Rapid

a. [Lat. rapidus, from rapere, to seize and carry off, to snatch or hurry away; It. & Sp. rapido, Fr. rapide.]

1Sense 1. Very swift or quick; moving with celerity; fast; as, a rapid stream; a rapid flight; a rapid motion.

Part shun the goal with rapid wheels. Milton.

2Sense 2. Advancing with haste or speed; speedy in progression; in quick sequence; as, rapid growth; rapid improvement; rapid recurrence; rapid succession.

3Sense 3. Of quick utterance of words; as, a rapid speaker.

n. [Fr. rapide. See supra.] The part of a river where the current moves with more celerity than is common; a sudden descent of the surface of a stream without actual waterfall or cascade, as the Lachine rapids in the St. Lawrence.