Isn’t it rare to use ‘rare’ as a verb as in “Congress is raring at the gate on tax cuts.”? [closed]

I found the word, ‘rare’ being used as a verb in the headline of today’s New York Times article – “An often procrastinating Congress is raring at the gate on tax cuts.” It is followed by this sentence:

It is a maxim in Congress these days: If high-profile legislation affecting millions of Americans is about to expire, deal with it at the last possible second. Both parties in the House and the Senate are eager at the prospect of voting for their respective versions of an extension of the cuts this summer, well before the due date.

As I’m not very familiar with the usage of ‘rare’ as a verb, I consulted with dictionaries online:

Oxford Dictionary defines ‘rare’ only as an adjective meaning ‘not occurring very often.’

Cambridge Dictionary defines it only as an adjective meaning ‘not common, very unusual.”

Merriam-Webster defines ‘rare’ as an adjective meaning; 1. marked by wide separation of component particles. 2. marked by unusual quality, merits, appeal. 3. seldom occurring or found.

OALED adds ‘meat cooked for only a short time so that the inside is still red' to the meaning of (1) ‘not happening very often, (2) existing only in small number.

Only Japanese publisher, Kenkyusha’s English Japanese Dictionary registers rare as a verb and ‘rare back’ as a slang meaning “brace for action, rouse oneself for action.”

Is “rare” used as a verb very often as used in “Congress is raring at the gate on tax cuts,” or “US and China are raring at the immigration of a Chinese blind lawyer”?

Solution 1:

The OED’s elucidatory entry for raring is brief enough to post here in full:

raring, adj. and adv.

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈrɛːrɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈrɛrɪŋ/
Forms: see rare v. and -ing suffix²; also 18 r'arin', 18– r'aring.
Etymology: < rare v. + -ing suffix². Compare earlier rearing adj.

colloq. (orig. U.S. regional (south.)).

A. adj.

1. Wild, angry; excited, spirited. Also as an intensifier: great. Freq. in rhyming collocation with tearing.

   • 1845 Amer. Whig Rev. Nov. 516/1 May-be he warn't in a rarin tarin tantrum!
   • 1851 ‘G. Seaworthy’ Bertie ix. 105 Ye see he's an all-fired, pepper and vinegar, hammer an' tongs, rarin' and tearin' abolitionist.
   • 1926 B. Reynolds Cocktail Continentale ii. 29 And they sure can fix up a rip-snotin', raring, tearing, hotsy-totsy time, honey boy.
   • 1942 J. Grenfell Let. 5 Dec. in Darling Ma (1989) 394 He was in raring form and told us some wonderful theatrical anecdotes about the Lunts.
   • 1945 L. Lenski Strawberry Girl ix. 112 Hit stoled a bunch of Ma's eggs and cracked 'em,‥and made her rarin'.
   • 2001 Birmingham Evening Mail (Nexis) 23 July 9 Teen idols BB Mak, the Honeyz and Point Break made the outdoor show a raring success.

2. Eager, keen, fully ready to do something. Freq. in raring to go.

   • 1918 B. M. Bower Cabin Fever iv. 42 ‘Yuh ready?’ Foster's voice hissed in Bud's ear. ‘R'aring to go.’
   • 1927 F. N. Hart Bellamy Trial i. 10 Both sides are rarin' to go, and they are not liable to touch their peremptory challenges [of jurymen].
   • 1935 P. G. Wodehouse Luck of Bodkins xv. 167 Keep it crisp, because I'm raring to go.
   • 1957 A. MacNab Bulls of Iberia viii. 79 The bull was a toro de bandera, the bravest of the brave,‥and was ‘rarin' to fight’.
   • 1979 Church Times 9 Feb. 9/1 We were at the starting-gate and raring to go.
   • 2004 Business Week 26 Jan. 48/1 The highflier has been raring to get back into the big leagues.

B. adv.

As an intensifier: extremely, wildly, uncontrollably. Also in rhyming collocation with tearing.

• 1854 J. M. Holmes Tempest & Sunshine xvi. 106, I shouldn't have been so rarin' mad, if it had been anybody besides you.
• 1892 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 793/2 Yer paw‥went off‥r'arin' mad about the spring.
• 1909 E. Banks Myst. Frances Farrington iv. 49 They make me raring, tearing mad to look at 'em.
• 1961 C. McCullers Clock without Hands v. 94, I danced and sang and had a raring good time.
• 2006 N. Devon Jrnl. (Nexis) 10 Aug. 6 Little Scottie is 'avin' some rarin' good fun.

Citation

raring, adj. and adv.
Third edition, December 2008; online version March 2012.
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/238728; accessed 25 May 2012. This word was first included in A Supplement to the OED III, 1982, as a subentry of “rare, v.”

Yet another case of good ol’ General Reference; gosh, that old soldier sure gets around!

Solution 2:

Oxford Dictionaries Online has this, which can be expected to be an extract from OED:

raring (rar¦ing)
Pronunciation: /ˈrɛːrɪŋ/adjective
[with infinitive] informal very enthusiastic and eager to do something:

she was raring to get back to her work
I’ll be ready and raring to go

Origin: 1920s: present participle of rare, dialect variant of roar or rear²

It's possible to infer what "raring at the gate" means: "at the gate waiting for it to open, raring to go."

Raring at the gate is an unusual turn of phrase; but the NYT seems to be cited here quite regularly for its turns of phrase.

Solution 3:

Raring at the gate comes from horse racing. My New Shorter Oxford has this under raring:

Eager, keen, fully ready, to do.
Church Times We were at the starting-gate and raring to go.

However, raring or rearing is also used by horse riders to refer to a horse suddenly and disobediently raising up on its hind legs. This seems to happen at various gates apparently, not just at starting gates.

The phrase, or varying forms of it, sounds familiar to me and is not as rare as you might think.

Solution 4:

The adjective raring is derived from rear, and means to raise up. Used in the context you described, it would, as mentioned by Andrew Leach, denote eagerness or enthusiasm.