ratting (rating)

[Verbal n. of ratl, v., 2.] 1. The act of deserting one's principles, and going over to the opposite party.-2. In the trades, the act of working for le than established or demanded prices, or of refusing to strike, or of taking the place of a striker.-3. A low sport consisting in setting a dog upon a number of rats confined in a tub, cage, or pit, to see how many he will kill in a given time. rattish (rat'ish), a. [ like a rat. rattlel (rat'l), v.; pret. and pp. rattled, ppr. rat tling. [ Dan. rasle = Sw. rasla ), rattle; freq. of a simple verb seen in MHG. razzen, ratzen, rattle; perhaps akin to Gr. κραδαίνειν, swing, wave, brandish, shake; perhaps in part imitative (cf. rat - a - tat, rat - tat, in imitation of a knock at a door, rattan3, F. rataplan, in imitation of a drum, etc.), and in so far comparable with Gr. κρότος, a rattling noise, κροτείν, knock, rattle, κρόταλουν, a rattle, κροταλίζειν, rattle (see Crotal us, rattlesnake). Cf. dial. rackle, a var. of rattle. Hence ult. rail4, Rallus, rále.] I. in trans. 1. To give out a rapid succe ion of short, sharp, jarring or clattering sounds; clatter, as by continuous concu ions. The quiver rattleth against him. Job xxxix. 23. To the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak With his own bolt. Shak ., Tempest, v. 1. 44. "Farewell!" she said, and vanished from the place; The sheaf of arrows shook, and rattled in the case. Dryden , Pal. and Arc., iii. 282. Swift Astolpho to the rattling horn His lips applies. Hoole, tr. of Orlando Furioso, xxxiii. One or two [rattlesnakes] coiled and rattled menacingly as I stepped near. T. Roosevelt , The Century, XXXVI. 201. 2. To move or be carried along with a continuous rapid clatter; go or proceed or bear one's self noisily: often used with reference to speed rather than to the accompanying noise. And off my mourning-robes; grief, to the grave; For I haue gold, and therefore will be brave; In silks I'll rattle it of every colour. J. Cook, Green's Tu Quoque. I'll take a good rattling gallop. Sterne , Tristram Shandy, iv. 20. Wagons... rattling along the hollow roads, and over the distant hills. Irving , Sketch-Book, p. 445. We rattled away at a merry pace out of the town. R. D. Black more , Lorna Doone, xiv. 3. To speak with noisy and rapid rapid utterance; talk rapidly or in a chattering manner: as, to rattle on about trifles. The rattling tongue Of saucy and audacious eloquence. Shak ., M. N. D., v. 1. 102. The girls are handsome, dashing women, without much information, but rattling talkers. C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 183. II. trans. 1. To cause to make a rattling sound or a rapid succe ion of hard, sharp, or jarring sounds. IMG:content-1669.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-1670.png:[blocks in formation] rattlel (rat'l), n. [ ratele , a rattle, hrætele , in comp. hrætelwyrt , 'rattle wort,' a plant in whose pods the seeds rattle; = MD. ratele , D. ratel = G. ra el , a rattle; from the verb: see rattle1 , v. Cf. G. ratsche , a rattle, clapper; Sw. ra el , clank, clash, clatter, etc.] 1. A rapid succe ion of short, sharp, clatter- ing sounds, as of intermitting collision or con- cu ion. I'll hold ten Pound my Dream is out; I'd tell it to you but for the Rattle Of those confounded Drums. Prior , English Ballad on tr. of Boileau's Taking of Namur, [st. 10. This rattle in the crystal hall Would be enough to deaf them all. tures in Europe and northern Asia. It attaches itself by its fibrous roots to the roots of living gra es, etc., thus doing much damage. Its calyx in fruit is or- bicular, inflated but flattened, containing a capsule of similar form with a few large flat, generally winged seeds. This is the common or yellow rattle, also called locally penny - gra , penny - rattle , rattlebags , rattlebox , and rattle- penny. ( b ) One of the Old World louseworts, Pedicular is palustris , the red rattle. The rattles. ( a ) Croup. ( b ) The death-rattle. rattle2 (rat'l), v . t .; pret. and pp. rattled , ppr. rattling . [A back formation from rattling , a corruption of ratline but taken as a verbal noun in -ing , whence the a umed verb rattle .] Naut ., to furnish with ratlines. To rattle down, to seize or fasten ratlines on (the shrouds of a ve el). rattlebags (rat'l-bagz), n . See rattle1 , 6 ( a ). rattle-barrel (rat'l-bar"el), n. In founding , a tumbling-box for castings, used to free them from sand, and sometimes to remove the cores. rattlebox (rat'l-boks), n. 1. A toy that makes a rattling noise; a rattle.-2. ( a ) Aplant, the yel- low rattle. See IMG:content-1671.png:[blocks in formation] Plant, with Flowers and Pods, of Rattlebox 4 cells. See Halesia and calico-wood. rattlebrain (rat'l-brān), n . A giddy, chatter- ing person; a rattle pate. rattle-brained (rat'l-brand), a. Giddy; chat- tering; whimsical; rattle-headed. Receiving such a rattle for his former contempt by the Bishop of London that he came out blubbering. Heylin , Life of Laud, p. 257. ( Davies .) Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, Pleased with a rattle , tickled with a straw. IMG:content-1672.png:[blocks in formation] Baptisia tinct or i a , a bushy herb with inflated pods. rattle cap (rat'l-kap), n. A giddy, volatile per- son; a madcap: generally said of a girl. [Col- loq.] rattled (rat'ld), a . 1. Confused; flurried. [Col- loq. or slang.] -2. Affected by eating the loco or rattle weed; locoed. [Western U. S.] rattle head (rat'l-hed), n. A giddy, chattering person; a rattle pate. rattle-headed (rat'l-hed"ed), a . Noisy; giddy; trifling. rattle-mouset (rat'l-mous), n. [ rattle1 + mouse . Cf. flittermouse , reremouse .] A bat. Not vnlike the tale of the rattle mouse . Putten ham , Arte of Eng. Poesie, ii. 13 [18]. rattle pate (rat'l-pāt), n. A noisy, empty fel- low; a trifling or impertinent chatterer. rattle-pated (rat'l-pa"ted), a . rattler (rat'ler), n. [ rattle + -erl .] 1. One who rattles, or talks away without reflection or consideration; a giddy, noisy person.-2. Any- thing which causes a person to become rattled, as a smart or stunning blow. [Slang or colloq.] 3. A rattlesnake. [U. S.] We have had rattlers killed every year; copperheads le frequently. Sci . Amer ., N. S., LVI. 85. 4. A big or bold lie. [Colloq.] -5. Among cutlers, a special form of razor with a very thin blade, the faces of which are ground to an angle of fifteen degrees. Diamond rattler, the diamond rattlesnake. rattler an (rat'l-ran), n. The lower half of a fore quarter of beef; a plate-piece. [U.S.] rattlesnake-master (rat'l-snāk-mas"tėr), n. One of several Ameri- can plants at some time reputed to cure the bite of the rattlesnake. (a) The false aloe, Agave Virgi- nica, said to be so called in South Carolina. A tincture of this plant is sometimes used for flatulent colic. (b) Accord- ing to Pursh, Liatris scariosa and L. squarrosa, in Virginia, Kentucky, and the Carol in as. (c) A species of eringo, Eryn- gium yuccæfolium , also called, like Liatris , button - snakeroot ; but the plants are quite unlike. See the generic names. rattling1 (rat'ling), p . a . [Ppr. of rattlel , v.] 1. Making or adapted for making a rattle; hence, smart; sharp; lively in action, move- ment, or manners: as, a rattling rider; a rattling pace; a rattling game; a rattling girl. He ance tell'd me that the Psalms of David were excellent poetry! as if the holy Psalmist thought o' rat- tling rhymes in a blether, like his ain silly clinkum-clankum things that he ca's verse. Scott , Rob Roy, xxi. 2. Bewilderingly large or conspicuous: as, rat- tling stakes or bets. [Colloq. or slang.] rattling2 (rat'ling), n. A corruption of ratline . ratton, n. See ratten . rattonert, n . rattoon1, n. See rattener . See ratoon . rattoon2+, n. Same as ratan . rat-trap (rat'trap), n . A trap for catching rats; also, something resembling or suggesting such a trap. Rat-trap pedal. See pedal . rauchwacke (râk'wak; G. pron.rouchʼvä"ke), n . [G., rauch , smoke (= E. reek ), + wacke , a sort of stone consisting of quartz, sand, and mica: see wacke . Cf. graywacke .] Dolomite or dolo- mitic limestone, containing many small irregu- (rat'l-snāk-plan"tān), n. Any one of the three Rattlesnake-master ( Eryngi- lar cavities, frequently lined with crystals of um yucca folium). 1, upper part of the stem with the heads; 2, a leaf; a , IMG:content-1673.png:[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small] brown-spar: a characteristic mode of occur- rence of the Zechstein division of the Permian in various parts of Germany. raucid (ra's id), a . [ raucid us , LL. dim. raucid ulus , hoarse, raucus , hoarse: see rau- cous.] Same as raucous . Methinks I hear the old boatman [Charon] paddling by Lamb, To the Shade of Elliston. raucity (ra'si-ti), n. [F. raucité , hoarsene , raucita (t-)s, hoarsene , also snoring, raucus , hoarse: see raucous .] Roughne or harshne of utterance; hoarsene . The purling of a wreathed string, and the raucity of a trumpet. Bacon , Nat. Hist., § 700. raucle (ra'kl), a . [A var. of rackel , rackle , rash, fearle , also stout, firm, strong: see rackle , rakel .] Coarse; harsh; strong; firm; bold. [Scotch.] Auld Scotland has a raucle tongue. Burns , Prayer to the Scotch Representatives. raucous (ra'kus), a . [= F. rauque = Pr. rauc , rauch =Cat.ronc = Sp.ronco , rauco = Pg.rouco = It. rauco , raucus , hoarse; cf. Skt. V ru , cry out.] Hoarse; harsh; croaking in sound: as, a raucous voice or cry. raucously (raʼkus-li), adv . In a raucous man- ner; with a croaking sound; hoarsely. raught1t. An obsolete preterit and past parti- ciple of reach1 . raught2t. An obsolete preterit and past parti- ciple of reck . weed, Hieracium venosum , of the eastern half rauncet, n. See rance3 . of the United States. It has a slender stem a foot raunceount, v. t. A Middle English form of or two high, forking above into a loose corymb of a few raunsont, raunsount, n. and v . Middle English forms of ransom . rauracienne (rō-ras-ien'), п . In dyeing , same as orseillin . Rausan (F. pron. rō-zon'), n . [F.: see def.] A wine of Bordeaux, of the commune of Mar- gaux: its best variety is the wine of Château Rausan, often exported under the name of Rau- san - Margaux . Rauwolfia (rau-wol'fi-ä), n. [NL. (Plumier, 1703), named after Leon hard Rauwolf , a Ger- man botanist and traveler of the sixteenth Has ravaged more than half the globe, and sees Mankind grown thin by his destructive sword. Add is on , Cato i. 1. While oft in whirls the mad tornado flies, Mingling the ravaged landscape with the skies. IMG:content-1674.png:[blocks in formation] Pride, like the Delphic prieste , with a swell Rav'd nonsense, destin'd to be future sense. century.] A genus of gamopetalous plants of the order Apocynaceæ , the dogbane family, tribe Plumericæ , and type of the subtribe Rauwolfieæ . It is characterized by a salver-shaped corolla with in- cluded stamens, an annular or cup-shaped disk, and an ovary with two carpels, each with two ovules, in fruit becoming drupaceous and united, often beyond the midbone, but more harme dide he not to no mane. rave2t (rav). An obsolete preterit of rive . ravest (rav), v. t. [ raven ; a secondary form of riven , after the pret. rave : see rivel .] To rive. dle. There are 42 species, natives tropics in America, Asia, and Africa, also in South Africa. They are trees or shrubs, commonly with smooth whorled leaves rave which are three or four in a circle, and finely and closely Same as reave , 3. feather-veined. The small flowers and fruit are in cymose clusters which become lateral and commonly resemble umbels. Most species are actively poisonous; some, as R. nitid a , are in repute as cathartics and emetics. Sev- eral medicinal species, with remarkably twisted roots and stems, were formerly separated as a genus Ophioxylon (Lin- næus, 1767), on account of their producing both sterile flowers with two stamens and fertile flowers with five: as R. serpent in a , the East Indian serpent wood, a climber with handsome leaves, the root of which is used in India and China as a febrifuge. R. Sandwicensis , the hao of the Hawaii ans, a small milky tree with white scarred branches, is unlike all other species in its leafy sepals. ravage (rav'āj), n. [F. ravage , ravage, havoc, spoil, ravir , bear away suddenly: see ravish .] Thairfoir I hald the subject vaine, Wold rave us of our right. I've reavell'd a' my yellow hair Coming against the wind. Glen kindie (Child's Ballads, II. 12). Minute glands, which resemble ravelled tubes, formed of basement membrane and epithelial scales. J. R. Nichols , Fireside Science, p. 186. Hence-2. To involve; perplex; confuse. What glory 's due to him that could divide Such ravel'd int'rests, has the knot untied? Waller . 31. To treat confusedly; jumble; muddle. They but ravel it over loosely, and pitch upon disputing against particular conclusions. Sir K. Digby . 4. To disentangle; disengage the threads or fibers of (a woven or knitted fabric, a rope, a ma of tangled hair, etc.); draw apart thread by thread; unravel: commonly with out : in this sense (the exact contrary of the first sense), originally with out , ravel out being equivalent Shak., Rich. II., iv. 1. 228. The fiction pleas'd; their loves I long elude; The night still ravell'd what the day renew'd. ravell (rav'el or rav'l), n. [Formerly or dial. also revel ; Life goes all to ravels and tatters. Carlyle, in Froude. 2. pl . The broken threads cast away by women at their needlework. Hall i well (spelled revels ). -3. In weaving , a serrated instrument for guid- ing the separate yarns when being distributed and wound upon the yarn-beam of a loom, or for guiding the yarns wound on a balloon; an evener; a separator. Also, in Scotch spelling, raivel . ravel2 (rav'el), v. Same as rabble1 . Eng.] ravel-bread (rav'el-bred), n . Same as raveled bread. See raveled. Hall i well. [Prov. Eng.] raveledt, ravelledt, a. [ ravalé , ravallé , brought low, abated, le ened in price, pp. of ravaler , ravaller , ravailler , bring down, bring low, abate, diminish, le en in price, re- , back, + avaler , let down, come down: see avale .] Lower-priced: distinctively noting wheaten bread made from flour and bran together. The raveled is a kind of cheat bread, but it reteineth more of the gro e and le e of the pure substance of the wheat. Harrison, p. 168. ( Hall i well .) They had four different kinds of wheaten bread: the finest called manchet, the second cheat or trencher bread, the third ravelled , and the fourth in England called mes- cel in (see maslin2 ], in Scotland mashloch. The ravelled was baken up just as it came from the mill, flour, bran, and Arnot, Hist. of Edin. ( Jamie son .) [Formerly also ravlin , corruptly raveling ; ravelin , F. ravelin, m., OF. also rave line , f., = Sp. revellin = Pg. revelim , vellino , revellino , It. rivellino , a ravelin; origin unknown; hard- ly, as supposed, vallum , a wall, rampart: see wall i . Cf. F. dial. ravelin , dim. of ravin , a ravine, hollow: see ravine2 .] A detached tri an- fortification, with two embankments which form a projecting angle. In the figure BB is the ravelin, with A its redout, and CC its ditch. DD is the main ditch of the fortre , and E the pa age giving ac- ce from the fortre to the ravelin. IMG:content-1675.png:[blocks in formation] This book will live, it hath a genius;... here needs no words' expence In bulwarks, rav'lins , ramparts for defence. B. Jonson, On the Poems of Sir John Beaumont. [Verbal raveling1, ravelling (rav'el-ing), n. n. of ravell , v.] A raveled thread or fiber; a thread drawn out from a woven, knitted, or 2. Plunder; prey; food obtained with rapacity. twisted fabric: as, to use ravelings for basting. raveling2+, n. An obsolete form of ravelin . raveling-engine (rav'el-ing-en"jin), n. In pa- Till, by their own perplexities involved, They ravel more, still le resolved. And this vast Work all ravel out again To its first Nothing. Cowley, Davideis, i. 6t. To make a minute and careful examination in order to straighten what is confused, unfold what is hidden, or clear up what is obscure; investigate; search; explore. making into pulp; a rag-engine or tearing- cylinder. ravelledt, ravelling. See rav ravelly (rav'el-i), ravelled travel ing loose or disjoined out. [Colloq.] raveled, raveling1. 'el-i), a . [ ravell + -y1.] Show- threads; partly raveled Dre ed in a dark suit of clothes that looked seamed and ravelly , as if from rough contact with thorny undergrowth. The Century , XXXIX. 444. ravelment (rav'el-ment), n . [ ravel1 + -ment .] fabric; hence, disunion of feeling; disagree- A pulling or drawing apart, as in raveling a ment; embroilment. That is to seyn, the foul is of ravyne Were heyest set. Chaucer , Parliament of Fowls, 1. 323. Egles, Gledes, Ravenes, and othere Foules of raveyпе , that eten Flesche. Mandeville , Travels, p. 309. The lion.. filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin . Nah. ii. 12. raven2 (rav'n), v . [ Also ravin ; raviner , seize by force, ravage, rap in are (in deriv.), plunder, rapina , plunder, impetuosity: see raven2, n.] I. trans. 1t. To seize with rap a- city, especially food; prey upon; ravage. See ravined.-2. To subject to rapine or ravage; obtain or take po e ion of by violence. witne eth that the Sea hath ravened from that Shire that Master Carew of Antony, in his Survay of Cor new all, whole Country of Lione e. Hake will , Apology, i. 3, § 2. Woe to the wolves who seek the flock to raven and de- vour! Whittier , Cas sandra South wick. 3. To devour with great eagerne ; eat with voracity; swallow greedily. Like rats that ravin down their proper bane, A thirsty evil. rake , ed. 1681, 1686: read ravel ] into the infirmities of God's servants, and bring them upon the stage. Bp. Sanders on, Works, I. 100. It will be needle to ravel far into the records of elder times. Decay of Christian Piety. The humour of ravelling into all these mystical or en- tangled matters. produced infinite disputes. IMG:content-1676.png:[blocks in formation] The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia Ravenala The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia Musaceæ, the banana family. It is characterized by a loculi cid ally three-valved and three-celled capsule with numerous seeds in six rows, and by separate long and narrow sepals and petals, three of each, all similar and unappendaged. There are but 2 species, natives one of Madagascar, the other of northern Brazil and Guiana. In both the stem is sometimes short, with the leaves almost all radical, at other times forming a tall woody trunk reaching 30 feet high, ringed by leaf-scars. The handsome oblong and two-ranked leaves resemble those of the banana, and are of immense size, being considered the largest undivided leaves known, with the exception perhaps of concave leafstalks are divid the Victoria lily. The long concav ed within into small cubical chambers, about a half-inch square, filled with a clear watery sap which forms a refreshing drink, whence the name traveler's -tree, used in botanic gardens for R. Madagascar i ens is. The leaves are also used as a thatch for the native huts. The large flowers form a short many-flowered raceme within the spathe, and are followed by woody capsules and edible seeds with a lacerate and pulpy blue aril which yields an e ential oil. See traveler's-tree. raven-cockatoo (rā'vn-kok-a-tö"), n. A black cockatoo. See cockatoo.