rape

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To force someone to have sex against their will.

   The man was sent to prison for raping his victim.

2. 2
   noun

   The crime of forcing someone to have sex against their will.

   Rape is a serious crime punished by long prison sentences.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Rape came through Anglo-Norman French from Latin rapere “seize.” It originally referred to the violent seizure of property and later to carrying off a woman by force. The unrelated plant name rape originally denoted the turnip and comes from Latin rapum or rapa “turnip.”

Generally considered to derive from Old English rāp (“rope”), in reference to the ropes used to delineate the courts that ruled each rape. Compare Dutch reep and the parish of Rope, Cheshire. In the 18th century, Edward Lye proposed derivation from Old Norse hreppr (“tract of land”), but this was rejected by the New English Dictionary and is considered "phonologically impossible" by the English Place-Name Society. Others, considering it improbable that the Normans would have adopted a local word, suggest derivation from Old French raper (“take by force”). See Wikipedia for more.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary