riddance (ridans)

[ Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 27. Thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest; thou shalt leave them unto the Lev. xxiii. 22. poor. They have a great care to keep them [the Streets] clean; in Winter, for Example, upon the melting of the Ice, by a heavy drag with a Horse, which makes a quick riddance and cleaning the Gutters. Lister , Journey to Paris, p. 24. 2. The act of putting out of the way; specifically, destruction. The whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. Zeph. i. 18. Those blo oms also, and those dropping gums, That lie bestrown, unsightly and unsmooth, Ask riddance , if we mean to tread with ease. IMG:content-2269.png:[blocks in formation] form of river-weir.-4. In wire - working , a flat board set with iron pins sloped in opposite di- rections. It is used to straighten wire, which is drawn in a zigzag course between the pins. E. H. Knight . - A riddle of claret. See the quotation. A riddle of claret is thirteen bottles, a magnum and twelve quarts. The name comes from the fact that the He laugh'd as is his wont, and answer'd me In riddling triplets of old time. wine is brought in on a literal riddle-the magnum in the center surrounded by the quarts. A riddle of claret thus a riddle; enigmatically; mysteriously. displayed duly appeared recently at the Edinburgh arrow dinner of the Royal Company of Archers. riddle2 (rid'l), v .; pret. and pp. riddled , ppr. riddling . [ riddlen , ridlen , ridelen, ryde- len , for earlier riddren : see ridder1 , v. Cf. rid- dle2 , n.] I. trans . 1. To sift through a rid- dle or sieve: as, to riddle sand.-2. To sift by means of a coarse-netted dredge, as young oysters on a bed.-3. To reduce in quantity as if by sifting; condense. For general use the book.. wants riddling down into a single volume or a large e ay. 4. To fill with holes; especially, to perforate with shot so as to make like a riddle; hence, to puncture or pierce all over as if with shot; penetrate. His moral feelings... were regularly fusilladed by the Major and riddled through and through. Dickens . II. in trans. 1. To use a riddle or sieve; pa a riddle. debate, conjecture, interpretation, imagina- tion, an enigma, riddle (= D. raadsel = MLG. radelse , LG. redelse , radelse = OHG. * rātisal , MHG . ratsal , raetsel , G. rätsel , räthsel , a riddle), rædan , counsel, consider, interpret, read: see read1.] 1. A proposition so framed as to exer- cise one's ingenuity in discovering its mean- ing; an ambiguous, complex, or puzzling ques- tion offered for solution; an enigma; a dark saying. "What?" quod Clergye to Conscience, "ar ze coueitouse nout he After zereszyues or ziftes, or gernen to rede redeles ? " Piers Plowman (B), xiii. 184. We di emble againe vnder couert and darke speaches, when we speake by way of riddle (Enigma), of which the sence can hardly be picked out but by the parties owne a oile. Putten ham , Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 157. Life presented itself to him like the Sphinx with its perpetual riddle of the real and the ideal. Long fellow , Kavanagh, i. 2. Anything abstruse, intricate, paradoxical, or puzzling; a puzzle. I would not yet be pointed at, as he is, For the fine courtier, tlie woman's man, That tells my lady stories, di olves riddles . She could love none but only such As scorned and hated her as much. 'Twas a strange riddle of a lady. Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endle error hurled: The glory, jest, and riddle of the world! riddle1 (rid'l), v .; pret. and pp. riddled , ppr. riddling . [= G. räthseln , rätseln ; from the noun: see riddle1 , n.] I. trans. 1. To explain; interpret; solve; unriddle. Riddle me this, and gue him if you can: Who bears a nation in a single man? What, do you riddle me? Is she contracted? And can I by your counsell attaine my wishes? I think it will riddle him or he gets his horse over the Border again. Scott , Rob Roy, xviii. II. in trans . To speak in riddles, ambiguous- ly, or enigmatically. Lys . Lying so, Hermia, I do not lie. Her . Lysander riddles very prettily. Robin Goodfellow, he that sweeps the hearth and the house clean, riddles for the country maids, and does all their other drudgery. B. Jonson, Love Restored. 2. To fall in drops or fine streams, as through a riddle or sieve. The rayn rueled adoun, ridlande thikke, Of felle flaunkes of fyr and flakes of soufre. riddle3t, n. [ riddel , ridel , redel , rudel , ridel , F. rideau (ML. ridellus ), a curtain,. orig. a plaited stuff, rider , wrinkle, plait, riden , wrinkle, = E. writhe : see writhe . ] A curtain; a bed-curtain; in a church, one of the pair of curtains inclosing an altar on the north and south, often hung from rods driven into the wall. That was a mervelle thynge To se the riddels hynge With many red golde rynge That thame up bare. Rudelez rennande on ropez, red golde ryngez. Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 857. Item ij ridelles of the same suyte, wt aungell. Inventory of St. Peter Cheap (Cheap side), 1431, in Jour. [Brit. Archæol. A ., XXIV. riddle3t, v. t. [ ridlen ; appar. riddle3 , n., in its orig. sense, a plaited stuff. Cf. rad- dle1.] To plait. Lord, it was ridled fetysly! Ther nas not a poynt trewely That it nas in his right a ise. IMG:content-2270.png:[blocks in formation] riddle me ree (rid"1-me-re'), n. [A fanciful word, based on riddle , as if riddle my riddle , ex- plain my enigma.] Same as rigmarole . This style, I apprehend, Sir, is what the learned Scrib- lerus calls rigmarol in logic - Riddle me ree among School- boys. Junius , Letters (ed. Wood fall), II. 316. [ riddle1 + -er1.] One IMG:content-2271.png:[blocks in formation] Beves an hakanai bestrit, And in his wei forth a rit. Beves of Hamtoun , p. 51. ( Hall i well .) And yet was he, whereso men wente or riden , Founde on the beste. Chaucer , Troilus, i. 473. And lastly came cold February, sitting In an old wagon, for he could not ride . Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome. Shak ., J. C., iii. 2. 274. 2. To be borne along in a vehicle, or in or on any kind of conveyance; be carried in or on a wagon, coach, car, balloon, ship, palanquin, bi- cycle, or the like; hence, in general, to travel or make progre by means of any supporting and moving agency. So on a day, hys fadur and hee Redyn yn a schyppe yn the see. IMG:content-2272.png:[blocks in formation] On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality. Shak ., Tempest, i. 2. 191. 3. To be borne in or on a fluid; float; specifi- cally, to lie at anchor. Thanks to Heaven's goodne , no man lost! The ship rides fair, too, and her leaks in good plight. Fletcher ( and another ), Sea Voyage, i. 3. This we found to be an Ile, where we rid that night. Capt. John Smith , Works, II. 224. They shall be sent in the Ship Lion, which rides here at Malamocco. Howell , Letters, L. L. 26. I walk unseen To behold the wandering moon Riding near her highest noon. 4. To move on or about something. Strong as the axletree IMG:content-2273.png:[blocks in formation] Every man is under that complicated disease, and that riddling distemper, not to be content with the most, and yet to be proud of the least thing he hath. Donne , Sermons, v. ride overlap or ride over each other, and the evil effect will be observable on both surfaces of the cloth. A. Barlow, Weaving, p. 414. 9. To serve as a means of travel; be in condition to support a rider or traveler: as, that horse rides well under the saddle. Honest man, will the water ride ? Jock o' the Side (Child's Ballads, VI. 86). 10. In surg., said of the ends of a fractured bone when they overlap each other. When a fracture is oblique there will probably be some shortening of the limb from the drawing up of the lower portion of the limb, or riding , as it is called, of one end over the other. Bryant , Surgery (3d Amer. ed.), p. 817. 11. To climb up or rise, as an ill-fitting coat tends to do at the shoulders and the back of the neck. Riding committee. See committee.-Riding interests, in Scots law, interests saddled or dependent upon other interests: thus, when any of the claimants in an action of multiple poinding, or in a proce of ranking and sale, have creditors, these creditors may claim to be ranked on the fund set aside for their debtor; and such claims are called riding interests. The devil rides on a fiddlestick. See devil. - To ride and tie, to ride and go on foot alternately: said of two persons. See the first quotation. Mr. Adams discharged the bill, and they were both setting out, having agreed to ride and tie : a method of travelling much used by persons who have but one horse between them, and is thus performed. The two travellers set out together, one on horseback, the other on foot. Now as it generally happens that he on horseback outgoes him on foot, the custom is that when he arrives at the distance agreed on, he is to dismount, tie his horse to some gate, tree, post, or other thing, and then proceed on foot, when the other comes up to the horse, unties him, mounts, and gallops on; till, having pa ed by his fellow-traveller, he likewise arrives at the place of tying. Fielding , Joseph Andrews, ii. 2. ( Davies .) Both of them [Garrick and Johnson] used to talk pleasantly of this their first journey to London. Garrick, evidently meaning to embellish a little, said one day in my hearing, "We rode and tied." Boswell , Johnson, I. v. (1737), note. To ride a portlast ( naut.), to lie at anchor with the lower yards lowered to the rail: an old use. To ride at anchor ( naut.). See anchor. After this Thomas Duke of Clarence, the King's second Son, and the Earl of Kent, with competent Forces, entred the Haven of Sluice, where they burnt four Ships riding at Anchor . Baker , Chronicles, p. 162. To ride at the ring. See ring1. To ride bodkin. See bodkin1. To ride easy ( naut.), said of a ship when she 5171 Not infrequently the boys will ride a log down the cur rent as fearle ly, and with as little danger of upsetting into the water, as an old and well-practiced river-driver. St. Nicholas, XVII. 584. 2. To be carried or travel on, through, or over. Others.. ride the air In whirlwind. Milton , P. L., ii. 540. The rising waves. Thunder and flash upon the stedfast shores, Till he that rides the whirlwind checks the rein. Cowper , Retirement, 1. 535. This boat-shaped roof, which is extremely graceful and is repeated in another apartment, would suggest that the imagination of Jacques Cœur was fond of riding the waves. H. James , Jr., Little Tour, p. 85. 3. To do, make, or execute by riding: as, to ride a race; to ride an errand. Right here seith the frensch booke that, whan the kynge Arthur was departed fro Bredigan, he and the kynge Ban of Benoyk, and the kynge boors of Gannes, brother, that the i rode so her iournes till the i com to Tarsaide. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 202. And we can neither hunt nor ride A foray on the Scottish side. Scott , Marmion, i. 22. 4. To hurry over; gallop through. He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows not the stop. Shak ., M. N. D., v. 1. 119. 5. To control and manage, especially with harshne or arrogance; domineer or tyrannize over: especially in the past participle ridden, in composition, as in priest - ridden. He that suffers himself to be ridden , or through pusil lanimity or sottishne will let every man baffle him, shall be a common laughing stock. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 384. And yet this man [Ambrose], such as we hear he was, would have the Emperor ride other people, that himself might ride him, which is a common trick of almost all ecclesiastics. Milton, Ans. to Salmasius, iii. But as for them [scorners], they knew better things than to fall in with the herd, and to give themselves up to be ridden by the tribe of Levi. Bp . Atterbury , Sermons, I. v. What chance was there of reason being heard in a land that was king- ridden , priest- ridden , peer- ridden ! Charlotte Brontë , Shirley, iv. 6. To carry; transport. [Local, U. S.] The custom-house license Nos. of the carts authorized to ride the merchandise. Laws and Regulations of Customs Inspectors , etc., p. 48. Riding the fair, the ceremony of proclaiming a fair, per of a ship when she pitches violently, so as to strain her cables and masts. To ride in the marrow-bone coach, to go on foot. [Slang.]-To ride outt, to go upon a military expedition; enter military service. From the tyme that he first big an To riden out , he lovede chyvalrie. Chaucer , Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 45. To ride over, to domineer over as if trampling upon; over- ride or overpower triumphantly, insolently, or roughly. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. Ps. lxvi. 12. Let thy dauntle mind Still ride in triumph over all mischance. Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iii. 3. 18. To ride roughshod, to pursue a violent, stubborn, or selfish course, regardle of consequences or of the pain or distre that may be caused to others. Henry [VIII.], in his later proceedings, rode roughshod over the constitution of the Church. Nineteenth Century , XXVI. 894. The Chamber had again been riding roughshod over His Majesty's schemes of army reform. Lowe , Bismarck, I. 283. To ride rusty. See rusty 3. - To ride to hounds, to take part in a fox-hunt; specifically, to ride close behind the hounds in fox-hunting. He not only went straight as a die, but rode to hounds instead of over them. Lawrence, Guy Living stone, iii. To ride upon a cowlstafft. See cowlstaff. Syn. 1 and 2. The effort has been made, in both England and America, to confine ride to progre ion on horseback, and to use drive for progre ion in a vehicle, but it has not been altogether succe ful, being checked by the counter-tendency to use drive only where the person in question holds the reins or where the kind of motion is emphasized. We have seen that Shakespeare, and Milton, and the translators of the Bible, use drive in connection with chariot when they wish to expre the urging it along; but, when they wish to say that a man is borne up and onward in a chariot, they use ride. R. G. White , Words and Their Uses, p. 193. The practice of standard authors is exhibited in a liberal list of citations, and proves the imputed American ism to ride (instead of to drive ) in a carriage to be "Queen's English," although there remains a nice distinction - not a national one established by good usage, between rid ing in a carriage and driving in a carriage. Amer . Jour . Philol ., IX. 498. II. trans. 1. To sit on and drive; be carried along on and by: used specifically of a horse. Neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. Amos ii. 15. He dash'd acro me-mad, And maddening what he rode . Tennyson, Holy Grail. the town attended by the tenants. Riding the marches. See march1 . To ride a hobby, to pursue a favorite the ory, notion, or habit on every po ible occasion. See hobbyl . It may look like riding a hobby to death, but I cannot help suspecting a wooden origin for it [Raj Rani temple). J. Fergu on , Hist. Indian Arch., p. 425. He must of course be naturally of a rather attitudiniz- ing turn, fond of brooding and spouting and riding a theological hobby . N. A. Rev. , CXX. 189. To ride circuit or the circuit. See circuit . To ride down, to overthrow, trample on, or drive over in riding; hence, to treat with extreme roughne or insolence. We hunt them for the beauty of their skins; They love us for it, and we ride them down . Tennyson , Prince , v. To ride down a sail, to stretch the head of a sail by bearing down on the middle. To ride down a stay or backstay ( naut.), to come down on the stay for the purpose of tarring it. - To ride out, to keep afloat during, as a gale; withstand the fury of, as a storm: said of a ve el or of her crew. He bears A tempest, which his mortal ve el tears, And yet he rides it out. Shak ., Pericles, iv. 4. 31. The fleet rode out the storm in safety. Pre scott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 8. To ride shanks' mare, to walk. [Colloq.] - To ride the brooset. See broose. To ride the great horset, to practise horsemanship in the fashion of the time. Then comes he [Prince of Orange] abroad, and goes to his Stables, if it be no Sermon-day, to see some of his Gentlemen or Pages (of whose Breeding he is very careful) ride the great horse. Howell , Letters, I. i. 10. He told me he did not know what travelling was good for but to teach a man to ride the great horse , to jabber French, and to talk against pa ive obedience. Add is on , Tory Foxhunter. To ride the high horse. See to mount the high horse, under horse1 . To ride the line. See line - riding . Even for those who do not have to look up stray horses, and who are not forced to ride the line day in and day out, there is apt to be some hardship and danger in being abroad during the bitter weather. T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 669. To ride the Spanish mare ( naut.), to be put astride of a boom with the guys eased off when the ve el is in a seaway: a punishment formerly in vogue. - To ride the wild maret, to play at see-saw. With that, bestriding the mast, I gat by little and little towards him, after such manner as boys are wont, if ever you saw that sport, when they ride the wild mare. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ii. Shak ., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 268. ride (rid), n. [ ME.ride = G. ritt = Icel. reith = Sw. Dan. ridt ; from the verb: see ride , v . Cf. A'... rides the wild - mare with the boys. rider road, raid.] 1. A journey on the back of a horse, a , mule, camel, elephant, or other animal; more broadly, any excursion, whether on the back of an animal, in a vehicle, or by some other mode of conveyance: as, a ride in a wagon or a balloon; a ride on a bicycle or a cowcatcher. To Madian lond wente he [Balaam] his ride. "Alas," he said, "your ride has wearied you." Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3950. Tennyson, Lance lot and Elaine. 2. A saddle-horse. Grose. [Prov. Eng.]-3. A road intended expre ly for riding; a bridle path; a place for exercise on horseback. Also called riding. This through the ride upon his steed Goes slowly by, and this at speed. M. Arnold , Epilogue to Le ing's Laocoön. 4. A little stream or brook. [Prov. Eng.]-5. A certain district patrolled by mounted excise officers.-6. In printing, a fault caused by overlapping: said of leads or rules that slip and overlap, of a kerned type that overlaps or binds a type in a line below, also of a color that impinges on another color in prints of two or more colors. rideable, a. See ridable.