ridicule 
ridicule 1 (rid'i-kul). . [Early mod. E. ridicle ; 
= Sp. ridieuln = It. ridicolo, mockery, < L. ri- 
tliculum, a jest, neut. of ridii'iiliia, ridiculous: 
see ridiculous.'] 1. Mocking or jesting words 
intended to excite laughter, with more or loss 
contempt, at the expense of the person or thing 
of whom they are spoken ov written ; also, ac- 
tion or gesture designed to produce the same 
effect. 
Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time 
Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme, 
Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, 
And the sad burthen of some merry song. 
I'ope, Imit. of Hoi-ace, II. i. 79. 
Foote possessed a rich talent for ridicule, which tinted 
vividly the genius for satire that shone within him. 
Jon Bee, Essay on Samuel Foote, p. v. 
2. An object of mockery or contemptuous jest- 
ing. 
They began to hate me likewise, and to turn my equi- 
page into ridicule. Fielding, Amelia, iii. 12. 
3f. Ridiculousness. 
It does not want any great measure of sense to see the 
ridicule of this monstrous practice. 
Addition, Spectator, No. 18. 
At the same time that I see all their ridicules, there is 
a douceur in the society of the women of fashion that 
captivates me. H. Walpole, To Chute, Jan., 1766. 
= Syn. 1. Derision, mockery, gibe, jeer, sneer. See satire, 
ludicrous, and banter, v. 
ridicule 1 (rid'i-kul), r. ; pret. and pp. ridiculed, 
ppr. ridiculing. [< ridicule 1 , .] I. trans. To 
treat with ridicule; treat with contemptuous 
merriment ; represent as deserving of con- 
temptuous mirth ; mock ; make sport or game 
of; deride. 
I've known the young, who ridicul'd his rage, 
Love's humblest vassals, when oppress'd with age. 
Grainger, tr. of Tibullus, i. 5. 
= Syn. Deride, Mock, etc. (see taunt\ jeer at, scoff at, 
scout ; rally, make fun of, lampoon. See the noun. 
II. intrans. To bring ridicule upon a person 
or thing; make some one or something ridicu- 
lous ; cause contemptuous laughter. 
One dedicates in high heroic prose, 
And ridicules beyond a hundred foes. 
Pope, Prologue to Satires, 1. 110. 
ridicule 2 (rid'i-kul), . [= P. ridicule, corrup- 
tion of rtiticule.] A corruption of reticule, for- 
merly common. 
ridiculer (rid'i-ku-ler), n. [< ridicule* + -er 1 .] 
One who ridicules. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, 
I. ix. 
ridiculizet (ri-dik'u-liz), v. t. [< F. ridiculiser, 
turn into ridicule, = Sp. Pg. ridiculizar; as ridi- 
cule 1 4- -ize.] To make ridiculous; ridicule. 
My heart still trembling lest the false alarms 
That words oft strike-up should ridiculize me. 
Chapman, Odyssey, xxiii. 333. 
ridiculpsity (ri-dik-u-lps'i-ti), . ; pi. ridiculosi- 
ties (-tiz). [= It. ridicofosM; < L. ridiculosus, 
laughable, facetious (see ridiculous), + -ity.'} 
The character of being ridiculous ; ridiculous- 
ness; hence, anything that arouses laughter; 
a jest or joke. 
Shut up your ill-natured Muses at Home with your 
Business, but bring your good-natured Muses, all your 
witty Jests, your By-words, your Banters, your Pleasantries, 
your pretty Sayings, and all your Ridiculosities, along with 
yon. If. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 120. 
ridiculous (ri-dik'u-lus), a. [< L. ridifulun, 
laughable, ridiculous: see ridicule 1 , a.] 1. 
Worthy of ridicule or contemptuous laughter; 
exciting derision ; amusingly absurd ; prepos- 
terous. 
Those that are good manners at the court are as ridic- 
ulous in the country as the behaviour of the country is 
most mockable at the court. 
Shak., As you Like it, ill 2. 47. 
2f. Expressive of ridicule ; derisive ; mocking. 
He that sacriflceth of a thing wrongfully gotten, his 
offering is ridiculous : and the gifts of unjust men are not 
accepted. Ecclus. xxxiv. 18. 
The heaving of my lungs provokes me to ridicvlirux 
smiling. Shale., L. L. L., iii. 1. 78. 
3. Abominable; outrageous; shocking. [Ob- 
solete or provincial.] 
A Nazarlte in place abominable 
Vaunting my strength in honour to their Dagon ! 
Besides, how vile, contemptible, ridimlout ! 
What act more execrably unclean, profane? 
Milton, 8. A., 1. 1361. 
In the South we often say, "That's a ridiculous affair," 
warn we really mean outrageous. It seems to be so used 
sometimes in the North. 
Tram. Amer. Philol. Ass., XVII. 43. 
This (ridiculous} is used in a very different sense in 
some counties from its original meaning. Something very 
indecent and improper is understood by it: as anyviolent 
attack upon a woman's chastity is called " very ridiculnm 
behaviour"; a very disorderly and ill-conducted house is 
also called a "ridiculous one." Halliurell. 
5173 
A man once informed me that the death by drowning 
of a relative was "most ridiculous." 
K. mid Q., 7th ser., IX. 45.1. 
= Syn. 1. Funny. Laughable, etc. (see ludicrous), absurd, 
preposterous, farcical. 
ridiculously (ri-dik'u-lus-li), adv. In a ridicu- 
lous manner; laughably: absurdly. 
ridiculousness (ri-dik'u-lus-nes), n. The char- 
acter of being ridiculous, laughable, or absurd. 
riding 1 (ri'ding), n. [< ME. ridinge, rydynt/f : 
verbal n. of ride, r.] 1. The act of going on 
horseback, or in a carriage, etc. See ride, r. 
Specifically 2f. A festival procession. 
Whan ther any ridyng was in Chepe, 
Out of the shoppe thider wolde he lepe, 
Til that he hadde al the sighte yseyn. 
Chaucer, Cook's Tale, 1. 13. 
On the return of Edward I. from his victory over the 
Scots in 1298 occurred the earliest exhibition of shows 
connected with the City trades. These processions were 
in England frequently called ridings. 
A. W. Ward, Eng. Dram. Lit., I. 80. 
3. Same as ride, 3. 
The lodge is ... built in the form of a star, having 
round about a garden framed into like points : and beyond 
the garden ridings cut out, each answering the angles of 
the lodge. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. 
The riding Of the Witch, the nightmare. HalKwell. 
riding 2 (ri'ding), n. [Prop. *tltriding, the loss of 
th being prob. due to the wrong division of the 
compounds Nortlt-tli riding (corrupted to North- 
riding), South-th riding, East-thriding, West-thri- 
ding; < Icel. thrithjutiyr (= Norw. tridjung), the 
third part of a thing, third part of a shire, < 
thritlii (= Norw. tridje) = E. third: see third.] 
One of the three districts, each anciently un- 
der the government of a reeve, into which the 
county of York, in England, is divided. These 
are called the North, East, a'nd West Ridings. The same 
system of division exists also in Lincolnshire. Pennsyl- 
vania also, iu the earliest portion of its colonial history, 
was divided into ridings. 
Gisborne is a market town in the west riding of the 
county of York, on the borders of Lancashire. 
Quoted in Child's Ballads, V. 156. 
The most skilled housewife in all the three Ridings. 
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, v. 
Lincolnshire was divided into three parts, Lindsey, 
Kesteven, and Holland ; Lindsey was subdivided into three 
ridings, North, West, and South. 
Stubbi, Const. Hist., 45. 
riding-bittS (ri'ding-bits), n. pi. The bitts to 
which a ship's cable is secured when riding at 
anchor. 
riding-boot (ri'ding-bot), . A kind of high 
boot worn in riding. 
With such a tramp of his ponderous riding-boots as might 
of itself have been audible in the remotest of the seven 
gables, he advanced to the door, which the servant pointed 
out. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, i. 
riding-clerkt (ri'ding-klerk), H. 1. Amercan- 
tile traveler. Imp. Diet. 2. Formerly, one of 
six clerks in Chancery, each of whom in his 
turn, for one year, kept the controlment-books 
of all grants that passed the great seal. The six 
clerks were superseded by the clerks of records 
and writs. Bapalje and Lawrence. 
riding-day (ri'ding-da), n. A day given up to 
a hostile incursion on horseback. Scott. 
riding-glove (ri'ding-gluv), . A stout, heavy 
glove worn in riding; a gauntlet. 
The walls were adorned with old-fashioned lithographs, 
Erincipally portraits of country gentlemen with high col- 
irs and ridiny-glova. The Century, XXXVI. 128. 
riding-graith (ri'ding-grath), . See graith. 
riding-habit (ri'ding-hab'it), . See habit, 5. 
riding-hood (ri'ding-hud), n. A hood used by 
women in the eighteenth century, and perhaps 
earlier, when traveling or exposed to the wea- 
ther, the use of it depending on the style of 
head-dress or coiffure in fashion of the time. 
Good housewives all the winter's rage despise, 
Defended by the riding-hood's disguise. 
Gay, Trivia, i. 210. 
riding-houset (ri'ding-hous), n. Same as rid- 
ing-school. 
riding-light (ri'ding-lit), n. A light hung out 
in the rigging at night when a vessel is riding 
at anchor. Also called stay-light. 
riding-master (ri'ding-mas'ter), . A teacher 
of the art of riding ; specifically (iniUt.),one who 
instructs soldiers and officers in the manage- 
ment of horses. 
riding-rimet (rl'ding-rim), H. A form of verse, 
the same as the rimed couplet that goes now 
under the name heroic verse. It was introduced into 
English versification by Chaucer, and in it are composed 
moat of the "Canterbury Tales." From the fact that it was 
represented as used by the pilgrims in telling these tales 
on their journey, it received the name of riding-rime; but 
it was not much used after Chaucer's death till the close 
of the sixteenth century. In the sixteenth century it is 
frequently contrasted with rime-royal (which see). 
rifacimento 
1 had forgotten a notable kinde of ryme, called ryding 
rime, and that is suche as our Mayster and Father Chau- 
cer vsed in his Canterburle Tales, and in diuers other de- 
lectable and light enterprises. 
Gascoigne, Notes on Eng. Verse (ed. Arber), 16. 
riding-robe (ri'ding-rob), . A robe worn in 
riding; a riding-habit. 
But who comes in such haste in riding-robes? 
What woman-post is this? Shalt., K. John, t. 1. 217. 
riding-rod (ri'diug-rod), . A switch or light 
cane used as a whip by equestrians. 
And if my legs were two such riding-rods, . . . 
And, to his shape, were heir to all this land, 
Would I might never stir from off this place, 
I would give it every foot to have this face. 
Shak., K. John, i. 1. 140. 
riding-sail (ri'ding-sal), n. A triangular sail 
bent to the mainmast and sheeted down aft, 
to steady a vessel when head on to the wind. 
riding-school (ri'ding-skol), n. A school or 
place where the art of riding is taught; spe- 
cifically, a military school to perfect troopers 
in the management of their horses and the use 
of arms. 
riding-skirt (ri'ding-skert), . 1. The skirt of 
a riding-habit. 2. A separate skirt fastened 
around the waist over the other dress, worn by 
women in riding. 
riding-speart (ri'ding-sper), H. A javelin. Pals- 
grave. (Halliwell.) 
riding-suit (ri'ding-sut), . A suit adapted for 
riding. 
Provide me presently 
A riding-suit, no costlier than would fit 
A franklin's wife. Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 2. 78. 
riding-whip (ri'ding-hwip), n. A switch or a 
whip with a short lash, used by riders, 
ridotto (ri-dot'6), . [= F. ridotte, < It. ridotto, 
a retreat, resort, company, etc.: see redout^.] 
1. A house or hall of public entertainment. 
They went to the Ridotto; 'tis a hall 
Where people dance, and sup, and dance again ; 
Its proper name, perhaps, were a masqued ball, 
But that 's of no importance to my strain ; 
'Tis (on a smaller scale) like our Vauxhall, 
Excepting that it can't be spoilt by rain. 
Byron, Beppo, Iviil. 
2f. A company of persons met together for 
amusement ; a social assembly. 3. A public 
entertainment devoted to music and dancing; 
a dancing-party, often in masquerade. 
The masked balls or Ridottos in Carnival are held in the 
Imperial palace. Wraxall, Court of Berlin, II. 289. 
To-night there is a masquerade at Ranelagh for him. a 
play at Covent Garden on Monday, and a ridotto at the 
Haymarket. Walpole, Letters, II. 24. 
4. In music, an arrangement or reduction of a 
piece from the full score. 
ndotto (ri-dot'o), v. i. [< ridotto, .] To fre- 
quent or hold ridottos. [Rare.] 
And heroines, whilst 'twas the fashion, 
Ridotto'd on the rural plains. 
Cou'per, Retreat of Aristippus. 
riet, . An old spelling of rye 1 . Ex. ix. 32. 
riebeckite (re'bek-It), n. [Named after E. Bie- 
beck.] A silicate of iron and sodium, belong- 
ing to the amphibole group, and corresponding 
to acmite among the pyroxenes. 
riedet, A Middle English variant of reed 1 . 
rief, . See reefS. 
rie-grasst, n. Same as rye-grass. 
riein (rem), n. [< D. riem, a thong: see rim 2 .] 
A rawhide thong, about 8 feet long, used in 
South Africa for hitching horses, for fastening 
yokes to the trek-tow, and generally as a strong 
cord or binder. Also spelled reim. 
He rose suddenly and walked slowly to a beam from 
which an ox riem hung. Loosening it, he ran a noose in 
one end and then doubled it round his arm. 
Olive Schreiner, Story of an African Farm, i. 12. 
Kiemann's function, surface. See function, 
surface. 
riesel-iron (re'zeWern), . A sort of claw or 
nipper used to remove irregularities from the 
edges of glass where cut by the dividing-iron 
(which see, under iron). 
Riesling (res'ling), . [G. riesslina, a kind of 
grape.] Wine made from the Riesling grape, 
and best known in the variety made in Alsace 
and elsewhere on the upper Rhine, it keeps many 
years, and isconsidered exceptionally wholesome. A good 
Riesling wine is made in California. 
rietbok (ret'bok), H. [< D. rietbok, < riet, = E. 
reed 1 , + bok = E. buck 1 .'] The reedbuck of 
South Africa, Eleotragus anindiuaceus. 
riever, . Same as rearer. 
rifacimento (re-fa-chi-men'to), H. ; pi. rifaci- 
nii-uti (-ti). [< It. rifacimento, < rifare, make 
over again, < ML. rej'acere (L. refieere), make 
over again, < L. re-, again, + faeere, make: see 
