ring 
Ten thousand harps . . . tuned 
Angelic harmonies; the earth, the air, ... 
The heavens, and all the constellations rung. 
Milton, V. L., vii. 562. 
5. To have the sensation of a continued hum- 
ming or buzzing sound : as, to make one's head 
;((/. 
My ears still riny with noise; I'm vext to death, 
Tongue-killed, and have not yet recovered breath. 
Dryden, Aurengzebe, ii. 1. 
With both his ears 
Ringing with clink of mail and clash of spears, 
The messenger went forth upon his way. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 287. 
6. To exercise or follow the art of bell-ringing. 
7. To be filled with report or talk: as, the 
whole town rings with his fame. 
What supports me, dost thou ask? 
The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied 
In liberty's defence, my noble task, 
01 which all Europe rings from side to side. 
Milton, Sonnets, xvii. 
Hear of him ! ... all our country rings of him. 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 228. 
8. To be widely heard of or known ; be cele- 
brated. 
Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings, 
Filling each mouth with envy or with praise. 
Milton, Sonnets, x. 
To ring backward, in bell-ringing, to sound a peal or 
change in an order the reverse of the usual one : formerly 
used as an alarm signal. 
It generally concerneth all, and particularly behooveth 
every one to look about him when he heareth the bells 
ringing backward, and seeth the tire running forward. 
O. Harvey, Four Letters. 
To ring down, to conclude; end at once: a theatrical 
phrase, alluding to the custom of ringing a bell to give 
notice for the fall of the curtain. 
It is time to ring down on these remarks. Dickens. 
To ring in (theat.), to signal the conductor to begin the 
overture. To ring off, to signal the close of a commu- 
nication by telephone. [Colloq. ] To ring UP (the at.), to 
give the signal for raising the curtain. 
ring 2 (ring), n. [< ring 2 , t 1 .] 1. The sound of 
a bell or oilier sonorous body, usually metallic; 
the sound produced by striking metal ; a clang; 
a peal. 
In vain with cymbals' ring 
They call the grisly king. 
Milton, Nativity, 1. 208. 
Good were the days of yore, when men were tried 
By rin? of shields, as now by ring of words. 
Lowell, Voyage to Vinland. 
2. Any loud sound, or the sounds of numerous 
voices; sound continued, repeated, or rever- 
berated. 
The King, full of confidence and assurance, as a Prince 
that had beene victorious in Battaile, and had prevailed 
with his Parliament in all that he desired, and had the 
Ring of Acclamations fresh in his eares, thought the rest 
of his Raignc should be but Play. 
Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII., p. 17. 
3. Characteristic sound. 
Finally, the inspiration of all three has a literary source ; 
for, while two professedly revive the practice of ancient 
masters, the third, though dealing with contemporary in- 
terests, expresseshimself in a borrowed style, which gives 
his verse all the ring of ancient rhetoric. 
Quarterly Ren. (Imp. Diet.) 
Washington's letter of " homage to his Catholic majesty" 
for this " gift of jackasses, " sent through the Prime Min- 
ister of Spain in 1785, has a diverting ring. 
The Century, XXXVII. 889. 
4. A set of bells tuned to each other; a chime, 
peal, or carillon. 
I am like a famous cathedral with two ring of bells, a 
sweet chime on both sides. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1. 
Here is also a very fine ring of six bells, and they mighty 
tuneable. Pepyi, Diary, III. 462. 
Cracked in or within the ring, cracked in sound ; fail- 
ing of the true ring, as money when tested by striking 
against something else ; hence, in general, flawed ; marred 
by defects. 
Pray God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be 
not cracked inthin the ring. Shale. , Hamletj ii. 2. 448. 
ring-armature (ring'ar"ma-tur), n. An arma- 
ture in which the coils of wire are wound round 
a ring. The Gramme armature is the best- 
known type of this form. 
ring-armor (ring'ar''mor), n. (a) Same as ring- 
mail, (b) Armor made by sewing rings of met- 
al on a background of leather or cloth. See 
cut in next column. 
ring-banded (ring'ban"ded), a. Encircled or 
ringed with a band of color King-banded sol- 
dier-bug. See Perillm. 
ring-bark (ring'biirk), v. t. To girdle, as a 
tree. 
ring-barker (ring'bar"ker), n. One who barks 
trees circularly about the trunk, in order to 
kill them. 
ring-barking (ring'biir"king), n. The practice 
of barking trees in rings about the trunk, in 
order to kill them. 
5186 
ig-dial, i?th century. 
Ring-armor. (From ViolleMe-Duc's " Diet, du Mobilier fractals.") 
ringbill (ring'bil), n. The ring-necked scaup 
or duck, Fulix eollaris or Fuligula rufitorques; 
the moonbill. G. Trumbull ; J. J. Audubon. 
[Illinois and Kentucky.] 
ring-billed (ring'bild), a. Having the bill ringed 
with color: as, the ring-billed gull (which see, 
under i/ulP). 
ring-bird (ring'berd), n. Same as ring-bunting. 
ring-bit (ring' bit), . In harness, a bit with 
a ring-check, which may be either loose or 
fixed. 
ring-blackbird (ring'blak"berd), . The ring- 
ouzel, Merula torquata. See cut under ouzel. 
ring-bolt (ring'bolt), n. [= D. ring-bout = G. 
ring-token = t>a,Ti.ringebolt=Sw.ring-bult; as 
ring 1 + bolt 1 ."] In ships, a metallic bolt with 
an eye to which is fitted a ring. 
ring-bone (ring'bon), . [< Dan. ring-ben, ring- 
bone ; cf . AS. hring-bun, a circular bone ; as ring 1 
+ bone 1 .] 1. In farriery, a bony callus or ex- 
ostosis, the result of inflammation, on one or 
both pastern-bones of a horse, which some- 
times extends to the interphalangeal joints and 
causes immobility and lameness. 2. The dis- 
ease or disordered condition in horses which is 
caused by ring-bone: as, a horse affected by 
ring-bone and spavin. 
Heaves, curb, spavin, sldebone, and ringbone are the 
most ordinary ailments in horses. 
A. B. Allen, in Amer. Agriculturist, 1886. 
ring-boot (ring'bot), n. A ring of caoutchouc 
placed on the fetlock of a horse to cause him to 
travel wider, and thus prevent interfering. 
ring-brooch (ring'broch), n. A brooch the 
body of which consists of a bar bent to a ring 
form, but not joined. The ends terminate in a ball, 
or globular or acorn-shaped ornament ; and the pin or 
acus is secured to the curved bar by being bent round it, 
but moving freely upon it. This form of brooch was com- 
mon among the northern nations of Europe in the early 
middle ages. 
ring-bunting (ring'bun'ting), . The reed- 
bunting, Emberiza schesniclus : so called from 
its collar. Also ring-bird, ring-fowl. [Local, 
British.] 
ring-bush (ring'bush), n. A socket having anti- 
friction rings or rolls on its interior perimeter, 
as in some forms of rope-block. E. H. Knight. 
ring-canal (ring'ka-nal"), " 1. The circular 
peripheral enteric cavity of ccelenterates, open- 
ing upon the exterior and continued by pro- 
cesses into the radiated parts of the animal ; an 
annular enterocoele. 
The peripheral portion of the lumen of the original en- 
teric cavity forms the ring-canal, which runs all round the 
margin of the disc, and is continued into the hollow ten- 
tacles. Encyc. Brit., XII. 550. 
2. A circular canal of the water-vascular sys- 
tem of an echinoderm. 
The only trace of the water-system is to be found in the 
ring-canal round the gullet Stand. Nat. Hist., I. 176. 
ring-carrier (ring'kar"i-er), n. A go-between ; 
one who transacts business between parties. 
Wid. Marry, hang you ! 
Mar. And your courtesy, for a ring-carrier! 
Shak., All's Well, iii. 5. 95. 
ring-chuck (ring'chxik), n. A chuck or append- 
age to a lathe with a brass ring fitted over the 
end. 
ring-cross (ring'kros), n. A figure represent- 
ing a Greek cross in a circle, incised or carved 
in relief on many works of prehistoric art: the 
figure is thought to indicate the sun and also 
the active or masculine principle iu creation. 
Worsaa, S. K. Handbook, Danish Arts, p. 33. 
ringed 
ring-dial (ring'di"al),. A kind of portable sun- 
dial, consisting of a metal ring, broad in propor- 
tion to its diameter, and 
having slits in the direc- 
tion of its circumference, 
which can be partially a 
closed or covered by a 
sliding appliance on the 
outside of the ring. There 
are divisions on the outside 
denoting the months of the 
year, and figures on the inside 
denoting the hour of the day. 
By partly closing the slit, so 
as to let the rays of the sun 
pass through that part of It be- 
longing to the current month 
(as In the direction ab in the cut), the hour of the day is ap- 
proximately denoted by the point where the beam of light 
strikes the inside of the ring. 
ring-dog (ring'dog), n. An iron implement for 
hauling timber, made by connecting two com- 
mon dogs by means of a ring through the eyes. 
When united with cordage they form a sling- 
dog. See cut under dug. 
ring-dotterel (ring'dot"er-el), . The ringed 
plover, JEgialites hiaticula. Also called sea-dot- 
terel, ringlestone, sea- or sand-lark, and by many 
other names. See ring-plover, and cut under 
jEgialites. 
ring-dove (ring'duv), . [= Dan. ringdtte = 
Sw. ringdufra ; as ring 1 + dove 1 . Cf. equiv. D. 
ringel-dnif= G. ringeltanbe (< G. ringel, dim. of 
ring, a circle, + tuube = E. dove 1 ).] 1. The 
ringed dove, wood-pigeon, or cushat, Columba 
palumbm, a common European bird, distin- 
guished by this name from the stock-dove (C. 
anas) and rock-dove (C. Una), the only other 
British members of this genus. It is about 17 
Inches long and 30 inches in extent of wings. The plu- 
mage of the upper parts is grayish blue, tinged with brown 
on the wings and scapulars ; the back and sides of the neck 
are bright-green and purplish-red, with two cream-colored 
patches ; the fore-neck and breast arc reddish-purple ; 
there is a white patch on the wing, including four outer 
secondary coverts ; the bill is partly red ; the iris Is yel- 
low; and the feet are carmine. The ring-dove subsists on 
grains, acorns, ivy -berries, and other wild fruits, and lays 
two white eggs on a nest which may be described as a plat- 
form of sticks so loosely put together that often the eggs 
may be seen through it. 
2. A small dove, Tiirtur risorius, now known 
only in confinement, having the general plu- 
mage of a pale dull creamy color, with a black 
half-ring around the nape of the neck. 
ring-dropper (ring'drop"er), n. One who prac- 
tises ring-dropping. 
Some ring-droppers write out an account and make a 
little parcel of jewellery, and when they pick out their 
man they say, "If you please, sir, will you read this for 
me and tell me what I shall do with these things, as I've 
just found them?" 
Wayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 389. 
ring-dropping (ring'drop'ing), w. A trick prac- 
tised upon simple people by rogues in various 
ways. One mode is described in the quota- 
tion. 
In ring-dropping we pretend to have found a ring, and 
ask some simple-looking fellow if it's good gold, as it's 
only just picked up. Sometimes it is immediately pro- 
nounced gold : " Well, it 'a no use to me," well say, "will 
you buy it?" Often they are foolish enough to buy, and 
. . . they give you only a shilling or two for an article 
which if really gold would be worth eight or ten. 
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 351. 
ringe (rinj), . [Supposed to be used for 'rinse, 
< rinxe, r.] A whisk made of heath Ringe- 
heather, the heath-plant, Erica Tetralix, used in making 
ringes. Jamieson. 
ringed (ringd),;>.o. [<ME. ringed, <AS. hringed, 
furnished with or formed of rings, pp. of hrin- 
gian, encircle, surround: see ring 1 .] 1. Sur- 
rounded with or as with a ring; having a ring 
or rings; encircled. 
He cautiously felt the weight of the ringed and polished 
The Century, XXXI. 31. 
rod. 
2. In bot., surrounded by elevated or depressed 
circular lines or bands, as the roots or stems 
of someplantg. 3. In zool.: (a) Annular; cir- 
cular ; formed into or shaped like a ring. (6) 
Having an annulus ; annulated ; marked with 
a ring or with rings ; collared : as, a ringed 
plover; the ringed dove ; the ringed snake, (c) 
Composed of rings ; annulose, annulate, or an- 
nuloid ; formed of a series of annulations : as, 
the ringed type of structure; a ringed worm. 
Ringed animals, the Anmtlona. Kinged guard, a 
modification of the cup-guard or shell-guard, in which the 
ricassois nearly covered by a series of rings of steel form- 
ing a deep hollow cup, its mouth toward the grip of the 
hilt. A common modification of this is where a steel bar, 
forming a continuous helix, replaces the rings. Ringed 
guillemot. See guillemot. -- Ringed plover. See ring- 
plorer. Ringed seal, the fetid seal, or fiord-seal. /'- 
gomys hispida. See cut under I'agomi/K. Ringed snake. 
See snake. Ringed worms, the annelids or Annelida. 
