Rack. In Munster an ordinary comb is called a _rack_: the word _comb_ being always applied and confined to a small close fine-toothed one.
Rackrent; an excessive rent of a farm, so high as to allow to the occupier a bare and poor subsistence. Not used outside Ireland except so far as it has been recently brought into prominence by the Irish land question.
Rag on every bush; a young man who is caught by and courts many girls but never proposes.
Raghery; a kind of small-sized horse; a name given to it from its original home, the island of Rathlin or Raghery off Antrim.
Rake; to cover up with ashes the live coals of a turf fire, which will keep them alive till morning:--'Don't forget to rake the fire.'
Rap; a bad halfpenny: a bad coin:--'He hasn't a rap in his pocket.'
Raumaush or raumaish; _romance_ or fiction, but now commonly applied to foolish senseless brainless talk. Irish _rámás_ or _rámáis_, which is merely adapted from the word _romance_. { 311}
Raven's bit; a beast that is going to die. (Kinahan.)
Rawney; a delicate person looking in poor health; a poor sickly-looking animal. (Connaught.) Irish _ránaidhe_, same sound and meaning.
Reansha; brown bread: sometimes corrupted to _range_-bread. (MacCall: Wexford.)
Red or redd; clear, clear out, clear away:--Redd the road, the same as the Irish _Fág-a-ballagh_, 'clear the way.' If a girl's hair is in bad tangles, she uses a _redding-comb_ first to open it, and then a finer comb.
Redden; to light: 'Take the bellows and redden the fire.' An Irishman hardly ever _lights_ his pipe: he _reddens_ it.
Ree; as applied to a horse means restive, wild, almost unmanageable.
Reek; a rick:--A reek of turf: so the Kerry mountains, 'MacGillicuddy's Reeks.'
Reel-foot; a club-foot, a deformed foot. (Ulster.) 'Reel-footed and hunch-backed forbye, sir.' (Old Ulster song.)
Reenaw´lee; a slow-going fellow who dawdles and delays and hesitates about things. (Munster.) Irish _ríanálaidhe_, same sound and meaning: from _rían_, a way, track, or road: _ríanalaidhe_ , a person who wanders listlessly along the _way_.
Reign. This word is often used in Munster, Leinster, and Connaught, in the sense of to occupy, to be master of: 'Who is in the Knockea farm?' 'Mr. Keating reigns there now.' 'Who is your landlord?' 'The old master is dead and his son Mr. William reigns over us now.' 'Long may { 312} your honour [the master] reign over us.' (Crofton Croker.) In answer to an examination question, a young fellow from Cork once answered me, 'Shakespeare reigned in the sixteenth century.' This usage is borrowed from Irish, in which the verb _riaghail_ [ree-al] means both to rule (as a master), and to reign (as a king), and as in many other similar cases the two meanings were confounded in English. (Kinahan and myself.)