raze
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
raze¹
- /ɹeɪz/ Canada, US, UK
- /ɹæɪz/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like raise, rase, rays, rehs, réis, res · Rhymes with -eɪz
Where it comes from
The verb is derived from Middle English rasen, racen, rase (“to scrape; to shave; to erase; to pull; to strip off; to pluck or tear out; to root out (a tree, etc.); to pull away, snatch; to pull down; to knock down; to rend, tear apart; to pick clean, strip; to cleave, slice; to sever; to lacerate; to pierce; to carve, engrave; to dig; (figurative) to expunge, obliterate; to alter”), from Anglo-Norman raser, rasere, rasser, Middle French raser, and Old French raser (“to shave; to touch lightly, graze; to level off (grain, etc.) in a measure; to demolish, tear down; to erase; to polish; to wear down”), from Vulgar Latin *raso (“to shave; to scrape; to scratch; to touch lightly, graze”), from Latin rāsus (“scraped; shaved”), the perfect passive participle of rādō (“to scrape, scratch; to shave; to rub, smooth; to brush along, graze”). Doublet of rash (etymology 2 and etymology 7).
The noun is derived from the verb.
verb razes · razing · razed · raze
- To level or tear down (a building, a town, etc.) to the ground; to demolish. The fortreſſe was raſed and beaten downe to the erthe⸝ whiche had coſt moche the makynge therof: […]
- To completely remove (someone or something), especially from a place, a situation, etc.; also, to remove from existence; to destroy, to obliterate. Yet at the laſt, caſting with my ſelf, that yͤ heat of thy loue might cleane be razed with yͤ coldnes of my letter, I thought it good to commit an inconuenience, that I might preuent a miſchiefe, chuſing rather to cut thée off ſhort by rigour, then to giue thée any iot of hope by ſilence.
- To erase (a record, text, etc.), originally by scraping; to rub out, to scratch out. Suppleyng to Fame, I besought her grace, / And that it wolde please her, full tenderly I prayd, / Owt of her bokis Apollo to rase.
- To wound (someone or part of their body) superficially; to graze. [T]he ſvvorde more mercifull then hee to himſelfe, vvith the ſlipping of the pommel, the point ſvvarued, and razed him but vpon the ſide: […]
- To alter (a document) by erasing parts of it. This indenture is raced all the worlde may ſe it: Ceſte indenture eſt faulcée tout le monde le peult veoyr.
- To carve (a line, mark, etc.) into something; to incise, to inscribe; also, to carve lines, marks, etc., into (something); to engrave. Generally, Barbarous People, that goe Naked, doe not onely paint Themſelues, but they povvnce and raze their Skinne, that the Painting may not be taken forth; And make it into VVorks.
- To remove (something) by scraping; also, to cut or shave (something) off.
- To rub lightly along the surface of (something); brush against, to graze. And novv [the Rhine] by this time augmented vvith ſnovv, melted and reſolved into vvater, and raſing as it goes the high bankes vvith their curving reaches, entreth into a round and vaſt lake (vvhich the Rhætians dvvelling thereby, call Brigantia) […]
- To scrape (something), with or as if with a razor, to remove things from its surface; also, to reduce (something) to small pieces by scraping; to grate. And you are a ſoule, ſo vvhite, and ſo chaſte, / A table ſo ſmooth, and ſo nevvly ra'ſte, / As nothing cald foule, / Dare approach vvith a blot, / Or any leaſt ſpot; […]
- To shave (someone or part of their body) with a razor, etc. [A] ſharpe worde moued thée, when other whiles a ſworde will not, then a friendly checke killeth thée, when a raſor cannot raſe thée.
- To cut, scratch, or tear (someone or something) with a sharp object; to lacerate, to slash. Buckles and agglettes at vnwares, ſhall race his bowe, a thinge both euill for the fight, ⁊ perillous for freatinge.
- To carve lines, marks, etc., into something.
- To graze or rub lightly along a surface. Betwene theſe Ilandes and the continente, he entered into ſoo narowe ſtreyghtes, that he coulde ſcarſely turne backe the ſhippes: And theſe alſo ſo ſhalowe, that the keele of the ſhyps ſumtyme raſed on the ſandes.
- To penetrate through something; to pierce. [O]ne Robert Dutch of Ipſvvith, having been ſorely vvounded by a Bullet that raſed to his skull, and then mauled by the Indian Hatchets, left for dead by the Salvages,^([sic – meaning Savages]) and ſtript by them of all but his skin; […]
- Of a horse: to wear down its corner teeth as it ages, losing the black marks in their crevices.
noun razes · rase
- A slight wound; a scratch; also, a cut, a slit. And verely the Emperour Nero vvas ſo greatly enamoured vpon one image of Alexander [the Great], that hee commaunded it to be guilded all over: but aftervvards, ſeeing that the more coſt vvas beſtovved upon it by laying on gold, the leſſe vvas the art ſeene of the firſt vvorkman [Lysippos], ſo that i
raze²
- /ɹeɪz/ Canada, US, UK
- /ɹæɪz/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like raise, rase, rays, rehs, réis, res · Rhymes with -eɪz
noun
- Obsolete spelling of race (“rhizome of ginger”).race
raze³
- /ɹeɪz/ Canada, US, UK
- /ɹæɪz/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like raise, rase, rays, rehs, réis, res · Rhymes with -eɪz
noun razes
- A swinging fence in a watercourse to prevent cattle passing through.
