ring

ring¹

—ringless, adj. —ringlike, adj.

/ring/, n., v., ringed, ringing.

n.

1. a typically circular band of metal or other durable material, esp. one of gold or other precious metal, often set with gems, for wearing on the finger as an ornament, a token of betrothal or marriage, etc.

2. anything having the form of such a band: a napkin ring; a smoke ring.

3. a circular or surrounding line or mark: dark rings around the eyes.

4. a circular course: to dance in a ring.

5. a number of persons or things situated in a circle or in an approximately circular arrangement: a ring of stones; a ring of hills.

6. the outside edge of a circular body, as a wheel; rim.

7. an enclosed area, often circular, as for a sports contest or exhibition: a circus ring.

8. a bullring.

9. an enclosure in which boxing and wrestling matches take place, usually consisting of a square, canvas-covered platform with surrounding ropes that are supported at each corner by posts.

10. the sport of boxing; prizefighting: the heyday of the ring.

11. (formerly in the U.S., now only in Brit.) an area in a racetrack where bookmakers take bets.

12. a group of persons cooperating for unethical, illicit, or illegal purposes, as to control stock-market prices, manipulate politicians, or elude the law: a ring of dope smugglers.

13. a single turn in a spiral or helix or in a spiral course.

14. Geom. the area or space between two concentric circles.

15. See annual ring.

16. a circle of bark cut from around a tree.

17. Chem. a number of atoms so united that they may be graphically represented in cyclic form. Cf. chain (def. 7).

18. Archit. rowlock (def. 1).

19. a bowlike or circular piece at the top of an anchor, to which the chain or cable is secured. See diag. under anchor.

20. Also called spinning ring. Textiles. (in the ring-spinning frame) a circular track of highly polished steel on which the traveler moves and which imparts twists to the yarn by variations in its vertical movement.

21. a unit of measurement of the diameter of cigars, equal to 1/64 of an inch. Also called ring gauge.

22. Auto., Mach. See piston ring.

23. Math. a set that is closed under the operations of addition and multiplication and that is an Abelian group with respect to addition and an associative semigroup with respect to multiplication and in which the distributive laws relating the two operations hold.

24. run rings around, to be obviously superior to; surpass; outdo: As an artist, she can run rings around her brother.

25. throw or toss one's hat in or into the ring. See hat (def. 7).

v.t.

26. to surround with a ring; encircle.

27. to form into a ring.

28. to insert a ring through the nose of (an animal).

29. to hem in (animals) by riding or circling about them.

30. to girdle (def. 11).

31. (in horseshoes, ringtoss, etc.) to encircle (a stake or peg) with a ring, horseshoe, etc.

v.i.

32. to form a ring or rings.

33. to move in a ring or a constantly curving course: The road rings around the mountain.

[bef. 900; ME; OE hring; c. D, G ring, ON hringr; akin to RANK¹]

Syn. 2. circle, circlet, hoop; annulus. 7. arena, rink, circle. 12. bloc, coterie, confederacy, league; gang, mob, syndicate. RING, CLIQUE are terms applied with disapproving connotations to groups of persons. RING suggests a small and intimately related group, combined for selfish and often dishonest purposes: a gambling ring. A CLIQUE is a small group that prides itself on its congeniality and exclusiveness: cliques in a school.

ring²

—ringingly, adv. —ringingness, n.

/ring/, v., rang, rung, ringing, n.

v.i.

1. to give forth a clear resonant sound, as a bell when struck: The doorbell rang twice.

2. to make a given impression on the mind; appear: words that rang false; a story that rings true.

3. to cause a bell or bells to sound, esp. as a summons: Just ring if you need anything.

4. to sound loudly; be loud or resonant; resound (often fol. by out): His brave words rang out.

5. to be filled with sound; reecho with sound, as a place.

6. (of the ears) to have the sensation of a continued humming sound.

7. Chiefly Brit. to telephone.

v.t.

8. to cause (a bell or device with a bell) to ring; sound by striking: to ring a bell.

9. to produce (sound) by or as if by ringing: The bell rang a low tone.

10. to announce or proclaim, usher in or out, summon, signal, etc., by or as if by the sound of a bell: to ring someone's praises; The bell rang the hour.

11. to test (a coin or other metal object) by the sound it produces when struck against something.

12. Chiefly Brit. to telephone.

13. ring a bell. See bell¹ (def. 10).

14. ring down the curtain,

a. to direct that the curtain of a theater be lowered or closed.

b. to lower or close the curtain in front of a stage.

15. ring down the curtain on, to bring to an end: The accident rang down the curtain on his law career.

16. ring in,

a. to indicate one's arrival at work by punching in on a time clock.

b. Informal. to introduce artfully or fraudulently: to ring in an imposter.

17. ring off,

a. to terminate a telephone conversation.

b. Brit. Slang. to stop talking.

c. Brit. Slang. to go away.

18. ring out,

a. to indicate one's departure from work by punching out on a time clock.

b. to make a sound or noise; resound: The church bells rang out.

19. ring the bell. See bell¹ (def. 11).

20. ring the changes. See change (def. 38).

21. ring up,

a. to register (the amount of a sale) on a cash register.

b. to accomplish or record: to ring up a series of successes.

c. Chiefly Brit. to telephone.

22. ring up the curtain,

a. to direct that the curtain of a theater be raised or opened.

b. to raise or open the curtain in front of a stage.

23. ring up the curtain on, to begin; inaugurate; initiate: The $100-a-plate dinner rang up the curtain on the hospital's fund-raising drive.

n.

24. a ringing sound, as of a bell or bells: the ring of sleigh bells.

25. a sound or tone likened to the ringing of a bell: Rings of laughter issued from the school.

26. any loud sound; sound continued, repeated, or reverberated: the ring of iron upon stone.

27. a set or peal of bells.

28. a telephone call: Give me a ring tomorrow.

29. an act or instance of ringing a bell: No one answered my ring.

30. a characteristic sound, as of a coin.

31. the aspect or impression presented by a statement, an action, etc., taken as revealing a specified inherent quality: a ring of assurance in her voice; the ring of truth; a false ring.

[bef. 900; ME ringen, OE hringan; c. ON hringja, G ringen]

Syn. 31. sound, tone, quality.

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I

Circular band of gold, silver, or other precious or decorative material usually worn on the finger, but sometimes on the toes, the ears, or the nose.

The earliest examples were found in the tombs of ancient Egypt. In addition to being worn as adornment, rings have functioned as symbols of authority, fidelity, or social status. In the early Roman republic, most were made of iron, gold being reserved for persons of high status; but by the 3rd century BC anyone except a slave could wear a gold ring. The Romans are thought to have originated engagement rings, symbolizing a promise of marriage. In the Middle Ages, signet rings were important in religious, legal, and commercial transactions; memorial, posy, and keepsake rings served sentimental purposes; occult rings supposedly had magical powers; and poison rings had hollow bezels that could be filled with poison for the purpose of suicide or homicide.

II

In modern algebra, a set of elements with two operations, referred to as "addition" and "multiplication," that conform to certain conditions.

These specify that the set is closed under both operations, the associative law holds for both operations, the commutative law holds for addition, the distributive law holds, there is an additive identity (known as zero), and every element has an additive inverse (see inverse function). The set of integers is a ring. See also field theory.

III

(as used in expressions)

growth ring

Ring of Fire

Whiskey Ring

change ringing

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▪ jewelry

      circular band of gold, silver, or some other precious or decorative material that is worn on the finger. Rings are worn not only on the fingers but also on toes, the ears (see earring), and through the nose. Besides serving to adorn the body, rings have functioned as symbols of authority, fidelity, or social status.

      Basically, a ring consists of three parts: the circle, or hoop; the shoulders; and the bezel. The circle can have a circular, semicircular, or square cross-section, or it can be shaped as a flat band. The shoulders consist of a thickening or enlargement of the circle wide enough to support the bezel. The bezel is the top part of a ring; it may simply be a flat table, or it may be designed to hold a gem or some other ornament.

      The earliest existing rings are those found in the tombs of ancient Egypt (Egypt, ancient). The Egyptians primarily used signet, or seal, rings, in which a seal engraved on the bezel can be used to authenticate documents by the wearer. Egyptian seal rings typically had the name and titles of the owner deeply sunk in hieroglyphic characters on an oblong gold bezel. The ancient Greeks were more prone to use rings simply for decoration, and in the Hellenistic period the bezel began to be used to hold individual cabochon stones, such as carnelians and garnets, or vitreous pastes. In Rome rings were an important symbol of social status. In the early centuries of the Roman Republic, most rings were of iron, and the wearing of gold rings was restricted to certain classes, such as patricians who had held high office. But by the 3rd century BC the privilege of wearing rings had been extended to the class of knights, or equites, and by the 3rd century AD, during the Roman Empire, practically any person except a slave was allowed to wear a gold ring. The Romans are also thought to have originated the custom of betrothal rings, or engagement rings, symbolizing a promise of marriage to a member of the opposite sex.

      Throughout the European Middle Ages the signet ring was of great importance in religious, legal, and commercial transactions. The Roman Catholic church conferred episcopal rings upon newly appointed bishops, and so-called papal rings were given by popes to cardinals. An enormous papal ring called the fisherman's ring—made of gilded bronze and bearing the image of St. Peter fishing—is traditionally used by the pope as a seal for pontifical documents. Besides these types, there were memorial rings, upon which were engraved the name, date of death, or even the effigy of a deceased person; posy rings, upon which were engraved an inscription or a few lines of verse; occult rings, which functioned as talismans or amulets and were supposed to have magical powers; and poison rings, whose hollow bezels contained a poison for purposes of suicide or homicide. Rings with bezels that opened may also have held sentimental keepsakes in miniature.

      By the 19th century, the traditional distinctions between ring types had mostly broken down, giving way to rings of all kinds inspired by past styles. Fine-quality modern rings, many of which are machine-made, usually consist of gold or silver and feature standard-sized diamonds or other precious stones. They are worn either for purposes of simple adornment or as symbols of betrothal and marital fidelity.

▪ mathematics

      in mathematics, a set having an addition that must be commutative (a + b = b + a for any a, b) and associative [a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c for any a, b, c], and a multiplication that must be associative [a(bc) = (ab)c for any a, b, c]. There must also be a zero (which functions as an identity element for addition), negatives of all elements (so that adding a number and its negative produces the ring's zero element), and two distributive laws relating addition and multiplication [a(b + c) = ab + ac and (a + b)c = ac + bc for any a, b, c]. A commutative ring is a ring in which multiplication is commutative—that is, in which ab = ba for any a, b.

      The simplest example of a ring is the collection of integers (…, −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, …) together with the ordinary operations of addition and multiplication.

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