ree
/ɹiː/
ree is the alternative form of rei.
Adjective
ree (comparative reer or more ree, superlative reest or most ree)
- Wild; fierce; outrageous; overexcited; frenzied; delirious; crazy.
- "I saw,", says I, "he was a ree-brained divell, but thought nothing of it, as all the British are so when they come abroad."1756, Margaret Calderwood, “Mrs Calderwood's Journey”, in The Coltness Collections: MDCVIII-MDCCCXL, The Maitland Club, published 1842, page 222
- Synonyms:
- frantic, frenetic, off the chain
- Befuddled with liquor; half-drunk; tipsy.
- One of the witnesses speaks of having seen this sober judge "upon the bench, when he appeared to be ree, and as if he had been drunk the night before."1839, Joseph Robertson, The Book of Bon-Accord: or, A Guide to the City of Aberdeen, footnote, page 94
- Synonyms:
- buzzed
Noun (1)
ree (plural rees)
- A state of befuddlement; intoxication.
- A state of great excitement or frenzy.
Verb (1)
ree (third-person singular simple present rees, present participle reeing, simple past and past participle reed)
- To become extremely excited; fly into a rage.
- To drive into a state of excitement; fire with enthusiasm.
Meaning of rei
Noun
rei (plural reis)
- A Portuguese real
Verb (2)
ree (third-person singular simple present rees, present participle reeing, simple past and past participle reed)
- To riddle; to sift; to separate or throw off.
- After it is well rubbed and winnowed, you must then Ree it over in a fine Sieve , and if any of the Malt be uncleansed , then rub it again into the Sieve , 'till it be pure , and the rubbings will ariſe on the Top of the Sieve1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC
Noun (2)
ree (plural rees)
- A small river or stream.
- The church of this pariſh, vulgarly called St. Mary Overy, from its dedication to the virgin Mary, and ſituation over the Ree or river, in reſpect of London, is a ſtately Gothic ſtructure, in the form of a cathedral.1768-9, Tobias George Smollett, The Present State of all Nations
Noun (3)
ree (plural rees)
- A period of stormy or unsettled weather, especially one occurring somewhat predictably at a particular time of year.
- To my surprise he took our caustic remarks about the climate very calmly, even cheerfully. "Och, man, it's only the Beltane ree," he said with a lively twinkle, enjoying our bewilderment. Evidently, the Shetland weather was merely putting on a scheduled performance and he for one was very well...1952, Ursula Venables, Tempestuous Eden, page 147
- There were three "Rees" (wild tempests), Buggle Ree, Beltane Ree, and Simmer-mill Ree.1974, Jessie Margaret Edmondston Saxby, Shetland Traditional Lore
Noun (4) capitalized: Ree
Ree (plural Rees or Ree)
- A member of the Arikara.
- If I'd kept a woman, he realized, instead of sending 'em back to their fathers' lodges - the Shoshone girl, them two Hunkpapas, the Crow I called Sally, even that Ree that come near talking me to death - if I'd kept one of 'em for more than just a winter, I'd have boys of my own by now to bring in...1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, War Shirt; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 110
Proper noun capitalized: Ree
Ree (plural Rees)
- A surname.
Noun (5) capitalized: REE
REE (plural REEs)
- Initialism of rare earth element.
- REE-bearing minerals in these occurrences are allanite, betafite, brannerite, davidite, euxenite, fergusonite, florencite, monazite, polycrase, samarskite, synchysite, thorite, xenotime and yttrocrasite.2014, Broder J. Merkel, Alireza Arab, Uranium - Past and Future Challenges: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Uranium Mining and Hydrogeology, page 27
- The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) definition of the REE group includes lanthanides (Ln), yttrium (Y) and scandium (Sc).2024, Martin Ondrejka, Peter Bačík, Juraj Majzlan, Pavel Uher, Štefan Ferenc, Tomáš Mikuš, Martin Števko, Mária Čaplovičová, Stanislava Milovská, Alexandra Molnárová, Christiane Rößler, Christian...
Synonyms of ree
Forms of ree
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | rees |
| plural | Rees |
| plural | Ree |
| plural | REEs |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | reer |
| comparative | more ree |
| superlative | reest |
| superlative | most ree |
| alternative Scotland | rie |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | rees |
| present participle | reeing |
| past participle | reed |
| past | reed |
Origin of ree
From Middle English rei, reh, reoh, from Old English hrēoh (“rough, fierce, wild, angry, disturbed, troubled, stormy, tempestuous”), from Proto-Germanic *hreuhaz (“bad, wild”), from Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- (“raw meat, fresh blood”). Cognate with Scots ree, rae, ray (“ree”), Old Saxon hrē (“evil, bad, angry”), Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (inrauhtjan, “to become angry, rage against”). Related to Old English hrēaw (“raw, uncooked”). More at raw.
Compare riddle (“a sieve”).
Of obscure origin. Perhaps from a rebracketing of ea with Old English þære, i.e. þære ēa becoming the ree. Alternatively, perhaps a variant (like rye, found in the placename Rye) of rith.
Words formed from ree
Phrases with ree
Words that rhyme with ree
Questions about ree
- What does ree mean?
- Ree means wild; fierce; outrageous; overexcited; frenzied; delirious; crazy.
- What is ree the alternative form of?
- Ree is the alternative form of rei.
- What part of speech is ree?
- Ree can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce ree?
- Ree is pronounced /ɹiː/.
Words near ree in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ree (page history and authors); Ree (page history and authors); REE (page history and authors); rei (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ree.wav.
Cite this entry: “ree.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ree. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.