rehearsen.
/rᵻˈhəːs/, U.S. /rəˈhərs/, /riˈhərs/ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > [noun]
rehearsalc1405
rehearse1429
repetition1579
spouting1581
hersall1590
recitation1623
absolutiona1637
rendition1851
rep1858
1429–30 King James I Acts in Ayr Burgh Court Bks. 6 Mar. The somondour sal somonde and mak hys rehers in court quedir at hime lykis be wyrt or be towng.
1467 MS Rec. Aberdeen V. i. 613 Of the quhilk landis the forsaide perteis sal make rehers to the said assise.
c1480 (a1400) St. Mary of Egypt 137 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 300 Þai..passyt, singand, with reherse of þe todyr nocturne þe fyrst verse.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) viii. l. 95 With-out rahers off accioun in that tid.
c1500 (?a1437) Kingis Quair (1939) cxxvii I have wele herd, and understond Be thy rehers the mater of thy gref.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) III. 251 Quhen this rehers befoir the paip wes maid.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. vii. 7 A briefe rehearse of the foundation, force, and situation of the citie of Alger.
1597 J. Skene De Verborum Significatione at Recordum The rehearse, reporte, or testification of the execution of the summondes.
2. = rehearsal n. 2. rare after 16th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > [noun] > by going through beforehand
practising?a1425
rehearse1463
exercitation1475
practice1504
rehearsal1579
woodshedding1927
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > [noun] > a performance > production of performance > rehearsal
rehearse1463
rehearsal1579
dressed rehearsal1793
dress rehearsal1812
full-dress rehearsal1821
run-through1905
walkthrough1940
stagger1964
1463 in A. F. Johnston & M. Rogerson Rec. Early Eng. Drama: York (1979) I. 95 Item at ye ferst rehers in kakkys & alle iiij d ob.
1490 in T. Sharp Diss. Pageants Coventry (1825) 15 This is the expens of the furste reherse of our players in ester weke.
1584 Coventry Acc. in Sharp Diss. Cov. Myst. (1825) 64 Payd ffor ffyve Reherses..vs.
2005 M. Murphy Night Shift 9 Now, let's do the practice, so we're both clear... Yes, do the rehearse.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
rehearsev.
/rᵻˈhəːs/, U.S. /rəˈhərs/, /riˈhərs/ I. Senses relating to the relation or recitation of words, information, etc.† 2. transitive. To say, utter. Obsolete.
1.
a. To give an account or description of; to relate, report, narrate, tell; to describe at length.
(a) transitive. With simple object.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > narration > narrate, relate, or tell [verb (transitive)]
singc900
reckonOE
readOE
tellOE
showc1175
betellc1275
i-tellec1275
rehearsec1300
record1340
accounta1387
to chase forthc1386
retretec1400
reporta1402
count?a1425
recite1448
touch?a1450
repeat1451
deliverc1454
explikec1454
renderc1460
recount1477
to show forth1498
relate1530
to set forth1530
rechec1540
reaccount1561
recitate1568
history1600
recant1603
to run througha1616
enarrate1750
narrate1754
c1300 Childhood Jesus (Laud) 353 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1875) 1st Ser. 14 (MED) With is staf he gan it breke; þare fore, dame, ich reherce þis þat þou it wite he dude amis.
c1330 Seven Sages (Auch.) (1933) 45 Þe tresoun he gan hem alle reherse.
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Squire's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 290 What nedeth yow rehercen hir array?
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 140 b/2 First we shal reherce here the birthe and begynnyng of Iudas.
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) xlvi. 154 Thou hast so myche to suffer, that therein is none humayne tonge can reherse it.
1577 T. Vautrollier tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. to Galathians (new ed.) f. 2 There is yet an other righteousnes,..the which we must diligently discerne from the other afore rehearsed.
1620 J. Wilkinson Treat. Statutes conc. Coroners & Sherifes (new ed.) 2 The cause of his not attendance or insufficiencie must be rehearsed.
1667 R. Allestree Causes Decay Christian Piety xix. 408 Let every man therefore who has any way made himself a Party to these contests, seriously interrogate his own heart; what it is that has engag'd Him in them: if any of the sinister motives before rehearst, let him for a while shift the Scene.
1712 Polit. Ballads (1860) II. 122 But now your last and blackest deed What mortal can rehearse?
1781 W. Cowper Table Talk 178 Could you..rehearse The mighty plan, oracular, in verse.
1845 B. Barton Househ. Verses 140 A by-gone age recalls to mind, Whose glories song hath oft rehearsed.
1851 H. W. Longfellow Golden Legend Nativity 131 First of all, we shall rehearse..The Nativity of our Lord.
a1894 R. L. Stevenson Amateur Emigrant (1895) 102 He rehearsed to me the course of a meeting at which he had been present.
1949 F. Fergusson in D. Lodge Twentieth C. Lit. Crit. 418 The arrangement which Sophocles made of the events of the story—starting near the end, and rehearsing the past in relation to what is happening now.
2003 J. Wintle Hist. Islam 24 In Islam, Jews and Christians are..fellow monotheists..whose histories are rehearsed in the Koran, and who are alike descended from Abraham (Ibrahim).
(b) transitive. With clause as object.
ΚΠ
c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. viii. 174 (MED) How þou leddist þi lif here & his lawe keptest..þe dom wile reherce.
c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. viii. 186 Þat..Dowel reherce Þat..we duden as he us hiȝte.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) 1559 Bede reherce þat som boke sayes [etc.].
a1500 (c1477) T. Norton Ordinal of Alchemy (BL Add.) (1975) 1162 Chawncers rehersith how titanos is þe same.
c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 83 I shall reherse what thys creature Eolus hath doon.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xv. 15 b There was openly rehearsed, how that..the Turkes army hadd taken..the castle.
1633 G. Herbert Peace in Temple vi They that taste it do rehearse, That vertue lies therein.
1658 T. Bromhall Treat. Specters 276 Suidas doth rehearse, that there was one Anagyrasion a quick spirited man.
1790 ‘A. Pasquin’ Postscript to New Bath Guide vii. 65 Tho' such candid confessions with Wit disagree, I'll rehearse what I think, and relate what I see.
1840 Citizen Mar. 347/1 At length, in the ordinance of the staples, 27 Edward III., we find it expressly rehearsed that good deliberation was had with the ‘prelates, dukes, earls, barons and knights of counties’.
1901 J. W. De Forest Downing Legends IV. 206 He spouted tidings bright as rockets; Rehearsing how the bird of freedom Had ripped the sawdust out of Edom.
1908 S. A. Ashe Hist. N. Carolina I. vii. 78 They rehearsed that they had come to Cape Fear notwithstanding the obloquy resting upon it, and were promised large holdings of land.
1974 C. Ross Edward IV viii. 190 In the preamble to this act [of parliament], it was rehearsed that the king had intended to attaint Montagu and his heirs.
b. intransitive. To give an account or explanation; to relate or report a story, event, etc. Frequently with of. Now rare (archaic in later use).
ΚΠ
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. 584 Pride..hath..Ministres five..Of whiche as [I] the schal reherse, The ferste is seid Ypocrisie.
?a1430 T. Hoccleve Mother of God l. 125 in Minor Poems (1970) i. 56 Seide he Right in this wyse, as I reherce can.
c1475 (c1399) Mum & Sothsegger (Cambr. Ll.4.14) (1936) iii. 315 As reson and rith rehersid to me ones [etc.].
1484 W. Caxton tr. G. de la Tour-Landry Bk. Knight of Tower (1971) lxi. 87 Of the whiche yf I wold I should reherce you of many of them.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) v. l. 124 I bott rahers as my autour will say.
a1500 Lancelot of Laik (1870) 2671 Of his manhed war merwell to rahers.
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 1696 As efterward, perchance, rehears I sall.
1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 70 Lufe is fulfilling of the Law, as Paull reheirsis in his writ.
1620 J. Taylor Praise of Hemp-seed 19 I could rehearse of trades, a number more Which but for Hempseed quickly would grow poore.
1641 W. Vaughan Sovles Exercise iv. 150 For some there are, as Jesus did rehearse, Who by the High way side, good Corne disperse.
1702 J. Swift Miscellanies (1711) 361 Once on a time, as old Stories reherse, A Fryer would needs show his Talent in Latin.
1781 W. Cowper Charity 505 Their zeal begotten, as their works rehearse, By lean despair.
1836 W. C. Smith Goblins of Neapolis 127 Fair England's queen, as chronicles rehearse, Committed not X, S [i.e. the Earl of Essex]; but the reverse.
1891 G. M. Major Background of Myst. 17 For as the pagan fabulists rehearse Of old gray Saturn by great Jove undone, [etc.].
1917 Open Court May 276 They spoke of those dear and departed..And heard Hermod rehearse of his journey.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)]
speakc825
queatheOE
forthdoc900
i-seggenc900
sayeOE
speak971
meleOE
quidOE
spella1000
forthbringc1000
givec1175
warpa1225
mootc1225
i-schirea1250
upbringa1250
outsay?c1250
spilec1275
talec1275
wisea1300
crackc1315
nevena1325
cast1330
rehearsec1330
roundc1330
spend1362
carpa1375
sermona1382
to speak outc1384
usea1387
minc1390
pronouncea1393
lancec1400
mellc1400
nurnc1400
slingc1400
tellc1400
wordc1400
yelpc1400
worka1425
utterc1444
outspeakc1449
yielda1450
arecchec1460
roose?a1475
cutc1525
to come forth with1532
bubble1536
prolate1542
report1548
prolocute1570
bespeak1579
wield1581
upbraid1587
up with (also mid) ——1594
name1595
upbrayc1600
discoursea1616
tonguea1616
to bring out1665
voice1665
emit1753
lip1789
to out with1802
pitch1811
go1836
to open one's head1843
vocabulize1861
shoot1915
verbal1920
be1982
c1330 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Auch.) (1952) 27 (MED) His kniȝtes of Grece and of Perce Wo and sorwe gan reherce.
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. iv. 134 Whon Resun to þis Reynkes Rehersede þeose wordes [etc.].
a1450 Rule St. Benet (Vesp.) (1902) 887 On þe last day Sal he reherce & sai vs til: ‘Þus did þou, & I held me stil’.
1463 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 18 (MED) After the gospel to..reherse John Barettys name opynly, seying De Profundis for me.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid i. ix. 93 Rehersing this, convoyis sche Eneas Towart the place.
1550 J. Coke Deb. Heraldes Eng. & Fraunce sig. Hvv Yf you haue any more to saye: reherse it; and I woll answere you.
1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 84 Thir wordis to hir he did reheirs, Haill Marie full of grace, The Lord God is with the.
1580 P. Hume Promine in D. Laing Sel. Remains (1885) 386 Thir wordis few the authour dois reheirs Into this maner.
a1678 W. Barton tr. in Six Cent. Select Hymns (1688) xxxv. 48 Strange women shall thine eyes behold, strange words thou shalt rehearse, And lust shall make thy heart full bold to utter things perverse.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Repetition, in Rhetoric, a figure whereby the Orator rehearses the same words or phrase over again.
3. transitive. To repeat (something previously said, heard, written, etc.).In quot. 1340, probably intransitive.
ΚΠ
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 220 (MED) Þerof anoþre time we habbeþ yspeke..an þeruore hit ne behoueþ naȝt to reherci.
c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 17 (MED) Al his þorȝ þat sacrement [sc. Confirmation], Þeiȝe hit ne be nauȝt rehersed.
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 732 Who so shal telle a tale after a man He moot reherce as neigh as euere he kan Euerich word.
1411 Rolls of Parl.: Henry IV (Electronic ed.) Parl. Nov. 1411 §13. m. 14 The forsaid Robert schal reherce the wordes that he saide to oure forsaide liege lord.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) x. 265 The proverbe may well be reherced for a trouth, that sayth, ‘Often happeth evill for a good torne’.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ecclus. xlii. 1 Rehearse not a thinge twyse, and disclose not the wordes, that thou hast herde in secrete.
1577 M. Hanmer tr. Bp. Eusebius in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. ii. xvii. 29 In the Actes of the Apostles, whence no doubt this is rehearsed.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. vii. xxx. 173 Æschines..at Rhodes rehearsed that accusatorie oration which hee had made against Demosthenes.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 110 When these words were rehearsed to the Generall, hee was mad with anger.
1685 R. C. Arcana Parliamentaria 15 They being gon, and the door again shut, the Speaker rehearseth to the House what they said.
a1704 T. Brown On Duke of Ormond's Recovery in Wks. (1707) I. i. 71 The Clifts and Hills my Ecchoed Thoughts rehearse.
1799 W. Huntington Corr. Noctua Aurita & Philomela 195 After I had communicated the dream and the conflict to his Majesty's herald, I had concluded never to rehearse it again.
1832 ‘B. Cornwall’ Eng. Songs iii. cxv. 142 The critic brings thee praise, which all rehearse.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) IV. 159 Cephalus rehearses a dialogue which is supposed to have been narrated..by Antiphon.
1893 Trans. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 12 91 I offered once a little prize for the best answer as to what makes it [sc. a boomerang] come back,..but the most of them rehearsed that abominable description in the cyclopedias.
1926 R. H. Tawney Relig. & Rise Capitalism iii. 152 The doctrine as to the ethics of economic conduct, which had been formulated by medieval Popes,..was rehearsed by the English divines of the sixteenth century.
1999 G. Dale & M. Cole European Union & Migrant Labour ii. 56 The hoary argument is rehearsed.
4. † b. intransitive. To recite something, esp. before an audience. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To recite (a poem, prayer, or other piece of writing), esp. before an audience; to read aloud or declaim from memory. Now archaic or literary.
ΚΠ
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Tobit iii. 25 Ther is sent an aungil of the Lord, the holi Rafael, that he shulde curin hem bothe, whos orisouns o time in the siȝte of the Lord ben rehersid.
a1425 in Englische Studien (1904) 33 89 (MED) Þi Pater noster reherce [Adv. reyherse; Corpus Oxf. rehers] alway.
1529 T. More Dialogue Heresyes i, in Wks. 172/1 If we knew them in such wise..as we coulde rehearce them on oure fingers endes.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream v. ii. 27 First rehearse your song by rote, To each word a warbling note. View more context for this quotation
1635 Bp. F. White Treat. Sabbath-day Ded. sig. **3 Often rehearsing the Lord's-Prayer.
1732 D. Neal Hist. Puritans I. 255 He could readily rehearse in the Greek language all St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans and Galatians.
1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 480 An ancient..tale, By one of sound intelligence rehearsed.
1798 L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 4) iv. 219 The same composition may be rehearsed in a quicker or a slower time.
1812 R. Kerr Gen. Hist. & Coll. Voy. & Trav. VII. v. 115 Taking a piece of this in his hand and holding it close for about as long as one might take to rehearse the psalm Miserere mei Deus three times.
1855 W. Smith Hist. Greece v. 41 He was succeeded by a body of professional reciters, called Rhapsodists, who rehearsed the poems of others.
a1918 W. Owen Coll. Poems (1963) 85 Sway steep against them, and for years rehearse Huge imprecations like a blasting charm!
1947 R. Bedichek Adventures with Texas Naturalist xviii. 231 [He returns] with a pokeful of songs he has picked up travelling about, which he delights to rehearse upon his return.
2005 B. Kunkel Indecision (2006) x. 112 We laughed and walked off rehearsing the song—‘un amor que no es amor’—to Natasha's abandoned apartment.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > repetition > repeat [verb (intransitive)]
echo1637
rehearse1693
recite1742
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performer > appear as performer [verb (intransitive)] > rehearse
rehearse1693
1693 C. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires vii. 133 All Rome is pleas'd, when Statius will Reherse, And longing Crowds expect the promis'd Verse [L. laetam cum fecit Statius urbempromisitque diem].
1740 C. Cibber Apol. Life C. Cibber vi. 120 When it came to my turn to rehearse, while others read their Parts, from their Books, I had put mine in my Pocket.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Peter Bell III vii, in Poet. Wks. (?1840) 246/1 Whether he talked, wrote, or rehearsed—Still with this dulness was he cursed.
1885 M. Collins Prettiest Woman in Warsaw I. viii. 131 One sister or the other was perpetually rehearsing to him.
5. † b. transitive. To mention (a person or thing); to make reference to; to cite, quote. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To mention (a number of people or things); to list (a set of things) in an ordered way; to give a catalogue of; to enumerate. Formerly also: †to number (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)] > mention or speak of > mention in order
rehearsea1387
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 21 (MED) Here I write and reherse þe auctours names of þe whiche þis cronycle is..i-gadered.
c1400 tr. Aelred of Rievaulx De Institutione Inclusarum (Vernon) (1984) 53 (MED) Alle þe benefis þat i rehersede beforn..were iȝeue to vs in commune.
1466–7 in W. H. Godfrey Sussex Wills (1941) IV. 165 With a Pater noster..for the soules of the patrons..of the said Chauntrie, rehersyn by name the soules of John Jay and Johane his wife. Richard Jay, Anneys and Johane his wifes, and Thomas Chamberlayn.
1532 T. Elyot Let. in Gouernour (1880) I. p. lxxvii I will reherce some other townes as they laye in oure waye.
c1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David xxii. xi My bones might be rehearsed.
1612 J. Brinsley Posing of Parts sig. A2v I will first rehearse all the Seven Marks which Socrates giveth.
1655 tr. in T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. iii. 80 In all cases afore rehearsed, the Spiritual Judg shall have power [etc.].
1679 Processes Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court No. 340 The severall sowmes of money eftir specifeit for the causes eftir rehearsed.
a1771 T. Gray Imit. Propertius in Wks. (1884) I. 153 You ask, why thus my Loves I still rehearse.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. ii. 598 I will rehearse the captains and their fleets.
1820 W. Scott Ivanhoe (ed. 2) III. xi. 286 Another, in a Saxon genealogical poem, rehearsed the uncouth and harsh names of his noble ancestry.
1864 E. B. Pusey Daniel vi. 320 Rehearsing exclusively the mercies of God to Israel.
1910 J. W. Howe At Sunset 80 'T were idle in this verse The reasons to rehearse For which we crown to-day thy front beloved.
1954 M. Beresford Lost Villages Eng. v. 147 They do not mention any of the causes of decay rehearsed in the Statute of 1488.
2006 Church Times 13 Jan. 23/2 At the end of his essay, he rehearses some of the criticisms levelled by his mentor..at Niebuhr's more accommodationist stance towards secular culture.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > speak [verb (intransitive)] > speak of or mention
sayOE
showa1200
monec1225
roundc1275
specifya1300
sermon1303
nevenc1330
readc1330
reckonc1390
to make meaninga1400
rehearsec1405
express1430
remember1531
mention1559
the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)] > mention or speak of
to speak of ——c825
sayOE
besayc1200
talk ofc1230
to make mention ofc1300
readc1300
yminnea1325
nevenc1330
to make mindc1350
toucha1375
famea1400
minta1400
clepec1400
rehearsec1405
recitec1436
reckonc1480
mentionatec1525
mention1530
to speak upon ——1535
name1542
repeatc1550
voice1597
commemorate1599
to speak on ——1600
notice1611
quote1612
to make vent ofa1616
memorate1623
mensh1928
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Ellesmere) (1877) §910 The fifthe spece is thilke abhomynable synne of which, that no man vnnethe oghte speke ne write, natheless it is openly reherced in holy writ.
c1450 (?a1405) J. Lydgate Complaint Black Knight (Fairf.) 99 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 387 But this welle, that I her reherse, So holsom was, that hyt wolde aswage Bollyn hertis.
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 16 (MED) I drowe to my mynde the wourdis of the prose afore rehercid.
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. 2 Cor. viii. f. lv For this rehearse I the ready mindes of the Macedonians.
1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 101v As Plini whome I haue aboue rehersed, teacheth there ryght playnly.
6.
a. transitive. To repeat or revisit (a previous action or occurrence), either physically or mentally.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > repeating > repeat (an action) [verb (transitive)]
renovela1325
reiterate?a1425
replicate?a1425
repeat?1440
iter1530
iterate?1548
redouble1580
redo1598
second1610
answer1613
renewa1616
ingeminate1625
reiter1634
double1645
reperform1651
rename1665
rehandle1697
retracta1699
rehearse1700
re-enact1819
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > re-examination > re-examine [verb (transitive)]
revisit1525
review1576
re-examine1593
resurvey1609
rehearse1700
reinspect1777
reinvestigate1802
to go back of1824
re-run1859
revet1940
recheck1962
1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Cock & Fox in Fables 236 Sometimes we but rehearse a former Play, The Night restores our Actions done by Day; as Hounds in Sleep will open for their Prey.
1738 J. Bancks Misc. Wks. I. Pref. p. vi Rehearsing some memorable Action or Event in unpolished numbers.
1812 R. Southey Omniana II. cxcvi. 69 Every one with much delight and content rehearses their actions in the former passages.
1884 J. Sully Outl. Psychol. vii. 286 A child of 18 months will mentally rehearse a series of experiences, as those of a walk: ‘Go tata, see geegee.’
1951 J. Hawkes Land v. 48 That curious mechanism which sometimes allows the evolution of a whole species through millions of years to be rehearsed in the flash of an individual life.
1986 New Yorker 10 Mar. 70/1 Where two or more geologists have come to divergent conclusions, Love has had to go out and rehearse their field work.
2003 K. Ladd Power of Positive Wife iv. 54 We must forgive and keep forgiving, not nurse and rehearse the same old hurt a hundred times.
b. transitive. Psychology. To repeat (information), either mentally or orally, so as to commit it to memory. In quot. 1902, perhaps overlapping with sense 6a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > memory > retention in the mind > memorization > memorize, learn by heart [verb (transitive)]
record?c1225
renderc1380
to can by rotec1405
con?a1425
to con by heartc1449
can1496
to bear away1530
get1540
commend to memory1550
commit?1551
to con over1605
rotea1616
lodge1622
to get off by heart1709
memorize1834
rehearse1902
memorate1983
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > developmental psychology > acquisition of knowledge > types of learning > [verb] > repeat in order to retain
rehearse1902
1902 G. Spiller Mind of Man v. 188 So with all our memories. They are first formed, then frequently rehearsed, then the intervals of rehearsal grow wider, then the images become indistinct, and at last they sink into oblivion.
1917 Arch. Psychol. xl. 103 Frequent reviews..throw into relief the portions [of memorised material] that are hazy, inexact and confused..because they fix more clearly in mind the material that is rehearsed.
1964 Jrnl. Exper. Psychol. 68 414/2 The present experiment is designed to investigate the consequences for short-term memory of instructing Ss to rehearse a sequence of digits in groups of one, two, three, four, and five during presentation.
1995 M. J. Riddoch & G. W. Humphreys in C. Hollin Contemp. Psychol. ix. 166 Short-term memory itself is thought to have a limited capacity; unless information is rehearsed and transferred to the long-term memory, it will be displaced.
c. intransitive. Psychology. To memorize by repetition.
ΚΠ
1951 S. S. Stevens Handbk. Exper. Psychol. xvii. 654/1 84 per cent of her younger subjects and 70 per cent of the older ones reported that they had rehearsed in the interval between learning and recall.
1976 G. R. Loftus & E. F. Loftus Human Memory iv. 56 Rehearsal can do two things: it can keep the information in short-term store for as long as we continue rehearsing, and it can also act as a mechanism by which information is transferred from short-term to long-term store.
1995 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 108 127 Rehearsal is much less automatic..in children who have just learned to rehearse than it is in adults.
II. Senses relating to practice.
7.
a. transitive. To practise or go through (a play, piece of music, ceremony, etc.) in preparation for later public performance. Also intransitive: (of a play, etc.) to be rehearsed, to be in rehearsal (in earlier use only in the progressive with passive meaning).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare [verb (transitive)] > prepare by going through beforehand
practise1542
rehearse1579
to run through ——1860
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > perform [verb (transitive)] > rehearse (a performance)
rehearse1579
to run through ——1881
1579–80 in P. Cunningham Extracts Accts. Revels at Court (1842) 159 Rehersinge of dyvers plaies.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. i. 68 Sit downe..and reherse your parts. View more context for this quotation
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 11 A crew of patches..Were met together to rehearse a play, Intended for great Theseus nuptiall day. View more context for this quotation
1704 Female Wits 12 While my Play's Rehearsing! That's an Affront I shall never forget.
1728 Gay in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 95 Rich received the duke of Grafton's commands not to rehearse any new play whatsoever, till his grace hath seen it.
1760 O. Goldsmith in Brit. Mag. Oct. 580/2 I..studied the character, which was to be rehearsed the next day.
1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus ii. 42 I have rehearsed the entire scene With an ox-bladder and some ditch-water.
1824 T. Carlyle tr. J. W. von Goethe Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship I. iii. ii. 241 While this piece was rehearsing, each of the auditors had leisure enough to think of himself.
1865 J. Hatton Bitter Sweets xxxii Let us rehearse a waltz.
1896 Argosy Mar. 595/2 He had secured a manuscript copy of ‘Caprice’..and would possibly have another copyright play by the time we were ready to rehearse it.
a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. xvi. 380 She finally moved in the direction of the theater where Rod's play was rehearsing.
1915 Sat. Evening Post 16 Oct. 15/2 The scene was rehearsed time and again, but always the action looked faked.
1932 C. Peden Newsreel Man i. 1 We were to rehearse the wedding ceremony at the Little Church Around the Corner that day.
1955 N. Shapiro & N. Hentoff Hear me talkin' to Ya ix. 190 When one of the gang wanted to rehearse his part, he would go off into the woods and practice.
1984 A. Copland & V. Perlis Copland: 1900–42 iv. 90 I realized that it had been the musicians rehearsing Hába's quarter-tone quartet.
2005 D. Topol in L. Mulcahy Theater Festivals ii. iii. 196 Every piece rehearses for twenty-nine hours.
b. transitive. Originally: to perform an action suggestive of (a later event or situation). Now chiefly: to prepare for (a future event or situation) by practising relevant procedures, esp. through some form of drill or exercise.
ΚΠ
1825 S. T. Coleridge Aids Refl. 370 The poor ignorant multitude..rehearsed all the outrages that were acted in our own times by the Parisian Populace.
1846 J. Keble Lyra Innoc. 121 In each round Of duty, here on earth's dull ground, Angels with us rehearse their own majestic Rule.
1883 Birmingham Daily Post 21 Sept. 4/2 The operations of the Fourth Army Corps, which is rehearsing a war on a small scale.
1903 Sporting News (Launceston, Tasmania) 17 Jan. 1/2 Although the field was a painfully weak one, the game of ‘possum’ appeared in more than one instance to have been well rehearsed.
1955 E. Waugh Officers & Gentlemen i. ix. 107 The assault of the island was rehearsed..scrambling inland to objectives which in Mugg were merely map-references, but, in the Mediterranean, were gun-emplacements.
2007 New Yorker 12 Mar. 56/3 Later this year, the federal government will hold its annual, classified exercise..in which these officials rehearse responses to a major disaster scenario.
c. transitive. To practise in one's mind; esp. to prepare (words, a speech, etc.) mentally.
ΚΠ
1828 Philadelphia Monthly Mag. Nov. 29 I was about congratulating myself on finding Martha alone, and rehearsing some love-speech in my mind.
1887 Belgravia Aug. 175 I had been rehearsing my declaration all the way to Bayswater, and I delivered it very fluently.
1888 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 1 358 The confusion caused by repeating one poem aloud while mentally rehearsing another caused still more mixing.
1936 D. Carnegie How to win Friends ii. i. 86 Everything he did, every gesture, every intonation of his voice, every lifting of an eyebrow had been carefully rehearsed in advance.
1976 K. Amis Altercation v. 154 He seemed to be inwardly rehearsing some harangue or recitation.
2005 Weekend Austral. (Nexis) 29 Oct. 56 They lie awake in their Montpellier hotel rooms unable to sleep, continually rehearsing in their minds what they have to do..when they kick off their senior international careers.
d. transitive. To practise (an activity or skill), esp. in preparation for a future event or situation.
ΚΠ
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xvii. 212 So he kept on rehearsing his limited solfeggio..and crying and talking by turns.
1895 Medical Rev. 32 179/2 Having carefully rehearsed the technique, [he] falls into the error of believing that he has learned all that there is of surgery.
1908 E. M. Foster Room with View 164 How often had Lucy rehearsed this bow, this interview! But she had always rehearsed them indoors.
1966 Musical Q. 52 264 He docilely returned to the study of music, rehearsing all about intervals, chords, and simple figured-bass realizations.
1988 Washington Post (Nexis) 19 May j1 They had been running drills and rehearsing formulas seven to 10 hours each week.
2008 Penrith (Austral.) Press (Nexis) 26 Feb. Have and maintain smoke alarms, rehearse escape plan and know how to call 000 in an emergency.
8. intransitive. To practise something for later public performance; to hold a rehearsal.
ΚΠ
1760 O. Goldsmith in Brit. Mag. Oct. 580/2 I learned my part... We got together in order to rehearse.
1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park III. v. 102 I came to rehearse... We had a rehearsal. You were our audience. View more context for this quotation
1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. i. 14 We ought to rehearse tonight; come here, Amy, and do the fainting scene.
1897 J. Bennett Master Skylark (1904) xxvii. 248 When they came to rehearse in the afternoon the stage was hung with stiff, rich silks.
1937 W. S. Maugham Theatre ii. 16 They rehearsed every morning from ten till two, when he sent them home to learn their parts and rest before the evening's performance.
1959 N. Coward Diary 18 Feb. (2000) 402 I have been rehearsing all day, redirecting the wedding scene, which was badly overdone.
1980 S. Brett Dead Side of Mike ix. 102 Sorry I couldn't make it last night... Simon wanted to rehearse.
2007 J. Collins Drop Dead Beautiful (2008) lxvii. 370 She was busy with her various projects, plus rehearsing for Vegas.
9.
a. transitive. To coach (a person or group); to train or tutor in a discipline, for a future event, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > training > train [verb (transitive)] > drill or rehearse
exercise1388
exercite1475
practise1551
rehearse1768
parrot1775
soldier1780
drill1798
the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare [verb (transitive)] > prepare by going through beforehand > specifically a person
practise1551
rehearse1768
1768 W. Donaldson Life Sir Bartholomew Sapskull I. ii. 13 To prepare himself for the change, he had rehears'd his servants in the alteration.
c1795 S. Rogers Verses Mrs. Siddons in Poems (1812) 131 And, when her shatter'd nerves forbid to roam, In very spleen—rehearse the girls at home.
1859 C. Dickens Tale of Two Cities iii. xii. 231 A wood-sawyer..has been rehearsed by Madame Defarge as to his having seen Her..making signs and signals to prisoners.
1887 J. B. Frémont Souvenirs of my Time xiv. 217 Mrs. Lawrence had rehearsed me in all the etiquette of the ceremonial.
1917 E. Ferber Fanny Herself x. 171 Her office boy brought in his card, as she had rehearsed him to do.
1978 W. F. Buckley Stained Glass xxi. 206 Singer then rehearsed Blackford in emergency instructions to be followed in the hideous event of a snafu.
2003 Personnel Today (Nexis) 3 June 2 Rehearsing staff for potential crises.
b. transitive. To prepare (a person or group) for later public performance.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > perform [verb (transitive)] > rehearse (a performance) > rehearse (a performer)
rehearse1811
1811 Christian Observer May 310/1 As the youth is soon to perform a part upon the public stage of life, it is of importance to rehearse him in his part before he meets the public eye.
1861 Birmingham Daily Post 31 Aug. 2/4 Nearly the whole of the choristers have been rehearsed separately in the more difficult passages.
1898 Daily News 12 Mar. 6/3 Miss Farren has, indeed, played many parts in her time. Dickens rehearsed her in ‘Bailey’.
1904 H. Caine Prodigal Son iii. 171 I've been rehearsing the choir and they are very shaky.
1966 Listener 20 Jan. 111/3 On BBC-2..you can see Carl Ebert rehearsing students and professional singers in scenes from The Marriage of Figaro.
2006 ‘A. Ant’ Stand & Deliver xi. 297 Marco was unable to accompany me because he was rehearsing the band in London.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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