Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A circular object, form, line, or arrangement.
  • noun A small circular band, generally made of precious metal and often set with jewels, worn on the finger.
  • noun A circular band used for carrying, holding, or containing something.
  • noun Sports A pair of circular metal bands suspended in the air for gymnastic exercises, on which balancing and swinging maneuvers are performed while holding the bands as motionless as possible.
  • noun A circular movement or course, as in dancing.
  • noun An enclosed, usually circular area in which exhibitions, sports, or contests take place.
  • noun A rectangular arena set off by stakes and ropes in which boxing or wrestling events are held.
  • noun The sport of boxing.
  • noun An enclosed area in which bets are placed at a racetrack.
  • noun Bookmakers considered as a group.
  • noun An exclusive group of people acting privately or illegally to advance their own interests.
  • noun A political contest; a race.
  • noun Botany An annual ring.
  • noun Mathematics The area between two concentric circles; annulus.
  • noun Mathematics A set of elements subject to the operations of addition and multiplication, in which the set is a commutative group under addition and associative under multiplication and in which the two operations are related by distributive laws.
  • noun Any of the turns constituting a spiral or helix.
  • noun Chemistry A group of atoms linked by bonds that may be represented graphically in polygonal form.
  • intransitive verb To surround with or as if with a ring; encircle.
  • intransitive verb To form into a ring or rings.
  • intransitive verb To ornament or supply with a ring or rings.
  • intransitive verb To remove a circular strip of bark around the circumference of (a tree trunk or branch); girdle.
  • intransitive verb To put a ring in the nose of (an animal).
  • intransitive verb To hem in (animals) by riding in a circle around them.
  • intransitive verb Games To toss a ring over (a peg), as in horseshoes.
  • intransitive verb To form a ring or rings.
  • intransitive verb To move, run, or fly in a spiral or circular course.
  • intransitive verb To give forth a clear resonant sound.
  • intransitive verb To cause something to ring.
  • intransitive verb To sound a bell in order to summon someone.
  • intransitive verb To have a sound or character suggestive of a particular quality.
  • intransitive verb To be filled with sound; resound.
  • intransitive verb To hear a persistent humming or buzzing.
  • intransitive verb To be filled with talk or rumor.
  • intransitive verb To cause (a bell, for example) to ring.
  • intransitive verb To produce (a sound) by or as if by ringing.
  • intransitive verb To announce, proclaim, or signal by or as if by ringing.
  • intransitive verb Chiefly British To call (someone) on the telephone. Often used with up.
  • intransitive verb To test (a coin, for example) for quality by the sound it produces when struck against something.
  • noun The sound created by a bell or another sonorous vibrating object.
  • noun A loud sound, especially one that is repeated or continued.
  • noun A telephone call.
  • noun A suggestion of a particular quality.
  • noun A set of bells.
  • noun The act or an instance of sounding a bell.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English hring; see sker- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English ringen, from Old English hringan.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Verb is from Old English hringan, from Proto-Germanic *hringijanan. Cognate with Albanian vring ("a high-pitched sound made by waving violently a solid object").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English ring, ryng, also rink, rynk, from Old English hring, hrincg ("ring, link of chain, fetter, festoon, anything circular, circle, circular group, border, horizon, corselet, circuit (of a year), cycle, course, orb, globe"), from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“circle”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krengh- (“to turn, bend”). Akin to Scots ring ("ring"), West Frisian ring ("ring"), Saterland Frisian Ring ("ring, circle"), Dutch ring ("ring, hoop"), Low German Ring ("ring"), German Ring ("ring, circle"), Swedish ring ("ring, circle"), Icelandic hringur ("ring"), Umbrian krenkatrum, cringatro ("belt"), Proto-Slavic *krǫgъ (“circle”) (Russian круг (krug)), Old English hrung ("cross-bar, spoke"), Albanian vrangull ("a wheel-shaped tool, circle motion"), rreng ("to do a prank, cheat, deceive"). More at rung.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A shortening of German Zahlring ("number(s) ring"); coined by mathematician David Hilbert in 1892. (Reference: Harvey Cohn, Advanced Number Theory, page 49.)

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Examples

  • With the genitive to be supplied: breác þonne môste, 1488; imp. brûc þisses beáges, _enjoy this ring, take this ring_, 1217.

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

  • With the genitive to be supplied: brēac þonne mōste, 1488; imp. brūc þisses bēages, _enjoy this ring, take this ring_, 1217.

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

  • Brantefield's cause of belief, first: her ladyship declared that she never wore Sir Josseline's ring without putting on after it a _guard ring_, a ring which, being tighter than Sir Josseline's, kept it safe on her finger.

    Tales and Novels — Volume 09 Maria Edgeworth 1808

  • They call the house. * ring ring ring* Burglar hears the answering machine pick up and goes, "Oh, awesome, empty house."

    MetaChat boringpostcards 2009

  • I can't really complain since it's my own decision and I'm going back to Hafnarfjörður with a spanking new, albeit overpriced due to run amok inflation, bike. * ring ring*

    MMOz 2008

  • He has never worn the title ring from that 2006 Rose Bowl victory over USC, during which he held a clipboard on the sidelines as a redshirting freshman and charted Vince Young's plays.

    Statesman - AP Sports 2009

  • He has never worn the title ring from that 2006 Rose Bowl victory over USC, during which he held a clipboard on the sidelines as a redshirting freshman and charted Vince Young's plays.

    Statesman - AP Sports 2009

  • "It's really something to play for Carolina," said Worthy, who keeps his title ring in a safe.

    Sports News : CBSSports.com 2009

  • I think the title ring is going to end up with the Steelers, regardless.

    Blog updates Dan Connolly 2009

  • Structural support of this ring is the second stage in the structure that is also very important.

    The cupola: Spain's gift to Mexico's colonial architecture 2009

Comments

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  • Contronymic in the sense: ring in, trap vs. release, ring out, peal.

    January 26, 2007

  • "In salt-making, a fire-brick arch of varying length, placed under the evaporating-pans to temper the heat and so prevent the salt from being burned."

    --from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

    September 27, 2017