rttbsen-cake 
riibsen-cake (rub'sen-kak), . [< G. riibaen, 
ri'ib-siimi-n, rape-seed (< G. riibe, rape : see rope*, 
+ samen, seed, = L. semen : see semen), + cake 
(see caA'ei).] An oil-cake much used on the 
continent of Europe, made from the seeds of 
the summer rape. Imp. Diet. 
rubstone (rub'ston), n. 1. A kind of close- 
grained sandstone or gritstone used for sharp- 
ening instruments and for polishing metallic 
surfaces. A hard variety is made into whetstones for 
scythes and similar tools, and is also used for smoothing en- 
gravers' copperplates, etc. A softer variety, distinguished 
as carpenters' rubstone, is cut into suitable pieces for quick- 
ly giving a rough edge to knives or the like, to be finished 
on finer stones. 
2f. A whetstone ; a rub. 
A cradle for barley, with rubstone and sand. 
Tusser, September's Husbandry, at. 14. 
Eubus (ro'bus), . [NL. (Malpighi, 1675), < L. 
rubus, a bramble-bush, blackberry-bush (> It. 
Sp. Pg. rub<>, bramble), so called with ref. to the 
color of the fruit of some species, < rubere, be 
red: see ruby, red 1 .'] A genus of rosaceous 
plants, constituting the tribe Bubese. It has 
flowers with abroad flattened flve-lobed calyx, five petals, 
numerous subtenninal filiform styles, and a fleshy fruit 
(a drupetum) consisting of small drupes on a common re- 
ceptacle. Nearly 800 species have been described, of 
which about 100 may be admitted as valid. They are 
most abundant in Europe, northern Africa, and Asia, are 
moderately numerous in North America and the West In- 
dies, and occur in nearly all other regions, but less com- 
Fetislich hir fyngreB were fretted with gold wyre, 
And there-on red rubyes as red as any glede. 
Piers Plowman (B), ii. 12. 
Of fine rubies [var. rubiits, Tyrwhitt] and of diamants. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1289. 
Paled pearls and rubies red as blood. 
Shak., Lover's Complaint, 1. 188. 
2. A pure or somewhat crimson red color. 
You can behold such sights, 
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, 
When mine is blanch'd with fear. 
Shalt., Macbeth, Hi. 4. 115. 
3. Something resembling a ruby; a blain; a 
blotch; a carbuncle. 4. In her., the tincture 
red or gules, when blazoning is done by means 
of precious stones. See blazon, n., 2. 6. In 
printing, a type smaller than nonpareil and 
larger than pearl, about the size of American 
agate, or 5 points in the new system of sizes. 
[Eng.] 6. In horol.: (a) Any variety of ruby 
used as jewels in watchmaking, as in the finest 
watches. Hence (6) The jewel of the roller 
of the balance-staff of a watch, irrespective of 
the material of which it is made. Compare joe- 
el, n., 4. 7. In ornith.: (a) The red bird of para- 
dise, Paradisea rubra or sanguined. (b) The 
ruby hummer, Clytoleema rubineus of Brazil, and 
Branch with Flowers of Common or High Blackberry lRnt>** 
villosus). 
a, the fruit; b. leaf from the first year's shoot. 
monly in southern tropical Africa, Madagascar, Australia, 
New Zealand, and the Pacific islands. About 10 species 
are found in the eastern United States, 5 in California, 
and 6 in Alaska. They are commonly prickly shrubs, 
sometimes creeping herbs, either with or without hairs, 
sometimes glandular, woolly or hoary. Their leaves are 
scattered and alternate, sometimes simple and either un- 
divided or lobed, generally compound, with five or three 
leaflets. The flowers are white, pink, or purplish, usually 
disposed in terminal or axillary corymbs or panicles. A 
section in which the drupelets fall from the receptacle 
at maturity, together or separately, is Represented by the 
raspberry ; a second, in which they remain attached, com- 
prises the blackberries. Various species produce the well- 
known fruits of these names ; the roots of R. Canademis 
and n. villogus afford a useful tonic astringent ; some are 
ornamental plants. See raspberry, blackberry, blackcap, 4, 
bramble, cloudberry (with cut), roebuck-berry, and dewberry. 
ruby (rb'bi), . and a. [Early mod. E. also rii- 
bie; < ME. ruby, rubi, rubeye, < OF. rubi, also ru- 
bis, F. rubis = Pr. robi, robina, = Sp. rubi, rubin 
= Pg. rubi, rubim = It. rubino ( > E. rubin), < ML. 
rubimis, also rubius, rubiutn, a ruby, so called 
from its red color, < L. rubeus, red, < rubere, be 
red: see rerfl. Cf. rubin.'} I. n. ; pi. rubies 
(-biz). 1. The clear rich-red variety of corun- 
dum. (See corundum.) it is highly prized as a gem 
and ranks even above the diamond, tine examples of from 
one to five carats selling at a price from three to ten times 
greater than that of a diamond of corresponding size and 
quality. The finest rubies, those of a pigeon's-blood col- 
or, are found in Upper Burma, near Mogok. north of Man- 
dalay ; they occur there in place in a crystalline limestone 
also in gem bearing gravels ; the spinel ruby is a common 
associate. Rubies of a dark-red color, sometimes with a 
tinge of brown, are found in the region about Chantibun 
Siam ; others, of a dark-pink or purplish tint, in Ceylon. A 
magenta-colored ruby from Victoria, in Australia is locally 
known as barMyiU. In Great Britain rubies of a dark-red 
or beefs-blood color are highly prized. The red variety of 
corundum described above is the true or oriental ruby but 
the name ruby is also sometimes given to a red variety of 
spinel; this spinel ruby varies in color from the deep-red 
to the rose-red balas ruby and the yellow or orange-red ru- 
bieel. The pale-red topaz from Brazil is also sometimes 
called Brazilian ruby, and a red variety of garnet, rock-ruby 
mines. These are larger than the so-called Arizona, Xetr 
Mexico, and Colorado rubug, all of which are identical with 
the so-called Australian rubies, which are a variety of py- 
rope garnet. Cat'8-eye ruby, a variety of ruby exhibit- 
ing more or less distinctly the chatoyant effect of the cat's- 
< y . Ruby of arsenic or sulphur, the protosulphid of 
arsenic, or red compound of arsenic and sulphur. Ruby 
of zinc, the sulphid of zinc, or red blende. 
II. a. Of a color resembling that of the ruby ; 
of a rich red color inclining toward crimson. 
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy 
Which, like dumb months, do ope their ruby lips. 
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue. 
Shak., J. C., ill. 1. 260. 
Butler, fetch the ruby wine, 
Which with sudden greatness fills us. 
Emerson, From Haflz. 
Ruby glass. See glass. Ruby luster, one of the varie- 
ties of metallic luster. The name is given to all lusters 
of any shade of red, even approaching purple or maroon. 
Ruby silver. Same as prwstite and pyrargyrite. 
Ruby spinel. Seedef. i, above. Ruby sulphur. Same 
as realgar. 
ruby (ro'bi), r. t. ; pret. and pp. rubied, ppr. 
rubying. [< ruby, .] To make red. 
With sanguine drops the walls are rubied round. 
Fenton, in Pope's Odyasey, xx. 426. 
ruby-blende (ro'bi-blend), n. 1. A clear red 
variety of zinc sulphid, or sphalerite. 2. Ruby 
silver; a red silver ore, or sulphid of arsenic 
(as antimony) and silver. These ores include 
the mineral species proustite and pyrargyrite. 
ruby-copper (ro'bi-kop'er), n. Same as cuprite. 
ruby-crowned (ro' bi-kround), a. Having a red 
patch on the poll : as, the ruby-crowned kinglet, 
Begulus calendula. 
ruby-mica (re'bi-ml'kS), . Same as goethite. 
rubytail (ro'bi-tal), n. " A gold wasp or cuckoo- 
fly of the hymenopterous family Chrysididse, as 
Chrysis ignita, having the abdomen of a ruby 
color. 
mby-tailed (ro'bi-tald). a. Having the abdo- 
men red : specifically noting the rubytails or 
Clirysididse. See cut under Cltrysididas. 
ruby-throated (ro'bi-thro'ted), a. Having a 
ruby gorget of feathers like metallic scales, as 
a humming-bird. The common ruby-throated hum- 
ming-bird is Trochilus colubris, the only member of the 
Trochilidie which is generally distributed in the eastern 
part of the United States. The male is :ij inches long 
and 5 inches in extent of wings, golden-green above, white 
below with green sides and ruby throat, the wings and 
tail dark-purplish. The female is smaller, and has no gor- 
get, and the tail-feathers are varied with black and white. 
See cut under humming-bird. 
ruby-tiger (ro'bi-ti'ger), n. A beautiful British 
moth, Phragmatobia fuliginosa. 
ruby-WOOd (ro'bi-wud), . The red sanders- 
wood or sandalwood, Pterocarpus santalinus. 
See sandaltcood. 
ruct (ruk). n. Same as roc*. 
rucervine (ro-ser'vin), . [< Rucervus + -j'jie 1 .] 
Relating or belonging to the genus Rucervus; 
having characteristics of Bucercus; 
Its antlers are large, and of the intermediate rucervine 
type. CasseU's Nat. Hill., III. 61. (Encyc. Diet.) 
Rucervus (ro-ser'vus), n. [NL.,< Bu(sa) + Cer- 
nts.] A genus of East Indian Cerrida, having 
doubly dichotomous antlers with a large brow- 
tine. There are several species. C. schomburgki inhabits 
Siam ; C. duvauceli is the Barasingha deer of Asia ; C. eldi, 
the tharayn, is found in Burma. 
ruche (rosh), . [Also rouche; < F. ruche, quill- 
ing; cf . F. rouche, the hull of a ship,< OF. rouche, 
ruck 
iixi'ln; rucque, a beehive, = Pr. rusca. 
a beehive; prob. of Celtic origin, and so called 
as once made of bark, < Bret, rusk = W. rhinj 
= Gael, rusij = Ir. ruse, bark.] 1. A full quill- 
ing, frilling, or plaiting of ribbon, muslin, gren- 
adine, net, lace, or other material, used as a 
trimming forewomen's garments, or worn at the 
neck and wrists. 2. A loose pile of arched 
tiles to catch and lodge oyster-spawn. 
niching (ro'shing), . [< nn-li( + -/;/. J Same 
as rucne. 
ruck 1 (ruk), . [Also rook; rouk; < ME. rouken, 
rukkeii, crouch, bend, lie close; cf. Dan. ruge, 
brood.] I. intrans. To squat, like a bird on its 
nest or a beast crouching; crouch down; cower; 
hence, to huddle together ; lie close, as sheep in 
a fold. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.] 
What is mankynde more unto yow holde 
Than is the scheep that rouketh in the folde? 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 460. 
But now they rucken in hire neste, 
And resten as hem liken beste. 
Gower, MS. 8oc. Autiq. 134, f. 114. (HattiweU.) 
The furies made the bride-groomes bed, and on the house 
did ,":.'. 
A cursed owle, the messenger of ill successe and lucke. 
(folding, tr. of Ovid (ed. 1608), p. 73. (Sores.) 
II. trans. To perch; seat, as a bird when 
roosting: used reflexively. 
The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VL , v. 6. 47. 
ruck 2 (ruk), n. [< Icel. hrukJca, a wrinkle on 
the skin or in cloth; cf. Icel. ItroJelcin, curled, 
wrinkled, pp. of hrokkva, recoil, give way, curl ; 
cf. Sw. rynka, Dan. rynke, a wrinkle (see runkle, 
u-rinkte); Gael, roc, a wrinkle.] 1. A fold, 
crease, or pucker in the material of a garment, 
resulting from faults in the making. 
The leather soon stretched and then went into rucks and 
folds which hardened, and, as a natural consequence, pro- 
duced great discomfort. Bury and Billier, Cycling, p. 238. 
2. In printing, a crease or wrinkle made in a 
sheet of paper in passing from the feed-board 
to impression. 
ruck 2 (ruk), v. [= Icel. rykkja, draw into folds : 
see ruck 2 , n.] Ii trans. 1. To wrinkle; crease; 
pucker: usually with up: as, to ruck up cloth; 
to ruck up a silk skirt. [Colloq.] 
A rucked barke oregrewe their bodye and face, 
And all their lymbes grewe starke and stifle also. 
The Newe Metamorphosis (1600), MS. 
2. To ruffle the temper of ; annoy ; vex : fol- 
lowed by up. [Colloq.] 
II. intrans. 1. To become creased and 
wrinkled ; draw up in wrinkles or puckers : as, 
this stuff nicks easily. 
The paper . . . rucked up when inserting the cartridge 
in the chamber of the gun, and has been superseded by 
coil brass. IT. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 29. 
2. To be ruffled in temper ; be annoyed, vexed, 
or excited: followed by up. [Colloq.] 
ruck 3 (ruk), n. [A var. of ricfrl.] 1. Same as 
rick 1 . 
Your nowt may die ; the spate may bear away 
Frae aff the howms your dainty rucks of hay. 
Ramsay, Gentle Shepherd, 1. 2. 
2. A vague unit of volume, a stack, about 5} 
cubic yards of bark. [Prov. Eng.] 
ruck 4 (ruk), n. [< ME. rok, ruke; < OSw. ruka, 
a heap, prob. connected with Icel. liraukr = AS. 
Itredc, a heap, rick: see reek 2 , rick 1 , ruck s .~\ 
1. A crowd or throng; especially, a closely 
packed and indiscriminate crowd or mass of 
persons or things; a jam ; a press. 
There watj rynging, on ryjt, of ryche metalles 
Quen renkkes in that ryche rok rennen hit to cache. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 1514. 
Now for the spurs ! and as these, vigorously applied, 
screwed an extra stride out of 'IVM, I soon found myself 
in therucAr of men, horses, and drawn swords. 
Sir S. W. Baker, Heart of Africa, p. 112. 
2. The common run of persons or things ; the 
commonplace multitude, as contrasted with the 
distinguished or successful few : specifically 
said of the defeated horses in a race. 
One [story] however, if true, is somewhat out of the or- 
dinary ruck, and it is told of the same Lord Mohun ("Dog 
Mohun, " as Swift calls him) who fought the Duke of Hamil- 
ton. 
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 218. 
3. Trash; rubbish; nonsense. [Colloq.] 
He 's stuck up and citified, and wears gloves, and takes 
his meals private in his room, and all that sort of ruck. 
Scrilmer-3 Mag., VIII. 159. 
ruck 4 (ruk), c.t. [< ruck*, !.] To gather to- 
gether into heaps. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
ruck 5 (ruk), n. [Origin obscure.] A small 
heifer. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
