Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1990 (DOST Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Rant, v. [e.m.E. (1602), Du. randten, ranten (obs.) to talk foolishly, to rave, G. ranzen to frolic, etc.] a. intr. To be uproariously merry; to carouse; to revel. b. tr. To rant (someone) down, to talk violently against, to storm against; to shout down. —a. 1657 Misc. Hist. Soc. VII 12.
Wedensday: rantinge; shooke hands with a man that was going to be hanged Ib. 14.
[We] dranke till twelfe a cloke in the night, at which time we ranted thorrowe all the litle towens with a great bagge pipe 1681 Colvil Whig's Suppl. (1681) i 50.
Although we do not rant and swagger, Nor drink in taverns till we stagger —b. 1661 W. Thompson The Churches Comfort: Sermon Preached in the Old Church of Edinburgh (1706) 24.
Her stoutest enemies, that ranted her down in the day of her affliction