Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RHET'OR-IZ-ED, pp.

Represented by a figure of oratory.

RHEUM, n. [Gr. ῥευμα, from ῥεω, to flow.]

1. An increased action of the vessels of any organ; but generally applied to the increased action of mucous glands, attended with increased discharge and an altered state of their excreted fluids.
2. A thin serous fluid, secreted by the mucous glands, &c.; as in catarrh. – Shak.

RHEUM-AT'IC, a. [L. rheumaticus; Gr. ῥευματικος, from ῥευμα, rheum, – which see.]

Pertaining to rheumatism, or partaking of its nature; as, rheumatic pains or affections.

RHEUM-A-TISM, n. [L. rheumatismus; Gr. ῥευματισμος, from ῥευμα, a watery humor, from ῥεω, to flow; the ancients supposing the disease to proceed from a defluxion of humors.]

A painful disease affecting muscles and joints of the human body, chiefly the larger joints, as the hips, knees, shoulders, &c. – Encyc. Parr.

RHEUM-Y, a. [from rheum.]

1. Full of rheum or watery matter; consisting of rheum or partaking of its nature.
2. Affected with rheum. – Dryden.
3. Abounding with sharp moisture; causing rheum. – Shak.

RHIME, n. [or v. See RHYME.]

RHI'NO, n.

A cant word for gold and silver, or money. – Wagstaffe.

RHI-NO-CE'RI-AL, a. [from rhinoceros.]

Pertaining to the rhinoceros; resembling the rhinoceros. – Tatler.

RHI-NOC'E-ROS, n. [Fr. rhinoceros or rhinocerot; It. and Sp. rinoceronte; L. rhinoceros; Gr. ῥινοκερως, nose-horn; ῥιν, the nose, W. rhyn, a point, and κερας, a horn.]

A large pachydermatous mammal, nearly allied to the elephant, the hippopotamus, the tapir, &c. Five species are described by naturalists. Two of these have a single horn on the nose, and three of them have two horns. Rhinoceros Indicus inhabits India, especially the banks of the Ganges; R. Africanus and R. Simus inhabit southern Africa; and R. Sumatrensis and R. Sondaicus inhabit Sumatra.

RHI-NOC'E-ROS-BIRD, n.

A bird of the genus Buceros, having a crooked horn on the forehead, joined to the upper mandible.

RHI-NO-PLAS'TIC, a. [Gr. ῥιν, the nose, and πλασσω, to form.]

Forming a nose. The rhinoplastic operation in surgery is one which renews the nose, or supplies a substitute for a natural nose.

RHI-ZO'MA, n. [Gr. ῥιζωμα, something firmly rooted.]

In botany, a large and fleshy or woody part or organ of a root, analogous to a stem under ground, which is neither a tuber nor a bulb. It is of very various forms, and always has radicles, and not infrequently fibrils growing from it. The esculent part of the root of a beet, carrot, or parsnep, furnishes a good example of a rhizoma.

RHIZ-OPH'A-GOUS, a. [Gr. ῥιζα and φαγω.]

Feeding on roots.

RHO'DI-AN, a.

Pertaining to Rhodes, an isle of the Mediterranean; as, Rhodian laws.

RHO'DI-UM, n.

A metal discovered by Wollaston, in 1803, among grains of crude platinum. Rhodium requires the strongest heat that can be produced in a wind-furnace, for its fusion. When fused, it has a white color and a metallic luster. It is extremely hard, brittle, and has a sp. gr. of about 11. It unites with oxygen at a red heat. When pure, it is not acted upon by any acid; but if in the state of an alloy, it is dissolved by aqua regia. – Turner.

RHO-DO-DEN'DRON, n. [Gr. ῥοδοω, a rose, and δενδρον, a tree.]

The name of a genus of plants, and the type of the natural order Rhododendraceæ. Four species are known to grow in New England, viz. two deciduous leafed, which are called upright or swamp-honeysuckles; and two evergreen ones, which can hardly be said to have any distinctive popular names. Several of the species of this genus are medicinal, and many of them are highly ornamental.

RHO'DON-ITE, n.

A mineral of a red, reddish, or yellowish white color, and splintery fracture, occurring compact or fibrous in the Hartz, at Strahlberg, &c. – Phillips.

RHOE-TIZ-ITE, or RHET'IZ-ITE, n.

A mineral occurring in masses or in radiated concretions, and of a white color.

RHOMB, n. [Fr. rhombe; L. rhombus; Gr. ῥομβος, from ῥεμβω, to turn or whirl round, to wander, to roam or rove; literally, a deviating square.]

In geometry, an oblique angled parallelogram, or a quadrilateral figure whose sides are equal and parallel, but the angles unequal, two of the angles being obtuse and two acute. It consists of two equal and similar isosceles triangles united at the base. – Encyc. Harris.

RHOMB'IC, a.

Having the figure of a rhomb. – Grew.

RHOM'BO, n.

A fish of the turbot kind. – Dict. Nat. Hist.

RHOM-BO-HE'DRAL, a. [Gr. ῥομβος, rhomb, and εδρα, side.]

Having the connection of the forms with the rhombohedron. – Shepard.

RHOM-BO-HE'DRON, n.¹

A solid bounded by six rhombic faces.

RHOM-BO-HE'DRON, n.²

A solid contained under six equal rhombic planes. Commonly called a rhomboid.

RHOM'BOID, n. [Gr. ῥομβος, rhomb, and ειδος, form.]

1. In geometry, a figure having some resemblance to a rhomb; or a quadrilateral figure whose opposite sides and angles are equal, but which is neither equilateral nor equiangular. – Encyc.
2. adj. In anatomy, the rhomboid muscle is a thin, broad and obliquely square fleshy muscle, between the basis of the scapula and the spina dorsi. – Encyc.