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Rave vs Rather - What's the difference?

rave | rather |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between rave and rather

is that rave is (obsolete) to rush wildly or furiously while rather is (obsolete) prior; earlier; former.

As verbs the difference between rave and rather

is that rave is to wander in mind or intellect; to be delirious; to talk or act irrationally; to be wild, furious, or raging while rather is (nonstandard|or|dialectal) to prefer; to prefer to.

As a noun rave

is an enthusiastic review (such as of a play) or rave can be one of the upper side pieces of the frame of a wagon body or a sleigh.

As an adverb rather is

(obsolete) more quickly; sooner, earlier.

As an adjective rather is

(obsolete) prior; earlier; former.

rave

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) raver, variant of resver, of uncertain origin.

Noun

(en noun)
  • An enthusiastic review (such as of a play).
  • An all-night dance party filled with electronic dance music (techno, trance, drum and bass etc.) and possibly drug use.
  • (uncountable) The genre of electronic dance music associated with rave parties.
  • * 2009 , Chrysalis Experiential Academy, Mind Harvesting (page 109)
    • Maybe I wear baggies / And white socks with flip-flops / Maybe I don't like listening to rave / And I'm not on the social mountaintops

    Verb

    (rav)
  • To wander in mind or intellect; to be delirious; to talk or act irrationally; to be wild, furious, or raging.
  • * Addison
    • Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast?
  • * Macaulay
    • The mingled torrent of redcoats and tartans went raving down the valley to the gorge of Killiecrankie.
  • To speak or write wildly or incoherently.
  • * 1748 , David Hume, Enquiry concerning Human Understanding , Section 3. § 5.
    • A production without design would resemble more the ravings of a madman, than the sober efforts of genius and learning.
  • To talk with unreasonable enthusiasm or excessive passion or excitement; followed by about'', ''of'', or (formerly) ''on .
    • He raved about her beauty.
  • * Byron
    • The hallowed scene / Which others rave on, though they know it not.
  • (obsolete) To rush wildly or furiously.
    • (Spenser)
  • To attend a rave (dance party).

    • See also

    * rant

    Etymology 2

    English dialect raves, or .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One of the upper side pieces of the frame of a wagon body or a sleigh.
    • (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    * ----

    rather

    English

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (obsolete) More quickly; sooner, earlier.
  • Used to specify a choice or preference; preferably. (Now usually followed by than )
  • *
    • Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.
  • (conjunctive) Used to introduce a contradiction; on the contrary.
  • (conjunctive) Introducing a qualification or clarification; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or .)
  • * 1897 , (Henry James), (What Maisie Knew) :
    • What the pupil already knew was indeed rather taken for granted than expressed, but it performed the useful function of transcending all textbooks and supplanting all studies.
  • * 1898, J. A. Hamilton, ", Volume LIV: Stanhope–Stovin , The MacMillan Company, page 60,
    • His ‘Iliad’ is spirited and polished, and, though often rather a paraphrase than a translation, is always more truly poetic than most of the best translations.
  • * , chapter=12
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill.
  • (degree) Somewhat, fairly.

    • Usage notes

    * (somewhat) This is a non-descriptive qualifier'', similar to quite and fairly and somewhat. It is used where a plain adjective needs to be modified, but cannot be qualified. When spoken, the meaning can vary with the tone of voice and stress. "''He was rather big''" can mean anything from "not small" to "huge" (meiosis with the stress on ''rather ).

    Synonyms

    * liever, liefer, as lief * (to a certain extent) somewhat, fairly, quite

    Antonyms

    * (somewhat) utterly

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (nonstandard, or, dialectal) To prefer; to prefer to.
  • * 1984 , Bruce Brooks, The Moves Make the Man :
    • Until just before the pie was popped into the heat. A few of them suddenly realized who put that gorgeous hunk of crackers together, and gaped. We grinned back, but very cool. The ones who knew said nothing, rathering to die than let on they had been hustled by two negative dudes.
  • * 2002 , Sarah Waters, Fingersmith :
    • It was a plain brown dress, more or less the colour of my hair; and the walls of our kitchen being also brown, when I came downstairs again I could hardly be seen. I should have rathered a blue gown, or a violet one
  • * 2002 , Elizabeth Bowen, The Heat of the Day :
    • So you must excuse my saying anything I did: all it was, that up to the very last I had understood us all to be friendly — apart, that is, from his rathering me not there. How was I to know he would flash out so wicked?
  • * 2007 , Mikel Schaefer, Lost in Katrina , page 323:
    • "That was a killer," said Chris. "I'd rathered' die in St. Bernard than spent one minute over there. I would have ' rathered the storm, shaking with the wind and rain hitting in the boat for an eternity than spending any time there.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Prior; earlier; former.
  • * Sir J. Mandeville
    • Now no man dwelleth at the rather town.

    Statistics

    * English conjunctive adverbs English degree adverbs