Row, v. To impel by oars. To use the oar.
Rowel, s. The points of a spur turning on an axis; a seton, a roll of hair or silk put into a wound to hinder it from healing, and provoke a discharge.
Rowels are seldom so convenient or so useful as setons. They are formed by making an incision in the skin, where it is rather loose, as in the chest, about an inch in length. This being done, the finger is to be introduced, or an instrument called a cornet, that is, the crooked end of a small horn made for the purpose, and the skin separated from the parts underneath all around for the space of about an inch. Into the cavity thus made a round piece of leather, with a hole in the middle, wrapped in tow and smeared with digestive ointment, is to be introduced. The orifice in the skin is then to be plugged up with tow, and kept there until suppuration takes place, that is, four or five days. The tow is then to be taken out, when a great deal of matter will flow from the orifice. The rowel is afterwards to be moved daily and kept clean.—White.
Rowel, v. To pierce through the skin, and keep the wound open by a rowel.
Rower, s. One that manages an oar.
Rub, v. To clean or smooth anything by passing something over it; to scour, to wipe; to move one body upon another; to remove by friction; to touch hard; to rub down, to clean or curry a horse.
Rubber, s. One that rubs; the instrument with which one rubs; a coarse file; a game, a contest; two games out of three.
Ruby, a. Of a red colour.
Rud, s. A fish.
The body of the rud is broader than the carp, more like that of the bream, but much thicker; the head is small, the palate and teeth like the carp, on the covers of the gills are spots of a blood colour; the irides are yellow, varying in some almost to redness; the nostrils large, and by some said to be double on each side; the back is arched, sloping off suddenly at the two extremities; the scales are very large, like the carp; the side line is slightly incurvated: the back is of an olive; the sides and belly are of a gold colour, with certain red marks; the ventral, anal fins, and the tail (which is forked), are generally of a deep red, and the dorsal fin is darker than the rest; the usual length of this fish is from ten to sixteen inches. It lives on insects and grass, and is preyed on by the voracious fish and the anseres. In rivers the rud’s haunts are in deepish gentle streams and deep still water, where the bottom is a kind of slimy mud sand, or fine gravel, and also among weeds.