rare

adj

1. Very uncommon; scarce.

   “Black pearls are very rare and therefore very valuable.”

   “Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.”

   “While many material components in Andromeda are familiar, we have also discovered rarer and more valuable materials; attributable to exposure to the Scourge, or mysterious alien technology.”

2. Small in number (but not unusual); infrequent; sparse.
3. Thin; of low density.
4. (UK, slang)Good; enjoyable.

   “Sees her reflection in a butcher shop. She finds it all quite rare That her meat's all vanity fair.”

5. (US, slang)Cool; excellent.

   “I whistled for a cab and when it came near / The license plate said ‘fresh’ and it had dice in the mirror. / If anything I could say that this cab was rare.”

6. Particularly of meat, especially beefsteak: cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red.

   “Then Curds and Cream, the Flow'r of Country Fare, / And new-laid Eggs, which Baucis’ buſie Care / Turn’d by a gentle Fire, and roaſted rare.”

7. (obsolete)Early.

   “The men, that sway / In work of those tools that so fit our state, / Are rude mechanicals, that rare and late / Work in the market-place;”

noun

1. A scarce or uncommon item.

   “Most of the time, you do this by trading low-valued rares for more valuable ones or trading uncommons for rares. Other times it's trading cards that are in print for ones that are out of print, or low-value rares for good uncommons.”

verb

1. (US, intransitive)To rear, rise up, start backwards.

   “Frank pretended to rare back as if bedazzled, shielding his eyes with a forearm.”

2. (US, transitive)To rear, bring up, raise.

   “Here I have to say that I was walking along dark-hearted, my nose out of joint about Audie's notice of her, for just as quickly as my feelings kindled, my old envy rared.”