Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A hind part.
  • noun The point or area farthest from the front.
  • noun The part of a military deployment usually farthest from the fighting front.
  • noun Informal The buttocks.
  • adjective Of, at, or located in the rear.
  • intransitive verb To care for (children or a child) during the early stages of life; bring up.
  • intransitive verb To tend (growing plants or animals).
  • intransitive verb To build; erect.
  • intransitive verb Archaic To lift upright; raise.
  • intransitive verb To rise on the hind legs, as a horse.
  • intransitive verb To rise high in the air; tower.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To move; stir.
  • To carve: applied to the carving of geese.
  • noun The space behind or at the back; a tract or a position lying backward; the background of a situation or a point of view.
  • noun The back or hinder part; that part of anything which is placed or comes last in order or in position.
  • noun In specific military use, the hindmost body of an army or a fleet; the corps, regiment, squadron, or other division which moves or is placed last in order: opposed to van: as, the rear was widely separated from the main body.
  • Pertaining to or situated in the rear; hindermost; last: as, the rear rank.
  • Underdone; nearly raw; rare: formerly said of eggs, now (in the United States, in the form rare) of meats. Compare rear-boiled, rear-roasted.
  • noun The up-stream end of a drive. The logs may be either stranded or floating: in the former case they are termed dry rear; in the latter floating rear.
  • Same as rare.
  • To raise, lift, or hoist by or as if by main strength; bring to or place in an elevated position; set or hold up; elevate; bear aloft.
  • To form by raising or setting up the parts of; lift up and fix in place the materials of; erect; construct; build.
  • To raise from a prostrate state or position; uplift; exalt.
  • To lift or carry upward; give an upward bent or turn to.
  • To cause to rise into view; approach (an object) so that it appears above the visible horizon. See raise, 10.
  • To carry off, as by conquest; take away by or as if by lifting; wrest. See raise, 6.
  • To cause to rise to action; stir up; rouse.
  • To raise in amount; make a rise in; increase.
  • To develop or train physically or mentally or both, as young; care for while growing up; foster; nurture; educate: used of human beings, and less frequently of animals and plants. See raise.
  • To mock; gibe.
  • Synonyms Bring up, etc. See raise.
  • To rise up; assume an elevated posture, as a horse or other animal in standing on its hind legs alone.
  • To rise up before the plow, as a furrow.
  • To send to or place in the rear.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb Prov. Eng. Early; soon.
  • adjective Being behind, or in the hindmost part; hindmost.
  • adjective an officer in the navy, next in rank below a vice admiral and above a commodore. See Admiral.
  • adjective (Mil.) the rear rank of a body of troops when faced about and standing in that position.
  • adjective (Mil.) the division of an army that marches in the rear of the main body to protect it; -- used also figuratively.
  • adjective (Mil.) the line in the rear of an army.
  • adjective (Mil.) the rank or line of a body of troops which is in the rear, or last in order.
  • adjective (Firearms) the sight nearest the breech.
  • adjective to come last or behind.
  • noun The back or hindmost part; that which is behind, or last in order; -- opposed to front.
  • noun Specifically, the part of an army or fleet which comes last, or is stationed behind the rest.
  • intransitive verb To rise up on the hind legs, as a horse; to become erect.
  • intransitive verb a bit designed to prevent a horse from lifting his head when rearing.
  • transitive verb To raise; to lift up; to cause to rise, become erect, etc.; to elevate.
  • transitive verb To erect by building; to set up; to construct
  • transitive verb Obs. or R. To lift and take up.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English rere, rear of an army, short for rerewarde, rear guard; see rearward.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English reren, to raise, from Old English rǣran; see er- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English rere, from Old English hrēr, hrēre ("not thoroughly cooked, underdone, lightly boiled"), from hrēran ("to move, shake, agitate"), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijanan (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱera-, *ḱrā- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Related to Old English hrōr ("stirring, busy, active, strong, brave"), Dutch roeren ("to stir, shake, whip"), German rühren ("to stir, beat, move"), Swedish röra ("to touch, move, stir"), Icelandic hræra ("to stir").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English reren, from Old English hrēran ("to move, shake, agitate"), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijanan (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱera-, *ḱrā- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Cognate with Dutch roeren ("to stir, shake, whip"), German rühren ("to stir, beat, move"), Swedish röra ("to touch, move, stir"), Icelandic hræra ("to stir").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English reren, from Old English rǣran ("to cause to rise, rear, raise, build, create, lift up, move from a lower to a higher position, elevate, promote, exalt, set up, establish, begin, commit, do, offer, give rise to, excite, rouse, arouse, stir up"), from Proto-Germanic *raizijanan, *raisijanan (“to cause to rise, raise”), from Proto-Indo-European *rei- (“to lift oneself, rise”). Cognate with Scots rere ("to construct, build, rear"), Icelandic reisa ("to raise"), Gothic  (raisjan, "to cause to rise, lift up, establish"), German reisen ("to travel", literally "to rear up and depart"). More at rise.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Anglo-Norman rere, ultimately from Latin retro. Compare arrear.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Does anyone use this word as a synonym for raw (insufficiently cooked, I mean)?

    December 3, 2008

  • Nope. Sure you're not hearing rare?

    December 4, 2008

  • *is relieved*

    December 4, 2008

  • Rump steak.

    December 4, 2008

  • That's weird! Garzanti Linguistica states that it's an uncommon usage. Maybe it is just a misspelling. Thank you...

    December 9, 2008