reechilyt, adv. 
squalidly. 
reechily 
[< reechy + -ly' 2 .] 
Smokily; 
And wash his face, he lookt so reechilie. 
Like Imcon hanging on the chimnie roofe. 
D. Belchier, See me and See me not, sig. C. 2 b. (Xares.) 
reecho (re-ek'6), v. [Early mod. E. re-eccho; < 
re- + echo.'] I. intrans. To echo back; sound 
back or reverberate again. 
A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw ; . . . 
And the high dome re-echoes to his nose. 
Pope, B. of the L., v. 8. 
II. trans. To echo back; return; send back; 
repeat; reverberate again: as, the hills reecho 
the roar of cannon. 
The consecrated roof 
Re-echoing pious anthems ! Coioper, Task, 1. 343. 
reecho (re-ek'6), n. [< reecho, !>.] The echo of 
an echo ; a second or repeated echo. 
The hills and vallies here and there resound 
With the re-echoes of the deepe-mouth'd hound. 
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, i. 4. 
reechyt (re'chi), a. [An assibilated form of 
reeky.'] Tarnished with smoke; sooty; foul; 
squalid: filthy. 
The kitchen malkin pins 
Her richest lockram 'bout her reechy neck. 
Shak., Cor., ii. 1. 225. 
reed 1 (red), . [< ME. reed, red, read, irreg. 
relied, reheed, < AS. hredd = OD. ried, D. riet 
= MLG. ret, LG. 
ried=OHG.hriot, 
riot, MHG. riet, 
G. ried, riet, a 
reed ; root un- 
known.] 1. Any 
tall broad-leafed 
grass growing on 
the margins of 
streams or in oth- 
er wet places ; 
especially, any 
grass of one of the 
genera Phragmi- 
tes, Arundo, or 
Ammophila. The 
common reed is 
Phragmites cominu- 
nis, a stately grass 
from 6 to 12 feet 
high, found in near- 
ly all parts of the 
world. It serves by 
its creeping root- 
stocks to fix alluvial 
banks ; its stems 
form perhaps the 
most durable thatch, 
and are otherwise 
useful ; and it is 
planted for orna- 
ment. See the generic names, and phrases below. Com- 
pare reed-yraa. 
He lleth under the shady trees, In the covert of the reed, 
and fens. Job xl. 21. 
We glided winding under ranks 
Of iris, and the golden reed. 
Tennyson, In Uemoriam, ciii. 
2. Some one of other more or less similar 
plants. See phrases below. 3. A musical pipe 
of reed or cane, having a mouthpiece made 
by slitting the tube near a joint, and usually 
several finger-holes; a rustic or pastoral pipe; 
hence, figuratively, pastoral poetry. See cut 
underripe 1 . 
Ill . . . speak between the change of man and boy 
With a reed voice. Shak., M. of V., iii. 4. 67. 
Sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops. 
Milton, Comus, L 346. 
Now she tries the Reed, anon attempts the Lyre. 
Congreve, Epistle to Lord Halifax. 
4. In music : (a) In musical instruments of the 
oboe and clarinet classes, and in all kinds of 
organs, a thin elastic plate or tongue of reed, 
wood, or metal, so fitted to an opening into 
a pipe as nearly to close it, and so arranged 
that, when a current of air is directed through 
the opening, the reed is drawn into or driven 
against it so as to close it, but immediately 
springs back by its own elasticity, only to be 
pressed forward again by the air, thus produ- 
cingatone, either directly by its own vibrations 
or indirectly by the sympathetic vibrations of 
the column of air in the pipe. When the reed is of 
metal, the pitch of the tone depends chiefly on its size ; but 
when of reed or cane, it may be so combined with a tube 
that the pitch shall depend chiefly on the size of the air- 
column. A free reed is one that vibrates in the opening 
without touching its edges ; a beating or striking reed is one 
that extends slightly beyond the opening. In orchestral 
instruments, the wood wind group includes several reed- 
instruments, which have either double reeds (two wooden 
reeds which strike against each other, as in the oboe the 
bassoon, the English horn, etc.), or a single reed (a wooden 
reed striking against an opening in a wooden mouthpiece 
or beak, as in the clarinet, the basset-horn, etc.). A pipe- 
Common Re<ul(Plirafmitescommunis). 
i, flowering plant ; 2, the panicle ; 
a, a spikelet. 
5027 
organ usually contains one or more sets of reed-pipes, the 
tongues of which are nearly always striking reeds of brass. 
(See reed-pipe.) A reeil-organ is properly a collection of 
several sets of reeds, the tongues of which are free reeds 
of brass, (deereed-oryan.) In the brass wind group of in- 
struments, with but few exceptions, the tone is produced 
by the player's lips acting as free membranous reeds witliin 
the cup of the mouthpiece. The mechanism of the hu- 
man voice, also, is essentially a reed-instrument, the vocal 
cords being simply free membranous reeds which may be 
stretched within the tube of the larynx. The quality of the 
tone produced by a reed varies indefinitely, according to 
the material and character of the reed itself, the method in 
which it is set in vibration, and especially the arrangement 
of the tube or cavity with 
which it is connected. The 
accompanying llg. 1 shows 
the construction of an organ- 
reed: a is the reed-block, 
which in use is inserted in 
its proper slot in the reed- 
board ; b, the metal tongue, 
which is set in sonorous vi- 
bration when air is forced 
through the opening c. Fig. 
2 shows the mouthpiece of 
a clarinet, in which a Is the 
reed, held to the body of 
the mouthpiece by the split- 
bands b, which are drawn 
tight by the screws c. Air entering between the reed 
and the margin of an opening which it covers causes it to 
produce a musical tone, the pitch of which is varied part- 
ly by the position of the mouthpiece in the mouth and 
partly by the action of the keys. Fig. 3 shows the mouth- 
piece of an oboe, and similar reeds are used for bassoons 
and bagpipes. The reed is made of two counterparts of 
the same shape bound together by the thread a. The 
lower and middle parts of the mouthpiece are circular In 
cross-section, but the upper part c, the reed proper, is flat- 
tened. Air forced through this opening causes the reed 
to emit a harsh tone, which is softened in quality by the 
tube of the instrument, (ft) J n reed-instruments 
of the oboe class, and in both pipe- and reed- 
organs, the entire mechanism immediately sur- 
rounding the reed proper, consisting of the 
tube or box the opening or eschallot of which 
the reed itself covers or fills, together with 
any other attachments, like the tuning-wire of 
reed-pipes. (See reed-organ and reed-pipe.) In 
the clarinet the analogous part is called the 
beak or mouthpiece, (c) Any reed-instrument 
as a whole, like an oboe or a clarinet: as, the 
reeds of an orchestra, (d) In organ-building, 
same as reed-stop. 5. A missile weapon; an 
arrow or a javelin : used poetically. 
reediness 
tity, and thus produce a greater uniformity of texture. 
Great reed, a reed of the genus Arundo, especially 
Arundo Donax. Harmonic reed. See harmonic. In- 
dian reed, the canna or Indian-shot. New Zealand 
reed, a tine ornamental grass, Arundo coiispicua, bloom- 
ing earlier than pampas-grass. Number of the reed, 
set Of the reed, in uvanny. See numbrr. Paper reed 
8ee paper-reed. Reed bent. .See bent*. Reed bent- 
grass. Same as small reed (which see, below). Reed 
meadow-grass. See meadow-grass. Reed of hemp. 
Same as boun. Sea-reed, or sea-Sand reed, the marram 
or mat-grass, Ammophila aruntlinacea. Small reed, any 
species of Calamagrostis or of Deyeuxia, including the use- 
ful blue-joint grass. Trumpet-reed, Arundo occiden- 
talis, of tropical America (West Indies). Wood-reed, 
Writing-reed, Calamagrostis Epigeios, of the northern 
parts of the Old World. 
reed 1 (red), v. t. [< ME. reden; < rmfl, .] 1. 
To thatch. Compare reed 1 , n., 6. 
Where houses be reetled, 
Now pare of the moss, and go beat in the reed. 
Tusser, Husbandry. 
2. In carp., arch., etc., to fashion into, or deco- 
rate with, reeds or reeding. 
reed 2 t, a. An obsolete form of red 1 (still ex- 
tant in the surname Heed). 
reed 3 t, v. and . An obsolete form of read 1 . 
reedbeeret, [< reed 1 + beer as inpUloic-beer, 
etc.] A bed of reeds. 
A place where reedes grow : a reedebeere. 
Nomenclator. (Nures.) 
reed-bird (red'berd), n. 1. The bobolink, Do- 
lichonyx oryzmorm: so called in the late sum- 
mer and early fall months, when the male 
has exchanged, his black-and-buff dress for a 
plain yellowish streaked plumage like that of 
the female, and when it throngs the marshes 
in great flocks, becomes very fat, and is highly 
esteemed for the table. The name reed-bird obtains 
chiefly in the Middle States, where the birds haunt the 
fields of water-oats or wild rice (Zizania aqvatica) ; fur- 
Indies, and is also called ortolan. See bobolink, Doli- 
chonyx, ortolan, 
2. A reed- warbler. 
reedbuck (red'buk), n. [Tr. D. rietbok.~] A 
name of several kinds of aquatic African an- 
telopes; specifically, Eleotragus arundinacem. 
Also rietbok. 
reed-bunting (red'bun'ting), n. The black- 
headed bunting, Emberiza schceniclus. it Is a 
J, 8t 8. 
The viewless arrows of his thoughts were headed 
And wlng'd with flame, 
Like Indian reeds blown from his silver tongue. 
Tennyson, The Poet. 
6. Eeeds or straw prepared for thatching; 
thatch : a general term : as, a bundle of reed. 
7. A long slender elastic rod of whalebone, ra- 
tan, or steel, of which several are inserted in a 
woman's skirt to expand or stiffen it. 8. In 
mining, any hollow plant-stem which can be 
filled with powder and put into the cavity left 
by the withdrawal of the needle, to set off the 
charge at the bottom. Such devices are nearly 
or entirely superseded by the safety-fuse. Also 
called spire. 9. An instrument used for press- 
ing down the threads of the woof in tapestry, 
so as to keep the surface well together. 10. A 
weavers' instrument for separating the threads 
of the warp, and for beating the weft up to the 
web. It is made of parallel slips of metal or reed, 
called dents, which resemble the teeth of a comb. The 
dents are fixed at their ends into two parallel pieces of 
wood set a few inches apart. 
The reed for weaving the same is measured in an equally 
complex manner, for the unit of length is 37 inches, and 
according to the number of hundreds of dents or splits 
it contains, so is the reed called. For instance, a " four- 
teen-hundred reed " means that 37 inches of a reed of that 
number, no matter what length, contains 1400 dents, or 
about 38 per inch. A. Barlow, Weaving, p. 329. 
11. In her., a bearing representing a weavers' 
reed. See slay 1 *. 12. A Hebrew and Assyrian 
unit of length, equal to 6 cubits, generally taken 
as being from 124 to 130 inches. 
A measuring reed of six cubits long, of a cubit and a 
handbreadth each. Ezek. xl. 6. 
13. Same as rennet-bag. W. B. Carpenter. 14. 
In arch., carp., etc., a small convex molding; 
in the plural, same as reeding, 2. 
The thret pillars [of the temple] which stand together 
are fluted ; and the lower part, tilled with cablins of reeds, 
is of one stone, and the upper part of another. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 169. 
Canary reed, the reed canary-grass. See Pfialaris. 
Dutch reeds, in the arts, the stems of several kinds of 
horsetail or scouring-rush (Equisaum)nsed, on account of 
-, 
reed of a fly-shuttle loom, provided with springs which 
limit the force with which the reed strikes the weft- 
thread to a constant or very nearly a constant quail- 
+ -e2.] 
or reeds ; made of reeds. 
Through reeden pipes convey the golden flood, 
1" invite the people [bees] to their wonted food. 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iv. 386. 
reeder (re'der), u. [< ME. *redere, redare; < 
reed 1 + -eri.] 1. One who thatches with reeds ; 
a thatcher. Prompt. Parr., p. 426. 2. A 
thatched frame covering blocks or tiles of dried 
china-clay, to protect them from the rain while 
permitting free ventilation. 
A number of thatched gates or reeders. 
Spans' Encyc. Sfamuf., I. 637. 
reed-goundt, n. See redgound. 
reed-grass (red'gras), . [= D. rietgras = G. 
riet- (ried-) gras ; as reed 1 + grass.] If. The 
bur-reed, Sparganimn ramosum. 2. Any one 
of the grasses called reeds, and of some oth- 
ers, commonly smaller, of similar habit. See 
phrases Salt reed-grass. Spartina polystachya, a 
tall stout salt-marsh grass with a dense oblong purplish 
raceme, found along the Atlantic coast of the United 
States. Small reed-grass. Same as small reed (which 
see, under reedi). Wood reed-grass, either of the two 
species of Cinna, C. anindinacea and C. pendula, northern 
grasses in America, the latter also in Europe. They are 
graceful sweet-scented woodland grasses, apparently of 
no great value. 
reedificationt (re-ed^i-fi-ka'shon), n. [== OF. 
reedification, F. reedification = Sp. reedificacion 
= Pg. reedificacSo = It. riedijicazione; as re- + 
edification.] The act or operation of rebuild- 
ing, or the state of being rebuilt. 
The toun was compellid to help to the Reedificatian of it, 
Leland, Itinerary (1789), III. 11. 
reediftrt (re-ed'i-fi), v. t. [Early mod. E. also 
rcsedify; mE.redifyen; <OF.reedifier,F.reedi- 
fler = Sp. Pg. reedificar = It. riedificare, < LL. 
retedificare, build again, rebuild, < L. re-, again, 
+ sedificare, build: see edify."] To rebuild; 
build again after destruction. 
The ruin'd wals he did readifye. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 46. 
Return'd from Babylon by leave of kings 
Their lords, whom God disposed, the house of God 
They first re-edify. Milton, P. L., xii. 350. 
reediness (re'di-nes), n. The state or property 
of being reedy, in any sense. 
It [the Liszt organ] possesses great freedom from reedi- 
nessin sound. Sci. Amer., N. S., LVIII. 402. 
