1896 G. Ade Artie v. 41 ‘Who is he—one o' them rah-rah boys with a big bunch o' hair?’... ‘He's an awfully nice fellow,’ responded young Mr. Hall, stiffly. He had attended the academy himself and he did not like the reference to ‘rah-rah boys’.

1907 Chicago Tribune 30 Jan. 2/3 Blow to ‘rah-rah’ cigaretist... Bill..would prevent college student under 21 from smoking.

1944 D. Burley Orig. Handbk. Harlem Jive 145/1 Rah-rah drapes, collegiate-styled clothing.

1960 I. Cross Backward Sex iii. 72 The team and three bus-loads of their ra-ra supporters arrived about midday.

1972 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 24 June 18/2 People..are real rah-rah, knocking on doors and asking you to come to parties.

1993 Guardian 24 July (Weekend Suppl.) 9/3 There is no kink that cannot be proclaimed, with rah-rah upbeatness, on the Oprah Winfrey show.

1931 L. Steffens Autobiogr. (2005) xvii. 126 If the rah-rah boys in our colleges could be told this, they might not all be such specialists in football, petting parties, and unearned degrees.

1969 Jrnl. Higher Educ. 40 41 Some student governments have even gained an image as being composed of irresponsible rah-rah boys.

1979 Los Angeles Times 20 July ia. 1/5 The rah-rah boys in the Chamber of Commerce are trying to build up artificial optimism.

2005 Manila Times (Nexis) 4 Dec. A media mogul, a former rah-rah boy of Thaksin, is the acknowledged leader of the ‘yellow revolution’.

1907 Hartford (Connecticut) Courant 19 Nov. 14/2 These rah-rah girls.

1970 People (Austral.) 25 Mar. 24/3 The possible solution to the growing world-wide problem of football game disorder comes clad in a delightfully brief skirt and twirls a baton. In America she is known as a ‘Rah-Rah girl’, in Australia as a Drum Majorette.

2001 Cosmopolitan Dec. 197/1 The rebellious rah-rah girl in last year's cheerleading romp Bring It On.

1965 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 22 Aug. (World of Women section) 1 (advt.) From our library of school looks... A rah-rah skirt spectacular.]

1981 Time 5 Oct. 44 (caption) Picture 1, Sweats: jumpsuit ($75), rah-rah skirt ($33).

1994 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 27 Mar. 33/2 The Rah-Rah skirt is about to make a comeback on the Oz fashion scene.

2001 K. Sampson Outlaws (2002) 101 Two really boss-looking, shiny brown blondes walking round in ra-ra skirts and that.

1915 N.Y. Times 23 May vii. 4/2 Above everything else rah-rahism is frowned upon and discouraged in the college student of the present day.

1930 Chicago Daily Maroon 9 Dec. 4/1 Students engage in rah-rahism because it gives them a certain simple amount of enjoyment.

2004 in J. Habib Israel xii. 201 This very rah-rahism (being imposed on) the kids. I kept trying to put a damper on it.

1896 Washington Post 22 Nov. 6/3 The chappies who failed to ‘rah, rah, rah!’ yesterday were not in it to any considerable degree.

1947 Chicago Tribune 26 Dec. 28 (headline) Cheer leaders find way to rah-rah at Tampa's bowl game.

1988 D. Waters Heathers (film script) (O.E.D. Archive) 98 (stage direct.) Cheerleader Heather McNamara rah-rah-rahs.

2000 N.Y. Press 5 Apr. i. 3/5 As many as 1000 students..gathering to rah-rah on behalf of the Badgers.

1940 Chicago Defender 10 Feb. 24 The fraternity brothers..rushed out to ‘rah-rah’ their team.

1963 J. O. Killens And then we heard Thunder 47 You'd better stop rah-rahing Tojo or you're going to be cooking.

2002 T. O'Brien July, July 196 Always the cheerleader. Rah-rahing the oncologists, rooting for the cure.

1892 Outing Oct. 37/1 He no longer felt stage-fright surrounded by the ‘rah-'rahing mob’.

1907 C.W. Eliot in Amer. Educ. Rev. 28 966/1 The average rah-rahing undergraduate whose thoughts dwell chiefly on athletic sports and students' frolics.

1944 B. Johnson As much as I Dare 235 I should like to write of deans of women and men, and rah-rahing campuses from Maine to California.