rave v.
1. to praise enthusiastically.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Cruise of the Midge II 103: ‘Let us order the mules, and ride to Helen’s beautiful bay that she raves about.’ [...] ‘Oh, papa, I don’t rave about it,’ said she; ‘it is only Sophia and Mr Listado who rave’. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Upper Ten Thousand 44: Her hair, that ‘brown in the shadow and gold in the sun,’ which poets love to rave of. | |
| Adventures of Philip (1899) 381: Hely is raving about that girl. | |
| Lantern (N.O.) 22 Jan. 5: The remarkable manner in which the people are ravin’ over the wonderful cures performed by Dr. Betts. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Coburg Leader (Vic.) 20 July 1/6: Who is the girl in Cooraminta-street that raves about the boy in Edmund-street? | |
| Forty Modern Fables 189: You have the Shape that they are raving about in Paree this Spring. | |
| Rat 161: One day I tried a frog, and he was not bad, though nothing to rave about – rather cold and insipid. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 1 Apr. 4/7: I'm not goin’ crook about the size of the paintin’. It’s big enuff, and the frame’s orl right. But there’s nothink to rave about. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | ‘The Dead’ Dubliners (1956) 182: I’ll get him to sing later on. All Dublin is raving about him. | |
| ‘Extricating Young Gussie’ in Man with Two Left Feet 22: He continued to rave about her for several mails. | |
| Ulysses 697: My low notes he was always raving about if you can believe him. | |
| Broadway Melody 61: Honey—you’re a sensation. Everybody’s ravin’—your ship sure came in! | |
| (con. 1920s) Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 490: I wouldn’t need to be told that, not after the way I have heard you [...] rave about it. | |
| Life in a Putty Knife Factory (1948) 122: Maxine just raved about it! Funniest book she ever read! | |
| Absolute Beginners 64: Jazz is a thing so wonderful that if anybody doesn’t rave about it, all you can feel for them is pity. | |
| Mersey Beat 20 June–4 July n.p.: The girls used to rave over Pete Best. | |
| Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 99: Winchell wrote the reviews [...] and raved. | |
| Life and Times of Little Richard 138: The young people were raving over my outfits. |
2. in senses of seeking enjoyment.
(a) to have or go out in search of a good time.
| [ | | Gleaner (Manchester, NH) 19 Aug. n.p.: Your name is known all over town / You drink and rave from morn till noon / And prove yourself a tarnel fool]. |
| Through Beatnik Eyeballs 22: We often rave to some manor where we scrump them little apples off the trees. | |
| (ref. to 1952) Owning Up (1974) 98: In 1952 Mick and Jim derived a great deal of harmless amusement by ringing each other up every time they saw a new poster and reading out its message with the word ‘Rave’ substituted for the word ‘Save’ ‘help britain through national raving’. | |
| Sun. Times Mag. 30 Sept. 30: We used to hustle money and go raving every night. | |
| ‘Want Fi Goh Rave’ in Inglan Is A Bitch 12: Mi haffi mek a raze / kaw mi come af age / an mi want fi goh rave. | |
| Life and Times of Little Richard n.p. photo caption: Raving rockers kiss Richard’s feet in Hamburg, Germany. | |
| Curvy Lovebox 75: I’ll take a grand [...] seein’ as how you’re ravin’ tonight. |
(b) to attend a club or larger gathering to listen to music and, almost invariably, to take MDMA.
| in Living Dangerously 45: When he wasn’t out a clubs raving. | |
| (con. 1981) East of Acre Lane 21: Wha’appen Walker. Where you rave last night? | |
| Peepshow [ebook] Ten years of raving and the new day still came as a shock to him. |
3. (Aus. Und.) of a shoplifter, to make a fuss so as to cause a distraction while his accomplices work.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Apr. 45: He’s got the front and he can rave – a top mag – but just can’t pull a head. |