Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Wild; outrageous; crazy.
  • Half-drunk; tipsy.
  • noun A state of temporary delirium.
  • noun A river; a flood.
  • To riddle; sift; separate or throw off.
  • A reduction (as an exclamation) of reet, dialectal form of right: used in driving horses.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun See rei.
  • transitive verb Obs. or Prov. Eng. To riddle; to sift; to separate or throw off.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb obsolete, UK, dialect To riddle; to sift; to separate or throw off.
  • noun Alternative form of rei.
  • adjective Wild; fierce; outrageous; overexcited; frenzied; delirious; crazy.
  • adjective Befuddled with liquor; half-drunk; tipsy.
  • noun A state of befuddlement; intoxication.
  • noun A state of great excitement or frenzy.
  • verb intransitive To become extremely excited; fly into a rage.
  • verb transitive To drive into a state of excitement; fire with enthusiasm.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Compare riddle a sieve.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English rei, reh, reoh, from Old English hrēoh ("rough, fierce, wild, angry, disturbed, troubled, stormy, tempestuous"), from Proto-Germanic *hreuhaz (“bad, wild”), from Proto-Indo-European *krewa- (“raw meat, fresh blood”). Cognate with Scots ree, rae, ray ("ree"), Old Saxon hrē ("evil, bad, angry"), Gothic  (raúhtjan, "to become angry, rage against"). Related to Old English hrēaw ("raw, uncooked"). More at raw.

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