ribbon 
A. rachiglnssate lingual ribbon, or radula, of a whelk (Bticcinutn 
undatum r. n, anterior end ; *, posterior end. A', a transverse row of 
radular teeth : c, central ; /, /, lateral. 
Lingual ribbon, in Molhisca, the surface that bears the 
teeth ; the radula. See odontophore, and radtda (with cut). 
Nidamental ribbon. See nidamental. Petersham 
ribbon, a ribbon of extra thickness, usually watered on 
both sides, used in women's dress to strengthen the skirt 
at the waist, etc., and also as a belt-ribbon when belt-rib- 
bons are in fashion. Compare pd3, 7. Red ribbon, (a) 
The ribbon of the Order of the Bath, used to denote the 
decoration of that order, or the order itself : as, he has 
got the red ribbon, (b) The ribbon of a knight of the 
Legion of Honor. 
II. a. 1. Made of ribbon: as, a ribbon bow; 
ribbon trimming. 2. In mineral., characterized 
by parallel bands of different colors : as, ribbon 
agate. 3. [ca/>.] Pertaining to the Ribbon 
Society or to Ribbonism: as, a Ribbon lodge. 
Ribbon isinglass, letter. See the nouns. Ribbon 
sections, a series or chain of microtome-cut sections 
which remain attached to each other, edge to edge, by 
nieansof the embedding material. Ribbon Society, in 
Irish hist., a secret association formed about 1808 in op- 
position to the Orange organization of the northern Irish 
counties, and so named from the green ribbon worn as a 
5165 
2. An ornament made of ribbon. 
What gloves we'l give and ribanings. 
Herrick, To the Maids, to Walke Abroad. 
Ribbonism (rib'on-izm), n. [< Ribbon + -ism.'] 
The principles and methods of the Ribbon So- 
ciety of Ireland. See under ribbon, n. 
There had always smouldered Ribbonism, Whiteboyism, 
some form of that protean Vehmgericht which strove, 
too often by unmanly methods, to keep alive a flicker of 
manly independence. Contemporary Rea., LI. 243. 
ribbon-line (rib'on-lin), . In hort., a long, 
generally marginal, bed of close-set plants in 
contrasted colors. Henderson, Handbook of 
Plants. 
Ribbonman (rib'on -man), n. ; pi. Ribbonmen 
(-men). [See Ribbonism.'] A member of an 
Irish Ribbon lodge ; an adherent of Ribbonism. 
Orangemen and Ribbonmen once divided Ireland. 
The American, VII. 133. 
ribbon-map (rib'pu-map), . A map printed 
on a long strip which winds on an axis within 
a case. 
ribbon-pattern (rib'on-pat"ern), . A deco- 
rated design imitating interlacing and knotted 
ribbons. 
ribbon-register (rib'on-rej"is-ter), n. Same as 
register^, 11. 
ribbon-saw (rib'on-sa), n. Same as band-saw. 
ribbon-seal (rib'on-sel), n. A seal of the genus 
Histriophoca, H.faxciata, the male of which is 
with the purpose of securing to tenants fixity of tenure, 
or of inflicting retaliation for real or supposed agrarian 
oppression. The members were bound together by an 
oath, had passwords and signs, and were divided locally 
into lodges. 
ribbon (rib'on), r. t. [Formerly (and still ar- 
chaically) also riband, ribbano>; early mod. E. 
also reband; < ME. ribanen, rybanen, < riban, a 
ribbon: see ribbon, .] 1. To border with 
stripes resembling ribbons ; stripe ; streak. 
It is a slowe may not forbere 
Ragges ribaned with gold to were. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 4752. 
I could see all the inland valleys ribboned with broad 
waters. Jt. D. Blaekmore, Lorna Doone, xlviii. 
When imitations of ribboned stones are wished, . . . 
pour each of the colors separately upon the Marble, tak- 
ing care to spread them in small poofs over the whole sur- 
face ; then, with a wooden spatula, form the ribboned shades 
which are wished by lightly moving the mixture. 
Marble-Worker, 128. 
2. To adorn with ribbons. 
Each her ribbon'd tambourine 
Flinging on the mountain-sod, 
With a lovely frlghten'd mien 
Came about the youthful god. 
1H. Arnold, Empedocles on Etna. 
Herrick gaily assimilated to his antique dream these 
pleasant pastoral survivals, ribbanding the may-pole as 
though it were the cone-tipped rod of Dionysus 
E. W. Gosse, in Ward's Eng. Poets, II. 126. 
3. To form into long narrow strips; cause to 
take the shape of ribbon. 
When It [wax in bleaching] . . . still continues yellow 
upon the fracture, it is remelted, ribboned, and again 
bleached. Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 354. 
ribbon-bordering (rib'ou-b6r"der-ing), . In 
liort., the use of foliage-plants set in ribbons or 
stripes of contrasting shades as a border; also, 
a border thus formed. 
Whether It [the garden] went in for ribbon-bordering and 
bedding-out plants, or essayed the classical, with marble 
statues. Miss Ilraddon, Hostages to Fortune, li. 
ribbon-brake (rib'on-brak), . A brake hav- 
ing a band which nearly surrounds the wheel 
whose motion is to be checked. 
rib-bone (rib'bon), n. [< ME. ribbebon (= Sw. 
ribbeeit = Dan. ribbcn) ; < /&! + bone 1 .'] A rib. 
And the] made man likkest to hym-self one, 
And Eue of his ribbe-bon with-outen eny mene. 
Piers Ploicman (B), he. 34. 
ribbon-fish (rib'on-fish), n. One of sundry 
fishes of long, slender, compressed form, like 
a ribbon, as those of the genera Cepola, Tricltiu- 
rus, Trachypterm, and Rer/alecus : especially ap- 
plied to those of the suborder Tseniosomi. See 
the technical names, and cut under hairtail. 
ribbon-grass (rib'on-gras), . A striped green 
and white garden variety of the grass Phalaris 
arundinacea. Also called painted-arass. 
ribbon-gurnard (rib'on-ger'nard), '. A fish of 
the family Min-rnridse or Lcp'idosomatid. A. 
Adams. 
ribboningt (rib'on-ing), n. [Also ribboning, rib- 
anini/: < MK. ribunyug; verbal n. of ribbon, r.] 
1. A striped or ornamented border. 
It [the robe] ful wel 
With orfrays leyd was everydel, 
And purtraird i'n the ribanyngei 
lit dukes storyes and of kynges. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 1077. 
ribibe 
Ribes- (ri ')/.), H. [NL. (Linmpus, 1737), < 
ML. ribcsiiint, currant: see ril/i-xl.] A genus 
of polypetalous shrubs, constituting the tribe 
Itibrxiex in the order Xn.rifrayacese, and produ- 
cing small flowers with four or five scale-like 
petals, four or five stamens, two styles, and an 
ovoid calyx-tube united to the ovary, contin- 
ued above into a tubular or bell-shaped four- or 
live-cleft limb, which is often colored. There are 
about 76 species, natives of temperate Europe, Asia, and 
America, and of the Andes. Several species extend north- 
ward in Alaska nearly or quite to the arctic circle. The 
plants of this genus are often covered with resinous glands, 
and the stems are sometimes sparingly armed with spines 
below the axils. They bear scattered and often clustered 
leaves, which are petioled and entire or crenately lobed or 
cut, plicate or convolute in the bud. The flowers are of- 
ten unisexual by abortion, are white, yellow, red, or green, 
rarely purple, in color, and occur either singly or few to- 
gether, or, in the currants, in racemes. The fruit is an 
oblong or spherical pulpy berry, containing one cell and 
few or many seeds, and crowned with the calyx-lobes. 
Several species, mostly with thorny and often also prickly 
stems, the flowers single or few together, the fruit often 
spiny, are known as gooseberries ; other species, wholly 
unarmed, with racemed flowers and smooth fruit, are 
grouped as currants. R. Grossidaria, is the common gar- 
den or English gooseberry. (See gooseberry.) Jt. specie- 
sum is the showy flowering gooseberry or fuchsia-flowered 
gooseberry of California, much prized in cultivation for its 
bright-red drooping flowers with far-exserted red stamens. 
R. gracile of the central United States, its fruit bearing 
long red spines, is called Missouri gooseberry. R. rubnim, 
the common red currant (see currant*, 2), is native in Eu- 
rope, Asia, and northern North America. R. niyrum is 
the garden black currant, a native of the northern Old 
World ; R. floridum is the wild black currant of America. 
Kibbon-seal (Histriophoca fasciata). 
curiously banded with whitish on a dark ground, 
as if adorned with ribbons. It inhabits the 
North Pacific. 
ribbon-snake (rib'on-snak), . A small slen- 
der striped snake, Eiitania saurita, abundant 
in the United States : a kind of garden snake, 
having several long yellow stripes on a dark 
variegated ground. It is a very pretty and 
quite harmless serpent. See Eutsenia. 
ribbon-stamp (rib'on-stamp), n. A small and 
simple form of printing-press which transfers 
to paper the free color in a movable ribbon 
which covers the stamp. 
ribbon-tree (rib'on-tre), . See Phigianthtis. 
ribbon-wave (rib'on-wav), . A common Eu- 
ropean geometrid moth, Aadalia aversata : an 
English collectors' name. 
ribbonweed (rib 'on -wed), n. The ordinary 
form of the seaweed Laminaria saccliarina, 
whose frond has a long flat blade, sometimes 
membranaceous and waved on the margin. 
[Prov. Eng.] Treas. of Hot. 
ribbon-wire (rib'on-wlr), . A kind of tape in 
which several fine wires are introduced, run- 
ning in the direction of the length of the stuff. 
It is employed by milliners for strengthening 
or stiffening their work. 
ribbonwood (rib'on-wud), n. A small hand- 
some malvaceous tree, Holieria populnea, of 
New Zealand. Its bark affords a demulcent drink, and 
also serves for cordage. It is doubtless named from the 
ribbon-like strips of its bark. 
ribbon-WOrm(rib'on-wenn),H. 1. Same &s tape- 
worm. 2. A nemertean or nemertine worm; 
one of the Nemertea: so called from the ex- 
traordinary length and flattened form of some 
of them, as the long sea-worms of the family 
Lineidie, which attain a length of many feet, as 
Linens marintis. 
ribebat, ribecat, n. Same as rebec. 
ribesit (ribz), n. sinn. and pi. [= Dan. rifts, cur- 
rant; < OF. ribes, "red gooseberries, beyond- 
sea gooseberries, garden currans, bastard cur- 
rans" (Cotgrave), F. ribex = It. ribes, "red 
gooseberies, bastard corans, or common ribes " 
(Florio), prop, sing., = Sp. ribex, currant-tree, 
< ML. ribes, ribus, ribesium, ribasium,<.AT. ribes, 
ribds, Pers. "ribaj. gooseberry.] A currant; 
generally as plural, currants. 
Red Gooseberies, or ribes, do refresh :iiiil cook? the note 
stomacke and liuer, and are good against all Inflamma- 
tions, l.anr/haiii, Garden of Health, p. 289. 
i. Branch with Flowers of Missouri Currant {Rtdes aurtitm). 
2, fruits of red currant (A*, rubrum); 3, fruit of English gooseberry 
( R. Crossularia) ; 4, fruit of wild gooseberry (.R. Cyttosbati). 
R. aureum, the golden, buffalo, or Missouri currant, wild 
In the western United States, is in common cultivation 
for its early bright-yellow spicy-scented flowers. R. tan- 
yuineum, the red-flowered currant of California and Ore- 
gon, is another well-known ornamental species. R. pro- 
stratum, the fetid currant of northern woods in America, 
emits a nauseous odor when bruised. 
Ribesiese (ri-be-sl'e-e), n.pl. [NL. (A. Richard, 
1823), < RibesZ '+ -ex.] A tribe of polypetalous 
plants of the order Saxifragacex. It is character- 
ized by a one-celled ovary, seeds immersed in pulp, alter- 
genus Ribes. 
rib-faced (rib'fast), a. Having the face ribbed 
or ridged ; rib-nosed, 
rib-grass (rib'gras), . The English or ribwort 
plantain, Plantago lanceolata. 
The rich infield ground produced spontaneously rib 
grass, white, yellow, and red clover, with the other plants 
of which cattle are fondest. Edinburgh Rev., CXLV. 19S. 
ribibet, . [Also ribible; < ME. ribibe, < OF. ri- 
bibe, rubrbe, rcbnbe, etc.: see rebec.] 1. A mu- 
sical instrument ; a rebec. 
The ribibe is said to have had three strings, to have 
been played with a bow, and to have been introduced Into 
Spain by the Moors. Skeat, Piers Plowman, II. 426. 
2. A shrill-voiced old woman. 
This sompnour, erer waityng on his pray, 
Rod forth to sompne a widew, an old ribibe, 
Fynyng a cause, for he wolde bribe. 
Chamer, friar's Tale, 1. 79. 
There came an old rybybe, 
She halted of a kybe. 
Skelton, Elynour Rummyng, 1. 42. 
Or some good ribibe about Kentish town 
Or Hogsden, you would hang now for a witch. 
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, I. 1. 
(ri-bib'), r. i. [ME. ri/bi/ben; < ribibe, .] 
o play on a ribibe. 
Tho ration rubybyd. Rel. Antiq., i. 81. (Hatthcttt.) 
