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[Latin. This term literally means rare bird, but is also used in a more general sense, as in this example.].

John Feinstein is that rara avis of sports literature, a best-selling author. In fact, according to his publishers, his first book … A Season on the Brink, which recounted the sometimes unseemly adventures of coach Bobby Knight and his Indiana University basketball team, is nothing less than the “best-selling sports book of all time.” (Ron Fimrite, Books, Sports Illustrated, 10/14/1991, p. 6.)

On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address before a multitude who braved the rain and the mud … to hear something out of the ordinary. No president had been re-elected since Andrew Jackson, so the very fact of a second inaugural was a rara avis in the [world] of political utterances.  (Ted Widmer, “And the End Came,” The New York Times, 3/3/2015.)

This word can also be synonymous with singular, uncommon, unique and unusual.…

[This is the less common use of the common verb. It is sometimes used as in “hare off.”]  Take the recent frenzy around the Super Bowl, or more specifically, that clip of The Weeknd desperately haring around a mirror maze, wild-eyed and wobbly legged. (Charlie Teasdale, “That Settles It, We Need Two-Toned Shoes,” Esquire, 2/9/2021.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for fly, zip, zoom, run, hurry, hustle, and speed.…

Often [in trying to create a crossword puzzle], corners turn into isolated areas four or five letters wide, only reachable via a narrow strait. These semi-independent nations can be a boon to constructors since … you can experiment in each area without having to dismantle the entire structure.  On the other hand … shift one letter in that section and homeostasis goes haywire. (Adrienne Raphel, Thinking Inside the Box, Penguin Press [2020], p. 51.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for balance, symmetry and evenness.…

[A person who has this mindset is a prescriptivist. The opposite, a descriptivist, is also described here.] Grammar prescriptivists love rules. These are the self-described grammar Nazis, or the grammar police, who make it their life’s undertaking to ensure that every grammatical rule is followed all the time. These are the people who cringe when someone uses the word “literally” incorrectly. Grammar descriptivists, on the other hand, started playing fast and loose with the word “like” way before Clueless was in theaters. (https://thewritepractice.com/prescriptivist-descriptivist)

This word, when used in the above sense can also be a synonym for authoritarian, autocratic and oppressive.…

There are two ways to begin [creating a crossword] puzzle: themed, with the major answers constellating around a mini-riddle; or themeless, usually with longer clues, and no help from a little internal narrative. (Adrienne Raphel, Thinking Inside the Box, Penguin Press [2020], p. 40.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for grouped, connected, assembled, bunched, bundled and gathered.…