ready: in phr. to make ready, to dress oneself; ‘You made yourself half ready in a dream’, Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 1 (Sanitonella); ‘She must do nothing of herself, not eat . . . make her ready, unready, Unless he bid her’, Beaumont and Fl., Woman’s Prize, i. 1 (Tranio). See [unready].
reaks, reeks, pranks, riotous practices. Gascoigne, Looks of a Lover forsaken, 13 (Works, i. 49); Heywood, Eng. Traveller, ii. 1 (Clown); Urquhart’s Rabelais, iii. 2; ‘Faire le Diable de Vauvert, to play monstrous reaks’, Cotgrave (s.v. Diable); ‘The heart of man in prayer is most bent to play reakes in wandering from God’, Boyd, Last Battel, 731 (Jamieson). ‘Reak’ (or ‘reik’) is an old Scottish word for a trick or prank. See [rex].
re-allie, to form (plans) again. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 23.
realm, region; pron. like ream (of paper), and quibbled upon. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. v (Clement); Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4 (Ithamore).
reame, a kingdom, realm. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 53; iv. 8. 45; Daniel, Civil Wars, i. 82; reme, Skelton, Against the Scottes, 156. ME. reame (P. Plowman, A. v. 146); reme (Chaucer), Anglo-F. realme (Rough List); see Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Rewme).
reaming, stretching out in threads; ‘Reaming wooll’, Herrick, Widdowes Teares, st. 5. Cp. ‘reamy’, stringy, used of bread, in the west country, see EDD. (s.v. Ream, vb.2 6 (2)).
rear, early. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Lolpoop). A Kentish pronunciation of rare. See EDD. (s.v. Rare, adj. 2). See [rare].
rear, insufficiently cooked. Middleton, Game at Chess, iv. 2. 21. In gen. prov. use in England and America (EDD.). OE. hrēr, half-cooked, underdone (Sweet).
reare, to lift; hence, to carry off, take away. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 6. Also, to direct upwards, Milton, P. R. ii. 285.
reasty, rancid, esp. used of bacon which has become yellow and strong-tasting through bad curing. Reastie, Tusser, Husbandry, § 20. 2. OF. resté, that which is left over, hence, stale, cp. Bibbesworth, in T. Wright’s Vocab., 155: chars restez = E. resty flees (i.e. reasty flesh). Reasty is still in general prov. use in England (EDD.).