rices

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of rice.

   Farmers in the region grow several rices suited to flooded paddies.

   Aromatic rices like basmati and jasmine fetch higher prices at auction.

   Note

   Only the countable meaning allows this plural. Rice as a crop or as food is a mass noun, so a plate holds rice, never rices. Once the word names a particular variety, it starts to count. E. N. Anderson, in Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China (2014), sets Indica rices against Chinese, Indian and sticky ones. Use rices when comparing kinds, and rice for the grain itself.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of rice.

   The chef rices the warm potatoes straight into the mixing bowl.

   Whenever a recipe calls for a smooth texture, she rices the vegetables first.

   Note

   One spelling covers several verbs. A cook who rices potatoes presses them through a ricer. Someone who simply rices may be harvesting wild rice. An enthusiast who rices a desktop is customizing its interface, a use that grew from rice out. The cooking and computing verbs take an object, while the harvesting verb stands alone. The form shares its spelling with the plural for rice varieties, but its subject gives it away.

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