RIG 



Inhabitants of all parts of the East, where 

 it is boiled and eaten either alone or with 

 meat. It is the cheapest of all food, but 

 is rendered costly in this country by the 

 import duty upon it. 



RICE PAPER. An absurd name of a 

 description of paper, made in China and 

 India, for painting flowers, &c. upon, 

 from a membrane of the bread-fruit tree, 

 Artocarpus inciii/olia. 



RICIN'IC ACID. A product obtained by 

 distilling castor oil at a high temperature. 



RICI'NUS. The Palma Christi, or Castor- 

 oil Tree : a geuns of plants. Moncecia 

 Monadelphia. Said to be named from the 

 resemblance of its seeds to the tick, called 

 ricimu by the Latins. The B. communis, 

 the seeds of which yield the castor oil 

 (oleum ridni), is an annual plant, found 

 in both Indies. It is the KIXI or Keortuv 

 of Dioscorides, who administered the 

 seeds as a cathartic. The plant is now 

 annually reared in gardens in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London. 



RICOCHET', Fr. for duck and drake. In 

 gunnery, a method of firing cannon, loaded 

 with a small charge and elevated from 

 three to six degrees, so that the ball 

 may bound and roll along inside of the 

 enemy's rampart : this is called ricochet- 

 Jiring, and the batteries are termed rico- 

 chet-batteries. 



RI'DER. In botany, a small leaf inserted 

 in or attached to other leaves. In gun- 

 nery, a piece of wood equal in length to 

 the body of the axle-tree of the gun- 

 carriage. In law, see RIDER-ROLL. 



RI'DER-ROLL. A small piece of parch- 

 ment, containing an additional clause of 

 a record, statute, &c., added to the prin- 

 cipal document : called also a rider. 



RI'DERS. In ship-building, interior ribs, 

 to strengthen and bind the parts of a ship 

 together, being fayed upon the inner staff 

 and bolted through all. 



RIDGE. In architecture, the upper hori- 

 zontal timber in a roof, against which the 

 raft rs pitch. 



R .'DING. In England, one of three por- 

 tions into which the county of York is 

 divided : anciently under the government 

 of a reeve. The term is corrupted from 

 trithing, third. 



RIDOT'TO (It.). A favourite public 

 Italian entertainment, consisting of music 

 and dancing. 



RI'FLE, Sax. rifle, a groove : hence rei- 

 feln, to groove or rifle. A gun about the 

 same length and size as the musket, but 

 having the inside of the barrel rifled or cut 

 into a number of spiral channels, making 

 little more than one turn in the whole 

 length of the piece. 



Rir. The peculiar manner of fitting 

 fhp roasts and rigging to a vessel. 



RIS'OER. In mechanics, a cylindrical 

 pulley called also ' 



V RIX 



RIO'GINO or A SHIP. A term compre- 

 hending all ropes employed to support 

 the masts, and to extend or reduce the 

 sails or arrange them to the disposition of 

 the wind, liigging loft, tbe room in which 

 the rigging is prepared. 



RIGHT, Sax, riht (rectus}. In geometry, 

 straight, as a right line. Also opposed to 

 oblique, as a right angle, that is, an angle 

 neither obtuse not acute, but formed by 

 one line or surface meeting another per- 

 pendicularly. 



RIGID'ITY, Lat. rigiditat, from (HyiOf, 

 stiff. In physics, a term which irnplits 

 the opposite qualities of flexibility, pli 

 ability, ductility, malleability, &c., and 

 is usually defined to be the degree of 

 hardness which arises from the mutual 

 indentation of the component particle? 

 within one another. 



RIGOLE', ) A sort of musical instrument 



RI'GALS, } consisting of several sticks, 

 bound together and separated by beads 

 It is struck with a ball at the end of a. 

 stick, and makes tolerable harmony. 



RIMO'SE, Lat. rima, cleft. In zoologt,. 

 when any surface possesses numerous 

 minute narrow excavations, running into 

 each other. 



RINFORZAN'DO (It.), strengthening, in 

 music, denotes tnat the sound is to b 

 increased, which is symbolised by -sr;, 



RING'-BOLT. A bolt of iron, with an eye, 

 in which a ring of iron is fitted 



RING'BONE. In farriery, a hard callous 

 substance, growing in the hollow circle or 

 the little pastern of a horse : so name-i 

 from its sometimes growing quite round 

 like a ring. 



RINO'-SAIL. A small and light sail set 

 on a mast on the taffrail ; also, a studding- 

 sail set upon the gaff of a fore and aft sail. 



RING'TAIL, 1. In ornithology, the Falco 



pygargus, Lin. 2. A small quadrangular 



sail set on a small mast on a ship's taffraii. 



RI'OT. In law, a riotous assembling c-f 

 twelve persons or more, and who do not 

 disperse on proclamation. An Act pro- 

 hibiting such assemblies is known by the 

 name of the Riot Act, and being read by a 

 magistrate or peace officer to a mob, cor- 

 stitutes that mob rioters, if it does not 

 immediately disperse. 



RIPIA'NO. An Italian term, meaning 

 full, used in music in opposition to solv. 



RITORNEL'LO (It.), from ritorno, return. 

 In music, a repeat played while the prin- 

 cipal voices pause. 



RIV'ET. A pin of iron, or other metal, 

 used for the purpose of joining two plates 

 of metal together; these being made to 

 overlap, and a hole drilled through both, 

 the pin is inserted and firmly clinched by 

 hammering, so that a head is now formed 

 on both ends, and it cannot be withdrawn. 



RIX'-DOLLAR, Germ, reichsthaltr. Iuteb 

 ryks-daalder, Swtd. riki-daltr, 



