ring
see also: Ring
Pronunciation Noun

ring (plural rings)

  1. (physical) A solid object in the shape of a circle.
    1. A circumscribing object, (roughly) circular and hollow, looking like an annual ring, earring, finger ring etc.
      Synonyms: annulus, hoop, torus
    2. A round piece of (precious) metal worn around the finger or through the ear, nose, etc.
      • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene i]:
        The dearest ring in Venice will I give you.
    3. (British) A bird band, a round piece of metal put around a bird's leg used for identification and studies of migration.
    4. (UK) A burner on a kitchen stove.
    5. In a jack plug, the connector between the tip and the sleeve.
    6. (historical) An instrument, formerly used for taking the sun's altitude, consisting of a brass ring suspended by a swivel, with a hole at one side through which a solar ray entering indicated the altitude on the graduated inner surface opposite.
    7. (botany) A flexible band partly or wholly encircling the spore cases of ferns.
  2. (physical) A group of objects arranged in a circle.
    1. A circular group of people or objects.
      a ring of mushrooms growing in the wood
      • a. 1645, John Milton, “Il Penseroso”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […] , London: Printed by Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Moſely,  […], published 1645, OCLC 606951673 ↗, page 39 ↗:
        And hears the Muſes in a ring, / Ay round about Joves Altar ſing.
    2. (astronomy) A formation of various pieces of material orbiting around a planet or young star.
    3. (British) A large circular prehistoric stone construction such as Stonehenge.
  3. A piece of food in the shape of a ring.
    onion rings
  4. A place where some sports or exhibitions take place; notably a circular or comparable arena, such as a boxing ring or a circus ring; hence the field of a political contest.
    • Place me, O, place me in the dusty ring, / Where youthful charioteers contend for glory.
  5. An exclusive group of people, usually involving some unethical or illegal practices.
    a crime ring; a prostitution ring; a bidding ring (at an auction sale)
    • the ruling ring at Constantinople
    • 1928, Upton Sinclair, Boston
      It's a blackmail ring, and the district attorneys get a share of the loot.
  6. (chemistry) A group of atoms linked by bonds to form a closed chain in a molecule.
    a benzene ring
  7. (geometry) A planar geometrical figure included between two concentric circles.
  8. (typography) A diacritical mark in the shape of a hollow circle placed above or under the letter; a kroužek.
  9. (historical) An old English measure of corn equal to the coomb or half a quarter.
    • 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 1, page 168.
      The ring is common in the Huntingdonshire accounts of Ramsey Abbey. It was equal to half a quarter, i.e., is identical with the coomb of the eastern counties
  10. (computing theory) A hierarchical level of privilege in a computer system, usually at hardware level, used to protect data and functionality (also protection ring).
    • 2007, Steve Anson, Steve Bunting, Mastering Windows Network Forensics and Investigation (page 70)
      Kernel Mode processes run in ring 0, and User Mode processes run in ring 3.
  11. (firearms) Either of the pair of clamps used to hold a telescopic sight to a rifle.
  12. (cartomancy) The twenty-fifth Lenormand card.
Translations Translations Translations
  • German: Ring
  • Portuguese: anilha
  • Russian: кольцо́
  • Spanish: aro, anilla
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Russian: кольцо́
Translations
  • German: Ring
  • Portuguese: anel
  • Russian: кольцо́
Translations Verb

ring (rings, present participle ringing; past and past participle ringed)

  1. (transitive) To enclose or surround#Verb|surround.
    The inner city was ringed with dingy industrial areas.
  2. (transitive, figuratively) To make an incision around; to girdle#Verb|girdle.
    They ringed the trees to make the clearing easier next year.
  3. (transitive) To attach a ring#Noun|ring to, especially for identification.
    We managed to ring 22 birds this morning.
    • 1919, Popular Science (volume 95, number 4, page 31)
      Ringing a pig of ordinary size is easy, but special arrangements must be made for handling the big ones.
  4. (transitive) To surround or fit#Verb|fit with a ring, or as if with a ring.
    to ring a pig’s snout
    • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene iv]:
      Ring these fingers with thy household worms.
  5. (falconry) To rise#Verb|rise in the air#Noun|air spirally.
    • 1877 May 29, Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Windhover: To Christ Our Lord”, in Robert Bridges, editor, Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Now First Published […], London: Humphrey Milford, published 1918, OCLC 5093462 ↗, stanza 1, page 29 ↗:
      {...}} how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing / In his ecstacy!
  6. (transitive) To steal and change the identity of (cars) in order to resell them.
    • A. Woodley, Trio: 3 short stories
      Gabe said that as Derry had only caught part of the conversation, it's possible that they were discussing a film, it was bad enough that they'd unwittingly been brought into ringing cars, adding drugs into it was far more than either of them could ever be comfortable with.
    • 2019 (10 December), Ross McCarthy, Digbeth chop shop gang jailed over £2m stolen car racket (in Birmingham Live)
      They used two bases in Digbeth to break down luxury motors, some of which were carjacked or stolen after keys were taken in house raids. The parts were then fitted to salvaged cars bought online. […] Jailing the quartet, a judge at Birmingham Crown Court said it was a "car ringing on a commercial and substantial scale".
Translations
  • Russian: окружа́ть
Translations
  • Italian: inanellare
  • Russian: окольцо́вывать
Translations
  • Russian: кружи́ть
Noun

ring (plural rings)

  1. The resonant sound of a bell, or a sound resembling it.
    The church bell's ring could be heard the length of the valley.
    The ring of hammer on anvil filled the air.
  2. (figuratively) A pleasant or correct sound.
    The name has a nice ring to it.
  3. (figuratively) A sound or appearance that is characteristic of something.
    Her statements in court had a ring of falsehood.
  4. (colloquial) A telephone call.
    I’ll give you a ring when the plane lands.
  5. Any loud sound; the sound of numerous voices; a sound continued, repeated, or reverberated.
    • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: Printed by W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, OCLC 1086746628 ↗:
      the ring of acclamations fresh in his ears
  6. A chime, or set of bells harmonically tuned.
    St Mary's has a ring of eight bells.
    • as great and tunable a ring of bells as any in the world
Translations Translations Verb

ring (rings, present participle ringing; past rang, past participle rung)

  1. (intransitive) Of a bell, etc., to produce a resonant sound.
    The bells were ringing in the town.
  2. (transitive) To make (a bell, etc.) produce a resonant sound.
    The deliveryman rang the doorbell to drop off a parcel.
    • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:
      The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums, / Hath rung night's yawning peal.
  3. (transitive) To produce (a sound) by ringing.
    They rang a Christmas carol on their handbells.
  4. (intransitive, figuratively) To produce the sound of a bell or a similar sound.
    Whose mobile phone is ringing?
  5. (intransitive, figuratively) Of something spoken or written, to appear to be, to seem, to sound.
    That does not ring true.
  6. (transitive, colloquial, British, New Zealand) To telephone (someone).
    I will ring you when we arrive.
  7. (intransitive) to resound, reverberate, echo.
    • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4
      So he spoke, and it seemed there was a little halting at first, as of men not liking to take Blackbeard's name in Blackbeard's place, or raise the Devil by mocking at him. But then some of the bolder shouted 'Blackbeard', and so the more timid chimed in, and in a minute there were a score of voices calling 'Blackbeard, Blackbeard', till the place rang again.
    • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:
      It is instructive for us to learn as well as to ponder on the fact that "the very men who looked down with delight, when the sand of the arena reddened with human blood, made the arena ring with applause when Terence in his famous line: ‘Homo sum, Nihil humani alienum puto’ proclaimed the brotherhood of man."
  8. (intransitive) To produce music with bells.
  9. (dated) To repeat often, loudly, or earnestly.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Spanish: resonar
Noun

ring (plural rings)

  1. (algebra) An algebraic structure which consists of a set with two binary operations: an additive operation and a multiplicative operation, such that the set is an abelian group under the additive operation, a monoid under the multiplicative operation, and such that the multiplicative operation is distributive with respect to the additive operation.
    The set of integers, \mathbb{Z}, is the prototypical ring.
  2. (algebra) An algebraic structure as above, but only required to be a semigroup under the multiplicative operation, that is, there need not be a multiplicative identity element.
    The definition of ring without unity allows, for instance, the set 2\mathbb{Z} of even integers to be a ring.
Translations
Ring
Proper noun
  1. Surname for a maker of rings as jewelry or as in harness.
  2. A parish in Waterford, Ireland.



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