Rag-splawger, a rich man.
Ragamuffin, an ill-clad vagabond, a tatterdemalion.
Rain napper, an umbrella.
Raise the wind, to obtain credit, or money,—generally by pawning or selling property, but not unusually by borrowing. Sometimes varied to WHISTLE UP THE BREEZE.
Raker, TO GO A, is, in racing parlance, to put more money than usual on a certain horse. “Going a RAKER” often leads to “coming a cropper.”
Ramp, to hustle, to rob with violence, to levy blackmail in a ferocious manner; to extort by means of threats. Ramping is generally done in gangs.
Rampage, TO BE ON THE, on the drink, on the loose. Dickens, in Great Expectations, refers to Mrs. Jo as being on the RAMPAGE when she is worse tempered than usual.
Ramper, a ruffian of the most brutal description, who infests racecourses and similar places on welching expeditions during summer, and finds pleasure and profit in garrotte robberies during winter.
Ramshackle, queer, rickety, knocked about, as standing corn is after a high wind. Corrupted from RAM-SHATTER, or possibly from RANSACK.
Rancho, originally a Spanish-American word, signifying a hunting-lodge, or cattle-station, in a wood or desert far from the haunts of men. A hunting or fishing station in the Highlands or elsewhere. In Washington, with their accustomed ingenuity in corrupting words and meanings, the Americans use the appellation for a place of evil report. The word is generally pronounced RANCH now.