Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
RICHES — RING-OUSEL
RICHES, n. [This is in the singular number in fact, but treated as the plural.]
1. Wealth; opulence; affluence; possessions of land, good or money in abundance.
Riches do not consist in having more gold and silver, but in having more in proportion than our neighbors.
2. Splendid sumptuous appearance.
The riches of heav’n’s pavement, trodden gold.
3. In Scripture, an abundance of spiritual blessings. Luke 16:11.
The riches of God, his fullness of wisdom, power, mercy, grace and glory, Ephesians 1:7, 18; Ephesians 2:4, 7; or the abundance supplied by his works. Psalm 104:24.
The riches of Christ, his abundant fullness of spiritual and eternal blessings for men. Ephesians 3:8.
The riches of a state or kingdom, consist less in a full treasury than in the productiveness of its soil and manufactures, and in the industry of its inhabitants.
RICHLY, adv.
1. With riches; with opulence; with abundance of goods or estate; with ample funds; as a hospital richly endowed.
In Belmont is a lady richly left.
2. Gaily; splendidly; magnificently; as richly dressed; richly ornamented.
3. Plenteously; abundantly; amply as, to be richly paid for services. The reading of ancient authors will richly reward us for the perusal.
4. Truly; really; abundantly; fully; as a chastisement richly deserved.
RICHNESS, n.
1. Opulence; wealth.
2. Finery; splendor.
3. Fertility; fecundity; fruitfulness; the qualities which render productive; as the richness of a oil.
4. Fullness; abundance; as the richness of a treasury.
5. Quality of abounding with something valuable; as the richness of a mine or an ore; the richness of milk or of cane-juice.
6. Abundance of any ingredient or quality; as the richness of spices or of fragrance.
7. Abundance of beautiful scenery; as the richness of a landscape or prospect.
8. Abundance of nutritious qualities; as the richness of diet.
9. Abundance of high seasoning; as the richness of cake.
10. Strength; vividness; or whatever constitutes perfection; as the richness of color or coloring.
11. Abundance of imagery or of striking ideas; as richness of description.
RICK, n. [Eng. ridge.]
A heap or pile of grain or hay in the field or open air, but sheltered with a kind of roof. In America, we usually give this name to a long pile; the round and conical pile being called stack. In the north of England, it is said this name is given to small piles of corn in the field.
RICKETS, n. [In technical language, rachitis, Gr. from back or spine, Eng. rack, applied to the neck piece of meat. See Rack and Ridge.]
A disease which affects children, and in which the joints become knotted, and the legs and spine grow crooked. As the child advances in life, the head is enlarged, the thorax is compressed on the sides, and the sternum rises.
RICKETY, a.
1. Affected with rickets.
2. Weak; feeble in the joints; imperfect.
RICOCHET, n. In gunnery, the firing of guns, mortars or howitzers with small charges, and elevated a few degrees, so as to carry the balls or shells just over the parapet, and cause them to roll along the opposite rampart. This is called ricochet-firing, and the batteries are called ricochet-batteries.
RID, pret. of ride.
RID, v.t. pret. rid; pp. id.
1. To free; to deliver; properly, to separate, and thus to deliver or save.
That he might rid him out of their hands. Genesis 37:22.
I will rid you out of their bondage. Exodus 6:6.
2. To separate; to drive away.
I will rid evil beasts out of the land. Leviticus 26:6.
[This use is not common.]
3. To free; to clear; to disencumber; as, to rid one of his care. It is not easy to rid the sea of pirates.
Resolv’d at once to rid himself of pain.
4. To dispatch.
For willingness rids away.
5. To drive away; to remove by violence; to destroy.
Ah death’s men! you have rid this sweet young prince.
RID, pp. or a. Free; clear; as, to be rid of trouble.
To get rid of, to free one’s self.
RIDDANCE, n.
1. Deliverance; a setting free; as riddance from all adversity.
2. Disencumbrance.
3. The act of clearing away.
Thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field. Leviticus 23:22.
RIDDEN, RID, pp. of ride.
RIDDING, ppr. Freeing; clearing; disencumbering.
RIDDLE, n. [See Cradle.]
An instrument for cleaning grain, being a large sieve with a perforated button, which permits the grain to pass through it, but retains the chaff.
RIDDLE, v.t. To separate, as grain from the chaff with a riddle; as, to riddle wheat. [Note. The machines now used have nearly superseded the riddle.]
RIDDLE, n. [See Read.]
1. An enigma; something proposed for conjecture, or that is to be solved by conjecture; a puzzling question; an ambiguous proposition. Judges 14:12-19.
2. Any thing ambiguous or puzzling.
RIDDLE, v.t. To solve; to explain; but we generally use unriddle, which is more proper.
Riddle me this, and guess him if you can.
RIDDLE, v.i. To speak ambiguously, obscurely or enigmatically.
RIDDLER, n. One who speaks ambiguously or obscurely.
RIDDLINGLY, adv. In the manner of a riddle; secretly.
RIDE, v.i. pret. rode or rid; pp. rid, ridden. [L rheda, a chariot or vehicle.]
1. To be carried on horseback, or on any beast, or in any vehicle. We ride on a horse, on a camel, in a coach, chariot, wagon, etc.
2. To be borne on or in a fluid. A ship rides at anchor; the ark rode on the flood; a balloon rides in the air.
He rode on a cherub and did fly; yea, he did fly on the wings of the wind. Psalm 18:10.
3. To be supported in motion.
Strong as the axle-tree on which heaven rides.
4. To practice riding. He rides often for his health.
5. To manage a horse well.
He rode, he fenc’d, he mov’d with graceful ease.
6. To be supported by something subservient; to sit.
On whose foolish honesty my practices rid easy.
To ride easy, in seaman’s language, is when a ship does not labor or feel a great strain on her cables.
To ride hard, is when a ship pitches violently, so as to strain her cables, masts and hull.
To ride out, as a gale, signifies that a ship does not drive during a storm.
RIDE, v.t.
1. To sit on, so as to be carried; as, to ride a horse.
They ride the air in whirlwind.
2. To manage insolently at will; as in priestridden.
The nobility could no longer endure to be ridden by bakers, cobblers and brewers.
3. To carry. [Local.]
RIDE, n.
1. An excursion on horseback or in a vehicle.
2. A saddle horse. [Local.]
3. A road cut in a wood or through a ground for the amusement of riding; a riding.
RIDER, n.
1. One who is borne on a horse or other beast, or in a vehicle.
2. One who breaks or manages a horse.
3. The matrix of an ore.
4. An inserted leaf or an additional clause, as to a bill in parliament.
5. In ship building, a short of interior rib fixed occasionally in a ships’s hold, opposite to some of the timbers to which they are bolted, and reaching from the keelson to the beams of the lower deck, to strengthen her frame.
RIDGE, n. [L. rugo.]
1. The back or top of the back.
2. A long or continued range of hills or mountains; or the upper part of such a range. We say, a long ridge of hills, or the highest ridge.
3. A steep elevation, eminence or protuberance.
Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct.
4. A long rising land, or a strip of ground thrown up by a plow or left between furrows. Psalm 65:10.
5. The top of the roof of a building.
6. Any long elevation of land.
7. Ridges of a horse’s mouth, are wrinkles or risings of flesh in the roof of the mouth.
RIDGE, v.t.
1. To form a ridge; as bristles that ridge the back of a boar.
2. In tillage, to form into ridges with the plow. The farmers in Connecticut ridge their land for maize, leaving a balk between two ridges.
3. To wrinkle.
RIDGIL, RIDGLING, n. The male of any beast half gelt.
RIDGY, a. Having a ridge or ridges; rising in a ridge.
RIDICULE, n. [L. ridiculum, from rideo, to laugh or laugh at.]
1. Contemptuous laughter; laughter with some degree of contempt; derision. It expresses less than scorn. Ridicule is aimed at what is not only laughable, but improper, absurd or despicable. Sacred subjects should never be treated with ridicule. [See Ludicrous.]
Ridicule is too rough an entertainment for the polished and refined. It is banished from France, and is losing ground in England.
2. That species of writing which excites contempt with laughter. It differs from burlesque, which may excite laughter without contempt, or it may provoke derision.
Ridicule and derision are not exactly the same, as derision is applied to persons only, and ridicule to persons or things. We deride the man, but ridicule the man or his performances.
RIDICULE, v.t.
1. To laugh at with expressions of contempt; to deride.
2. To treat with contemptuous merriment; to expose to contempt or derision by writing.
RIDICULE, a. Ridiculous. [Not in use.]
RIDICULED, pp. Treated with laughter and contempt; derided.
RIDICULER, n. One that ridicules.
RIDICULING, ppr. Laughing at in contempt; exposing to contempt and derision.
RIDICULOUS, a. [L. ridiculus.]
That may justly excite laughter with contempt; as a ridiculous dress; ridiculous behavior. A fop and a dandy are ridiculous in their dress.
RIDICULOUSLY, adv. In a manner worthy of contemptuous merriment; as a man ridiculously vain.
RIDICULOUSNESS, n. The quality of being ridiculous; as the ridiculousness of worshiping idols.
RIDING, ppr. [from ride.]
1. Passing or traveling on a beast or in a vehicle; floating.
2. a. Employed to travel on any occasion.
No suffragan bishop shall have more than one riding apparitor.
RIDING, n.
1. A road cut in a wood or through a ground, for the diversion of riding therein.
2. [corrupted from trithing, third.] One of the three intermediate jurisdictions between a three and a hundred, into which the county of York, in England, is divided, anciently under the government of a reeve.
RIDING-CLERK, n. In England, one of the six clerks in chancery.
RIDING-COAT, n. A coat for riding on a journey.
RIDING-HABIT, n. A garment worn by females when they ride or travel.
RIDING-HOOD, n. A hood used by females when they ride; a kind of cloak with a hood.
RIDING-SCHOOL, n. A school or place where the art of riding is taught. It may in some places be called a riding-house.
RIDOTTO, n. [L. reductus.]
1. A public assembly.
2. A musical entertainment consisting of singing and dancing, in the latter of which the whole company join.
RIE. [See Rye.]
RIFE, a. [Heb. to multiply.]
Prevailing; prevalent. It is used of epidemic diseases.
The plague was then rife in Hungary.
RIFELY, adv. Prevalently; frequently.
It was rifely reported that the Turks were coming in a great fleet.
RIFENESS, n. Frequency; prevalence.
RIFFRAFF, n. Sweepings; refuse.
RIFLE, v.t. [This is one of the family of rip, rive, reap, raffle, L. rapio. Eng. rub, etc.]
1. To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away.
Till time shall rifle ev’ry youthful grace.
2. To strip; to rob; to pillage; to plunder.
You have rifled my master.
RIFLE, n. [This word belongs to the family of rip, rive, L. rapio, etc. supra. The word means primarily a channel or groove.]
A gun about the usual length and size of a musket, the inside of whose barrel is rifled, that is, grooved, or formed with spiral channels.
RIFLE, v.t. To groove; to channel.
RIFLED, pp. Seized and carried away by violence; pillaged; channeled.
RIFLEMAN, n. A man armed with a rifle.
RIFLER, n. A robber; one that seizes and bears away by violence.
RIFLING, ppr. Plundering; seizing and carrying away by violence; grooving.
RIFT, n. [from rive.] A cleft; a fissure; an opening made by riving or splitting.
RIFT, v.t. to cleave; to rive; to split; as, to rift an oak or a rock.
RIFT, v.i.
1. to burst open; to split.
Timber - not apt to rift with ordnance.
2. to belch; to break wind. [Local.]
RIFTED, pp. split; rent; cleft.
RIFTING, ppr. splitting; cleaving; bursting.
RIG, n. A ridge, which see.
RIG, v.t.
1. to dress; to put on; when applied to persons, not elegant, but rather a ludicrous word, to express the putting on of a gay, flaunting or unusual dress.
Jack was rigged out in his gold and silver lace, with a feather in his cap.
2. To furnish with apparatus or gear; to fit with tackling.
3. To rig a ship, in seamen’s language, is to fit the shrouds, stays, braces, etc. to their respective masts and yards.
RIG, n. [See the Verb.]
1. Dress; also, bluster.
2. A romp; a wanton; a strumpet.
To run the rig, to play a wanton trick.
To run the rig upon, to practice a sportive trick on.
RIG, v.i. to play the wanton.
RIGADOON, n. a gay brisk dance performed by one couple, and said to have been borrowed from Provdence in France.
RIGATION, n. [L. rigatio, from rigo, Gr. See Rain.]
The act of watering; but irrigation is generally used.
RIGGED, pp. Dressed; furnished with shrouds, stays, etc. as a ship.
RIGGER, n. One that rigs or dresses; one whose occupation is to fit the rigging of a ship.
RIGGING, ppr. Dressing; fitting with shrouds, braces, etc.
RIGGING, n. Dress; tackle; particularly, the ropes which support the masts, extend and contract the sails, etc. of a ship. This is of two kinds, standing rigging, as the shrouds and stays, and running rigging, such as braces, sheets, halliards, clewlines, etc.
RIGGISH, a. Wanton; lewd. [Not in use.]
RIGGLE, v.i. To move one way and the other. [See Wriggle.]
RIGHT, a. rite. [L. rectus, from the root of rego, properly to strain or stretch, whence straight.]
Properly; strained; stretched to straightness; hence,
1. Straight. A right line in geometry is the shortest line that can be drawn or imagined between two points. A right line may be horizontal, perpendicular, or inclined to the plane of the horizon.
2. In morals and religion, just; equitable; accordant to the standard of truth and justice or the will of God. That alone is right in the sight of God, which is consonant to his will or law; this being the only perfect standard of truth and justice. In social and political affairs, that is right which is consonant to the laws and customs of a country, provided these laws and customs are not repugnant to the laws of God. A man’s intentions may be right, though his actions may be wrong in consequence of a defect in judgment.
3. Fit; suitable; proper; becoming. In things indifferent, or which are regulated by no positive law, that is right which is best suited to the character, occasion or purpose, or which is fitted to produce some good effect. It is right for a rich man to dress himself and his family in expensive clothing, which it would not be right for a poor man to purchase. It is right for every man to choose his own time for eating or exercise.
Right is a relative term; what may be right for one end, may be wrong for another.
4. Lawful; as the right heir of an estate.
5. True; not erroneous or wrong; according to fact.
If there be no prospect beyond the grave, the inference is certainly right, “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
6. Correct; passing a true judgment; not mistaken or wrong.
You are right, justice, and you weigh this well.
7. Not left; most convenient or dextrous; as the right hand, which is generally most strong or most convenient in use.
8. Most favorable or convenient.
The lady has been disappointed on the right side.
9. Properly placed, disposed or adjusted; orderly; well regulated.
10. Well performed, as an art or act.
11. Most direct; as the right way from London to Oxford.
12. Being on the same side as the right hand; as the right side.
13. Being on the right hand of a person whose face is towards the mouth of a river; as the right bank of the Hudson.
RIGHT, adv.
1. In a right or straight line; directly.
Let thine eyes look right on. Proverbs 4:25.
2. According to the law or will of God, or to the standard of truth and justice; as, to judge right.
3. According to any rule of art.
You with strict discipline instructed right.
4. According to fact or truth; as, to tell a story right.
5. In a great degree; very; as right humble; right noble; right valiant. [Obsolescent or inelegant.]
6. It is prefixed to titles; as in right honorable; right reverend.
RIGHT, is used elliptically for it is right, what you say is right, it is true, etc.
Right, cries his lordship.
On the right, on the side with the right hand.
RIGHT, n.
1. Conformity to the will of God, or to his law, the perfect standard of truth and justice. In the literal sense, right is a straight line of conduct, and wrong a crooked one. Right therefore is rectitude or straightness, and perfect rectitude is found only in an infinite Being and his will.
2. Conformity to human laws, or to other human standard of truth, propriety or justice. When laws are definite, right and wrong are easily ascertained and understood. In arts, there are some principles and rules which determine what is right. In many things indifferent, or left without positive law, we are to judge what is right by fitness or propriety, by custom, civility or other circumstances.
3. Justice; that which is due or proper; as, to do right to every man.
Long love to her has borne the faithful knight, and well deserv’d had fortune done him right.
4. Freedom from error; conformity with truth or fact.
Seldom your opinions err, your eyes are always in the right.
5. Just claim; legal title; ownership; the legal power of exclusive possession and enjoyment. In hereditary monarchies, a right to the throne vests in the heir on the decease of the king. A deed vests the right of possession in the purchaser of land. Right and possession are very different things. We often have occasion to demand and sue for rights not in possession.
6. Just claim by courtesy, customs, or the principles of civility and decorum. Every man has a right to civil treatment. The magistrate has a right to respect.
7. Just claim by sovereignty; prerogative. God, as the author of all things, has a right to govern and dispose of them at his pleasure.
8. That which justly belongs to one.
Born free, he sought his right.
9. Property; interest.
A subject in his prince may claim a right.
10. Just claim; immunity; privilege. All men have a right to the secure enjoyment of life, personal safety, liberty and property. We deem the right of trial by jury invaluable, particularly in the case of crimes. Rights are natural, civil, political, religious, personal, and public.
11. Authority; legal power. We have no right to disturb others in the enjoyment of their religious opinions.
12. In the United States, a tract of land; or a share or proportion of property, as in a mine or manufactory.
13. The side opposite to the left; as on the right. Look to the right.
1. To rights, in a direct line; straight. [Unusual.]
2. Directly; soon.
To set to rights,
To put to rights, to put into good order; to adjust; to regulate what is out of order.
Bill of rights, a list of rights; a paper containing a declaration of rights, or the declaration itself.
Writ of right, a writ which lies to recover lands in fee simple, unjustly withheld from the true owner.
RIGHT, v.t.
1. To do justice to; to relieve from wrong; as, to right an injured person.
2. In seamen’s language, to right a ship, is to restore her to an upright position from a careen.
To right the helm, to place it in the middle of the ship.
RIGHT, v.i. To rise with the masts erect, as a ship.
RIGHTED, pp. Relieved from injustice; set upright.
RIGHTEN, v.t. To do justice to. Obs.
RIGHTEOUS, a. ri’chus.
1. Just; accordant to the divine law. Applied to persons, it denotes one who is holy in heart, and observant of the divine commands in practice; as a righteous man. Applied to things, it denotes consonant to the divine will or to justice; as a righteous act. It is used chiefly in theology, and applied to God, to his testimonies and to his saints.
The righteous, in Scripture, denote the servants of God, the saints.
2. Just; equitable; merited.
And I thy righteous doom will bless.
RIGHTEOUSLY, adv. ri’chusly. Justly; in accordance with the laws of justice; equitably; as a criminal righteously condemned.
Thou shalt judge the people righteously. Psalm 67:4.
RIGHTEOUSNESS, n. ri’chusness.
1. Purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law. Righteousness, as used in Scripture and theology, in which it is chiefly used, is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. It includes all we call justice, honesty and virtue, with holy affections; in short, it is true religion.
2. Applied to God, the perfection or holiness of his nature; exact rectitude; faithfulness.
3. The active and passive obedience of Christ, by which the law of God is fulfilled. Daniel 9:7.
4. Justice; equity between man and man. Luke 1:75.
5. The cause of our justification.
The Lord our righteousness. Jeremiah 23:6.
RIGHTER, n. One who sets right; one who does justice or redresses wrong.
RIGHTFUL, a.
1. Having the right or just claim according to established laws; as the rightful heir to a throne or an estate.
2. Being by right, or by just claim; as a rightful lord; rightful property; rightful judge.
3. Just; consonant to justice; as a rightful cause; a rightful war.
RIGHTFULLY, adv. According to right, law or justice; as a title rightfully vested.
RIGHTFULNESS, n.
1. Justice; accordance with the rules of right; as the rightfulness of a claim to lands or tenements.
2. Moral rectitude.
But still although we fail of perfect rightfulness. [Not usual.]
RIGHT-HAND, n. The hand opposite to the left, usually the strongest, most convenient or dextrous hand, and hence its name in other languages, as well as in our.
RIGHTING, pp. Doing justice; to; setting upright.
RIGHTLY, adv.
1. According to justice; according to the divine will or moral rectitude; as duty rightly performed.
2. Properly; fitly; suitably; as a person rightly named.
3. According to truth or fact; not erroneously. He has rightly conjectured.
4. Honestly; uprightly.
5. Exactly.
Thou didst not rightly see.
6. Straightly; directly. [Not in use.]
RIGHTNESS, n.
1. Correctness; conformity to truth or to the divine will, which is the standard of moral rectitude. It is important that a man should have such persuasion of the rightness of his conscience as to exclude rational doubt.
2. Straightness; as the rightness of a line.
RIGID, a. [Gr. to be stiff; L. frigeo, frigidus; Heb. to be still, to be stiff.]
1. Stiff; not pliant; not easily bent. It is applied to bodies or substances that are naturally soft or flexible, but not fluid. We never say, a rigid stone or rigid iron, nor do we say, rigid ice; but we say, an animal body or limb, when cold, is rigid. Rigid is then opposed to flexible, but expresses less than inflexible.
2. Strict in opinion, practice or discipline; severe in temper; opposed to lax or indulgent; as a rigid father or master; a rigid officer.
3. Strict; exact; as a rigid law or rule; rigid discipline; rigid criticism.
4. Severely just; as a rigid sentence or judgment.
5. Exactly according to the sentence or law; as rigid execution.
RIGIDITY, n. [L. rigiditas.]
1. Stiffness; want of pliability; the quality of not being easily bent.
2. A brittle hardness, as opposed to ductibility, malleability and softness.
3. Stiffness of appearance or manner; want of ease or airy elegance.
RIGIDLY, adv.
1. Stuffy; unpliantly.
2. Severely; strictly; exactly; without laxity, indulgence or abatement; as, to judge rigidly; to criticize rigidly; to execute a law rigidly.
RIGIDNESS, n.
1. Stiffness of a body; the quality of not being easily bent; as the rigidness of a limb or of flesh.
2. Severity of temper; strictness in opinion or practice; but expressing less than inflexibility.
RIGLET, n. [L. regula, rego.] a flat thin piece of wood, used for picture frames; also used in printing; to regulate the margin, etc.
RIGMAROLE, n. a repetition of stories; a succession of stories.
RIGOL, n. A circle; a diadem.
RIGOLI, n. a musical instrument consisting of several sticks bound together, but separated by beads.
RIGOR, n. [L. from rigeo, to be stiff.]
1. Stiffness; rigidness; as Gorgonian rigor.
2. In medicine, a sense of chilliness, with contradiction of the skin; a convulsive shuddering or slight tremor, as in the cold fit of a fever.
3. Stiffness of opinion or temper; severity; sternness.
All his rigor is turned to grief and pity.
4. Severity of life; austerity; voluntary submission to pain, abstinence or mortification.
5. Strictness; exactness without allowance, latitude or indulgence; as the rigor of criticism; to execute a law with rigor; to enforce moral duties with rigor.
6. violence; fury. [Not in use.]
7. Hardness; solidity. [Unusual.]
8. Severity; asperity; as the rigors of a cold winter.
RIGOROUS, a.
1. Severe; allowing no abatement or mitigation; as a rigorous officer of justice.
2. Severe; exact; strict; without abatement or relaxation; as a rigorous execution of law; an enforcement of rigorous discipline.
3. Exact; strict; scrupulously accurate; as a rigorous definition or demonstration.
4. Severe; very cold; as a rigorous winter.
RIGOROUSLY, adv.
1. Severely; without relaxation, abatement or mitigation; as a sentence rigorously executed.
2. Strictly; exactly; with scrupulous nicety; rigidly.
The people would examine his works more vigorously than himself.
RIGOROUSNESS, n.
1. Severity without relaxation or mitigation; exactness.
2. Severity
RILL, n.
A small brook; a rivulet; a streamlet.
RILL, v.i. to run in a small stream, or in streamlets.
RILLET, n. A small stream; a rivulet.
RIM, n.
1. the border, edge or margin of a thing; as the rim of a kettle or bason; usually applied to things circular or curving.
2. the lower part of the belly or abdomen.
RIM, v.t. to put on a rim or hoop at the border.
RIME, n. [This is the more correct orthography, but rhyme is commonly used, which see.]
RIME, n.
White or hoar frost; congealed dew or vapor.
RIME, n. [L. rima.]
A chink; a fissure; a rent or long aperture. [Not in use.]
RIME, v.i. to freeze or congeal into hoar frost.
RIMOSE, RIMOUS, a. [L. rimosus, from rima.] In botany, chinky; abounding with clefts, cracks or chinks; as the bark of trees.
RIMPLE, n. A fold or wrinkle. [See Rumple.]
RIMPLE, v.t. To rumple; to wrinkle.
RIMPLING, n. Undulation.
RIMY, a. [from rime.] Abounding with rime; frosty.
RIND, n. [Gr.]
The bark of a plant; the skin or coat of fruit that may be pared or peeled off; also, the inner bark of trees.
RIND, v.t. To bark; to decorticate. [Not in use.]
RINDLE, n. A small water course or gutter.
RING, n.
1. A circle, or a circular line, or any thing in the form of a circular line or hoop. Thus we say of men, they formed themselves into a ring, to see a wrestling match. Rings of gold were made for the ark. Exodus 25:12-15. Rings of gold or other material are worn on the fingers and sometimes in the ears, as ornaments.
2. A circular course.
Place me, O place me in the dusty ring, where youthful charioteers contend for glory.
RING, n. [from the verb.]
1. A sound; particularly, the sound of metals; as the ring of a bell.
2. Any loud sound, or the sounds of numerous voices; or sound continued, repeated or reverberated; as the ring of acclamations.
3. A chime, or set of bells harmonically tuned.
RING, v.t. pret. and pp. rung.
To cause to sound, particularly by striking a metallic body; as, to ring a bell. This word expresses appropriately the sounding of metals.
RING, v.t. [from the noun.]
1. To encircle.
2. To fit with rings, as the fingers, or as a swine’s snout. Farmers ring swine to prevent their rooting.
And ring these fingers with thy household worms.
RING, v.i.
1. To sound, as a bell or other sonorous body, particularly a metallic one.
2. To practice the art of making music with bells.
3. To sound; to resound.
With sweeter notes each rising temple rung.
4. To utter, as a bell; to sound.
The shardborn beetle with his drowsy hums, hath rung night’s yawning peal.
5. To tinkle; to have the sensation of sound continued.
My ears still ring with noise.
6. To be filled with report or talk. The whole town rings with his fame.
RING-BOLT, n. An iron bolt with an eye to which is fitted a ring of iron.
RING-BONE, n. A callus growing in the hollow circle of the little pastern of a horse, just above the coronet.
RINGDOVE, n. A species of pigeon, the Columba palumbus, the largest of the European species.
RINGENT, a. [L. ringor, to make wry faces, that is, to wring or twist.]
In botany, a ringent or labiate corol is one which is irregular, monopetalous, with the border usually divided into two parts called the upper and lower lip; or irregular and gaping, like the mouth of an animal.
RINGER, n. One who rings. [In the sense of wringer, not used.]
RINGING, ppr. Causing to sound, as a bell; sounding; fitting with rings.
RINGING, n. The act of sounding or of causing to sound.
RINGLEAD, v.t. To conduct. [Little used.]
RINGLEADER, n. [ring and leader.] The leader of any association of men engaged in violating of law or an illegal enterprise, as rioters, mutineers and the like. this name is derived from the practice which men associating to oppose law have sometimes adopted, of signing their names to articles of agreement in a ring, that no one of their number might be distinguished as the leader.
RINGLET, n.
1. A small ring.
2. A curl; particularly, a curl of hair.
Her golden tresses in wanton ringlets wav’d
3. A circle.
To dance our ringlets in the whistling wind.