rap Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a reproach for some lapse or misdeed
    blame.
    • he took the blame for it
    • it was a bum rap
  2. noun a gentle blow
    strike; tap.
  3. noun the sound made by a gentle blow
    tap; pat.
  4. noun voluble conversation
  5. noun genre of African-American music of the 1980s and 1990s in which rhyming lyrics are chanted to a musical accompaniment; several forms of rap have emerged
    rap music; hip-hop.
  6. noun the act of hitting vigorously
    knock; whang; whack; belt.
    • he gave the table a whack
  7. verb strike sharply
    knap.
    • rap him on the knuckles
  8. verb make light, repeated taps on a surface
    pink; knock; tap.
    • he was tapping his fingers on the table impatiently
  9. verb perform rap music
  10. verb talk volubly

WordNet

Rap noun
Etymology
Etymol. uncertain.
Definitions
  1. A lay or skein containing 120 yards of yarn. Knight.
Rap intransitive verb
Etymology
Akin to Sw. rappa to strike, rapp stroke, Dan. rap, perhaps of imitative origin.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Rapped ; present participle & verbal noun Rapping
Definitions
  1. To strike with a quick, sharp blow; to knock; as, to rap on the door.
Rap transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To strike with a quick blow; to knock on.
    With one great peal they rap the door. Prior.
  2. (Founding) To free (a pattern) in a mold by light blows on the pattern, so as to facilitate its removal.
Rap noun
Definitions
  1. A quick, smart blow; a knock.
Rap transitive verb
Etymology
OE. rapen; akin to LG. & D. rapen to snatch, G. raffen, Sw. rappa; cf. Dan. rappe sig to make haste, and Icel. hrapa to fall, to rush, hurry. The word has been confused with L. rapere to seize. Cf. Rape robbery, Rapture, Raff, v., Ramp, v.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Rapped usually written Rapt; present participle & verbal noun Rapping
Definitions
  1. To snatch away; to seize and hurry off.
    And through the Greeks and Ilians they rapt The whirring chariot. Chapman.
    From Oxford I was rapt by my nephew, Sir Edmund Bacon, to Redgrove. Sir H. Wotton.
  2. To hasten. Obs. Piers Plowman.
  3. To seize and bear away, as the mind or thoughts; to transport out of one's self; to affect with ecstasy or rapture; as, rapt into admiration.
    I'm rapt with joy to see my Marcia's tears. Addison.
    Rapt into future times, the bard begun. Pope.
  4. To exchange; to truck. Obs. & Law 5. To engage in a discussion, converse; (b) (ca. 1985) to perform a type of rhythmic talking, often with accompanying rhythm instruments.
Rap noun
Etymology
Perhaps contr. fr. raparee.
Definitions
  1. A popular name for any of the tokens that passed current for a half-penny in Ireland in the early part of the eighteenth century; any coin of trifling value.
    Many counterfeits passed about under the name of raps. Swift.
    Tie it [her money] up so tight that you can't touch a rap, save with her consent. Mrs. Alexander.
    5. conversation, also rapping; (b) (ca. 1985) a type of rhythmic talking, often with accompanying rhythm instruments; rap music.

Webster 1913