rin

Pluralrin

Formsrins, rinning, ran, run

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A Japanese coin worth one-thousandth of a yen, now withdrawn from circulation.

   Collectors still trade the occasional rin at coin fairs, prized for its rarity.

   A handful of rin jingled in the merchant's pouch beside heavier coins.

   Note

   A borrowing from Japanese 厘, with no connection to the dialect verb for running that happens to share its spelling. It takes no plural ending: one rin, a handful of rin, a thousand rin to the yen.

2. 2
   verbdialectaltransitive or intransitive

   To run; to move at speed on foot, as used in some regional dialects.

   The dogs rin down the glen whenever the gate is left open.

   She told the lad to rin home before dark.

   Note

   A dialect form that keeps the vowel of Old English rinnan, the same Germanic verb that gave standard run. Only the present forms differ (rins, rinning); the past stays ran and run. It covers water as well as feet, as in John Imlah's "Where Gadie rins," and Allan Cunningham's Lord Roldan (1836) sets rinning against ganging, plain going. Keep it for voicing regional speech.

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