rate

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A quantity measured with respect to another measured quantity: a rate of speed of 60 miles an hour.
2. n. A measure of a part with respect to a whole; a proportion: the mortality rate; a tax rate.
3. n. The cost per unit of a commodity or service: postal rates.
4. n. A charge or payment calculated in relation to a particular sum or quantity: interest rates.
5. n. Level of quality.
6. n. Chiefly British A locally assessed property tax. Often used in the plural.
7. v. To calculate the value of; appraise. See Synonyms at estimate.
8. v. To place in a particular rank or grade.
9. v. To regard or account: rated the movie excellent.
10. v. To value for purposes of taxation.
11. v. To set a rate for (goods to be shipped).
12. v. To specify the performance limits of (a machine, for example): This fuse is rated at 50 amperes.
13. v. Informal To merit or deserve: people that rate special treatment. See Synonyms at earn¹.
14. v. To be ranked in a particular class.
15. v. Informal To have status, importance, or influence.
16. idiom. at any rate Whatever the case may be.
17. idiom. at any rate At least.
18. v. To berate.
19. v. To express reproof.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To chide with vehemence; reprove; scold; censure violently.
2. To affect by chiding or reproving; restrain by vehement censure.
3. To utter vehement censure or reproof; inveigh scoldingly: with at.
4. n. A reckoning by comparative values or relations; proportional estimation according to some standard; relative amount, quantity, range, or degree: as, the rate of interest is 6 per cent. (that is, $6 for every $100 for every year); the rate per mile of railroad charges. expenses, or speed; a rapid rate of growth or of progress.
5. n. Charge or valuation according to a scale or standard; comparative price or amount of demand; a fixed measure of estimation.
6. n. A fixed public tax or imposition assessed on property for some local purpose, usually according to income or value: as, poor- rates or church- rates in Great Britain.
7. n. A proportion allotted or permitted; an allotment or provision; a regulated amount or supply.
8. n. A relative scale of being, action, or conduct; comparative degree or extent of any mode of existence or procedure; proportion in manner or method: as, an extravagant rate of living or of expenditure. See at any rate, at no rate. below.
9. n. Hence Mode or manner of arrangement; order; state.
10. n. Degree, rank, or estimation; rating; appraisement: used of persons and their qualities.
11. n. The order or class of a vessel, formerly regulated in the United States navy by the number of guns carried, but now by the tonnage displacement. Vessels of 5,000 tons displacement and over are of the first rate, of 3,000 and above but below 5,000 tons of the second rate, of 1,000 and above but below 3,000 tons of the third rate, of less than 1,000 tons of the fourth rate. In classifying the navies of England, France, and the other principal European powers the term class is used instead of rate, and relates not so much to the actual weight or power of the ships as to arbitrary divisions of types of vessels, and to their relative importance as battle-ships, cruisers, etc.
12. n. In the United States navy, the grade or position of any one of the crew: same as rating, 2.
13. n. In horology, the daily gain or loss of a chronometer or other timepiece. A losing rate is called by astronomers a positive rate, because it entails a positive correction to the difference of readings of the clock-face.
14. n. Synonyms Assessment, Impost, etc. See tax.
15. To reckon by comparative estimation; regard as of such a value, rank, or degree; hold at a certain valuation or estimate; appraise; fix the value or price of.
16. To assess as to payment or contribution; fix the comparative liability of, for taxation or the like; reckon at so much in obligation or capability; set a rate upon.
17. To fix the relative scale, rank, or position of: as, to rate a ship; to rate a seaman.
18. To determine the rate of, or rate-error of, as a chronometer or other timepiece. See rate, n., 10.
19. To have value, rank, standing, or estimation: as, the vessel rates as a ship of the line.
20. n. A ratification.
21. To ratify. To rate the truce they swore.
22. n. A reproof; specifically, in hunting, a reproof to a dog.
23. n. under these circumstances; if this goes on; etc.
24. To fix at a rate of transportation: as, freight was rated as low as possible.
25. To convey or transport at a given rate.
26. Having missed fire, literally or figuratively; having failed.
27. n. One who has failed; a person who is a failure.

Wiktionary

1. n. A wage calculated in relation to a unit of time.
2. n. nautical A class into which ships were assigned based on condition, size etc.; by extension, rank.
3. v. transitive To assign or be assigned a particular rank or level.
4. v. transitive To evaluate or estimate the value of.
5. v. transitive To consider or regard.
6. v. transitive To deserve; to be worth.
7. v. transitive To determine the limits of safe functioning for a machine or electrical device.
8. v. transitive (chiefly (UK)) To evaluate a property's value for the purposes of local taxation.
9. v. transitive (informal) To like; to think highly of.
10. v. intransitive To have position (in a certain class).
11. v. intransitive To have value or standing.
12. v. transitive To berate, scold.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To chide with vehemence; to scold; to censure violently; to berate.
2. n. Established portion or measure; fixed allowance.
3. n. That which is established as a measure or criterion; degree; standard; rank; proportion; ratio.
4. n. Valuation; price fixed with relation to a standard; cost; charge.
5. n. A tax or sum assessed by authority on property for public use, according to its income or value; esp., in England, a local tax
6. n. obsolete Order; arrangement.
7. n. rare Ratification; approval.
8. n. (Horol.) The gain or loss of a timepiece in a unit of time
9. n. The order or class to which a war vessel belongs, determined according to its size, armament, etc.
10. n. The class of a merchant vessel for marine insurance, determined by its relative safety as a risk, as A1, A2, etc.
11. v. To set a certain estimate on; to value at a certain price or degree.
12. v. To assess for the payment of a rate or tax.
13. v. To settle the relative scale, rank, position, amount, value, or quality of
14. v. obsolete To ratify.
15. v. To be set or considered in a class; to have rank.
16. v. To make an estimate.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a magnitude or frequency relative to a time unit
2. n. a quantity or amount or measure considered as a proportion of another quantity or amount or measure
3. v. assign a rank or rating to
4. v. be worthy of or have a certain rating
5. n. amount of a charge or payment relative to some basis
6. n. the relative speed of progress or change
7. v. estimate the value of