Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RE-CRUIT-ING, ppr.

Furnishing with fresh supplies; raising new soldiers for an army.

RE-CRUIT-MENT, n.

The act or business of raising new supplies of men for an army. – Walsh.

RE-CRYS-TAL-I-ZA'TION, n.

The process of a second crystalizing.

RE-CRYS'TAL-IZE, v.i.

To crystalize a second time. – Henry.

RECT'AN-GLE, n. [Fr. from L. rectangulus; rectus, right, and angulus, angle.]

1. A right-angled parallelogram.
2. In arithmetic, the product of two lines multiplied into each other. – Bailey.

RECT'AN-GLED, a.

Having right angles, or angles of ninety degrees.

RECT-AN'GU-LAR, a.

Right angled; having angles of ninety degrees.

RECT-AN'GU-LAR-LY, adv.

With or at right angles. – Brown.

REC'TI-FI-A-BLE, a. [from rectify.]

That may be rectified; capable of being corrected or set right; as, a rectifiable mistake.

REC-TI-FI-CA'TION, n.¹ [Fr. See Rectify.]

1. The act or operation of correcting, amending or setting right that which is wrong or erroneous; as, the rectification of errors, mistakes or abuses. – Forbes.
2. In chimistry, the process of refining or purifying any substance by repeated distillation, which separates the grosser parts; as, the rectification of spirits or sulphuric acid. – Nicholson. Encyc.

REC-TI-FI-CA'TION, n.²

In geometry, the determination of a straight line, whose length is equal to a portion of a curve. Brande.

REC'TI-FI-ED, pp.

Corrected; set or made right; refined by repented distillation or sublimation.

REC'TI-FI-ER, n.

1. One that corrects or amends.
2. One who refines a substance by repeated distillations.
3. An instrument that shows the variations of the compass, and rectifies the course of a ship.

REC'TI-FY, v.t. [Fr. rectifier; It. rettificare; Sp. rectificar; L. rectus, right, and facio, to make.]

1. To make straight; to correct that which is wrong, erroneous or false; to amend; as, to rectify errors, mistakes or abuses; to rectify the will, the judgment, opinions; to rectify disorders. – Booker. Addison.
2. In chimistry, to refine by repeated distillation or sublimation, by which the fine parts of a substance are separated from the grosser; as, to rectify spirit or wine. – Encyc.
3. To rectify the globe, is to bring the sun's place in the ecliptic on the globe to the brass meridian. – Bailey.

REC'TI-FY-ING, ppr.

Correcting; amending; refining by repeated distillation or sublimation.

REC-TI-LIN'E-AL, or REC-TI-LIN'E-AR, a. [L. rectus, right, and linea, line.]

Right lined; consisting of a right line or of right lines; straight; as, a rectilinear figure or course; a rectilinear side, or way. – Newton.

REC-TI-LIN'E-AR-LY, adv.

In a right line.

REC-TI-LIN'E-OUS, a.

Rectilinear. [Obs.] – Ray.

REC'TI-TUDE, n. [Fr. from L. rectus, right, straight; It. rettitudine; Sp. rectitud; literally straightness, but not applied to material things.]

In morality, rightness of principle or practice; uprightness of mind; exact conformity to truth, or to the rules prescribed for moral conduct, either by divine or human laws. Rectitude of mind is the disposition to act in conformity to any known standard of right, truth or justice; rectitude of conduct is the actual conformity to such standard. Perfect rectitude belongs only to the Supreme Being. The more nearly the rectitude of men approaches to the standard of the divine law, the more exalted and dignified is their character. Want of rectitude is not only sinful but debasing. There is a sublimity in conscious rectitude … in comparison with which the treasures of earth are not worth naming. – J. Hawes.

REC'TOR, n. [L. rector, from rego, rectum, to rule; Fr. recteur; It. rettore.]

1. A ruler or governor. God is the supreme rector of the world. – Hale. [This application of the word is unusual.]
2. A clergyman who has the charge and cure of a parish and has the tithes, &c.; or the parson of an unimpropriated parish. – Blackstone.
3. The chief elective officer of some universities, as in France and Scotland. The same title was formerly given to the president of a college in New England, but it is now in disuse. In Scotland, it is still the title of the head-master of a principal school.
4. The superior officer or chief of a convent or religious house; and among the Jesuits, the superior of a house that is a seminary or college. – Encyc.

REC'TOR-AL, or REC-TO'RI-AL, a.

Pertaining to a rector. – Blackstone.

REC'TOR-SHIP, n.

The office or rank of a rector. – Shak.

REC'TO-RY, n.

1. A parish church, parsonage or spiritual living, with all its rights, tithes and glebes. – Encyc.
2. A rector's mansion or parsonage-house. – Encyc.

REC'TRESS, or REC'TRIX, n. [L. rectrix.]

A governess. – B. Jonson.

REC'TUM, n. [L.]

In anatomy, the third and last of the large intestines. – Encyc.