rant 
I hue a oiid conscience, . . . unless it be about a railt 
amain; I In hisses, or a splore at a fair. 
K-iitt, Black Dwarf, ii. 
4. A kind of (lance, or the music to which it was 
danced. = Syn. 1. J-'uxtian, Tunjidnea, etc. See boinlmxt. 
ran-tan (ran'tan), n. [Prob. an imitative var. 
of randan.] Same as randan. 
ranter 1 (ran'ter), . [<r(t>it+ -<)!.] 1. One 
who rants ; a noisy talker ; a boisterous preach- 
er, actor, or the like. 2. [cap.] A name ap- 
plied (a) By way of reproach, to the mem- 
bers of an English Antinomian sect of the 
Commonwealth period, variously associated 
with the Famitists, etc. (6) Also, opprobrious- 
ly, to the Primitive Methodists, who formed 
themselves into a society in 1810, although the 
founders had separated from the old Methodist 
society some years before, the ground of dis- 
agreement being that the new body favored 
street preaching, camp-meetings, etc. 3. A 
merry, roving fellow ; a jolly drinker. [North . 
Eng. and Scotch.] 
Mistake me not, custom, I mean not tho, 
Of excessive drinking, as great ranters do. 
Praise of Yorkshire Ale (1697), p. 5. (HallilveU.) 
Yours, saint or sinner, Rob the Ranter. 
Burns, To James Tennant. 
ranter 2 (ran't6r), n. [Origin obscure.] A largo 
beer-jug. 
ranter- ( ran'ter), r.i. [Of . ran ter%, n. ] To pour 
liquor from a large into a smaller vessel. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
ranter 3 (ran'ter), v. t. Same as renter'*. 
ranterism (ran'ter-izm), . [< ranterl + -imn.] 
The practice or tenets of the Ranters ; rantism. 
ranterst (rau'terz), n.pl. A woolen stuff made 
in England in the eighteenth century. Dra- 
perif Diet. 
rantingly (ran'tiug-li), adv. In a rautingman- 
uer. (a) With sounding empty speech; bombastically. 
(&) With boisterous jollity ; frolicsomely. 
Sae rantingly, sae wantonly, 
Sae dauntingly gaed he ; 
He play'd a spring, and danc'd it round. 
Below the gallows-tree. 
Burns, Macpherson's Farewell. 
rantipole (ran'ti-pol), a. and u. [Appar. < run- 
ty + pole, = poll*, head : see poll 1 . Of. dodi- 
poll.] I. a. Wild; roving; rakish. 
Out upon 't, at years of discretion, and comport your- 
self at this rantipole rate ! 
Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 10. 
This rantipole hero had for some time singled out the 
blooming Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries. 
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 431. 
II. n. A rude, romping boy or girl; a wild, 
reckless fellow. 
What strange, awkward rantipole was that I saw thee 
speaking to? J. Baittit. 
I was always considered as a ranlipole, for whom any- 
thing was good enough. 
Marryat, Frank Mildmay, xv. (Dairies.) 
rantipole (ran'ti-pol), v. i. ; pret. and pp. raii- 
tipoled, ppr. ranlipoUng. [< rantipole, n.] To 
run about wildly. 
The elder waa a termagant, imperious wench ; she used 
to rantipole about the house, pinch the children, kick the 
servants, and torture the cats and dogs. Arbuthnot. 
rantism 1 1 (ran'tizm), n. [< Gr. fxivTia/io^, a 
sprinkling, < bavri^etv, sprinkle, besprinkle.] 
A sprinkling; hence, a small number; a hand- 
ful. [Rare.] 
We, but a handful to their heap, a rantisin to their bap- 
tism. Up. Andrews. 
rantism 2 (ran'tizm), . [< rant + -ism.'] The 
practice or tenets of the Ranters ; ranterism. 
Johnson. 
rantle-tree, randle-tree (ran'tl-tre, -dl-tre), 
n. [Cf. raii-trce, a dial, form of roan-tree; cf. 
also ranpick, rampick.] 1. A tree chosen with 
two branches, which are cut short, and left 
somewhat in the form of the letter Y, set close 
to or built into the gable of a cottage to sup- 
port one end of the rooftree. 2. A beam which 
runs from back to front of a chimney, and from 
which the crook is suspended. 3. Figurative- 
ly, a tall, raw-boned person. 
If ever I see that auld randle-tree of a wife again, I'll gie 
her something to buy tobacco. 
Scott, Guy Mannering, xxvi. 
[Scotch in all uses.] 
rantock (ran'tok), n. The goosander, Merynx 
merganser. [Orkneys.] 
ran-tree (ran'tre), ii. A dialectal variant of 
r<Htii-trcr. Also ranlrH. 
ranty (rau'ti), <i. and . [< rant + -i/ 1 .] Same 
.is nniili/. [Prov. Eng.] 
ranula (nu:'u-l;'i),.: |>1. ramilie (-le). [=F.r- 
imli', < L. I'tiinilii, a litt le frog, also a small swell- 
l!>59 
ing on the tongue of cattle, dim. of rand, a frog: 
see Itini/i^.} A cystic tumor canned by the ob- 
struction of the duct of a small mucous gland on 
the under surface of the tongue, the so-called 
Blandin-Nulm gland. The term has been applied, 
however, with considerable looseness, to other tumors in 
or near this place presenting some resemblance to true 
ranulrc. 
ranular (ran'u-lar), a. [= F. ranulairc; as rtm- 
ula + -ar 3 .] Of or pertaining to a ranula; of 
the character of a ranula. 
Ranunculace(ra-imng-ku-la'8e-e),H.Z. [NL. 
(A. L. de Jussieu, 1789), (.Ranunculus + -accse.] 
Ail order of polypetalous plants of the cohort l!a- 
nales, characterized by the numerous stamens 
inserted on the receptacle, five deciduous and 
commonly colored sepals, not more than one 
complete circle of petals, and seeds with a mi- 
nute embryo in flesny albumen, and without an 
aril. They have usually many separate pistils which ma- 
ture into distinct dry fruits, either achenes or follicles, or 
coalesce into berries. The species, estimated by some at 
1,200, by Durand at 680, are included in 5 tribes and 30 gen- 
era. They occur throughout the world, but in the tropics 
more rarely and chietly on mountains, elsewhere forming 
a conspicuous part of the flora of almost every region, 
especially in Europe, which contains one fifth, and in 
North America, which has one seventeenth, of all the 
species. Their wide distribution is aided by the long- 
continued vitality of the seeds, many of which are also re- 
markably slow to germinate after planting, those of sev- 
eral species requiring two years. They are annual or 
perennial herbs rarely undershrubs, as Xanthorhiza. 
Many havedissected alternate or radical leaves, the petiole 
with an expanded sheathing base, but without stipules ; 
Clematis is exceptional in its opposite leaves and climbing 
stem. The order is often known as the buttercup or crow- 
foot family, from the type, and contains an unusually large 
proportion of other characteristic plants, as the hepatica 
of America, the Christmas rose of Germany, and the lesser 
celandine of England. It includes also many of the most 
beautiful flowers of garden cultivation. Most of the spe- 
cies contain in their colorless juice an acrid and caustic 
principle, which sometimes becomes a dangerous nar- 
cotic poison, is often of great medicinal value (see hellebore, 
aconite, Hydrastis,Actsea, Ctmtc\A^5 r a),isusuallymost con- 
centrated in the roots, but very volatile in the foliage and 
stems, and is dissipated by drying or in water, but intensi- 
fied by the action of acids, alcohol, etc. The order was one 
of the earliest to be denned by botanists with substantially 
its present limits (as Brlultisttiqiix by Linnseus, 1751), and 
has long been placed at the head of the polypetalous fami- 
lies of dicotyledons, standing as the first order of plants in 
the most widely accepted classifications, from De C'andolle 
in 1819 to Durand in 1S88. 
ranunculaceous (ra-nung-ku-la'shius), a. [< 
NL. ranunculaceun, < Ranunculus, q. v. Cf. 
Ranunculaceee.] Of or pertaining to the Ra- 
nunculacese ; resembling the ranunculus. 
Ranunculeae (ra-nung-ku'le-e), n. pi. [NL. (A. 
P. de Candolle, 1818), < Ranunculus + -ese.] A 
tribe of plants of the order Ranunculaceee. it is 
characterized by carpels with one ascending ovule, be- 
coming achenes in fruit, by numerous radical leaves, and 
(excepting in the two species of Oxyyraphw) by the addi- 
tional presence of alternate stem-leaves. ' It includes the 
type genus Ranunculus, and 3 other genera embracing 8 
species. 
Ranunculus (ra-nung'ku-lus), n. [NL. (Kas- 
pard Bauhin, 1623), < L. ranunculus, a medicinal 
plant, also called batrachion, perhaps crowfoot 
(> It. ranuncolo, Sp. ranunculo, Pg. ranunculo, D. 
ranonkel, Gr. Dan. Sw. ranunkel, crowfoot), dim. 
of rana, a frog: see Rana 1 .] 1. A large germs 
of polypetalous plants, type of the order Rannn- 
culaceee and of the tribe Ranunculese. It is charac- 
terized by the perfect flowers with from three to five cadu- 
cous sepals, three to five or even fifteen conspicuous petals, 
each marked at the base by 
a nectar-bearing scale or pit, 
and by the many achenes in 
a head or spike, each beaked 
with a short persistent style. 
There are about 200 species, 
scattered throughout the 
world, abundant in temper- 
ate and cold regions, with a 
few on mountain-tops in the 
tropics ; 15 species are Brit- 
ish, and about 47 occur in the 
United States, besides at least 
9 others in Alaska ; 23 are 
found in the Atlantic States. 
The genus is remarkable for 
its development northward, 
extending to the Aleutian 
Islands and Point Barrow, 
and even to Fort Conger, 
81 44' north. Others extend 
well to the south, as the Fue- 
gian /(. biternatus. The spe- 
cies have usually a perennial 
base or roptstock, and bear 
deeply divided leaves, entire 
in a few species, and yellow 
or white terminal flowers 
(pink in Ii. Andersoni of Ne- 
vada), which are generally 
bright and showy, and have 
numerous and conspicuous 
short yellow stamens and a 
smaller central mass of yellow 
or greenish pistils. The more common species, with bright- 
yellow flowers and palmately divided leaves, are known 
werine Plant of Ranuttci 
ttulboSHs (buttercup). 
rap 
as buttercup and crmcfutit, especially Ii. aerie and 11. Imllm- 
.^'.-, uhh'h havr also tin- uM local names of btinrf-i!nu',-,\ 
imiii r-iiuitii, iiitxiff iitiini crmc-fmcer, and in Scotland ijd- 
i'Kf yntrilu. (See al.v .'/'.W'-i'/'/anil cut under ooaryl.) A 
nilnilier of yellow spirits are cultivated under the name 
. /iinii'H. ninuneufaf, as A', speciatiu, a favorite sourer of 
cut flowers, and especially the Persian A'. Atsiaticux, with 
three-parted leaves, parent of a hundred varieties, mostly 
double, and including scarlet and other colors. If. acont- 
ttfoltus, a tall European species with five-parted leaves, is 
cultivated in white double-llowered varieties under the 
names bachelor's-button* and fair-tnaids-of- France or -of- 
Kent. The bright-yellow tlowcrs of Ii. insignia, a densely 
woolly New Zealand species, are nearly 2 inches across. 
Several white-flowered species are remarkable for their 
growth in rock-crevices amid perpetual snow, especially 
Jt. alacialis of the Alps, and also the yellow-flowered It. 
Thora, the mountain wolf's-bane. A few weedy species 
have prickly fruit, as R. anensis of England (for which see 
huiigerweed, hedgehog, 3, and joy, 4). Many species are 
so acrid as to raise blisters when freshly gathered, but 
are sometimes eaten, when dried, by cattle. K. sceleratus, 
said to be the most acrid species, is eaten boiled as a 
salad in Wallachia, as are also the roots of K. tnilbosus, 
the acridity disappearing on boiling. K. auricomus (see 
goldilocks) is exceptional in the absence of this acrid prin- 
ciple, as also R. aquatilis, which sometimes forms almost 
the entire food of cattle. This and several other species, 
the water-crowfoots, are immersed aquatics with finely dis- 
sected foliage, forming deep-green feathery masses which 
bear white emersed flowers; among them is R. Lyalii of 
New Zealand, one of the most ornamental species, there 
known as water-lUy. The yellow water-crowfoot, R. mul- 
tifidits, found from North Carolina to Point Barrow, has 
kidney-shapedandcutlloating leaves. Several species with 
long and mainly undivided leaves are known as spearwort. 
For R. Ficaria, celebrated as one of the earliest English 
flowers, and as Wordsworth's Jlower, see celandine, 2, pile- 
wort, eaidjigwort, 2. See also cut under achenium. 
2. [/. c. ; pi. ranunculi (-15).] A plant of the 
genus Ranunculus. 
ranverset, . *. See retiverse. 
Ranvier's nodes. See nodes ofRanvier, under 
node. 
Ranzania (rau-za'ni-a), n. [NL., named (in 
def. 1 by Nardo, 1840) after C. Ranzani, an 
Italian naturalist.] 1. In ichtli., a genus of 
gymnodont fishes of the family Solidse. 
2. In entom., a genus of coleopterous in- 
sects. 
ranz des vaches (rons da vash). [Swiss F. 
(see def.), explained as lit. (a) 'the lowing 
of the cows': Swiss dial, ranz, connected, in 
this view, with G. ranzen, make a noise, drum 
with the fingers (cf. ranken, bray as an ass); 
des, comp. of de, of, and les, pi. of def. art.; 
vaches, pi. of vaclie, < L. vacca, a cow (see vac- 
cine); (l>) in another view, 'the line of cows,' 
ranz being taken as a var. of rantjs, pi. of 
rang, row, line (because the cows fall into line 
when they hear the alpenhorn): see rank'*.] 
One of the melodies or signals of the Swiss 
herdsmen, commonly played on the alpenhorn. 
It consists of irregular phrases made up of the harmonic 
tones of the horn, which are singularly effective in the open 
air and combined with mountain echoes. The melodies 
vary in the different cantons. They are sometimes sung. 
Raoulia (ra-6'li-a), . [NL. (Sir J. D. Hooker, 
1867), named after E. Raoul, a French naval 
surgeon, who wrote on New Zealand plants in 
1846.] A genus of composite plants of the tribe 
Inuloidese and subtribe Gnaplialicse. It is charac- 
terized by the solitary, sessile, and terminal heads of many 
flowers, which are mostly perfect and fertile, the outer 
circles of pistillate (lowers being only one or two, or less 
than in the related genus Gnaphalium (the everlasting), 
but more than in the other next-allied genus, llelichrysunt. 
All the flowers bear a bifid style and a pappus which is 
not plumose. The 14 species are mostly natives of New 
Zealand, and are small densely tufted plants of rocky 
mountainous places, resembling mosses, with numerous 
branches thickly clothed with minute leaves. They bear 
white starry flower-heads, one at the end of each short 
twig, closely surrounded with leaves, and in R. grandifora 
and others ornamented by an involucre with white bracts. 
R. eximia and R. mammttlaris are known in New Zealand 
as sheep-plants, from their growth in sheep-pastures in 
large white woolly tufts, readily mistaken for sheep even 
at a short distance. 
rap 1 (rap), v. ; pret. and pp. rapped or rapt, 
ppr. rapping. [< ME. rappen, < Sw. rappa, 
strike, beat, rap ; of. ropl, n. Cf. MHG. freq. 
raffeln, G. rappeln, intr., rattle. Perhaps con- 
nected with rap*.] I. trans. 1. To beat upon; 
strike heavily or smartly ; give a quick, sharp 
blow to, as with the fist, a door-knocker, a 
stick, or the like ; knock upon. 
His hote newe chosen love he chaunged into hate, 
And sodainly with mighty mace gan rap hir on the pate. 
Gascoigne, In Praise of Lady Sandes. 
With one great Peal they rap the Door, 
Like Footmen on a Visiting Day. 
Prior, The Dove, st. 9. 
2. To use in striking; make a blow or blows 
with. [Rare.] 
Dunstan, as he went along through the gathering mist, 
was always rapping his whip somewhere. 
George Eliot, Silas Marner, iv. 
3. To utter sharply; speak out: usually with 
o/.(see phrase below). 
