# ring

Pronunciation: say "RING" /ɹɪŋ/

## Noun

1. A round band of metal, often precious, worn on a finger or through the ear, nose, or another body part.
   - Simple: A small circle of metal that you wear on a finger, or in your ear or nose.
   - _The jeweler resized the ring so it fit her finger snugly._
   - _He slipped a diamond ring onto her finger during the proposal._
2. A roughly circular, hollow object that encircles or fastens something, such as a hoop, loop, or band.
   - Simple: A round, hollow object shaped like a circle, such as a hoop or loop.
   - _The curtain hung from a row of plastic rings._
   - _A heavy iron ring was set into the stone wall._
4. An arena, often circular, where sports or exhibitions take place, as in boxing or the circus; also, by extension, the arena of a political contest.
   - Simple: A space where sports or shows take place, like the area where boxers fight.
   - _The fighter danced around the ring, looking for an opening._
   - _Three candidates have already entered the ring for the mayoral race._
5. A clear, resonant sound like that of a bell, or a loud sound that carries or echoes.
   - Simple: The clear sound a bell makes, or another loud sound that seems to echo.
   - _The deep ring of the cathedral bell carried across the valley._
   - _From across the valley came the clear ring of the church bells, echoing off the hills._
6. A set of people or objects arranged in the shape of a circle.
   - Simple: A group of people or things arranged in a circle.
   - _Dancers moved in a ring around the maypole._
   - _A ring of tall trees surrounded the clearing._
7. An exclusive group of people working together, usually in some unethical or illegal activity.
   - Simple: A small group of people who work together to do something bad or illegal.
   - _Investigators exposed a ring of corrupt officials taking bribes._
   - _The drug ring operated across three states before its leaders were arrested._
16. A telephone call, especially a brief one made to someone. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A phone call you make to talk to someone.
   - _If you're running late, just give me a ring and I'll wait for you._
   - _She gave her old friend a ring to catch up._
11. A piece of food formed in the shape of a circle or hoop, such as an onion ring or a doughnut.
   - Simple: A piece of food shaped like a circle with a hole in the middle.
   - _The chef served calamari as golden rings on a white plate._
   - _Each pineapple ring was grilled until caramelized._
12. A band of dust, ice, and rocky material orbiting a planet or young star.
   - Simple: A wide band of dust, ice and rock that circles a planet or a young star.
   - _Saturn's most visible ring spans thousands of kilometers._
   - _Astronomers detected a faint ring of debris circling the young star._
17. Each of the concentric bands of wood that show across a sawn tree trunk, usually one for every year the tree grew.
   - Simple: One of the circles you see in a cut tree trunk, each usually made in one year of growth.
   - _Scientists measure the width of each ring to learn about droughts in past centuries._
   - _The old oak stump showed more than two hundred rings._
13. A round mark or stain that something leaves on a surface, as a wet glass does, or a dark circle around the eyes.
   - Simple: A round mark left on something, like from a wet glass, or a dark circle around the eyes.
   - _The coffee pot left a brown ring on the white tablecloth._
   - _Three nights without sleep had left heavy rings around his eyes._
14. A long stripe of contrasting color or material that encircles something.
   - Simple: A band of a different color that goes all the way around something.
   - _The snake's body was marked with bright rings of red and black._
   - _Each pole along the old road was painted with a broad red ring so drivers could see it at night._
15. A group of atoms bonded together to form a closed chain within a molecule.
   - Simple: A set of atoms joined together in a closed loop inside a molecule.
   - _The molecule contains two fused rings sharing a common edge._
   - _Each ring in the structure consists of five carbon atoms._
20. A quality that something said or written seems to have, as in 'the ring of truth', or a pleasing sound to a name or phrase.
   - Simple: The way something sounds or seems, as in 'it has the ring of truth' or 'a nice ring to it'.
   - _The promise had a hollow ring, and few people trusted it._
   - _There was a familiar ring to the old song's melody._
22. A flat geometric figure bounded by two circles that share the same center.
   - Simple: The flat, round band between two circles that share the same center.
   - _The area of a ring equals the difference between the two circles' areas._
   - _The area of a ring is found by subtracting the area of the inner circle from that of the outer one._
23. A set of bells harmonically tuned to be sounded together, as in a bell tower.
   - Simple: A set of bells tuned to sound well together.
   - _The tower houses a ring of twelve bells dating to the eighteenth century._
   - _Bell ringers maintain the old ring with great care._
24. A large prehistoric monument of stones arranged in a circle, such as Stonehenge. *(British)*
   - Simple: A circle of large standing stones built long ago, such as Stonehenge.
   - _Archaeologists surveyed the Bronze Age ring on the moor._
   - _Several stone rings dot the hills of southern Britain._
25. A heating element or burner on the top of a kitchen stove. *(UK)*
   - Simple: One of the round heating parts on the top of a stove.
   - _He moved the pan to a hotter ring._
   - _Two of the rings on the old cooker no longer worked._

## Verb

3. Of a bell, telephone or alarm, to make a clear resonant sound; also to make a bell sound by striking or pulling it.
   - Simple: When a bell or phone rings, it makes a clear loud sound. You can also ring a bell yourself.
   - _Phones ring nonstop in the newsroom on election night._
   - _The kitchen timer rang, and he hurried to pull the bread from the oven._
8. Of something spoken or written, to seem, sound, or come across in a particular way.
   - Simple: Of words, to seem to be a certain way when you hear or read them.
   - _The promise rang hollow after so many broken ones._
   - _Those claims ring true only when backed by evidence._
9. To resound or echo, with sound spreading and reverberating through a space.
   - Simple: To make a sound that keeps going and fills a space.
   - _The small theater rang with applause long after the curtain fell._
   - _Shouts of victory ring from every corner of the arena._
10. To telephone someone, that is, to call them by phone. *(Australia, British, New Zealand)*
   - Simple: To call someone on the telephone to talk to them.
   - _She rang her solicitor to ask about the contract._
   - _Ring the office and ask for an appointment._
18. To enclose or surround something completely.
   - Simple: To close something in on all sides, or go all the way around it.
   - _Protesters ringed the parliament building for hours._
   - _Snowy peaks ring the valley year-round._
19. To enter a sale or item into a cash register or till.
   - Simple: To enter a sale or item into a cash register.
   - _She rang up the customer's order and announced the total._
   - _Trainees must ring up each purchase before bagging it._
21. To fit an animal with a ring, especially a band on a bird's leg for identification, or a ring through a pig's nose to stop it rooting.
   - Simple: To put a ring on an animal, often on a bird's leg to identify it, or in a pig's nose.
   - _Volunteers ring migrating swallows each fall._
   - _The ornithologist ringed the eagle chick before returning it to the nest._
26. Said of the ears or head: to fill with a humming or buzzing that lingers, such as follows a loud noise or a blow.
   - Simple: To be full of a buzzing sound that keeps going, used about your ears or head.
   - _He took a hard elbow to the jaw and played the rest of the half with his head ringing._
   - _Workers who skip ear protection near the jackhammers say their ears ring long after each shift ends._

## Other meanings

- (noun) An algebraic structure with an addition forming an abelian group and a multiplication forming a monoid that distributes over addition.
- (noun) A hierarchical level of privilege in a computer system, usually enforced in hardware, used to protect data and functionality.
- (noun) A numbered metal band clipped onto a bird's leg so researchers can identify it and follow its movements.
- (noun) The metal contact that sits between a jack plug's tip and sleeve, usually carrying the right channel on stereo headphones.
- (noun) The anus or rectum, or the muscles that keep the anus closed.
- (noun) An old astronomical instrument, a hanging brass hoop with a small hole that let a sunbeam fall on a scale inside to show the sun's height.
- (noun) A band of thickened cells around a fern's spore case that helps burst it open.
- (noun) A group of linked websites on a shared topic, each leading to the next in a loop.
- (noun) At a racetrack, the open enclosure facing the grandstand where bookmakers take wagers.
- (noun) A small open circle written over or below a letter as an accent mark, as in Czech ů or Swedish å.
- (noun) A former dry measure in England for grain, equal to a coomb, or four bushels.
- (noun) One of two mounting clamps that fix a scope onto a rifle.
- (noun) Card number 25 in the Lenormand deck used for reading fortunes.
- (noun) A network layout in which each device links to the next to form a closed loop that carries all messages, so one break can stop the whole network.
- (verb) To cut a band of bark all the way around a tree trunk, usually to kill the tree.
- (verb) Of a bird, to fly upward in a spiral.
- (verb) To steal cars and disguise them with false identities so they can be sold.
- (verb) To circle livestock, especially cattle, on horseback so they mill about in one spot, or more generally to work droving or mustering cattle.
- (verb) To make music on bells, whether tunes or the patterns of change ringing.
- (noun) A structure like a ring, with the usual addition and multiplication rules, except that multiplication need not have an identity element, also called a rng.
- (noun) In set theory, a collection of sets containing the union and the difference of any two of its members.
- (noun) In order theory, a collection of sets containing the union and the intersection of any two of its members.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4, 6–7, 11–15, 17–18, 21–22, 24–25** — From Old English hring ("ring, circle"), going back through Proto-Germanic *hringaz to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to turn, bend." It is related to Dutch ring, German Ring and Swedish ring, and to rank and rink.
**Meanings 3, 5, 8–10, 16, 19–20, 23, 26** — The word is imitative in origin. Proto-Germanic *hringijaną gave Old English hrinġan ("to ring"), which became Middle English ringen. Dutch ringen and Swedish ringa are cognates.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ring (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).