late 14c., "persecution" (a sense now obsolete), also "a chase with hostile intent," from Anglo-French purseute, pursuite, Old French porsuite "a search, pursuit" (14c., Modern French poursuite), from porsivre (see pursue).

Meaning "action of following briskly for the purpose of overtaking" (regardless of intent) is from mid-15c. Sense of "one's profession, recreation, etc." is attested from 1520s on the notion of "object of one's continued exertions, what one follows or engages in." As a type of track cycling race from 1938.

"small, inflammatory sore or tumor containing pus," late 14c., from Old French pustule (13c.) and directly from Latin pustula "blister, pimple" (from PIE imitative root *pu- (1) "blow, swell," on notion of "inflated area;" source also of Sanskrit pupphusah "lung," Greek physa "breath, blast, wind, bubble," Lithuanian pučiu, pūsti "to blow, swell," Old Church Slavonic puchati "to blow"). Compare emphysema. Related: Pustulant; pustulate; pustulation.

late 14c., rafle, "game played with dice, a throw of the dice" (senses now obsolete), from Old French rafle "dice game," also "plundering," a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a Germanic source (compare Middle Dutch raffel "dice game," Old Frisian hreppa "to move," Old Norse hreppa "to reach, get," Swedish rafs "rubbish," Old High German raspon "to scrape together, snatch up in haste," German raffen "to snatch away, sweep off"), from Proto-Germanic *khrap- "to pluck out, snatch off." The notion would be "to sweep up (the stakes), to snatch (the winnings)." Diez connects the French word with the Germanic root, but OED is against this.

The meaning "method of sale by chance or lottery, form of lottery in which an article is assigned by the drawing of lots to one person among several who have paid for the chance" is recorded by 1766.

late 14c., rarefien, "make thin, reduce the density of," from Old French rarefier (14c.) and directly from Medieval Latin rarificare, from Latin rarefacere "make thin, make rare," from rarus "rare, thin" (see rare (adj.1)) + facere "to make" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Intransitive sense of "become less dense" is from 1650s. Related: Rarefied; rarefiable.

late 14c., "nimble, quick, vigorous" (early 14c. as a surname), a Scottish and northern word, perhaps from a survival of Old English -ræsc (as in ligræsc "flash of lightning") or one of its Germanic cognates, from Proto-Germanic *raskuz (source also of Middle Low German rasch, Middle Dutch rasc "quick, swift," German rasch "quick, fast," Danish rask "brisk, quick"). Related to Old English horsc "quick-witted."

The original senses in English now are obsolete. Sense of "reckless, impetuous, heedless of consequences, hasty in council or action" is attested from c. 1500. Related: Rashly; rashness.

Rashness has the vigor of the Anglo-Saxon, temerity the selectness and dignity of the Latin. Temerity implies personal danger, physical or other .... Rashness is broader in this respect. Rashness goes by the feelings without the judgment ; temerity rather disregards the judgment. Temerity refers rather to the disposition, rashness to the conduct. [Century Dictionary]

"to scold, chide vehemently, rebuke," late 14c., raten, probably from Old French rateir, variant of reter "to impute blame, accuse, find fault with," from Latin reputare "to count over, reflect," in Vulgar Latin, "to impute, blame," from re- "repeatedly" (see re-) + putare "to judge, suppose, believe, suspect" (originally "to clean, trim, prune," which is reconstructed to be from PIE root *pau- (2) "to cut, strike, stamp"). Related: Rated; rating.

Old French reter also was borrowed into Middle English as retten "to blame" (c. 1300); also "to attribute, impute" (late 14c.), "to consider, think about" (late 14c.).

late 14c., racional, "pertaining to or springing from reason;" mid-15c., of persons, "endowed with reason, having the power of reasoning," from Old French racionel and directly from Latin rationalis "of or belonging to reason, reasonable," from ratio (genitive rationis) "reckoning, calculation, reason" (see ratio).

In arithmetic, "expressible in finite terms," 1560s. Meaning "conformable to the precepts of practical reason" is from 1630s. Related: Rationally. It is from the same source as ratio and ration; the sense in rational is aligned with that in related reason (n.), which got deformed in French.

"voracious, savage," late 14c., present-participle adjective from an extinct verb ravine, raven "to prey, to plunder, devour greedily" (mid-14c.), from Old French raviner, ravinier "to seize, pillage" (see raven (v.)). It is etymologically related to ravenous, but not to raven (n.). Related: Raveningly.

late 14c., unctioun, "act of anointing as a religious rite," also for medicinal purposes, from Latin unctionem (nominative unctio) "anointing," from unctus, past participle of ungere "to anoint" (see unguent). In England the practice was dropped by the Protestants.

late 14c., "resembling an ointment; having a greasy, oily, or soapy feeling when touched," from Old French unctueus, from Medieval Latin unctuosus "greasy," from Latin unctus "act of anointing," from past participle stem of unguere "to anoint" (see unguent).

The figurative sense of "blandly ingratiating, excessively suave" is recorded 1742, perhaps in part with a literal sense, but in part a sarcastic usage from unction in the meaning "deep spiritual feeling" (1690s), such as comes from having been anointed in the rite of unction. Related: Unctuously; unctuousness; unctuosity.