RANK RIDER. A highwayman.
RANTALLION. One whose scrotum is so relaxed as to be
longer than his penis, i.e. whose shot pouch is longer
that the barrel of his piece.
RANTIPOLE. A rude romping boy or girl; also a gadabout
dissipated woman. To ride rantipole; the same as riding
St. George. See ST. GEORGE.
RANTUM SCANTUM. Playing at rantum scantum; making
the beast with two backs.
To RAP To take a false oath; also to curse. He rapped out a volley; i.e. he swore a whole volley of oaths. To rap, means also to exchange or barter: a rap is likewise an Irish halfpenny. Rap on the knuckles; a reprimand.
RAPPAREES. Irish robbers, or outlaws, who in the time of Oliver Cromwell were armed with short weapons, called in Irish RAPIERS, used for ripping persons up.
RAPPER. A swinging great lie.
RAREE SHEW MEN. Poor Savoyards, who subsist by shewing the magic lantern and marmots about London.
RASCAL. A rogue or villain: a term borrowed from the chase; a rascal originally meaning a lean shabby deer, at the time of changing his horns, penis, &c. whence, in the vulgar acceptation, rascal is conceived to signify a man without genitals: the regular vulgar answer to this reproach, if uttered by a woman, is the offer of an ocular demonstration of the virility of the party so defamed. Some derive it from RASCAGLIONE, an Italian word signifying a man. without testicles, or an eunuch.
RAT. A drunken man or woman taken up by the watch, and confined in the watch-house. CANT. To smell a rat; to suspect some intended trick, or unfair design.