/ ræʃ; NAmE / noun , adjective
■ noun
1.
[ C , usually sing. ] an area of red spots on a person's skin, caused by an illness or a reaction to sth :
I woke up covered in a rash.
I come out in a rash (= a rash appears on my skin) if I eat chocolate.
The sun brought her out in (= caused) an itchy rash.
a heat rash (= caused by heat)
—compare spot
2.
[ sing. ] rash (of sth) a lot of sth; a series of unpleasant things that happen over a short period of time
SYN spate :
a rash of movies about life in prison
There has been a rash of burglaries in the area over the last month.
■ adjective
rash (to do sth) ( of people or their actions ) doing sth that may not be sensible without first thinking about the possible results; done in this way
SYN impulsive , reckless :
a rash young man
It would be rash to assume that everyone will agree with you on this.
Think twice before doing anything rash.
This is what happens when you make rash decisions.
► rash·ly adverb :
She had rashly promised to lend him the money.
► rash·ness noun [ U ]:
He bitterly regretted his rashness.
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WORD ORIGIN
adjective late Middle English (also in Scots and northern English in the sense nimble, eager ): of Germanic origin; related to German rasch .
noun early 18th cent.: probably related to Old French rasche eruptive sores; compare with Italian raschia itch.