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Origin and history of rave

rave(v.)

early 14c., raven, "to show signs of madness or delirium, to rage in speech," from Old French raver, variant of resver "to dream; wander here and there, prowl; behave madly, be crazy," a word of unknown origin (compare reverie).

An identical (in form) verb meaning "to wander, stray, rove" dates from late 14c. in Scottish and northern dialect, and is probably from a Scandinavian word (such as Old Norse rafa). The sense of "talk about (something or someone) enthusiastically or immoderately" is recorded by 1704. Related: Raved; raving.

rave(n.)

1590s, "frenzy, great excitement," from rave (v.). Meaning "temporary popular enthusiasm" is from 1902; that of "highly flattering review" is by 1925 as a Variety magazine word. By 1960 as "rowdy party;" rave-up was British slang for "wild party" from 1940; the specific sense of "mass party with loud, fast electronic music and often psychedelic drugs" is by 1989.

also from 1590s

Entries linking to rave

reverie(n.)

mid-14c., reuerye, "wild conduct, frolic," from Old French reverie, resverie "revelry, rejoicing, wantonness, raving, delirium" (Modern French rêverie), from resver "to dream, wander, rave" (12c., Modern French rêver), a word of uncertain origin (also the source of rave).

The meaning "a daydream" also "fit of abstract musing, state of mental abstraction" is attested from 1650s, a reborrowing from French, which might explain why this old word in English has not been fully nativized as revery. "The most obvious external feature marking this state is the apparent unconsciousness or imperfect perception of external objects" [Century Dictionary]. As a type of instrumental musical composition, it is attested from 1880. Related: Reverist.

raver(n.)

c. 1400, ravere, "madman, maniac," agent noun from rave (v.). Meaning "attendee at a mass party" is from 1991. In Old French, the noun resveor meant "vagabond, night-prowler."

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Trends of rave

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

rove
"to wander with no fixed destination," 1530s (earliest sense was "to shoot arrows at a mark selected at pleasure or at random," late 15c.); possibly a Midlands dialectal variant of northern English and Scottish rave "to wander, stray," from Middle English raven "to wander, stray,
gush
c. 1400, "to rush out suddenly and forcefully" (of blood, water, etc.), probably formed imitatively in English or from Low German, or from or based on Old Norse gusa "to gush, spurt," from PIE *gus-, from root *gheu- "to pour," and thus related to geyser. Metaphoric sense of "spe
rant
c. 1600, "to be jovial and boisterous," also "to talk bombastically," from Dutch randten (earlier ranten) "talk foolishly, rave," of unknown origin (compare German rantzen "to frolic, spring about," dialectal rant "noise, uproar"). Related: Ranted; ranting. Ranters as the name of
randy
1690s, "aggressive, boisterous," a Scottish word of uncertain origin, probably from rand "to rave," an obsolete variant of...
hallucinate
The Latin ending probably was influenced by vaticinari "to prophecy," also "to rave."...
delirium
temporary, of the mind, often occurring during fever or illness," from Latin delirium "madness," from deliriare "be crazy, rave...
rage
, fury, madness" (11c.), from Medieval Latin rabia, from Latin rabies "madness, rage, fury," related to rabere "be mad, rave...
mouth
Old English muþ "oral opening of an animal or human; opening of anything, door, gate," from Proto-Germanic *muntha- (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian muth, Old Norse munnr, Danish mund, Middle Dutch mont, Dutch mond, Old High German mund, German Mund, Gothic munþs "mouth"),
speak
Middle English speken, from Old English specan, variant of sprecan "to utter words articulately without singing, have or use the power of speech; make a speech; hold discourse" with others (class V strong verb; past tense spræc, past participle sprecen), from Proto-Germanic *spre
aspire
"strive for, seek eagerly to attain, long to reach," c. 1400, aspiren, from Old French aspirer "aspire to; inspire; breathe, breathe on" (12c.), from Latin aspirare "to breathe upon, blow upon, to breathe," also, in transferred senses, "to be favorable to, assist; to climb up to,

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Dictionary entries near rave
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