Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Rate

Rate (rāt) , verb, transitive and intransitive

[Perh. from English rate, transitive verb, to value at a certain rate, to estimate, but more prob. from Swedish rata to find fault, to blame, to despise, to hold cheap; compare Icelandic hrat refuse, hrati rubbish.]

To chide with vehemence; to scold; to censure violently; to berate. — Spenser
Go, rate thy minions, proud, insulting boy! — Shakespeare
Conscience is a check to beginners in sin, reclaiming them from it, and rating them for it. — Barrow

Rate , noun

[Old French, from Latin rata (sc. pars), from ratus reckoned, fixed by calculation, past participle of reri to reckon, to calculate. Compare Reason.]

1.
Established portion or measure; fixed allowance.
The one right feeble through the evil rate Of food which in her duress she had found. — Spenser
2.
That which is established as a measure or criterion; degree; standard; rank; proportion; ratio; as, a slow rate of movement; rate of interest is the ratio of the interest to the principal, per annum.
Heretofore the rate and standard of wit was different from what it is nowadays. — South
In this did his holiness and godliness appear above the rate and pitch of other men's, in that he was so... merciful. — Calamy
Many of the horse could not march at that rate, nor come up soon enough. — Clarendon
3.
Valuation; price fixed with relation to a standard; cost; charge; as, high or low rates of transportation.
They come at dear rates from Japan. — Locke
4.
A tax or sum assessed by authority on property for public use, according to its income or value; esp., in England, a local tax; as, parish rates; town rates.
5.
Order; arrangement. [Obsolete]
Thus sat they all around in seemly rate. — Spenser
6.
Ratification; approval. [Rare] — Chapman
7.
(Horology) The gain or loss of a timepiece in a unit of time; as, daily rate; hourly rate; etc.
8.
(a) (Nautical) The order or class to which a war vessel belongs, determined according to its size, armament, etc.; as, first rate, second rate, etc.
(b)
(Nautical) The class of a merchant vessel for marine insurance, determined by its relative safety as a risk, as A1, A2, etc.

Rate , transitive verb

1.
To set a certain estimate on; to value at a certain price or degree.
To rate a man by the nature of his companions is a rule frequent indeed, but not infallible. — South
You seem not high enough your joys to rate. — Dryden
2.
To assess for the payment of a rate or tax.
3.
To settle the relative scale, rank, position, amount, value, or quality of; as, to rate a ship; to rate a seaman; to rate a pension.
4.
To ratify. [Obsolete]
To rate the truce. — Chapman
Collocations (1)
To rate a chronometer , to ascertain the exact rate of its gain or loss as compared with true time, so as to make an allowance or computation dependent thereon.

Rate , intransitive verb

1.
To be set or considered in a class; to have rank; as, the ship rates as a ship of the line.
2.
To make an estimate.