rehearse

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ɹɪˈhɜːs] (UK); /ɹɪˈhɝs/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rehersen (“to repeat”),^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman rehearser^[6][3] and Old French rehercier (“to go over again; to rake over”),^[2][6][3][5] from re- “again” and hercier “to harrow”,^{[2][6][3][4][5]} from herce “a harrow”,^{[2][6][3][4][5]} which is also the source of English hearse.^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give an account of; to tell, say or utter.^[3][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The image is of raking over ground again, hence going over something again.^[3][6] By the 14th century it meant to repeat what had been said or written,^[3][7] and from the sense of going over a subject,^[6] it came in the 1570s to mean to practise a play or part in private before performing it.^[3][6] In psychology it means to repeat something in order to keep it in memory.^[7]

Timeline

• probably before 1300 – to utter, express;^[6] Etymonline gives c. 1300.^[3]
• before 1325 – to repeat, reiterate;^[6] the OED's first quotation in this sense is from 1340.^[7]
• c. 1375 – to recite aloud formally.^[7]
• about 1395 – rehearsal.^[6]
• 1570s – to practise a play or part;^[3] Barnhart gives 1579–80.^[6]
• 1917 – in psychology.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To practise (a play, piece of music, speech and so on) in private before a public performance.
2. To train or direct (performers) by rehearsal.
3. To perfect an action by repetition.
4. To recount or relate; to list or enumerate.
5. To repeat or recite.
6. To take part in a rehearsal.

Word family

• rehearser
• rehearsable
• rehearsal

Related words

• hearse
• harrow

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press