy Erotic Stories: Age Gap, Taboo Dark Reverse Harem, Forbidden Naughty Family, Tales for Adults, BDSM, Rough Daddies Dom, Sexy Hot Story for Women and Men, PaperGram LLC, →ISBN:
      She reached into her night stand for some lubricant and her rabbit vibrator.
Synonyms
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(animal):

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Translations
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Verb

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rabbit (third-person singular simple present rabbits, present participle rabbitting or rabbiting, simple past and past participle rabbitted or rabbited)

  1. (intransitive) To hunt rabbits.
  2. (US, intransitive) To flee.
    The informant seemed skittish, as if he was about to rabbit.
    When the three friends heard someone behind them yell, "police, freeze!" they each rabbited in a different direction.
    • 1986 December 7, Kim Westheimer, “Gay Bashing Still a Popular Boston Sport”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 21, page 3:
      The attacked man stressed to the GCN the importance of confronting someone who is harassing a person in the Fenway. He said the attack on him could have been prevented if another man who was in front of him prior to the attack hadn't "rabbitted out of there."
Synonyms
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Etymology 2

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From Cockney rhyming slang rabbit and pork, to talk.

Verb

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rabbit (third-person singular simple present rabbits, present participle rabbiting, simple past and past participle rabbited)

  1. (British, intransitive) To talk incessantly and in a childish manner; to babble annoyingly.
    Synonym: rabbit on
    Stop your infernal rabbiting! Use proper words or nobody will listen to you!
    • 1941 They Die with their Boots On, Gerald Kersh, William Heinemann Ltd., London.
      To Barker, a row is a Bull-an'-a-Cow, a suit is a Whistle or Whistle-an'-flute, a kid is a Gord-Forbid ; a car is a Jam , or Jam-Jar ; talk is 'Rabbit , or Rabbit-an'-Pork ; beer is Pig's-Ear … and so on, up and down the language
Synonyms
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Etymology 3

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Perhaps a corruption of rabate.

Verb

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rabbit

  1. Confound; damn; drat.
    • 1797, George Colman, The Heir at Law:
      LORD D. There, Dick, d'ye hear how the tutorer talks? oh rabbit it! he can ladle you out of latin by the quart;—and grunts greek like a pig.

Finnish

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Noun

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rabbit

  1. nominative plural of rabbi

Anagrams

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Hungarian

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Etymology

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rabbi +‎ -t

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈrɒbːit]
  • Hyphenation: rab‧bit

Noun

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rabbit

  1. accusative singular of rabbi
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