I. rash 1 /ræʃ/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Origin: Probably from an unrecorded Old English ræsc ]
if you are rash, you do things too quickly, without thinking carefully about whether they are sensible or not ⇨ foolish :
Please Jessie, don’t do anything rash.
Don’t go making any rash decisions about your future!
It was rather rash of you to lend them your car.
—rashly adverb :
I rashly agreed to look after the children.
—rashness noun [uncountable]
II. rash 2 BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1700-1800 ; Origin: Early French rache 'small pieces of loose skin' , from Latin radere ; ⇨ ↑ raze ]
1 . a lot of red spots on someone’s skin, caused by an illness:
She had a nasty rash on her arm.
come/break out in a rash (=get a rash)
My mother comes out in a rash if she eats seafood.
nappy rash British English , diaper rash American English
Most babies get nappy rash at some stage.
a heat rash (=a rash caused by heat)
2 . rash of something informal a large number of unpleasant events, changes etc within a short time SYN spate of something :
There’s been a rash of car thefts in the city centre.
• • •
THESAURUS
■ a mark on your skin
▪ blemish a mark on your skin that spoils its appearance:
John grew a beard to hide the blemishes on his chin.
▪ mole a small dark, sometimes raised, mark on your skin:
Some moles may become cancerous.
|
Helena found a mole on her arm which had definitely not been there before.
▪ freckles small light brown marks on your skin, especially on your face but also on your arms, shoulders etc:
She had a light sprinkling of freckles across her nose.
▪ birthmark a permanent mark on your skin that you have had since you were born:
There was a small birthmark on her left cheek.
▪ bruise a purple or brown mark on your skin that you get because you have fallen or been hit:
Her legs were covered in cuts and bruises.
▪ scar a permanent mark on your skin, caused by a cut or by something that burns you:
The injury left a small scar on his forehead.
▪ pimple/zit ( also spot British English ) a small raised red mark or lump on your skin, which usually appears when a child is between 12 and 18 years old:
When I was a teenager I had terrible spots.
|
The boy had a few pimples under his chin.
▪ wart a small hard raised mark on your skin caused by a virus:
His face was covered in hairy warts.
▪ blister a small area of skin that is swollen and full of liquid because it has been rubbed or burned:
There was a blister on his arm where the boiling milk had splashed him.
▪ rash an area of small red spots on your skin, caused by an illness or an ↑ allergy :
I can’t eat strawberries - they give me a rash.