# rabbit

Pronunciation: US say "RAB-it" /ˈɹæbɪt/; UK/AUS say "RA-bit" /ˈɹæbɪt/

## Noun

1. A small, usually burrowing mammal of the family Leporidae, smaller than a hare, with long ears, powerful hind legs, and a short, fluffy tail.
   - Simple: A small furry animal with long ears, strong back legs, and a short, fluffy tail.
   - _A rabbit nibbled clover at the edge of the meadow._
   - _Foxes hunt rabbits throughout the cooler months._
2. The flesh of the rabbit, prepared and eaten as food.
   - Simple: Meat from a rabbit, cooked and eaten as food.
   - _Rabbit is leaner than most farmed meats._
   - _The chef braised rabbit in white wine with thyme._
3. The pelt of the rabbit, frequently dyed or sheared to imitate a costlier animal's fur.
   - Simple: Soft fur from a rabbit, often treated to look like more expensive fur.
   - _The hat was trimmed with rabbit dyed to resemble fox._
   - _Many inexpensive fur garments are actually rabbit treated to mimic pricier pelts._
5. A runner in a distance race whose main role is to set the pace, either to tire a particular rival so a teammate can win or to help someone break a record.
   - Simple: A runner whose job is to set a fast pace early in a race to help a teammate or break a record.
   - _The rabbit towed the leaders through a quick opening mile before fading._
   - _Organizers hired a rabbit to help chase the world record._
6. A vibrator with an insertable shaft and a clitoral stimulator, the stimulator usually shaped like a rabbit's ears.
   - Simple: A vibrator with a part that goes inside the vagina and a smaller part for the clitoris, usually shaped like rabbit ears.
   - _Many reviewers rank the rabbit among the most popular vibrators sold today._
   - _She kept the rabbit in her bedside drawer._
7. Melted, seasoned cheese poured over toast; also called Welsh rabbit or rarebit.
   - Simple: Melted cheese served over toast as a hot dish.
   - _Welsh rabbit makes a quick, savory supper on a cold night._
   - _Her Welsh rabbit, made with sharp cheddar, mustard, and a splash of dark ale, bubbled under the broiler until golden._
10. In cricket, a very poor batter, usually picked for bowling or wicketkeeping; also, as in a bowler's rabbit, any batter whom one bowler dismisses again and again.
   - Simple: In cricket, a player who is very bad at batting, or whom one bowler gets out again and again.
   - _Batting last, the fast bowler was a classic rabbit._
   - _The rabbit edged a nervous single before being bowled._

## Verb

4. To talk at length about unimportant things in a way others find boring, usually with on. *(British)*
   - Simple: To talk for a long time about boring or unimportant things, usually used with on.
   - _The children rabbit on endlessly during long car trips._
   - _He was rabbiting away in the corner, ignored by everyone._
8. To hunt wild rabbits, typically with dogs or ferrets.
   - Simple: To go hunting for wild rabbits.
   - _Every fall, the boys would rabbit along the hedgerows with their terriers._
   - _He learned to rabbit with ferrets when he was a child._
9. To run away suddenly; to flee. *(US)*
   - Simple: To run away fast.
   - _At the first sight of the police, the kids rabbit down the alley._
   - _He rabbited the moment the deal turned sour._
11. To confound or damn, used in mild oaths expressing annoyance or frustration.
   - Simple: To curse something mildly because it annoys you.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In sorting, a large-valued element near the start of a list that advances quickly to its correct position during a bubble sort; the opposite of a turtle.
- (noun) A pneumatically controlled device used to insert small material samples into the core of a nuclear reactor.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3, 5–10** — Middle English rabet came by way of Anglo-Latin and dialectal Old French, probably as a diminutive formed from robbe ("rabbit, seal"), a word in Middle Dutch or West Flemish. Where robbe comes from is uncertain, possibly an imitative verb. Until the 18th or 19th century the word meant "young rabbit." It then replaced cony, the older general term, because cony resembled cunny and was used as a euphemism for it.
**Meaning 4** — The sense of talking comes from 'rabbit and pork', Cockney rhyming slang for 'to talk'.
**Meaning 11** — It is perhaps a corruption of 'rabate'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/rabbit (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).