rig-out 
Desprez, who had exchanged his toilette for a ready- 
made riff-out of poor materials, . . . sank speechless on 
the nearest chair. /(. L. Stevenson, Treasure of Franchard. 
Rigsdag (rigz'dag), 11. [Dan. (= Sw. rikxdaij 
= G. reichytag = D. rijksday), < rige, kingdom, 
+ (lag, day: see riclte 1 , ., and day 1 .] The par- 
liament or diet of Denmark. It is composed of 
an upper house (Landsthiug) and a lower house 
(Folke thing). 
rigsdaler (rigz'da'ler), w. [Dan.: see rix-dol- 
lar.] Same as rix-dollar. 
rigsie (rig'si), n. Same as ridgel. 
Rig-Veda (rig-va'da), it. [Skt, < rich, a hymn 
of praise, esp. a stanza spoken, as distinguished 
from samtm, a stanza sung (-\/ rich, praise), 
+ veda, knowledge (the general name for the 
Hindu sacred writings, esp. the four collec- 
tions called Big-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, 
and Atharca-Veda): see Feda.] The first and 
principal of the Vedas, or sacred books of the 
Hindus. See Veda. 
rigwiddie (rig-wid'i), n. [< r//i, the back, + 
widdie, a So. form of withy, a rope, withy: see 
withy.] The rope or chain that goes over a 
horse's back to support the shafts of a vehicle. 
Burns uses it adjectively in the sense of resembling a 
rigwiddie, and hence ill-shaped, thrawn, weazen. [Scotch. ] 
Wither'd beldams, auld and droll, 
Rigwoodie hags, wad spean a foal. 
Burns, Tarn o' Shanter. 
rikk (rik), n. A small form of tambourine, used 
in Egypt. 
rilasciando (re-la-shian'do), a. [It., ppr. of ri- 
lasciare, relax: see relax."] In music, same as 
/allentando. 
rile (ril), t-. t. A dialectal variant of roil?. 
rilievo (re-lya'vo), n. [< It. rilievo, pi. rilievi: 
see relief.] Same as relief, in sculpture, etc.: 
the Italian form, often used in English. Some- 
times spelled relievo. 
Shallow porticoes of columns . . . supported statues, 
or rather, to judge from the coins representing the build- 
ing, rilievos, which may have set off, but could hardly 
have given much dignity to, a building designed as this 
was. J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 318. 
rill (ril), M. [= LG. rille, rile, a channel, a rill, 
G. rille, a small furrow, chamfer; origin un- 
certain. Cf.W. rhill, a trench, drill, row, contr. 
< rliigol, a trench, groove, dim. of ring, a notch, 
groove, hence a shallow trench, channel. Cf. 
F. rigole, > G. rigole, riole, a trench, furrow. Cf. 
rillet, rivulet.] 1. A small brook; a rivulet; a 
streamlet. 
Hay thy brimmed waves for this 
Their full tribute never miss 
From a thousand petty rills, 
That tumble down the snowy hills. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 926. 
2. A deep, winding valley on the moon. [Little 
used.] 
rill (ril), v. i. [< rill, n.] To flow in a small 
stream or rill ; run in streamlets ; purl. [Rare.] 
The wholesome Draught from Aganippe's Spring 
Genuine, and with soft Murmurs gently rUling 
Adown the Mountains where thy Daughters haunt. 
Prior, Second Hymn of Callimachus. 
rillet (ril'et), n. [< rill + -et. Cf. rivulet; cf. 
also F. rigolet, an irrigation ditch, < rigole, a rill : 
see rill] A little rill; a brook; a rivulet. 
The water which in one poole hath abiding 
Is not so sweet as ritteti ever gliding. 
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 3. 
From the green rivage many a fall 
Of diamond rittets musical, . . . 
Fall'n silver-chiming, seem'd to shake 
The sparkling flints beneath the prow. 
Tennyson, Arabian Nights. 
rill-mark (ril'mark), ?i. A marking or tracery 
formed upon any surface by the action of water 
trickling over it in little rills. 
Another kind of markings not even organic, but alto- 
gether depending on physical causes, are the beautiful 
branching rill-marks produced by the oozing of water out 
of mud and sand-banks left by the tide. 
Dawson, Geol. Hist, of Plants, p. 32. 
rim 1 (rim), n. [< ME. rim, rym, rime, < AS. 
rima, rim, edge, border (sse-rima, sea-coast); 
cf. Icel. rim, a rail, rimi, a strip of land; prob. 
from the same root (/ ram) as rindi and rand 1 , 
q. v. The W. rhim, with the secondary forms 
rhimp, rhimi/ii, a rim, edge, rhimpyn, an extrem- 
ity, is appar. from the E.] 1 . The border, edge, 
or margin of anything, whether forming part 
of the thing itself, or separate from it and sur- 
rounding or partly surrounding it, most com- 
monly a circular border, often raised above 
the inclosed surface : as, the rim of a hat. 
The moon lifting her silver rim 
Above a cloud, and with a gradual swim 
Coming into the blue with all her light. 
Keats, I stood Tiptoe upon a Little Hill. 
5182 
A large caldron lined with copper, with a rim at brass. 
//. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 165. 
We have observed them [whales] just "under the rim 
of the water" (as whalemen used to say). 
C. M. Scammon, Marine Mammals, p. 42. 
Specifically 2. In a wheel, the circular part 
furthest from the axle, connected by spokes to 
the hub, nave, or boss. In a carriage- or wagon-wheel 
the rim is built up of bent or sawed pieces called fellies, 
and la encircled by the tire. See cut under felly. 
The rim proper appears to have been bent into shape ; 
the wooden tire was cut out from the solid timber. 
E. M. Stratton, World on Wheels, p. 67. 
= Syn. 1. The rim of a vessel ; the brim of a cup or gob- 
let ; the brink, verge, or edge of a precipice ; the margin of 
a brook or a book ; the border of a garment or a country. 
rim 1 (rim), v. t. ; pret. and pp. rimmed, Turn, rim- 
miiif/. [<nw 1 , .] 1. To surround with a rim 
or border; form a rim round. 
A length of bright horizon rimm'd the dark. 
Tennyson, Gardener's Daughter. 
All night they ate the boar Serimner's flesh, 
And from their horns, with silver rimm'd, drank mead. 
W. Arnold, Balder Dead. 
2. To plow or slash the sides of, as mackerel, 
to make them seem fatter. 
rim 2 (rim), n. [Early mod. E. also rimme, rymine; 
< ME. rim, rym, ryme, earlier rente, a membrane. 
< AS. reoma, a membrane, ligament, = OS! 
Homo, reomo, a thong, latchet, = D. riem, a 
thong (see riem), = OHG. riomo, rivmo, thong, 
band, girdle, rein, etc., MHO. rieme, Q. riemen, 
a thong, band, etc., = Sw. Dan. rem, thong, a 
strap, = Gr. pv/ia, a tow-line, < "frveiv, ipvciv, 
draw. No connection with rim 1 .] 1. A mem- 
brane. [Prov. Eng.] 
A is the walnutte, so is this fraite [nutmeg] defended 
with a double couering, as fyrste with a grene hnske, 
vnder the whiche is a thinne skinne or rimme like a nette, 
encompassing the shell of a nutte. 
Ji. Eden, tr. of Sebastian Minister (First Books on Amer- 
[Ica, cd. Arber, p. 35). 
2. The membrane inclosing the intestines; the 
peritoneum ; hence, loosely, the intestines ; the 
belly. [Obsolete or provincial.] 
Alle the rymez by the rybbez radly thay lance. 
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 
1343. 
I will fetch thy rim out at thy throat 
In drops of crimson blood. 
Shale., Hen. V., iv. 4. 15. 
We may not affirm that . . . ruptures are conflnable 
unto one side ; whereas the peritoneum or rim of the belly 
may be broke, or its perforations relaxed in either. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iv. a 
Struck through the belly's rim, the warrior lies 
Supine, and shades eternal veil his eyes. 
Pope. Iliad, xiv. 521. 
rima (ri'ma), n.; pi. rimte (-me). [< L. rima, a 
crack, cleft, opening: see rimeQ.] 1. In Wo/., 
an opening, as a fissure or cleft; a long or nar- 
row aperture. 2. IncoHC/i., the fissure or aper- 
ture between the valves of a bivalve shell when 
the hymen is removed. -Rima glottldls, the open- 
ing between the vocal cords in front and the arytenoid 
cartilages behind. Rima glottldls cartilaginea, that 
part of the rima glottidis which lies between the aryte- 
noid cartilages. Also called respiratory glottis. Rima 
orls, the orifice of the mouth ; in ornith., the rictus ; the 
gape. See rictus. Rima vocalls, that part of the rima 
glottidis which lies between the vocal cords. Also called 
rima glottidis membranacea and vocal glottis. 
rimbase (rim'bas), n. [< rim* + base?, n.] In 
gun. : (a) A short cylinder connecting a trunnion 
with the body of a cannon. (6) The shoulder 
on the stock of a musket against which the 
breech of the barrel rests. 
rime 1 (rim), n. [Also and more commonly 
rhyme, a spelling first used, alternating with 
rhime, about the year 1550, and due to the er- 
roneous notion that the word is identical with 
rhythm (indeed even the spellings rhythm and 
rhithm were sometimes used for the proper word 
rime); prop, only rime, a spelling which has 
never become wholly obsolete and is now wide- 
ly used by persons who are aware of the blun- 
der involved in the spelling rhyme. Early mod. 
E. rime, ryme, < ME. rime, ryme, rim, rym, num- 
ber, rime, verse, < AS. rim, number (not in the 
senses 'verse ' or 'rime,' which appear to be of 
Rom. origin), = OS. "rim, number (in comp. un- 
rim = AS. unrim, "numbers without number," 
a great number), = OFries. rim, tale, = MD. 
rijm, rijme, D. rijm = MLG. rim, LG. riem, rim, 
rime, = OHG. rim, erroneously hrim, number, 
series, row, MHG. rim, verse, rime, G. reim, 
rime, = Icel. rim, also rima = Sw. Dan. rim, 
rime; hence (< OHG.) OF. rime, F. rime = Pr. 
rim, rima = OCat. rim = Sp. Pg. It. rima (ML. 
rima), verse, rime. The sense of ' poetic num- 
ber,' whence 'verse,' 'a tale in verse,' 'agree- 
ment of terminal sounds,' seems to have arisen 
in Rom., this meaning, with the thing itself, 
being unknown to the earlier Teut. tongues. 
rime 
The transition of sense, though paralleled by 
a similar development of number and tale, was 
prob. due in part to association with L. rlii/t/i- 
HIIIX, ML. also rliillniiHx, ritliniiix, ritmiig, which, 
with the Rom. forms, and later the E. form 
rhythm, seems to have been constantly con- 
fused with rime, the two words having the 
sense ' verse ' in common. Connection of AS. 
rim, etc., with Gr. ap/fi/juf, number (see arith- 
metic), Ir. Gael, aireamh, number, = W. cirif. 
number, Ir. rimh = W. rhif, number, is im- 
probable.] If. Number. . 
Thurh tale and rime of fowertij. Ormwlum, 1. 11248. 
2. Thought expressed in verse ; verse; meter; 
poetry; also, a composition in verse; a poem, 
especially a short one ; a tale in verse. 
Horn sede on his rime: 
" Iblessed beo the time 
I com to Suddenne 
With mine irisse men." 
King Born (E. E. T. S.), p. 39. 
Other tale certes can I noon, 
But of a ryme I lerned longe agoon. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Sir Thopas, 1. 19. 
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. 
Milton, P. L., 1. 16. 
3. Agreement in the terminal sounds of two or 
more words, namely in the last accented vowel 
and the sounds following, if there be any, while 
the sounds preceding differ ; also, by extension, 
such agreement in the initial sounds (initial 
rime, usually called alliteration). See Itomceote- 
leuton, and compare assonance. 
Rime is the rhythmical repetition of letters. Nations 
who unite arsis and prose accent need to mark off their 
verses plainly. They do it by rime. Other nations shun 
rime. When the riming letters begin their words, it is 
called alliteration. When the accented vowels and the 
following letters are alike, it is called perfect rime. When 
only the consonants are alike, it is called half rime. 
F. A. March, Anglo-Sax. Gram., p. 223. 
The clock-work tintinnabulum of rhyme. 
Cowper, Table-Talk, 1. 529. 
4. Averse or line agreeing with another in ter- 
minal sounds: as, to string rimes together. 
The rhymes are dazzled from their place, 
And order'd words asunder fly. 
Tennyson, The Day-Dream, Prol. 
5. A word answering in sound to another word. 
They ring round the same unvaried chimes, 
With sure returns of still expected rhymes; 
Where'er you find " the cooling western breeze," 
In the next line it " whispers through the trees." 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 349. 
Caudate rime, rime at the end of successive lines : op- 
posed to leonine (which see) or other rime between the 
ends of sections of the same line. Also tailed rime. 
Female nr feminine rimes. See female. Hale or 
masculine rimes. See malei . Neither rime nor rea- 
son, neither consistency nor rational meaning ; neither 
sound nor sense; hence, with no mitigating feature or ex- 
cuse. The phrase occurs under various forms, and espe- 
cially in plays upon words. 
I would exhorte you also to beware of rime without rea- 
son: my meaning is hereby that your rime leade you not 
from your tlrste Inuention. 
Gascoigne, Notes on Eng. Verse (ed. Arber), { 6. 
I was promis'd on a time 
To have reason for my rhyme ; 
From that time unto this season, 
I receiv'd nor rhyme nor reason. 
Sfenser, Lines on his Promised Pension, Int. to Works, 
[p. xiv. 
Thus sayd one in a ineeter of eleuen very harshly in 
mine eare, whether it be for lacke of good rime or of good 
reason, or of both, I wot not. 
I'uttenham, Arte of Eng. Pocsie, p. 59. 
Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season 
When in the why and the wherefore is neither rht/me nor 
reason f Shak., C. of E., ii. 2. 49. 
These fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme them- 
selves into ladies' favours, they do always reamn them- 
selves out again. Shale., Hen. V., v. 2. 164. 
And everyone snper-aboundeth in hisown humour, even 
to the annihilating of any other u-ithout rhyme or reason. 
O. Harvey, Four Letters. 
rime 1 (rim), v. ; pret. and pp. rimed, ppr. riming. 
[Also and more commonly rhyme (formerly also 
rhime), an erroneous spelling as with the noun ; 
early mod. E. rime, ryme, < ME. rimen, rymen, 
rime, < AS. rimau, number, count, reckon, = D. 
rijmen, rime, = OHG. riman, number, count, 
count up, MHG. rimen, rime, fig. bring toge- 
ther, unite, G. reimen, rime, = Sw. rimma =: 
Dan. rime = OF. and F. rimer = Pr. Sp. Pg. 
rimar = It. rimare (ML. rimare), rime ; from the 
noun: see rime' 1 , n.] I. tntus. If. To number; 
count; reckon. 2. To compose in verse; treat 
in verse ; versify. 
But alle shal passen that men prose or ryme, 
Take every man hys turn as for his tyme. 
Chaucer, Envoy of Chaucer to Scogan, 1. 41. 
3. To put into rime: as, to rime a story. 4. 
To bring into a certain condition by riming: 
influence by rime. 
