Library / English Dictionary

RAVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An extravagantly enthusiastic review

Example:

he gave it a rave

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("rave" is a kind of...):

critical review; critique; review; review article (an essay or article that gives a critical evaluation (as of a book or play))

Derivation:

rave (praise enthusiastically)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A dance party that lasts all night and electronically synthesized music is played

Example:

raves are very popular in Berlin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("rave" is a kind of...):

dance (a party for social dancing)

Derivation:

rave (participate in an all-night techno dance party)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Praise enthusiastically

Example:

She raved about that new restaurant

Synonyms:

gush; rave

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "rave" is one way to...):

praise (express approval of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue rave over the results of the experiment

Derivation:

rave (an extravagantly enthusiastic review)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner

Synonyms:

jabber; mouth off; rabbit on; rant; rave; spout

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "rave" is one way to...):

mouth; speak; talk; utter; verbalise; verbalize (express in speech)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

Sam and Sue rave

Sam and Sue rave over the results of the experiment

Derivation:

raver (someone who rants and raves; speaks in a violent or loud manner)

raving (declaiming wildly)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Participate in an all-night techno dance party

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "rave" is one way to...):

party (have or participate in a party)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

rave (a dance party that lasts all night and electronically synthesized music is played)

raver (a participant in a rave dancing party)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Here I have lain, Mr. Holmes, for over nine weeks, unconscious, and raving with brain-fever.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My poor husband would sit pale and listless, listening to the endless raving upon politics and upon social questions which made up our visitor’s conversation.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This gentleman treated me with kindness, and desired I would let him know what place I came from last, and whither I was bound; which I did in a few words, but he thought I was raving, and that the dangers I underwent had disturbed my head; whereupon I took my black cattle and sheep out of my pocket, which, after great astonishment, clearly convinced him of my veracity.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“Drunk or raving,” said he.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

His pleadings usually culminated in involuntary raving, until it seemed to her that he was passing into a fit; but always she shook her head and denied him the freedom for which he worked himself into a passion.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Catherine could have raved at the hand which had swept away what must have been beyond the value of all the rest, for the purposes of mere domestic economy; and would willingly have been spared the mortification of a walk through scenes so fallen, had the general allowed it; but if he had a vanity, it was in the arrangement of his offices; and as he was convinced that, to a mind like Miss Morland's, a view of the accommodations and comforts, by which the labours of her inferiors were softened, must always be gratifying, he should make no apology for leading her on.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The more I raved, the more Jip barked.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I quite rave about Jane Fairfax.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I rave: perhaps at this moment he is watching the sun rise over the Pyrenees, or on the tideless sea of the south.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Sister Agatha, who is a good creature and a born nurse, tells me that he raved of dreadful things whilst he was off his head.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)