ROM 



628 



ROO 



the hard roe, or that to which the name 

 spawn is usually given, denotes the fe- 

 male. 2. Sax. raa, the female of the 



hart. 



ROE-STONE. Oolite or Portland- stone. 

 See OOLITE. 



ROGA'TION, from rogo, to ask. The de- 

 mand by the Roman consuls, or tribunes, 

 of a law to be passed by the people. 



ROGATION- WEEK. The second week be- 

 fore "Whit- Sunday ; thus called from the 

 three fasts observed therein ; viz., Mon- 

 day, Tuesday, and Wednesday, called 

 rogation- days, because of the extraordi- 

 nary prayers then made for the fruits of 

 the earth, as a preparation for the devo- 

 tion of the Holy Thursday. 



ROGUE'S YARN. A yarn of different 

 twist and colour from the rest, and in- 

 serted in the royal cordage, to identify it 

 if stolen. 



ROLL. In antiquity, a volume : a book 

 consisting of leaf, bark, paper, skin, or 

 other material, on which the ancients 

 wrote, and which being kept rolled, was 

 called by the Latins volwnen, from colvo, 

 to roll. 



ROLLERS. The sea term for unusually 

 heavy waves. 



ROLLS. 1. In gothic architecture, mould- 

 ings representing bent cylinders. 2. 



Rolls of court, of parliament, or of any 

 other public body, are the parchments on 

 which are engrossed, by the proper offi- 

 cer, the acts and proceedings of that body, 

 and which being kept in rolls, constitute 

 the records of such public body. 



ROLLING-MILL. The name commonly 

 applied to the machinery by which metals 

 are laminated or compressed (while red 

 hot), by rollers or cylinders. 



ROLLING-PRESS. 1. A machine consist- 

 ing essentially of two cylinders, by which 

 cloth is calendered, waved, and tabbied. 

 Also a machine, of similar construction, 

 for taking impressions from copper- plates : 



a copper- plate printing-press. 2. A 



rolling-mill (q. v.). 



ROLLING-TACKLE. The object of this 

 tackle is to keep the yards constantly to 

 leewards when the ship rolls, thereby 

 doing away with friction. 



ROMAS CATH'OLICS. A name for those 

 Christians who believe in the doctrines 

 and submit to the discipline of the Church 

 of Rome : called also Papists, from Papa, 

 Pope. 



ROMAN CEMENT. An excellent water 

 cement, in very general use for building 

 purposes. 



ROMANCE', Sp. romance, the vulgar 

 language of Spain. The Welsh has also 

 romance, rising nobly: hence romantic: 

 rhamanta, to soar, and rhamantu, to use 

 figurative language. A tale of extraor- 

 dinary adventures, soaring beyond the 

 limits of fact and real life. The first 



romances were a monstrous assemblage 

 of histories, in which truth and fiction 

 were blended without probability. They 

 were for the most part made up of amo- 

 rous adventures and the extravagant 

 nonsense of chivalry. 



ROMAN ORDER. Another name for the 

 composite order of architecture. 



ROMANESQUE. In painting, appertain- 

 ing to fable or romance. In literature, the 

 common dialect of Languedoc, and other 

 parts in the south of France. Romaic is 

 the language of modern Greece. 



ROMAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING. This 

 school, like the Florentine, addressed it- 

 self to the mind, and is formed upon an- 

 tique models. Its style was poetical ; its 

 touch easy and graceful ; its composition 

 elegant ; its colouring negligent ; and ita 

 draperies eminently successful. 



ROMAN VAULTING. A term applied by 

 some to a vault built in the following 

 manner; each vault being built exactly as 

 if it were single, the two vaults meet in 

 an edge or groin of a regular elliptical 

 form, lying diagonally across the com- 

 partment, and the lines running along the 

 top of each vault will be horizontal lines. 



ROME'PENNY, \ A tax of a penny for each 



ROME SCOT. / house, formerly paid by 

 the people of England to the see of Rome, 

 at the feast of St. Peter ad vincula (1st oi 

 August), granted, according to some, by 

 Offa; according to others, by Ina, king of 

 the "West Saxons, who being on a pil- 

 grimage, and at Rome, A.D. 725, gave it as 

 an alms. It was much complained of by 

 the people, but was only finally abolished 

 by Queen Elizabeth. 



ROM'PEE'. In heraldry, an ordinary 

 which is broken, or a chevron bend, or 

 the like, whose upper parts are cut off. 



RONDEAU', Fr. from rond, round. 1. A 

 kind of poetry, commonly consisting of 

 thirteen verses of which eight have one 

 rhyme, and five another. It is divided 

 into three couplets, and at the beginning 

 of the second and third the beginning of 

 the rondeau is repeated in an equivocal 

 sense. 2. In music, the rondeau gene- 

 rally consists of three strains, the first of 

 which closes in the original key, while 

 each of the others is so constructed in mo- 

 dulation as to reconduct the ear easily 



and naturally to the first strain. 3. A 



kind of jig or lively tune which ends with 

 the first strain repeated. 



ROOD. 1. A different orthography of rod. 

 The fourth part of an acre ; forty square 

 rods. 2. Sax. rode, a cross. 



ROOD'LOFT, Sax. rode, a cross. A gal- 

 lery between the nave and choir in 

 churches, in front of which, towards the 

 nave, stood the rood or cross, and images 

 of saints; now generally occupied by 

 organs. 



ROOD-TOWER OR STEEPLE. The building 



