Part 395

Ron"del (?), n. [Cf. Rondeau, Roundel.] 1. (Fort.) A small round tower erected at the foot of a bastion. [Obs.]

2. [F.] (a) Same as Rondeau. (b) Specifically, a particular form of rondeau containing fourteen lines in two rhymes, the refrain being a repetition of the first and second lines as the seventh and eighth, and again as the thirteenth and fourteenth. E. W. Gosse.

||Ron`de*le"ti*a (?), n. [NL. So named after William Rondelet, a French ||naturalist.] (Bot.) A tropical genus of rubiaceous shrubs which often ||have brilliant flowers.

Ron"dle (?), n. [Cf. Rondel.] 1. A rondeau. [Obs.] Spenser.

2. A round mass, plate, or disk; especially (Metal.), the crust or scale which forms upon the surface of molten metal in the crucible.

Ron"do (?), n. [It. rondò, fr. F. rondeau. See Rondeau.] 1. (Mus.) A composition, vocal or instrumental, commonly of a lively, cheerful character, in which the first strain recurs after each of the other strains. "The Rondo-form was the earliest and most frequent definite mold for musical construction." Grove.

2. (Poetry) See Rondeau, 1.

Ron"dure (?), n. [Cf. F. rondeur roundness.] 1. A round; a circle. [Obs.] Shak.

2. Roundness; plumpness. [R.]

High-kirtled for the chase, and what was shown Of maiden rondure, like the rose half-blown.

Lowell.

Rong (?), obs. imp. & p. p. of Ring. Chaucer.

Rong, n. Rung (of a ladder). [Obs.] Chaucer.

||Ron`geur" (?), n. [F., fr. ronger to gnaw.] (Surg.) An instrument for ||removing small rough portions of bone.

{ Ron"ion, Ron"yon } (?), n. [F. rogne scab, mange.] A mangy or scabby creature.

"Aroint thee, with!" the rump-fed ronyon cries.

Shak.

Ron"ne (?), obs. imp. pl., and Ron"nen (&?;), obs. p. p. of Renne, to run. Chaucer.

Ront (?), n. [See Runt.] A runt. [Obs.] Spenser.

Rood (rd), n. [AS. rd a cross; akin to OS. rda, D. roede rod, G. ruthe, rute, OHG. ruota. Cf. Rod a measure.] 1. A representation in sculpture or in painting of the cross with Christ hanging on it.

Generally, the Trinity is represented, the Father as an elderly man fully clothed, with a nimbus around his head, and holding the cross on which the Son is represented as crucified, the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove near the Son's head. Figures of the Virgin Mary and of St. John are often placed near the principal figures.

Savior, in thine image seen Bleeding on that precious rood.

Wordsworth.

2. A measure of five and a half yards in length; a rod; a perch; a pole. [Prov. Eng.]

3. The fourth part of an acre, or forty square rods.

By the rood, by the cross; -- a phrase formerly used in swearing. "No, by the rood, not so." Shak. -- Rood beam (Arch.), a beam across the chancel of a church, supporting the rood. -- Rood loft (Arch.), a loft or gallery, in a church, on which the rood and its appendages were set up to view. Gwilt. -- Rood screen (Arch.), a screen, between the choir and the body of the church, over which the rood was placed. Fairholt. -- Rood tower (Arch.), a tower at the intersection of the nave and transept of a church; -- when crowned with a spire it was called also rood steeple. Weale. -- Rood tree, the cross. [Obs.] "Died upon the rood tree." Gower.

Roo"de*bok (?), n. [D. rood red + bok buck.] (Zoöl.) The pallah.

Rood"y (?), a. Rank in growth. [Prov. Eng.]