verb. (various: see definition).—1. ‘To talk Big, High, or Boast much’ (B. E., c. 1696); to storm; to rave: in this sense RANT has always been literary, including the corresponding subs., adj., &c. Whence, however, many usages more or less colloquial:—RANTAN (RANDAN, RANDY, RAND, RANDYDAN, RANT, RANTY, RANTAN, or RANTYTAN) = (1) a jollification, (2) a wenching bout, (3) the sound of a drum, and (4) a drunken frolic; also as verb. (or TO GO ON THE RANTAN, &c.) = to go on a round of debauchery; RANTER = (1) ‘Extravagants, Unthrifts, Lewd Sparks, also of the Family of Love’ (B. E., c. 1696); (2) = a noisy talker, bawling singer, or ruffian; (3) = a Primitive Methodist: often extended to Dissenters generally, and spec. to a sect dating from 1822, self-registered as such in the Census returns; (4) in pl. = idle drunken bolstering; RANTING, adj. = (1) in high spirits; and (2) = amorous, HOT (q.v.); and (3) extravagant: see quot. 1599; RANDY (or RANTY), subs. = (1) a beggar, ballad singer, or tinker: espec. such as bully or menace; (2) a scold: also RANDY-DANDY (or RANTY-TANTY); (4) a ramping wanton; (4) see RANTAN, supra; as adj. = (1) vagrant; (2) thieving, shrewish; (3) wanton, HOT (q.v.); as verb. = (1) see RANTAN, supra; and (2) to beat continuously, as a tinker; RANTIPOLE, subs. = (1) a whore, and (2) a ROMP (q.v.), a gallant hussy; as verb. = to run about wildly; and as adj. = ‘wild, rakish, jovial’ (B. E., c. 1696); TO RIDE RANTIPOLE (see RIDE); RANTUM-SCANTUM = copulation: see RIDE; RANTANKEROUS = quarrelsome; RANTALLION = (GROSE) ‘One whose scrotum is so relaxed as to be longer than his penis.’
1596. SHAKESPEARE, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 1 [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, ii. 25. There is the new Dutch verb. RANT]. Look where my RANTING host of the Garter comes.
1599. NASHE, Lenten Stuffe [Harleian Miscellany, vi. 153]. I would not … have it cast in my dishe that therefore I prayse Yarmouth so RANTANTINGLY, because I never elsewhere bayted my horse.
1601. JONSON, The Poetaster, iii. 1. He was born to fill thy mouth … he will teach thee to tear and RAND.
1630. TAYLOR (‘The Water Poet’), Workes, 110.
| There is RAN TAN Tom Tinker and his Tib, | |
| And there’s a Iuggler with his fingers glib. |
1662. J. WILSON, The Cheats, i, 1. I was out t’other Night UPON THE RANDAN, and who should I meet with but our old Gang, some of St. Nicholas’s Clerks.
1697. The Praise of Yorkshire Ale, 5.
| Mistake me not, custom, I mean not tho’, | |
| Of excessive drinking, as great RANTERS do. |
1699. CONGREVE, The Way of the World, iv. 10. What, at years of discretion, and comport yourself at this RANTIPOLE rate.
1712. ARBUTHNOT, The History of John Bull, II. iii. She used to RANTIPOLE about the house. Ibid. III. viii. She threw away her money upon roaring swearing bullies and RANDY beggars that went about the streets.
1730. JAMES MILLER, The Humours of Oxford, v. But couldst thou not learn, Timothy, who it is that the RANTIPOLE is going to marry?
1792. J. SINCLAIR, The Statistical Account of Scotland, Kirkden, ii. 515. Many RANDIES (sturdy vagrants) infest this country, from the neighbouring towns, and the Highlands.
1772. BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 57.
| Juno and he have had their quantum, | |
| And PLAY no more AT RANTUM-SCANTUM. |
d. 1796. BURNS, The Jolly Beggars.
| Ae night, at e’en, a merry cove | |
| O’ RANDIE gangrel bodies. | |
| Ibid. | |
| Wi’ quaffing and laughing, | |
| They RANTED and they sang. | |
| Ibid., To James Tennant. | |
| Your’s, saint or sinner, | |
| Rob the RANTER. |
1815. SCOTT, Guy Mannering, III. 304. I was the mad RANDY gypsey, that had been scourged, and banished and branded. Ibid. (1816), The Black Dwarf, ii. I hae a good conscience, unless it be about a RANT among the lasses, or a splore at a fair.
1822. GALT, The Steam-Boat, 179. ‘God bless you, sir, you are one of the protectors of innocence, I can see that,’ cried a RANDY-LIKE woman.
183[?]. CARLYLE [FROUDE, Life in London, xviii.]. That scandalous RANDY of a girl.
1851. How Mike Hooter Came Very Near ‘Wolloping’ Arch Coony, in Polly Peablossom’s Wedding and Other Tales, p. 147. He was the durndest, RANTANKEROUS hoss-fly that ever clum er tree!
1871. Figaro, 15 April. We put him down near Sloane Square—There was a RANTERS’ chapel there.
1885. Punch, 27 June, 303, ‘What ‘E. P. B.’ Thinks.’
| The Oracle, he | |
| Talks RANTIPOLE rubbish and fiddlededee! |
1887. R. L. STEVENSON, The Misadventures of John Nicolson, vii. [Yule Tide, 9]. John had been (as he was pleased to call it) visibly ‘on the RANDAN’ the night before.
2. (streets’).—See quot.
1887. Walford’s Antiquarian, 253. To RANT is to appropriate anything in a forcible manner. “Let’s go and RANT their marleys,” says one urchin to another, and straightway the pair annex the possessions of a more respectable party. But it is also used to denote undue freedom with females, and springs, no doubt from RANTIPOLE.
