rasp

[rasp, rahsp] /ræsp, rɑsp/
verb (used with object)
1.
to scrape or abrade with a rough instrument.
2.
to scrape or rub roughly:
The glacier rasped the valley floor.
3.
to grate upon or irritate:
The sound rasped his nerves.
4.
to utter with a grating sound:
to rasp out an answer.
verb (used without object)
5.
to scrape or grate.
6.
to make a grating sound.
noun
7.
an act of rasping.
8.
a rasping sound.
9.
a coarse file, used mainly on wood, having separate conical teeth.
10.
(in an insect) a roughened surface used in stridulation.
Origin
1200-50; Middle English raspen < Old French rasper to scrape, grate < Germanic; see rape3
Related forms
raspish, adjective
unrasped, adjective
Examples from the web for rasp
  • Then they rasp a hole in the fish's skin with their tough tongues.
  • It is done when you rasp it on the bottom with your knuckle and it makes a distinct hollow sound.
  • More rattling, and then the steady rasp of his snores.
  • Many budget fliers will tell you, with a rasp of irritation, that some trips are more budget than others.
  • His voice ravaged by dehydration, he proposed in a halting rasp that they attempt to row their way out of the calm.
  • He was using a weird high register that had none of his trademark warmth or even rasp.
  • She's still got some rasp, but her voice is in much better shape now.
  • Through the screens of the two half-open windows she can hear a rasp of crickets and a dim rush of traffic on the distant thruway.
  • She took the tough rasp of old blues shouters and made it her own by bringing out pain and tension to match the bravado.
  • Rhythmic imagination lies under a soft, woody tone with a bit of a rasp to it.
British Dictionary definitions for rasp

rasp1

/rɑːsp/
noun
1.
a harsh grating noise
2.
a coarse file with rows of raised teeth
verb
3.
(transitive) to scrape or rub (something) roughly, esp with a rasp; abrade
4.
to utter with or make a harsh grating noise
5.
to irritate (one's nerves or senses); grate (upon)
Derived Forms
rasper, noun
raspish, adjective
Word Origin
C16: from Old French raspe, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German raspōn to scrape

rasp2

/rɑːsp/
noun
1.
an informal or Scot word for raspberry
Word Origin and History for rasp
v.

mid-13c., "to scrape," from Middle Dutch raspen and from Old French rasper (Modern French râper) "to grate, rasp," which is perhaps from a West Germanic source (cf. Old English gehrespan) akin to the root of raffle. Vocalic sense is from 1843. Related: Rasped; rasping.

n.

"coarse file," 1540s, from Middle French raspe (Modern French râpe), from Old French rasper "to rasp" (see rasp (v.)).

rasp in Technology

language
["RASP - A Language with Operations on Fuzzy Sets", D.D. Djakovic, Comp Langs 13(3):143-148 (1988)].
(1995-05-10)