rabbit

name

1. The fourth of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English rabet, rabette, from Anglo-Latin rabettus, from dialectal Old French rabotte, probably a diminutive of Middle Dutch or West Flemish robbe (“rabbit, seal”), of uncertain origin; possibly some imitative verb, maybe robben, rubben (“to rub”) is used here to allude to a characteristic of the animal. See rub. Related forms include Middle French rabouillet (“baby rabbit”) and in French rabot (“plane”)), coming via Walloon Old French (reflected nowadays as Walloon robète (“rabbit”)), from Middle Dutch robbe ("rabbit; seal"; whence Modern Dutch rob (“rabbit", also "seal”)); also Middle Low German robbe, rubbe (“rabbit”), and the later German Low German Rubbe, Robb (“seal”), West Frisian robbe (“seal”), Saterland Frisian Rubbe (“seal”), North Frisian rob (“seal”), borrowed into German Robbe (“seal”). Meant "young rabbit" until the 19th c., when it came to replace the original general term cony, owing to the latter's resemblance to and use as a euphemism for cunny, "vulva" (compare ass and donkey). Note that there is no inherited Germanic word for rabbits, since hares are the only leporids native to Britain (as with all of Europe outside the Iberian Peninsula and southwest France); rabbits were introduced from France in the late Middle Ages, likely after the Norman Invasion. (Fittingly, hare is indeed inherited from Proto-Germanic.)

1. A mammal of most genera of the family Leporidae, with long ears, long hind legs and a short, fluffy tail. (Those of the larger kind are instead called hares)

   “The pioneers survived by eating the small game they could get: rabbits, squirrels and occasionally a raccoon.”

   “Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.”

2. The meat from this animal.

   “She was cooking rabbit stew for dinner.”

3. The fur of a rabbit typically used to imitate another animal's fur.
4. A runner in a distance race whose goal is mainly to set the pace, either to tire a specific rival so that a teammate can win or to help another break a record; a pacesetter.
5. A very poor batsman, selected as a bowler or wicket-keeper.
6. A batsman who is frequently dismissed by the same bowler (said to be that player's rabbit).

   “Glenn McGrath dismissed Michael Atherton a record 19 times; hence Atherton is McGrath's rabbit.”

7. A large element at the beginning of a list of items to be bubble sorted, and thus tending to be quickly swapped into its correct position. Compare turtle.
8. Rarebit; Welsh rabbit or a similar dish: melted cheese served atop toast.

   “The cheese mixture may be served with toast on the side or poured on top of toast and grilled until golden brown and bubbling. Other variations include Buck rabbit, a Welsh rabbit with a poached egg on top, and Yorkshire rabbit with bacon ...”

   “CHEESE TOASTED, OR RABBIT.”

9. A pneumatically-controlled tool used to insert small samples of material inside the core of a nuclear reactor.

   “This rabbit is constructed such that only that fraction of the beam that passes through the 15g-in. diameter target container reaches the Faraday cup behind the rabbit.”

10. A vibrator with a shaft and a clitoral stimulator usually shaped like a rabbit's ears.

    “Rabbits come in many forms/In colors, shapes and sizes./ They satisfy a lady's needs,/Indulging her sweet vices.”

    “First, she showed us the standard dildos before moving on to the rabbits—vibrators with little ears to stimulate the clit.”

verb

Etymology: Perhaps a corruption of rabate.

1. Confound; damn; drat.

   “LORD D. There, Dick, d'ye hear how the tutorer talks? oh rabbit it! he can ladle you out of latin by the quart;—and grunts greek like a pig.”