razeraze

The story

The verb is derived from Middle English rasen, racen, rase (‘to scrape; to shave; to erase; to pull; to strip off; to pluck or tear out; to root out (a tree, etc.); to pull away, snatch; to pull down; to knock down; to rend, tear apart; to pick clean, strip; to cleave, slice; to sever; to lacerate; to pierce; to carve, engrave; to dig; (figurative) to expunge, obliterate; to alter’), from Anglo-Norman raser, rasere, rasser, Middle French raser, and Old French raser (‘to shave; to touch lightly, graze; to level off (grain, etc.) in a measure; to demolish, tear down; to erase; to polish; to wear down’), from Vulgar Latin *raso (‘to shave; to scrape; to scratch; to touch lightly, graze’), from Latin rāsus (‘scraped; shaved’), the perfect passive participle of rādō (‘to scrape, scratch; to shave; to rub, smooth; to brush along, graze’).