ræsan

From Proto-West Germanic *rāsijan, from Proto-Germanic *rēsijaną. Equivalent to rǣs +‎ -an. Cognate with Old Norse ræsa (Icelandic ræsa) and possibly Old Dutch *rāson (Dutch razen).

• IPA^(key): /ˈræː.sɑn/, [ˈræː.zɑn]

rǣsan

1. to rush, move violently or impetuously
   • 10th century, The Blickling Homilies:

     Hundas rǣsdon on ðone apostol

     Dogs rushed at the apostle

2. to proceed against something with violence, to assault, to attack
3. to rush into anything
   • c. 897, Alfred the Great, translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care

     Oft mon biþ suīðe rempende and rǣsþ suīðe dollīċe on ǣlċ weorc and hrædlīċe

     One is often very impulsive, and rushes very foolishly and quickly into each task

• rǣs

• ⇒ Middle English: rasen (merged with Old Norse ræsa and/or Old Norse rás)
  • English: race
  • Scots: ras, rase, race

• Joseph Bosworth, T. Northcote Toller (1898) “rǣsan”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.