Chapter Richarda to Right as a Trivet of R by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Richarda to Right as a Trivet

Richarda wife of Nicholas d'Este. A widow who, with her son Hercules, was dispossessed of her inheritance by Lionello and Borso. Both were obliged to go into exile, but finally Hercules recovered his lordship.

Richborough, Richeboro' or Ratesburgh (a Roman fort in the time of Claudius), called by Alfred of Beverley, Richberge; by the Saxons (according to Bede) Reptacester, and by others Ruptimuth; by Orosius, the port and city of Rhutubus; by Ammianus, Rhutupiae Statio; by Antoninus, Rhitupis Portus; by Tacitus, Portus Trutulensis for Rhutupensis; by Ptolemy, Rhutupiae. (Camden.)

Rick Mould This is an April fool joke transferred to hay-harvest. The joke is this: some greenhorn is sent a good long distance to borrow a rickmould, with strict injunction not to drop it. The lender places something very heavy in a sack or bag, which he hoists on the greenhorn's back. He carries it carefully in the hot sun to the hayfield, and gets well laughed at for his pains.

Rickety Stock Stock bought or sold for a man of straw. If the client cannot pay, the broker must.

Ricochet [rikko-shay]. Anything repeated over and over again. The fabulous bird that had only one note was called the ricochet; and the rebound on water termed ducks and drakes has the same name. Marshal Vauban (1633-1707) invented a battery of rebound called the ricochet battery, the application of which was ricochet firing.

Riddle Josephus relates how Hiram, King of Tyre, and Solomon had once a contest in riddles, when Solomon won a large sum of money; but he subsequently lost it to Abdemon, one of Hiram's subjects.
   Riddle. Plutarch states that Homer died of chagrin because he could not solve a certain riddle. (See Sphinx.)
   Father of riddles. So the Abbé Cotin dubbed himself, but posterity has not confirmed his right to the title. (1604- 1682.) (See Ree.)

Riddle of Claret (A). Thirteen bottles, a magnum and twelve quarts. So called because in golf matches the magistrates invited to the celebration dinner presented to the club a “riddle of claret,” sending it in a riddle or sieve.

Ride To ride abroad with St. George, but at home with St. Michael; said of a hen-pecked braggart. St. George is represented as riding on a war charger whither he listed; St. Michael, on a dragon. Abroad a man rides, like St. George, on a horse which he can control and govern; but at home he has “a dragon” to manage, like St. Michael. (French.)

Ride for a Fall (To). To ride a race and lose it intentionally.

“There were not wanting people who said that government had `ridden for a fall,' in their despair of carrying out their policy.”- Newspaper paragraph, November, 1885.

Ride up Holborn Hill (To). To go to the gallows.

“I shall live to see you ride up Holborn Hill.”- Congreve: Love for Love.

Rider An addition to a manuscript, like a codicil to a will; an additional clause tacked to a bill in parliament; so called because it over-rides the preceding matter when the two come into collision.

“Perhaps Mr. Kenneth will allow me to add the following as a rider to his suggestion.”- Notes and Queries, “M.N.”

Riderhood (Rogue). The villain in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend.

Ridicule (Father of). Francois Rabelais (1495-1553).

Riding [of Yorkshire]. Same as trithing in Lincolnshire; the jurisdiction of a third part of a county, under the government of a reeve (sheriff). The word ding or thing is Scandinavian, and means a legislative assembly; hence the great national diet of Norway is still called a stor-thing (great legislative assembly), and its two chambers are the lag-thing (law assembly) and the odels-thing (freeholders' assembly).