Chapter Right of Way to Ring Posies of R by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

of Charlemagne, is always painted with the characteristics of a border- valiant, ingenious, rapacious, and unscrupulous.

Ring If a lady or gentleman is willing to marry, but not engaged, a ring should be worn on the index finger of the left hand; if engaged, on the second finger; if married, on the third finger; but if either has no desire to marry, on the little finger. (Mme. C. de la Tour.)
   A ring worn on the forefinger indicates a haughty, bold, and overbearing spirit; on the long finger, prudence, dignity, and discretion; on the marriage finger, love and affection; on the little finger, a masterful spirit.
   Ring given in marriage, because it was anciently used as a seal, by which orders were signed (Gen. xxxviii. 18; Esther iii. 10-12); and the delivery of a ring was a sign that the giver endowed the person who received it with all the power he himself possessed (Gen. xli. 42). The woman who had the ring could issue commands as her husband, and was in every respect his representative.

“In the Roman espousals, the man gave the woman a ring by way of pledge, and the woman put it on the third finger of her left hand, because it was believed that a nerve ran from that finger to the heart.”- Macrobius: Sat. vii. 15.

Ring The Ring and the Book. An idyllic epic by Robert Browning, founded on a cause célèbre of Italian history (1698). Guido Franceschini, a Florentine nobleman of shattered fortune, by the advice of his brother, Cardinal Paulo, marries Pompilia, an heiress, to repair his state. Now Pompilia was only a supposititious child of Pietro, supplied by Violante for the sake of preventing certain property from going to an heir not his own. When the bride discovered the motive of the bridegroom, she revealed to him this fact, and the first trial occurs to settle the said property. The count treats his bride so brutally that she quits his roof under the protection of Caponsacchi, a young priest, and takes refuge in Rome. Guido follows the fugitives and arrests them at an inn; a trial ensues, and a separation is permitted. Pompilia pleads for a divorce, but, pending the suit, gives birth to a son at the house of her putative parents. The count, hearing thereof, murders Pietro, Violante, and Pompilia; but, being taken red-handed, is executed.

Ring (The). The space set apart for prize-fighters, horse-racing, etc. So called because the spectators stand round in a ring.

Ring To make a ring. To combine in order to control the price of a given article. Thus, if the chief merchants of any article (say salt, flour, or sugar) combine, they can fix the selling price, and thus secure enormous profits.

Ring It has the true ring- has intrinsic merit; bears the mark of real talent. A metaphor taken from the custom of judging genuine money by its “ring” or sound. Ring, a circlet, is the Anglo-Saxon hring; ring, to sound a bell, etc., is the verb hring-an.

Ring Down Conclude, end at once. A theatrical phrase, alluding to the custom of ringing a bell to give notice for the fall of the curtain. Charles Dickens says, “It is time to ring down on these remarks.” (Speech at the Dramatic Fête.)

Ring Finger Priests used to wear their ring on the fore-finger (which represents the Holy Ghost) in token of their spiritual office. (See Wedding Finger .)
   The ring finger represents the humanity of Christ, and is used in matrimony, which has only to do with humanity. (See Finger Benediction.)
   Ring finger. Aulus Gellius tells us that Appianus asserts in his Egyptian books that a very delicate nerve runs from the fourth finger of the left hand to the heart, on which account this finger is used for the marriage ring. (Noctes, x. 10.)
   The fact has nothing to do with the question; that the ancients believed it is all we require to know. In the Roman Catholic Church, the thumb and first two fingers represent the Trinity: thus the bridegroom says, “In the name of the Father,” and touches the thumb; “in the name of the Son,” and touches the first finger; and “in the name of the Holy Ghost” he touches the long or second finger. The next finger is the husband's, to whom the woman owes allegiance next to God. The left hand is chosen to show that the woman is to be subject to the man. In the Hereford, York, and Salisbury missals, the ring is directed to be put first on the thumb, then on the first finger, then on the long finger, and lastly on the ring-finger, quia in illo digito est quadam vena procedens usque ad cor.
   The ring finger. Mr. Henry