I found the word, ‘rare’ being used as a verb in the headline of today’s New York Times article – “An often procrastinating Congress is raring at the gate on tax cuts.” It is followed by this sentence:
It is a maxim in Congress these days: If high-profile legislation affecting millions of Americans is about to expire, deal with it at the last possible second. Both parties in the House and the Senate are eager at the prospect of voting for their respective versions of an extension of the cuts this summer, well before the due date.
As I’m not very familiar with the usage of ‘rare’ as a verb, I consulted with dictionaries online:
Oxford Dictionary defines ‘rare’ only as an adjective meaning ‘not occurring very often.’
Cambridge Dictionary defines it only as an adjective meaning ‘not common, very unusual.”
Merriam-Webster defines ‘rare’ as an adjective meaning; 1. marked by wide separation of component particles. 2. marked by unusual quality, merits, appeal. 3. seldom occurring or found.
OALED adds ‘meat cooked for only a short time so that the inside is still red' to the meaning of (1) ‘not happening very often, (2) existing only in small number.
Only Japanese publisher, Kenkyusha’s English Japanese Dictionary registers rare as a verb and ‘rare back’ as a slang meaning “brace for action, rouse oneself for action.”
Is “rare” used as a verb very often as used in “Congress is raring at the gate on tax cuts,” or “US and China are raring at the immigration of a Chinese blind lawyer”?
