ringtail, the female of the hen-harrier. Used fig. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4 (Captain). See NED.
rippier, ripper, an itinerant seller of fish; ‘Like a rippier’s legs rolled up In boots of hay-ropes’, Chapman, Bussy d’Ambois, iii (Bussy); Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Higgen). Still in use in E. Anglia, Kent, and Sussex, see EDD. (s.v. Ripp). See NED.
rish, a rush. Spelt rishe, Ascham, Scholemaster, pt. i (ed. Arber, p. 54); pl. rishes, Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xix, c. 2; vol. ii, p. 7A. ‘Rish’ is in common use in Ireland and in many parts of England—in Yorks., Cheshire, also in Kent and the south-west, see EDD. (s.v. Rush, sb.1 (10)). OE. risc (see Oldest English Texts, p. 503).
risp, a twig; esp. a limed twig for catching birds. Golding, Metam. xv. 473; fol. 185, bk. (1603); ‘Boschetto, a grove . . . a rispe, a lushe or lime-twigge to catch birds’, Florio (1598). See NED. and EDD.
risse, pt. t. and pp. of the vb. to rise. As pt. t. pl. (OE. rison), B. Jonson, Catiline, iv. 2 (Cicero). As pp. (OE. risen), id., iii. 2 (Cicero). The use of risse for the pt. s. occurs in Shirley, Duke’s Mistress, v. 4 (Horatio), and occasionally elsewhere. ‘Riss’ (‘ris’) is found as a prov. form for the pt. t. and pp. of ‘rise’ in Yorks., Linc., and Northants, see EDD.
ritter, a horse-soldier. Chapman, Byron’s Conspiracy, ii. 1 (Savoy). G. Ritter, a knight, lit. a ‘rider’.
rittlerattle, a child’s rattle. Golding, Metam. ix. 692; fol. 118 (1603); Latin text, Sistraque. See NED.
rivage, shore, bank. Hen. V, iii, chorus; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 20. F. rivage.
rive, to fire a cannon, so as almost to burst it. 1 Hen. IV, iv. 2. 29; to be split, Tr. and Cr. i. 1. 35. See Dict.
rive [riv], for riven, pp. of rive, to tear. Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 5 (riming with ‘give’). ‘Riv’, pp., is in prov. use in Linc. and E. Anglia (EDD.).