Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RAL'LY, n.

1. The act of bringing disordered troops to their ranks.
2. Exercise of good humor or satirical merriment.

RAL'LY, v.i.

1. To assemble; to unite. Innumerable parts of matter chanced then to rally together and to form themselves into this new world. – Tillotson.
2. To come back to order. The Grecians rally and their pow'rs unite. – Dryden.
3. To use pleasantry or satirical merriment. – Johnson.

RAL'LY, v.t.¹ [Fr. rallier. This seems to be a compound of re, ra, and lier, L. ligo, to unite.]

1. To reunite; to collect and reduce to order troops dispersed or thrown into confusion.
2. To collect; to unite; as things scattered. – Atterbury.

RAL'LY, v.t.² [Fr. railler. See Raillery.]

To treat with good humor and pleasantry, or with slight contempt or satire, according to the nature of the case. Honeycomb rallies me upon a country life. – Addison. Strephon had long confess'd his am'rous pain, / Which gay Corinna rallied with disdain. – Gay.

RAL'LY-ING, ppr.

1. Reuniting; collecting and reducing order.
2. Treating with pleasant humor.

RAM, n. [Sax. ram; D. ram; G. ramm, but rammbock, ram-buck, is used. See the Verb.]

1. The made of the sheep or ovine genus; in some parts of England called a tup. In the United States, the word is applied, I believe, to no other male, except in the compound ram-cat.
2. In astronomy, Aries, the sign of the zodiac which the sun enters on the 21st of March, or a constellation of fixed star in the figure of a rain. It is considered the first of the twelve signs.
3. An engine of war, used formerly for battering and demolishing the walls of cities; called a battering-ram. [See Battering-ram.]

RAM, v.t. [G. rammen; D. rammeijen; Dan. ramler, to ram or drive; rammer, to strike, to hit, to touch; W. rham, rhum, a thrusting, a projection forward. To the same family belong L. ramus, a branch, that is, a shoot or thrust, Heb. Ch. and Syr. רמה ramah, to throw, to project, Eth. ረመየ rami, to strike; Ar. رَمَي ramai, to shoot, to throw or dart. Class Rm, No. 7, 8, 9. See Cram.]

1. To thrust or drive with violence; to force in; to drive down or together; as, to ram down a cartridge; to ram piles into the earth.
2. To drive, as with a battering ram.
3. To stuff; to cram.

RAM'A-DAN, n.

Among the Mohammedans, a solemn season of fasting.

RAM'AGE, n. [L. ramus, a branch, whence Fr. ramage.]

1. Branches of trees. [Not in use.]
2. The warbling of birds sitting on boughs. – Drummond.
3. [See Rummage.]

RAM'BLE, n.

A roving; a wandering; a going or moving from place to place without any determinate business or object; an irregular excursion. Coming home after a short Christmas rumble, I found a letter upon my table. – Swift.

RAM'BLE, v.i. [It. ramengare, to ramble, to rove; Arm. rambreal, to rave; W. rhempiaw, to run to an extreme, to be infatuated, and rhamu, to rise or reach over, to soar. These seem to be allied to roam, romp, rampant; Ar. رَامَ to exceed or go beyond, to depart. Class Rm, No. 5.]

1. To rove; to wander; to walk, ride or sail from place to place, without any determinate object in view; or to visit many places; to rove carelessly or irregularly; as, to ramble about the city; to ramble over the country. Never ask leave to go abroad, for you will be thought an idle rambling fellow. – Swift.
2. To go at large without restraint and without direction.
3. To move without certain direction. O'er his ample sides, the rambling sprays / Luxuriant shoot. – Thomson.

RAM'BLER, n.

One that rambles; a rover; a wanderer.

RAM'BLING, n.

A roving; irregular excursion. – South.

RAM'BLING, ppr.

Roving; wandering; moving or going irregularly.

RAM'BLING-LY, adv.

In a rambling manner.

RAM'BOOZE, or RAM'BUSE, n.

A drink made of wine, ale, eggs and sugar in winter, or of wine, milk, sugar and rose water in summer. – Bailey.

RAM'E-KIN, or RAM'E-QUINS, n. [Fr. ramequin.]

In cookery, small slices of bead covered with a farce of cheese and eggs. – Bailey.

RAM'ENTS, n. [L. ramenta, a chip.]

1. Scrapings; shavings. [Not used.]
2. In botany, loose scales on the stems of plants. – Linnæus.

RA'ME-OUS, a. [L. ramus, a branch.]

In botany, belonging to a branch; growing on or shooting from a branch. – Lee.

RAM-I-FI-CA'TION, n. [Fr. from L. ramus, a branch.]

1. The process of branching or shooting branches from a stem.
2. A branch; a small division proceeding from a main stock or channel; as, the ramifications of a family; the ramifications of an artery. Arbuthnot.
3. A division or subdivision; as, the ramifications of a subject or scheme.
4. In botany, the manner in which a tree produces its branches or boughs. – Lee.
5. The production of figures resembling branches. – Encyc.

RAM'I-FI-ED, pp.

Divided into branches.

RAM'I-FY, v.i.

1. To shoot into branches, as, the stem of a plant. When the asparagus begins to ramify. – Arbuthnot.
2. To be divided or subdivided; as a main subject or scheme.

RAM'I-FY, v.t. [Fr. ramifier; L. ramus, a branch, and facio, to make.]

To divide into branches or parts; as, to ramify an art, a subject or scheme. – Boyle.

RAM'I-FY-ING, ppr.

Shooting into branches or divisions.

RAM'ISH, a. [Dan. ram, bitter, strong scented.]

Rank; strong scented. – Chaucer.