Noun
A rude, unruly young person.
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Tom was to be sure, what is called a good boy; he never soiled his clothes, as I did. I was always considered as a rantipole, for whom any thing was good enough. But when I saw my brother tricked out in new clothes, and his old duds covering me like a scarecrow, I appeal to any honourable mind whether it was in human nature to feel otherwise than I did, without possessing an angelic disposition, to which I never pretended; and I fairly own that I did shed not one-fiftieth part so many tears over Tom’s grave as I did over his dirty pantaloons, when forced to put them on.
A rakish person.
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Your modern Rantipole, then, is of high Birth, or considerable Fortune, or great Beauty, either of which may entitle her to do that which others are ashamed of, who have not those superb Qualifications, and enable her to reverse the true Estimation of Things, and value herself upon being good for nothing. A young Rantipole, as soon as let out of the Cage, most commonly enters the Order, and opens her first Scene of Life with the Choice of a Gallant, whom she reizes egregiously for a Number of Years, and then marries and torments him without Mercy.
For example: that my wife, Lady Vibrate, is an extravagant rackety rantipole woman of fashion, can I doubt that? No. That she squanders my money, disturbs my peace, and contradicts for contradiction's sake, can I doubt that? No.
A prostitute.
Usage- Archaic
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Farewell to the change, / Where rantipoles range; / Farewell cold tea, / And ratafie, / Hide-park, where pride / In coaches ride,
A sex position with the woman on top of the man.
Usage- Archaic
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Verb
To act in a rude, unruly fashion.
Usage- Intransitive
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The Eldeſt vvas a termagant, imperious, prodigal, levvd, profligate VVench, as ever breath'd; ſhe uſed to Rantipole about the Houſe, pinch the Children, kick the Servants, and torture the Cats and the Dogs; […]
Oh, cruel vas^([sic]) the splinter that broke my poor love's leg, / Now he's obliged to fiddle for't, and I'm obliged to beg; / A vagabonding vagrant, and a rantipoling wife, / We fiddles, and we limps it, thro' the ups and downs of life.
'Twas no Ramping, Rantipoling, Fiery-Furnace kind of Calf Love on my part, but a matured and sensible admixture of Gratitude and Sincere Affection.
Adjective
Rude; unruly.
Usage- Obsolete
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This rantipole hero had for some time singled out the blooming Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries, and though his amorous toyings were something like the gentle caresses and endearments of a bear, yet it was whispered that she did not altogether discourage his hopes.
"I wish, lady Adelaide," he said, "that all my customers, be they rantipole Cavaliers, or canting Puritans, […] that either of these would at all times leave in my hands security for the money which they demand, as good as this which you offer […]"
Then as he paused irresolutely with cap and pipe-clayed gloves in hands, he heard more than certainly even Rose, in her most rantipole mood, ever meant he should hear.
And everywhere, in every age, it seemed to him, men stumbled amiable and shatter-pated through a jungle of miracles, blind to its wonderfulness, and intent to gain a little money, food and sleep, a trinket or two, some rare snatched fleeting moments of rantipole laughter, and at the last a decent bed to die in.