rah
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɹɑː/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɑː
Etymology 1
Clipping of hurrah
Alternative forms
- ra
Interjection
rah
- An exclamation of encouragement.
- 2011, Kern Alexander, M. David Alexander, American Public School Law (page 668)
- Not so very long ago, a row of docile cheerleaders would say, “rah, rah, rah, sis-boombah”—maybe a leg would kick up into the air, perhaps a jump under the cheerleader's own power.
- 2011, Kern Alexander, M. David Alexander, American Public School Law (page 668)
Noun
rah (plural rahs)
- (Britain, informal) A person (especially a student) with a posh accent who looks down on those who are "common".
- 2012, Helen Pidd, Letter from India: it's no easy matter being a woman looking for a decent drink in Delhi, The Guardian
- I didn't need to make a mental note not to follow their advice: like every other pretentious foreigner from the gap year rahs to the retired yoga addicts, I had no intention of stepping into a shopping centre. I was going to discover the real India.
- 2012, Helen Pidd, Letter from India: it's no easy matter being a woman looking for a decent drink in Delhi, The Guardian
Adjective
rah (comparative more rah, superlative most rah)
- (Britain, informal) Posh.
- 2021, Boris Johnson has utterly failed to back up his anti-woke rhetoric with action (in The Sunday Telegraph, 9 December)
- The June 2020 protest at which the Bristol slave-trader and philanthropist’s statue was brought down was a BLM protest. But none of the defendants were black. Rather, as you can tell from their names (including Milo Ponsford and Sage Willoughby) they were almost comically typical of a certain rah, right-on Bristol type.
- 2021, Boris Johnson has utterly failed to back up his anti-woke rhetoric with action (in The Sunday Telegraph, 9 December)
Etymology 2
Clipping of rhatid
Interjection
rah
- (MLE) An expression of surprise.
- 2019 June 6, Skepta, quoted in “Skepta opens up about becoming a father and enduring two heartbreaking miscarriages” by Narjas Zatat, Metro:
- He’s like, “Shut up, man. Whatever man. Skip, man, was a shot.” And I’m like, “Rah, this is a bit of a weird reaction?”
- 2019 June 6, Skepta, quoted in “Skepta opens up about becoming a father and enduring two heartbreaking miscarriages” by Narjas Zatat, Metro:
- (MLE) An expression of admiration.
- 2016, Wiley, quoted in This Is Grime by Hattie Collins and Olivia Rose, Hachette UK, page 145:
- Target bought[sic] the tape round, I listened to it and I was like, ‘Rah, this is sick, this kid is so sick’.
- 2016, Wiley, quoted in This Is Grime by Hattie Collins and Olivia Rose, Hachette UK, page 145:
- (MLE) An expression of frustration or anger.
- 2016, Big Narstie (lyrics), “Fire In The Booth (Part 3)”, performed by Big Narstie on BBC Radio 1Xtra:
- I was daydreaming, smoking weed out the curtain / Looking at my baby like rah, I'm just a burden
- 2016, Big Narstie (lyrics), “Fire In The Booth (Part 3)”, performed by Big Narstie on BBC Radio 1Xtra:
Synonyms
- wow
Anagrams
- Ahr, HAR, RHA, har
Mizo
Etymology
From Proto-Kuki-Chin *raʔ (“fruit”), maybe from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-ras (“rice”). Cognate found in Tibetan འབྲས ('bras).
Noun
rah
- fruit, berry
- rah tlan ― bird-traps consisting of a kind of fruit
- acorn, nut
Verb
rah
- to bear fruit
- rah duh ― for a tree to be fruitful
- rah ṭha ― to bear good fruit
- rah chhia ― to bear bad fruit
Old Javanese
Noun
rah
- Alternative spelling of rāh
Somali
Etymology
Cognate with Jiiddu raki[1].
Noun
rah f
- frog
References
- Salim Alio Ibro (1998) English-Jiddu-Somali Mini-Dictionary, Victoria, Australia: La Trobe University Language Center, →ISBN
Sumerian
Romanization
rah
- Romanization of 𒈛 (raḫ)