Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Rate?

\Rate\, v. t. & i. [Perh. fr. E. rate, v. t., to value at a certain rate, to estimate, but more prob. fr. Sw. rata to find fault, to blame, to despise, to hold cheap; cf. Icel. hrat refuse, hrati rubbish.] To chide with vehemence; to scold; to censure violently. --Spencer. Go, rate thy minions, proud, insulting boy! --Shak. Conscience is a check to beginners in sin, reclaiming them from it, and rating them for it. --Barrow.
\Rate\, n. [OF., fr. L. rata (sc. pars), fr. ratus reckoned, fixed by calculation, p. p. of reri to reckon, to calculate. Cf. {Reason}.] 1. Established portion or measure; fixed allowance. The one right feeble through the evil rate, Of food which in her duress she had found. --Spenser. 2. That which is established as a measure or criterion; degree; standard; rank; proportion; ratio; as, a slow rate of movement; rate of interest is the ratio of the interest to the principal, per annum. Heretofore the rate and standard of wit was different from what it is nowadays. --South. In this did his holiness and godliness appear above the rate and pitch of other men's, in that he was so . . . merciful. --Calamy. Many of the horse could not march at that rate, nor come up soon enough. --Clarendon. 3. Variation; prise fixed with relation to a standard; cost; charge; as, high or low rates of transportation. They come at dear rates from Japan. --Locke. 4. A tax or sum assessed by authority on property for public use, according to its income or value; esp., in England, a local tax; as, parish rates; town rates. 5. Order; arrangement. [Obs.] Thus sat they all around in seemly rate. --Spenser. 6. Ratification; approval. [R.] --Chapman. 7. (Horol.) The gain or loss of a timepiece in a unit of time; as, daily rate; hourly rate; etc. 8. (Naut.) (a) The order or class to which a war vessel belongs, determined according to its size, armament, etc.; as, first rate, second rate, etc. (b) The class of a merchant vessel for marine insurance, determined by its relative safety as a risk, as A1, A2, etc.
\Rate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Rated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Rating}.] 1. To set a certain estimate on; to value at a certain price or degree. To rate a man by the nature of his companions is a rule frequent indeed, but not infallible. --South. You seem not high enough your joys to rate. --Dryden. 2. To assess for the payment of a rate or tax. 3. To settle the relative scale, rank, position, amount, value, or quality of; as, to rate a ship; to rate a seaman; to rate a pension. 4. To ratify. [Obs.] ``To rate the truce.'' --Chapman. {To rate a chronometer}, to ascertain the exact rate of its gain or loss as compared with true time, so as to make an allowance or computation depended thereon. Syn: To value; appraise; estimate; reckon.
\Rate\, v. i. 1. To be set or considered in a class; to have rank; as, the ship rates as a ship of the line. 2. To make an estimate.