rap

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
rap1

▶verb (raps, rapping, rapped)

• 1 strike (a hard surface) with a series of rapid blows.

  ■ strike several times against a hard surface.

  ■ strike sharply.

• 2 (usu. rap something out) say sharply or suddenly.

  ■ informal criticize severely.

• 3 informal, chiefly N. Amer. talk or chat in an easy and familiar manner.

• 4 perform rap music.

▶noun

• 1 a quick, sharp knock or blow.

• 2 a type of popular music of US black origin in which words are recited rapidly and rhythmically over an instrumental backing.

• 3 informal a rebuke or criticism.

• 4 informal, chiefly N. Amer. an impromptu talk or discussion.

• 5 N. Amer. informal a criminal charge: a murder rap.

– phrases
beat the rap N. Amer. informal escape punishment for or be acquitted of a crime.
take the rap informal be punished or blamed for something.

– derivatives
rapper noun.

– origin ME: prob. imitative and of Scand. origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
rap2

▶noun the smallest amount: he doesn't care a rap.

– origin C19: from Ir. ropaire ‘robber’; used as the name of a counterfeit coin in 18th-cent. Ireland.