Part 345

I 've known the young, who ridiculed his rage.

Goldsmith.

Syn. -- To deride; banter; rally; burlesque; mock; satirize; lampoon. See Deride.

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Rid"i*cule (?), a. [F.] Ridiculous. [Obs.]

This action . . . became so ridicule.

Aubrey.

Rid"i*cu`ler (?), n. One who ridicules.

Ri*dic"u*lize (?), v. t. To make ridiculous; to ridicule. [Obs.] Chapman.

Ri*dic`u*los"i*ty (?), n. The quality or state of being ridiculous; ridiculousness; also, something ridiculous. [Archaic] Bailey.

Ri*dic"u*lous (?), a. [L. ridiculosus, ridiculus, fr. ridere to laigh. Cf. Risible.] 1. Fitted to excite ridicule; absurd and laughable; unworthy of serious consideration; as, a ridiculous dress or behavior.

Agricola, discerning that those little targets and unwieldy glaives ill pointed would soon become ridiculous against the thrust and close, commanded three Batavian cohorts . . . to draw up and come to handy strokes.

Milton.

2. Involving or expressing ridicule. [r.]

provokes me to ridiculous smiling.

Shak.

Syn. -- Ludicrous; laughable; risible; droll; comical; absurd; preposterous. See Ludicrous.

--- Ri*dic"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Ri*dic"u*lous*ness, n.

Rid"ing (rd"ng), n. [For thriding, Icel. þriðjungr the third part, fr. þriði third, akin to E. third. See Third.] One of the three jurisdictions into which the county of York, in England, is divided; -- formerly under the government of a reeve. They are called the North, the East, and the West, Riding. Blackstone.

Rid"ing, a. 1. Employed to travel; traveling; as, a riding clerk. "One riding apparitor." Ayliffe.

2. Used for riding on; as, a riding horse.

3. Used for riding, or when riding; devoted to riding; as, a riding whip; a riding habit; a riding day.

Riding clerk. (a) A clerk who traveled for a commercial house. [Obs. Eng.] (b) One of the "six clerks" formerly attached to the English Court of Chancery. -- Riding hood. (a) A hood formerly worn by women when riding. (b) A kind of cloak with a hood. -- Riding master, an instructor in horsemanship. -- Riding rhyme (Pros.), the meter of five accents, with couplet rhyme; -- probably so called from the mounted pilgrims described in the Canterbury Tales. Dr. Guest. -- Riding school, a school or place where the art of riding is taught.

Rid"ing, n. 1. The act or state of one who rides.

2. A festival procession. [Obs.]

When there any riding was in Cheap.

Chaucer.

3. Same as Ride, n., 3. Sir P. Sidney.