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rabbit

rab·bit

UK/ˈɹæbɪt/ US/ˈɹabɪt/ common uk us
noun (3) verb (1)

noun

1.

any of various burrowing animals of the family Leporidae having long ears and short tails; some domesticated and raised for pets or food

Synonyms
2.

the fur of a rabbit

Synonyms
3.

flesh of any of various rabbits or hares (wild or domesticated) eaten as food

Synonyms

verb

1.

hunt rabbits

Origin

Inherited 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 (“rabbit", also "seal”)); 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 cony, owing to the latter's resemblance to and use as a euphemism for cunny, "vulva" (compare ass and donkey). Note that there is no inherited Germanic word for rabbits, since hares are the only leporids native to Britain (as with all of Europe outside the Iberian Peninsula...

Phrases

  • Amami rabbit
  • angora rabbit
  • breed like rabbits
  • brush rabbit
  • buck rabbit
  • buy the rabbit
  • California rabbit tobacco
  • common rabbit

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.