rigid 
Soft, debonaire, and amiable Prue 
May do as well as rough and rigid Prue. 
B. Jonson, New Inn, ii. 2. 
The rigid Jews were wont to garnish the sepulchres of 
the righteous. Sir T. lirmcne, I'm burial, ill. 
David was a rigid adherent to the church of Alexandria, 
and educated by his mother in the tenets of the monks of 
Saint Eustathius. Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 57!*. 
He was one of those rare men who are rigid to them- 
selves and indulgent to others. 
George Eliot, Hiddlemarch, xxiii. 
5. Stiff in outline or aspect ; harsh ; hard ; rug- 
ged ; without smoothness, softness, or delicacy 
of appearance. 
The broken landscape, by degrees 
Ascending, roughens into rigid hills. 
Thomson, Spring, 1. 958. 
But still the preaching cant forbear, 
An' ev'n the rigid feature. 
Burns, Epistle to a Young Friend. 
Pale as the Jephtha's daughter, a rough piece 
Of early rigid colour. Tennyson, Ayluier's Field. 
6. Sharp; severe; bitter; cruel. 
Sealed up and silent, as when rigid frosts 
Have bound up brooks and rivers. 
B. Jonson, Catiline, i. 1. 
Cressy's plains 
And Agincourt, deep ting'd with blood, confess 
What the Silures vigour unwithstood 
Could do in rigid fight. J. Philips, Cider, i. 
7. In dynam. : (a) Absolutely incapable of be- 
ing strained. (/*) Besisting stresses. Rigid 
antennae, those antennas that do not admit of motion, 
either at the base or at any of the joints as of the dragon- 
flies. Rigid atrophy, muscular atrophy combined with 
rigidity. Rigid dynamics. See dynamics. = Syn. 3 and 
4. Severe, Rigorous, etc. (see austere), inflexible, unbend- 
ing, unyielding. 
rigidity (ri-jid'i-ti), . [= P. rigidite = It. rigi- 
ditA,< L. rigidita(t-)s, < riyidus, rigid : see rigid.'] 
1. The quality of being rigid ; stiffness; inflexi- 
bility; absence of pliancy; specifically, in mech., 
resistance to change of form, in all theoretical dis- 
cussions respecting the application of forces through the 
intervention of machines, those machines are assumed to 
be perfectly rigid so far as the forces employed are able 
to affect their integrity of form and structure. Rigidity 
is directly opposed to flexibility, and only indirectly to 
malleability and ductility, which depend chiefly on rela- 
tions between the tenacity, the rigidity, and the limit of 
elasticity. 
Whilst there is some evidence of a tidal yielding of the 
earth's mass, that yielding is certainly small, and . . . 
the effective rigidity is at least as great as that of steel. 
Thomson and Ttt.it, Nat. Phil., 848. 
The restraint of the figure [statue of the west portal of 
Chartres Cathedral] is apparently self-imposed in obedi- 
ence to its architectural position. The rigidity of the 
example from St. Trophime appears, on the other hand, 
to be inherent in its nature. 
C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 254. 
2. Strictness ; severity ; harshness : as, rigidity 
of principles or of censure Cadaveric rigidity. 
Same as rigor mortis (which see, under rigor). Modulus 
Of rigidity, the amount of stress upon a solid per unit of 
area divided by the corresponding deformation of a right 
angle In that area. =Syn. 2. Inflexibility. See austere, 
rigor. 
rigidly (rij'id-li), adv. In a rigid manner, (a) 
Stiffly; unpliantly; inflexibly. 
Be not too rigidly censorious ; 
A string may jar in the best master's hand. 
Roscommon, tr. of Horace's Art of Poetry. 
(6) Severely; strictly; exactingly; without allowance, in- 
dulgence, or abatement: as, to judge rigidly; to execute 
a law rigidly. 
He was a plain, busy man, who wrought in stone and 
lived a little rigidly. The granite of his quarries had got 
into him, one might say. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 127. 
rigidness (rij'id-nes), . Rigidity. 
Many excellent men, ... wholy giving themselves over 
to meditation, to prayer, to fasting, to all severity and ri- 
gidness of life. Holes, Remains, Sermon on Peter's Fall. 
=Syn. See rigor. 
Rigldulit (ri-jid'u-li), . pi. [NL. . pi. of ri<i<<li<- 
lus: see rigid 'ulous.] In Lamarck's classifica- 
tion (1801 -12), an order of his Vermeg, contain- 
ing the nematoids or threadworms. 
rigidulous (ri-jid'u-lus), a. [< NL. rigid-ulm, 
dim. of L. rigidus, rigid: see rigid.] Bather 
stiff. 
rigleen (rig-len'),j. [< Ar. rijlin, pi. of rijl, foot.] 
An ear-ring having five main projections. See 
the quotation. 
The Rigleen or " feet " earrings, which are like fans with 
flve knobs or balls at the edge, to each of which a small 
coin is sometimes attached. 
C. G. Leland, Egyptian Sketch-Book, xviil. 
riglet (rig'let), H. Same as reglet. 
rigmarole (rig'ma-rol), n, and a. [Formerly 
also rifl-my-roll ; corrupted from ragman-roll.] 
I. n. A succession of confused or foolish state- 
ments ; an incoherent, long-winded harangue ; 
disjointed talk or writing; balderdash; non- 
sense. 
A variety of other heart-rending, soul-stirring tropes 
and figures. ... of the kind which even to the present 
5181 
day form the style of popular harangues and patriotic ora- 
tions, and may be classed in rhetoric under the general 
title of Rigmarole. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 444. 
= Syn. Chat, Jargon, etc. Bee prattle. 
II. a,. Consistingof orcharacterizedbyrigma- 
role ; long-winded and foolish ; prolix ; hence, 
formal; tedious. 
You must all of you go on in one rig-my-roll way, in one 
beaten track. Richardson, Sir Charles Grandison, IV. iv. 
rigol 1 ! (rig'ol), n. [< It. rigolo, < OHG. ringild, 
MHCr. ringel, G. ringel, a little ring, dim. of ring, 
a ring: see ring 1 .'} A circle; a ring; hence, a 
diadem; a crown. 
This is a sleep 
That from this golden rigol hath divorced 
So many English kings. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., Iv. 5. 36. 
rigo! 2 t, An obsolete form of regal 2 . 
rigolet, . Same as regaft, 1. 
rigolette (rig-o-lef), n. A light wrap some- 
times worn by women upon the head; a head- 
covering resembling a scarf rather than a hood, 
and usually knitted or crocheted of wool. 
rigor, rigour (rig'or), . [< ME. rigour, < OF. 
rigour, rigucur, F. rigueur = Pr. rigtior = Sp. 
Pg. rigor = It. rigorc, < L. rigor, stiffness, rigid- 
ness, rigor, cold, harshness, < rigere, be rigid: 
see rigid.'} 1. The state or property of being 
stiff or rigid ; stiffness ; rigidity; rigidness. 
The rest his look 
Bound with Qorgonian rigour not to move. 
Milton, P. L.,x. 297. 
2. The property of not bending or yielding; in- 
flexibility ; stiffness ; hence, strictness without 
allowance, latitude, or indulgence; exacting- 
ness: as, to execute a law with rigor; to criti- 
cize with rigor. 
To me and other Kings who are to govern the People 
belongs the Rigour of Judgment and Justice. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 83. 
3. Severity of life; austerity. 
All the rigoitr and austerity of a Capuchin. 
Addison, Remarks on Italy, etc. 
4. Sternness; harshness; cruelty. 
Such as can punishe sharpely with pacience, and not 
with rygour. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 64. 
We shall be judged by the grace and mercy of the Gos- 
pel, and not by the rigours of unrelenting justice. 
Bp. Attertntry, Sermons, I. xv. 
I tell you 
'Tis rigour and not law. 
Shak., W. T., ill. 2. 116. 
5. Sharpness; violence; asperity; inclemency: 
as, the rigor of winter. 
Like as rigour of tempestuous gusts 
Provokes the mightiest hulk against the tide. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 6. 6. 
They defy 
The rage and rigour of a polar sky, 
And plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose 
On Icy plains, and in eternal snows. 
Cowper, Hope, 1. 482. 
6. That which is harsh or severe ; especially, 
an act of injustice, oppression, or cruelty. 
The cruel and insupportable hardships which those 
forest laws created to the subject occasioned our ances- 
tors to be as jealous for their reformation as for the 
relaxation of the feodal rigours and the other exactions 
introduced by the Norman family. 
Blackstone, Com., II. xxvii. 
Slavery extended, with new rigors, under the military 
dominion of Rome. Sumner, Orations, I. 214. 
7 (ri'gor). [NL.] In pathol., a sudden coldness, 
attended by shivering more or less marked, 
which ushers in many diseases, especially fe- 
vers and acute inflammation : commonly called 
chill. It is also produced by nervous distur- 
bance or shock. [In this sense always spelled 
rigor.'] Rigor mortis, the characteristic stiffening of 
the body caused by the contraction of the muscles after 
death. It comes on more or less speedily according to tem- 
perature or climate, and also after death by different dis- 
eases, both of which circumstances also Influence Its In- 
tensity and duration. In hot countries, and after some 
diseases, the rigor is slight or brief, or may hardly be ap- 
preciable. The relaxation of the body as the rigor passes 
off is one of the earliest signs of incipient decomposition. 
See sti/, n. Also called cadaveric rigidity. = Syn. 1 and 2. 
Rigor, Rigidity, Rigidness, inclemency. "There is a marked 
tendency to use rigidity of physical stiffness. Rigidity 
seems to take also the passive, while rigor takes the active, 
of the moral senses : as, rigidity of manner, of mood ; rigor 
in the enforcement of laws. Rigidness perhaps holds a 
middle position, or inclines to be synonymous wlthrigiditi/. 
Rigor applies also to severity of cold. See austere. 
rigore (ri-go're), . [It.: see rigor.] In mu- 
sic, strictness or regularity of rhythm. 
rigorism, rigourism (rig'or-izm), . [< F. ri- 
gorisme = Sp. Pg. It. rir/orismo; as rigor + 
-ism.] 1. Bigidity in principles or practice; 
exactingness ; strictness; severity, as of style, 
conduct, etc. ; especially, severity in the mode 
of life : austerity. 
rig-out 
Your morals have a flavour of rigorism; they are sour, 
morose, ill-natui '<!, and call for a dram of Charity. 
Gentleman Instructed, p. 69. (Davieg.) 
Basil's rigorism had a decided influence on the later 
Greek Church. A council of Constantinople, in 920, dis- 
couraged second, imposed penance for third, and excom- 
munication for fourth marriage. Cath. Diet., p. 550. 
2. In Bom. Cath. theol., the doctrine that one 
must always in a case of doubt as to right and 
wrong take the safer way, sacrificing his free- 
dom of choice, however small the doubt as 
to the morality of the action: the opposite of 
probabilinm. Also tittiorism. 
rigorist, rigOUrist (rig'or-ist), . and a. [< F. 
rigoriste = Sp. Pg. It. rigorista ; as rigor + -ist.] 
1. . 1. A person of strict or rigid principles 
or manners; in general, one who adheres to 
severity or purity in anything, as in style. 
The exhortation of the worthy Abbot Trithemius proves 
that he was no rigorist in conduct. Sir W. Hamilton. 
2. One who maintained the doctrine of rigor- 
ism: a term sometimes applied to Jansenists. 
Also tutiorist. 
Rigorists . . . lay down that the safer way, that of obe- 
dience to the law, is always to be followed. 
Encyc. Brit., XIV. 686. 
II. a. 1. Characterized by strictness or se- 
verity in principles or practice ; rigid ; strict ; 
exacting. 
They [certain translations] are a thought too free, per- 
haps, to give satisfaction to persons of very rigourist ten- 
dencies, but they admirably give the sense. 
N. and Q., 7th ser., VII. 240. 
2. Specifically, pertaining to rigorism in the- 
ology: as, rigorist doctrines. 
rigorous (rig'or-us), . [< OF. rigoitreux, rigo- 
reux, F. rigoureux = Pr. rigoros = Sp. rigoroso, 
rigitroso = Pg. It. rigoroso, < ML. rigorosus, 
rigorous, < L. rigor, rigor: see rigor."] 1. Act- 
ing with rigor; strict in performance or re- 
quirement. 
They have no set rites prescribed by Law, . . . although 
in some of their customs they are very rigorous. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 412. 
2. Marked by inflexibility or severity ; strin- 
gent ; exacting ; hence, unmitigated ; merciless. 
Merchants, our well-dealing countrymen, 
Who, wanting guilders to redeem their lives. 
Have seal'd his rigorous statutes with their bloods. 
Shak., C. of E., 1. 1. 9. 
The ministers are obliged to have recourse to the most 
rigorous methods to raise the expenses of the war. 
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, v. 
Religion curbs Indeed its [wit's] wanton play, 
And brings the trifler under rig'rous sway. 
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 096. 
3. Exact; strict; precise; scrupulously accu- 
rate : as, a rigorous definition or demonstration. 
It Is absurd to speak, as many authors have recently 
done, of a rigorous proof of the equality of absorption and 
emissivity. Tail, Light, 314. 
4. Hard; inclement; bitter; severe: as, a, rig- 
orous winter. 
At a period comparatively recent almost the entire 
Northern hemisphere down to tolerably low latitudes was 
buried under snow and ice, the climate being perhaps as 
rigorous as that of Greenland at the present day. 
J. Croll, Climate and Cosmology, p. 12. 
= Syn. 1 and 2. Severe, Rigid, etc. (see austere), inflexible, 
unbending, unyielding. 
rigorously (rig'or-us-li), adv. In a rigorous 
manner, (a) Severely ; without relaxation, mitigation, 
or abatement; relentlessly; inexorably; mercilessly: as, 
a sentence rigorously executed. 
I am derided, suspected, accused, and condemned : yea, 
more than that, I am rygorously reiected when I proffer 
amendes for my harme. 
Oascoigne, Steele Glas (ed. Arber), Ep. Ded., p. 43. 
Joan of Arc, . . . 
Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effused, 
Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 4. 52. 
They faint 
At the sad sentence rigorously urged. 
MUton, P. L., xi. 109. 
(6) Strictly; severely; exactly; precisely ; with scrupulous 
nicety. 
Nothing could be more rigorously simple than the fur- 
niture of the parlor. Poe, Lander's Cottage. 
I have endeavoured to make the " Chronology of Steele's 
Life " as rigorously exact as possible. 
A. Dobson, Pref. to Steele. 
rigorousness (rig'or-us-nes), . The quality 
or state of being rigorous ; severity without al- 
lowance or mitigation ; strictness ; exactness ; 
rigor. Railey, 1727. 
rigour, rigourism, etc. See rigor, etc. 
rig-out (rig'out), n. A rig ; an outfit ; a suit of 
clothes; a costume. [Colloq.] 
I could get a goodish rig-out in the lane for a few shil- 
lings. A pair of boots would cost me 2s., and a coat I get 
for 2. 6<f. 
Mayhetc, London Labour and London Poor, II. 89. 
