raze

noun

1. A swinging fence in a watercourse to prevent cattle passing through.

verb

Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English rasen, racen, rase (“to scrape; to shave; to erase; to pull; to strip off; to pluck or tear out; to root out (a tree, etc.); to pull away, snatch; to pull down; to knock down; to rend, tear apart; to pick clean, strip; to cleave, slice; to sever; to lacerate; to pierce; to carve, engrave; to dig; (figurative) to expunge, obliterate; to alter”), from Anglo-Norman raser, rasere, rasser, Middle French raser, and Old French raser (“to shave; to touch lightly, graze; to level off (grain, etc.) in a measure; to demolish, tear down; to erase; to polish; to wear down”), from Vulgar Latin *raso (“to shave; to scrape; to scratch; to touch lightly, graze”), from Latin rāsus (“scraped; shaved”), the perfect passive participle of rādō (“to scrape, scratch; to shave; to rub, smooth; to brush along, graze”). Doublet of rash (etymology 2 and etymology 7). The noun is derived from the verb.

1. To level or tear down (a building, a town, etc.) to the ground; to demolish.

   “The fortreſſe was raſed and beaten downe to the erthe⸝ whiche had coſt moche the makynge therof: […]”

   “Theſe are his ſubſtance, ſinevves, armes, and ſtrength, / VVith vvhich he yoaketh your rebellious Neckes, / Razeth your Cities, and ſubuerts your Tovvnes, / And in a moment makes them deſolate.”

2. To completely remove (someone or something), especially from a place, a situation, etc.; also, to remove from existence; to destroy, to obliterate.

   “Yet at the laſt, caſting with my ſelf, that yͤ heat of thy loue might cleane be razed with yͤ coldnes of my letter, I thought it good to commit an inconuenience, that I might preuent a miſchiefe, chuſing rather to cut thée off ſhort by rigour, then to giue thée any iot of hope by ſilence.”

   “VVithout reſpect of ſex, degree or age. / He raceth all his foes vvith fire and ſvvord.”

3. To erase (a record, text, etc.), originally by scraping; to rub out, to scratch out.

   “Suppleyng to Fame, I besought her grace, / And that it wolde please her, full tenderly I prayd, / Owt of her bokis Apollo to rase.”

   “The wound alas happe in some other place, / From whence no toole away the skar can race.”

4. To wound (someone or part of their body) superficially; to graze.

   “[T]he ſvvorde more mercifull then hee to himſelfe, vvith the ſlipping of the pommel, the point ſvvarued, and razed him but vpon the ſide: […]”

   “For vvas he not in the neareſt Neighbourhood to Death? And might not the Bullet, that perhaps raſed his Cheek, have as eaſily gone into his Head?”

5. To alter (a document) by erasing parts of it.

   “This indenture is raced all the worlde may ſe it: Ceſte indenture eſt faulcée tout le monde le peult veoyr.”

   “But I vvill take another order novv, / And race th'eternall Regiſter of time: […]”

6. To carve (a line, mark, etc.) into something; to incise, to inscribe; also, to carve lines, marks, etc., into (something); to engrave.

   “Generally, Barbarous People, that goe Naked, doe not onely paint Themſelues, but they povvnce and raze their Skinne, that the Painting may not be taken forth; And make it into VVorks.”

   “[Y]ou muſt mark the out-lines of your intended Hinge, […] either vvith Chalk, or elſe raſe upon the Plate vvith the corner of the Cold-Chiſſel, or any other hardned Steel that vvill ſcratch a bright ſtroke upon the Plate: […]”

7. To remove (something) by scraping; also, to cut or shave (something) off.
8. To rub lightly along the surface of (something); brush against, to graze.

   “And novv [the Rhine] by this time augmented vvith ſnovv, melted and reſolved into vvater, and raſing as it goes the high bankes vvith their curving reaches, entreth into a round and vaſt lake (vvhich the Rhætians dvvelling thereby, call Brigantia) […]”

   “Sometimes, his feet raſed the ſurface of the water; and, at others, the ſkylight almoſt flattened his noſe.”

9. To scrape (something), with or as if with a razor, to remove things from its surface; also, to reduce (something) to small pieces by scraping; to grate.

   “And you are a ſoule, ſo vvhite, and ſo chaſte, / A table ſo ſmooth, and ſo nevvly ra'ſte, / As nothing cald foule, / Dare approach vvith a blot, / Or any leaſt ſpot; […]”

10. To shave (someone or part of their body) with a razor, etc.

    “[A] ſharpe worde moued thée, when other whiles a ſworde will not, then a friendly checke killeth thée, when a raſor cannot raſe thée.”

    “Do you fancy him retir'd that […] conſumes his time trifling amongſt Barbers, razing and ſprucing himſelf, Povvdering, Combing, and ſummoning a Council upon every Hair?”

11. To cut, scratch, or tear (someone or something) with a sharp object; to lacerate, to slash.

    “Buckles and agglettes at vnwares, ſhall race his bowe, a thinge both euill for the fight, ⁊ perillous for freatinge.”

    “His death did raze hir heart.”

12. To carve lines, marks, etc., into something.
13. To graze or rub lightly along a surface.

    “Betwene theſe Ilandes and the continente, he entered into ſoo narowe ſtreyghtes, that he coulde ſcarſely turne backe the ſhippes: And theſe alſo ſo ſhalowe, that the keele of the ſhyps ſumtyme raſed on the ſandes.”

    “Rádere, […] to raze or go along the ſhore as a ſhip doth, or to flye leuell to the ground as ſome birds do.”

14. To penetrate through something; to pierce.

    “[O]ne Robert Dutch of Ipſvvith, having been ſorely vvounded by a Bullet that raſed to his skull, and then mauled by the Indian Hatchets, left for dead by the Salvages,^([sic – meaning Savages]) and ſtript by them of all but his skin; […]”

15. Of a horse: to wear down its corner teeth as it ages, losing the black marks in their crevices.