Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
REVOCABLENESS — RICHED
REVOCABLENESS, n. The quality of being revocable.
REVOCATE, v.t. [L. revoco; re and voco, to call.] To recall; to call back. [Not in use. See Revoke.]
REVOCATION, n. [L. revocatio.]
1. The act of recalling or calling back; as the revocation of Calvin.
2. State of being recalled.
3. Repeal; reversal; as the revocation of the edict of Nantz. A law may cease to operate without an express revocation. so we speak of the revocation of a will, of a use, of a devise, etc.
REVOKE, v.t. [L. revoco; re and voco, to call.]
1. To recall; to repeal; to reverse. A law, decree or sentence is revoked by the same authority which enacted or passed it. A charter or grant which vests rights in a corporation, cannot be legally revoked without the consent of the corporation. A devise may be revoked by the devisor, a use by the grantor, and a will be the testator.
2. To check; to repress; as, to revoke rage. [Not in use.]
3. To draw back.
Seas are troubled when they do revoke their flowing waves into themselves again. [Unusual.]
REVOKE, v.i. To renounce at cards.
REVOKE, n. The act of renouncing at cards.
REVOKED, pp. Repealed; reversed.
REVOKEMENT, n. Revocation; reversal. [Little used.]
REVOKING, ppr. Reversing; repealing.
REVOLT, v.i. [L. revolvo; re and volvo, to turn. Eng. wallow.]
1. To fall off or turn from one to another.
2. To renounce allegiance and subjection to one’s prince or state; to reject the authority of a sovereign; as a province or a number of people. It is not applied to individuals.
The Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah. 2 Chronicles 21:8, 10.
3. To change. [Not in use.]
4. In Scripture, to disclaim allegiance and subjection to God; to reject the government of the King of kings. Isaiah 31:6.
REVOLT, v.t.
1. To turn; to put to flight; to overturn.
2. To shock; to do violence to; to cause to shrink or turn away with abhorrence; as, to revolt the mind or the feelings.
Their honest pride of their purer religion had revolted the Babylonians.
REVOLT, n.
1. Desertion; change of sides; more correctly, a renunciation of allegiance and subjection to one’s prince or government; as the revolt of a province of the Roman empire.
2. Gross departure from duty.
3. In Scripture, a rejection of divine government; departure from God; disobedience. Isaiah 59:13.
4. A revolter. [Not in use.]
REVOLTED, pp.
1. Having swerved from allegiance or duty.
2. Shocked; grossly offended.
REVOLTER, n.
1. One who changes sides; a deserter.
2. One who renounces allegiance and subjection to his prince or state.
3. In Scripture, one who renounces the authority and laws of God. Jeremiah 6:28; Hosea 9:15.
REVOLTING, ppr.
1. Changing sides; deserting.
2. Disclaiming allegiance and subjection to a prince or state.
3. Rejecting the authority of God.
4. a. Doing violence, as to the feelings; exciting abhorrence.
REVOLUTE, a. [L. revolutus, from revolvo.]
In botany, rolled back or downwards; as revolute foliation or leafing, when the sides of the leaves in the bud are rolled spirally back or towards the lower surface; a revolute leaf or tendril; a revolute corol or valve.
REVOLUTION, n. [L. revolutus, revolvo.]
1. In physics, rotation; the circular motion of a body on its axis; a course or motion which brings every point of the surface or periphery of a body back to the place at which it began to move; as the revolution of a wheel; the diurnal revolution of the earth.
2. The motion of a body round any fixed point or center; as the annual revolution of the earth or other planet in its orbit round the center of the system.
3. Motion of any thing which brings it to the same point or state; as the revolution of day and night or of the seasons.
4. Continued course marked by the regular return of years; as the revolution of ages.
5. Space measured by some regular return of a revolving body or of a state of things; as the revolution of a day.
6. In politics, a material or entire change in the constitution of government. Thus the revolution in England, in 1688, was produced by the abdication of king James II the establishment of the house of Orange upon the throne, and the restoration of the constitution to its primitive state. So the revolutions in Poland, in the United States of America, and in France, consisted in a change of constitution. We shall rejoice to hear that the Greeks have effected a revolution.
7. Motion backward.
This word is used adjectively, as in the phrase, revolution principles.
REVOLUTIONARY, a.
1. Pertaining to a revolution in government; as a revolutionary war; revolutionary crimes or disasters.
2. Tending to produce a revolution; as revolutionary measures.
REVOLUTIONER, n.
1. One who is engaged in effecting a revolution; a revolutionist.
2. In England, one who favored the revolution in 1688.
REVOLUTIONIST, n. One engaged in effecting a change of government; the favorer of a revolution.
REVOLUTIONIZE, v.t.
1. To effect a change in the form of a political constitution; as, to revolutionize a government.
2. To effect an entire change of principles in.
The gospel, if received in truth, has revolutionized his soul.
REVOLUTIONIZED, pp. Charged in constitutional form and principles.
REVOLUTIONIZING, ppr. Changing the form and principles of a constitution.
REVOLVENCY, n. State, act or principle of revolving; revolution.
Its own revolvency upholds the world.
REVOMIT, v.t. [re and vomit;]
To vomit or pour forth again; to reject from the stomach.
REVOMITED, pp. Vomited again.
REVOMITING, ppr. Vomiting again.
REVULSION, n. [L. revulsus, revello; re and vello, to pull.]
1. In medicine, the act of turning or diverting a flux of humors or any cause of disease, from one part of the body to another.
2. The act of holding or drawing back.
REVULSIVE, a. Having the power of revulsion.
REVULSIVE, n.
1. That which has the power of diverting humors from one part to another.
2. That which has the power of withdrawing.
REW, n. A row. [Not in use.]
REWARD, v.t. a as aw. [L. re, denoting return.]
To give in return, either good or evil.
Thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. 1 Samuel 24:17.
Hence, when good is returned for good, reward signifies to repay, to recompense, to compensate. When evil or suffering is return for injury or wickedness, reward signifies to punish with just retribution, to take vengeance on, according to the nature of the case.
I will render vengeance to my enemies; and will reward them that hate me. Deuteronomy 32:41.
The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Matthew 16:27.
In the latter passage, reward signifies to render with good and evil.
REWARD, n.
1. Recompense, or equivalent return for good done, for kindness, for services and the like. Rewards may consist of money, goods or any return of kindness or happiness.
The laborer is worthy of his reward. 1 Timothy 5:18.
Great is your reward in heaven. Matthew 5:12.
Rewards and punishments presuppose moral agency, and something voluntarily done, well or ill; without which respect, though we may receive good, it is only a benefit and not a reward.
2. The fruit of men’s labor or works.
The dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward. Ecclesiastes 9:5.
3. A bribe; a gift to pervert justice. Deuteronomy 27:25.
4. A sum of money offered for taking or detecting a criminal, or for recovery of any thing lost.
5. Punishment; a just return of evil or suffering for wickedness.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Psalm 91:8.
6. Return in human applause. Matthew 6:2, 5, 16.
7. Return in joy and comfort. Psalm 19:11.
REWARDABLE, a. That may be rewarded; worthy of recompense.
REWARDABLENESS, n. The state of being worthy of reward.
REWARDED, pp. Requited; recompensed or punished.
REWARDER, n. One who rewards; one that requites or recompenses. Hebrews 11:6.
REWARDING, ppr. Making an equivalent return for good or evil; requiting; recompensing or punishing.
REWORD, v.t. [re and word.] To repeat in the same words. [Not in use.]
REWRITE, v.t. To write a second time.
REWRITTEN, pp. Written again.
REYS, n. The master of an Egyptian bark or ship.
RHABARBARATE, a. [See Rhubarb.] Impregnated or tinctured with rhubarb.
RHABDOLOGY, n. [Gr. a staff or want, and discourse.]
The act or art of computing or numbering by Napier’s rods or Napier’s bones.
RHABDOMANCY, n. [Gr. a rod, and divination.]
Divination by a rod or wand.
RHAPSODIC, RHAPSODICAL, a. [from rhapsody.] Pertaining to or consisting of rhapsody; unconnected.
RHAPSODIST, n. [from rhapsody.]
1. One that writes or speaks without regular dependence of one part of his discourse on another.
2. One who recites or signs rhapsodies for a livelihood; or one who makes and repeats verses extempore.
3. Anciently, one whose profession was to recite the verses of Homer and other poets.
RHAPSODY, n. [Gr. to sew or unite, and a song.]
Originally, a discourse in verse, sung or rehearsed by a rhapsodist; or a collection of verses, particularly those of Homer. In modern usage, a collection of passages thoughts or authorities, composing a new piece, but without necessary dependence or natural connection.
RHEIN-BERRY, n. Buckthorn, a plant.
RHENISH, a. Pertaining to the river Rhine, or to Rheims in France; as Rhemish wine; as a noun, the wine produced on the hills about Rheims, which is remarkable as a solvent of iron.
RHETIAN, a. Pertaining to the ancient Rhaeti, or to Rhaetia, their country; as the Rhetian Alps, now the country of Tyrol and the Grisons.
RHETOR, n. [L. from Gr. an orator or speaker.]
A rhetorician. [Little used.]
RHETORIC, n. [Gr. from to speak, to flow. Eng. to read. The primary sense is to drive or send. See Read.]
1. The art of speaking with propriety, elegance and force.
2. The power of persuasion or attraction; that which allures or charms. We speak of the rhetoric of the tongue, and the rhetoric of the heart or eyes.
Sweet silent rhetoric of persuading eyes.
RHETORICAL, a.
1. Pertaining to rhetoric; as the rhetorical art.
2. Containing the rules of rhetoric; as a rhetorical treatise.
3. Oratorial; as a rhetorical flourish.
RHETORICALLY, adv. In the manner of rhetoric; according to the rules of rhetoric; as, to treat a subject rhetorically; a discourse rhetorically delivered.
RHETORICATE, v.i. To play the orator. [Not in use.]
RHETORICATION, n. Rhetorical amplification. [Not in use.]
RHETORICIAN, n.
1. One who teaches the art of rhetoric, or the principles and rules of correct and elegant speaking.
The ancient sophists and rhetoricians, who had young auditors, lived till they were a hundred years old.
2. One well versed in the rules and principles of rhetoric.
3. An orator. [Less proper.]
RHETORICIAN, a. [See the noun.] Suiting a master of rhetoric. [Not in use.]
RHETORIZE, v.i. To play the orator.
RHETORIZE, v.t. To represent by a figure of oratory.
RHEUM, n. [Gr. from to flow.]
1. An increased and often inflammatory action of the vessels of an organ; but generally applied to the inflammatory action of the mucous glands, attended with increased discharge and an altered state of their excreted fluids.
2. A thin serous fluid, secreted by the mucous glands, etc.; as in catarrh.
RHEUMATIC, a. [L. rheumaticus; Gr. from rheum, which see.]
Pertaining to rheumatism, or partaking of its nature, as rheumatic pains or affections.
RHEUMATISM, n. [L. rheumatismus; Gr. from a watery humor, from to flow; the ancients supposing the disease to proceed from a defluxion of humors.]
A painful disease affecting muscles and joints of the human body, chiefly the larger joints, as the hips, knees, shoulders, etc.
RHEUMY, a. [from rheum.]
1. Full of rheum or watery matter; consisting of rheum or partaking of its nature.
2. Affected with rheum.
3. Abounding with sharp moisture; causing rheum.
RHIME. [See Rhyme.]
RHINO, n. A cant word for gold and silver, or money.
RHINOCERIAL, a. [from rhinoceros.]
Pertaining to the rhinoceros; resembling the rhinoceros.
RHINOCEROS, n. [L. rhinoceros; Gr. nose-horn.]
A genus of quadrupeds of two species, one of which, the unicorn, as a single horn growing almost erect from the nose. This animal when full grown, is said to be 12 feet in length. There is another species with two horns, the bicornis. They are natives of Asia and Africa.
RHINOCEROS-BIRD, n. A bird of the genus Buceros, having a crooked horn on the forehead, joined to the upper mandible.
RHODIAN, a. Pertaining to Rhodes, an isle of the Mediterranean; as Rhodian laws.
RHODIUM, n. A metal recently discovered among grains of crude platinum.
RHODODENDRON, n. [Gr. a rose and a tree.]
The dwarf rosebay.
RHODONITE, n. A mineral of a red, reddish, or yellowish white color, and splintery fracture, occurring compact or fibrous in the Hartz at Strahlberg, etc.
RHOETIZITE, RHETIZITE, n. A mineral occurring in masses or in radiated concretions, and of a white color.
RHOMB, n. [L. rhombus; Gr from to turn or whirl round, to wander, to roam or rove; literally, a deviating square.]
In geometry, an oblique angled parallelogram, or a quadrilateral figure whose sides are equal and parallel, but the angles unequal, two of the angles being obtuse and two acute. It consists of two equal and right cones united at the base.
RHOMBIC, a. Having the figure of a rhomb.
RHOMBO, n. A fish of turbot kind.
RHOMBOID, n. [Gr. rhomb, and form.]
1. In geometry, a figure having some resemblance to a rhomb; or a quadrilateral figure whose opposite sides and angles are equal, but which is neither equilateral nor equiangular.
2. a. In anatomy, the rhomboid muscle is a thin, broad and obliquely square fleshy muscle, between the basis of the scapula and the spina dorsi.
RHOMBOIDAL, a. Having the shape of a rhomboid, or a shape approaching it.
RHOMB-SPAR, n. A mineral of a grayish white, occurring massive disseminated and crystallized in rhomboids, imbedded in chlorite slate, limestone, etc. It consists chiefly of carbonates of lime and magnesia.
RHUBARB, n.
A plant of the genus Rheum, of several species; as the rhapontic, or common rhubarb; the palmated, or true Chinese rhubarb; the compact or Tartarian; the undulated or wave-leafed Chinese rhubarb; and the rubes, or currant rhubarb of mount Libanus. The root is medicinal and much used as a moderate cathartic.
RHUBARBARINE, n. A vegetable substance obtained from rhubarb.
RHUMB, n. [from rhomb.] In navigation, a vertical circle of any given place, or the intersection of such a circle with the horizon; in which last sense, rhumb is the same as a point of the compass.
RHUMB-LINE, n. In navigation, a line prolonged from any point of the compass on a nautical chart, except from the four cardinal points.
RHYME, RIME, n. [The deduction of this word from the Greek is a palpable error. The true orthography is rime or ryme; but as rime is hoar frost, and rhyme gives the true pronunciation, it may be convenient to continue the present orthography.]
1. In poetry, the correspondence of sounds in the terminating words or syllables of two verses, one of which succeeds the other immediately, or at no great distance.
For rhyme with reason may dispense, and sound has right to govern sense.
To constitute this correspondence in single words or in syllables, it is necessary that the vowel, and the final articulations or consonants, should be the same, or have nearly the same sound. The initial consonants may be different, as in find and mind, new and drew, cause and laws.
2. A harmonical succession of sounds.
The youth with songs and rhymes, some dance, and some haul the rope.
3. Poetry; a poem.
He knew himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
4. A word of sound to answer to another word.
Rhyme or reason, number or sense.
But from that time unto this season, I had neither rhyme nor reason.
RHYME, v.i.
1. To accord in sound.
But fagoted his notions as they fell, and if they rhym’d and rattl’d, all was well.
2. To make verses.
There march’d the bard and blockhead side by side, who rhym’d for hire, and patroniz’d for pride.
RHYME, v.t. To put into rhyme.
RHYMELESS, a. Destitute of rhyme; not having consonance of sound.
RHYMER, RHYMIST, RHYMSTER, n. One who makes rhymes; a versifier; a poor poet.
RHYMIC, a. Pertaining to rhyme.
RHYTHM, RHYTHMUS, n. [Gr.]
1. In music, variety in the movement as to quickness or slowness, or length and shortness of the notes; or rather the proportion which the parts of the motion have to each other.
2. Meter; verse; number.
RHYTHMICAL, a. [Gr., L. rhythmicus.]
Having proportion of sound, or one sound proportioned to another; harmonical.
Duly regulated by cadences, accents and quantities.
RIAL, n. A Spanish coin. [See Real.]
RIAL, n. [from royal.] A royal; a gold coin of the value of ten shillings sterling, formerly current in Britain.
RIANT, a. Laughing; exciting laughter. [Not anglicized.]
RIB, n. [L. costa, signifies side, border, extremity.]
1. A bone of animal bodies which forms a part of the frame of the thorax. The ribs in the human body are twelve on each side, proceeding from the spine to the sternum, or towards it, and serving to inclose and protect the heart and lungs.
2. In ship building, a piece of timber which forms or strengthens the side of a ship.
Ribs of a parrel, are short pieces of plank, having holes through which are reeved the two parts of the parrel-rope.
3. In botany, the continuation of the petiole along the middle of a leaf, and from which the veins take their rise.
4. In cloth, a prominent line or rising, like a rib.
5. Something long, thin and narrow; a strip.
RIB, v.t.
1. To furnish with ribs. In manufactures, to form with rising lines and channels; as, to rib cloth; whence we say, ribbed cloth.
2. To inclose with ribs.
RIBALD, n.
A low, vulgar, brutal wretch; a lewd fellow.
RIBALD, a. Low; base; mean.
RIBALDISH, a. Disposed to ribaldry.
RIBALDRY, n. Mean, vulgar language; chiefly, obscene language.
RIBAN, n. In heraldry, the eighth part of a bend.
RIBBED, pp. or a.
1. Furnished with ribs; as ribbed with steel.
2. Inclosed as with ribs.
3. Marked or formed with rising lines and channels; as ribbed cloth.
RIBIN, n.
1. A filet of silk; a narrow web of silk used for an ornament, as a badge, or for fastening some part of female dress.
2. In naval architecture, a long narrow flexible piece of timber, nailed upon the outside of the ribs from the stem to the sternpost, so as to encompass the ship lengthwise; the principal are the floor-ribin and the breadth-ribin.
RIBIN, v.t. To adorn with ribins.
RIBROAST, v.t. [rib and roast.] To beat soundly; a burlesque word.
RIBROASTED, pp. Soundly beaten.
RIBROASTING, ppr. Beating soundly.
RIBWORT, n. A plant of the genus Plantago.
RIC, RICK, as a termination, denotes jurisdiction, or a district over which government is exercised, as in bishopric. L. rego, to rule, and region.
RIC, as a termination of names, denotes rich or powerful, as in Alfric, Fredrick, like the Greek Polycrates and Plutarchus. It is the first syllable of Richard. [See Rich.]
RICE, n. [L. oryza; Gr.]
A plant of the genus Oryza, and its seed. The calyx is a bivalvular uniflorous glume; the corol bivalvular, nearly equal, and adhering to the seed. There is only one species. This plant is cultivated in all warm climates, and the grain forms a large portion of the food of the inhabitants. In America, it grows chiefly on low moist land, which can be overflowed. It is a light food, and said to be little apt to produce acidity in the stomach. Indeed it seems intended by the wise and benevolent Creator to be the proper food of men in warm climates.
RICE-BIRD, RICE-BUNTING, n. A bird of the United States, the Emberiza oryzivora; so named from its feeding on rice in the southern states. In New England it is called bob-lincoln.
RICH, a. [L. rego, regnum, Eng. reach, region, from extending.]
1. Wealthy; opulent; possessing a large portion of land, goods or money, or a larger portion than is common to other men or to men of like rank. A farmer may be rich with property which would not make a nobleman rich. An annual income of 500 sterling pounds would make a rich vicar, but not a rich bishop. Men more willingly acknowledge others to be richer, than to be wiser than themselves.
Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold. Genesis 13:2.
2. Splendid; costly; valuable; precious; sumptuous; as a rich dress; a rich border; a rich silk; rich furniture; a rich present.
3. Abundant in materials; yielding great quantities of any thing valuable; as a rich mine; rich ore.
4. Abounding in valuable ingredients or qualities; as a rich odor or flavor; rich spices.
So we say, a rich description; a discourse rich in ideas.
5. Full of valuable achievements or works.
Each minute shall be rich in some great action.
6. Fertile; fruitful; capable of producing large crops or quantities; as a rich soil; rich land; rich mold.
7. Abundant; large; as a rich crop.
8. Abundant; affording abundance; plentiful.
The gorgeous East with richest hand pours on her sons barbaric pearl and gold.
9. Full of beautiful scenery; as a rich landscape; a rich prospect.
10. Abounding with elegant colors; as a rich picture.
11. Plentifully stocked; as pastures rich in flocks.
12. Strong; vivid; perfect; as a rich color.
13. Having something precious; as a grove of rich trees.
14. Abounding with nutritious qualities; as a rich diet.
15. Highly seasoned; as rich paste; a rich dish of food.
16. Abounding with a variety of delicious food; as a rich table or entertainment.
17. Containing abundance beyond wants; as a rich treasury.
18. In music, full of sweet or harmonious sounds.
19. In Scripture, abounding; highly endowed with spiritual gifts; as rich in faith. James 2:5.
20. Placing confidence in outward prosperity. Matthew 19:23-24.
21. Self-righteous; abounding, in one’s own opinion, with spiritual graces. Revelation 3:17.
Rich in mercy, spoken of God, full of mercy, and ready to bestow good things on sinful men. Ephesians 2:4; Romans 10:12.
The rich, used as a noun, denotes a rich man or person, or more frequently in the plural, rich men or persons.
The rich hath many friends. Proverbs 14:20.