Ranch. From the Spanish rancho, a hut of posts, covered with branches or thatch, in which herdsman or farm labourers in the western states of North America lodge by night.
Rand. Expresses the Dutch, specifically in South Africa, for a mining district.
Ranelagh Gardens. This fashionable public resort, now built over, occupied the site of Ranelagh House and its grounds, owned by an Irish peer, whose title it bore.
Ranters. Another name for the “Primitive Methodists.”
Rape. The name given to a division under the Danes of the county of Sussex, from the Norse repp, a district.
Rapier. This species of sword being eminently adapted for rapid thrusting and withdrawing, its name, from the Latin rapere, to snatch away, is appropriate.
Rappahannock. Indian for “quick-rising waters.”
Rapparee. The name given to an Irish plunderer, because he was armed with a rapera, or half pike.
Rascal. From the French racaille, “the scum of the people.”
Ratcliff Highway. Originally a manor belonging to the parish of Stepney, this highway for sailors ashore, where they found lodgings and entertainment of a low class in days prior to the provision of “Seamen’s Homes,” received its name from the multitudes of water rats that congregated on the Thames wall by night. On account of the evil reputation which this neighbourhood bore in former days, its name was changed to “St George’s in the East.”