Meaning

noun Eurasian plant cultivated for its seed and as a forage crop

noun the act of despoiling a country in warfare

noun the crime of forcing a woman to submit to sexual intercourse against her will

originGenerally considered to derive from Old English rāp (“rope”), in reference to the ropes used to delineate the courts that ruled each rape. Compare Dutch reep and the parish of Rope, Cheshire. In the 18th century, Edward Lye proposed derivation from Old Norse hreppr (“tract of land”), but this was rejected by the New English Dictionary and is considered "phonologically impossible" by the English…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0