ring
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: rĭng
ipa: /ɹɪŋ/
rhymes: -ɪŋ
homophone: wring
Forms: form: rings
form: ringing
form: rang
form: rung
form: rung
Etymology: From Middle English ringen, from Old English hrinġan (“to ring”), from Proto-Germanic *hringijaną. Cognate with Dutch ringen, Swedish ringa. Of imitative origin.
Senses: examples: text: The bells were ringing in the town.
glosses: Of a bell, etc., to produce a resonant sound.
examples: text: The deliveryman rang the doorbell to drop off a parcel.
text: The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums, / Hath rung night's yawning peal.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
glosses: To make (a bell, etc.) produce a resonant sound.
examples: text: They rang a Christmas carol on their handbells.
glosses: To produce (a sound) by ringing.
examples: text: Whose mobile phone is ringing?
glosses: To produce the sound of a bell or a similar sound.
examples: text: That does not ring true.
glosses: Of something spoken or written, to appear to be, to seem, to sound.
examples: text: I will ring you when we arrive.
glosses: To telephone (someone).
examples: text: […] And many an old philosophy
⁠On Argive heights divinely sang,
⁠And round us all the thicket rang
To many a flute of Arcady.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 40:
text: So he spoke, and it seemed there was a little halting at first, as of men not liking to take Blackbeard's name in Blackbeard's place, or raise the Devil by mocking at him. But then some of the bolder shouted 'Blackbeard', and so the more timid chimed in, and in a minute there were a score of voices calling 'Blackbeard, Blackbeard', till the place rang again.
ref: [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:
text: It is instructive for us to learn as well as to ponder on the fact that "the very men who looked down with delight, when the sand of the arena reddened with human blood, made the arena ring with applause when Terence in his famous line: ‘Homo sum, Nihil humani alienum puto’ proclaimed the brotherhood of man."
ref: 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:
glosses: to resound, reverberate, echo.
examples: text: Four Bells admit Twenty-four changes in Ringing
ref: 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters: […], London: […] T. N[ewcomb] for J[ohn] Martyn printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To produce music with bells.
examples: text: The checkout girl rang it into his total, and he paid the bill.
ref: 1983, T.C. Knudsen, John Hempstead, A Man's Guide to Women:
text: On presentation of the item at the checkout the original price sticker was concealed from the checkout assistant and a sticker of $38.88 exhibited on the item. The checkout operator rang on the lesser sum, a mistake known to Dronjak. He was subsequently charged with theft.
ref: 1990, The New Zealand Law Reports - Volume 3, page 75:
text: . The new cashier rang something twice and had to call for the manager to fix the register.
ref: 2011, Tracy E Whipple, A Friend's Last Gift, page 88:
glosses: To ring up (enter into a cash register or till)
glosses: To repeat often, loudly, or earnestly.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: make the welkin ring
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring a bell
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring around
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring back
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring down the curtain
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ringer
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring false
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring hollow
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring in
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ringing
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring off
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring off the hook
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring one's bell
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring out
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring round
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring someone's bell
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring the changes
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring the devil's doorbell
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring the welkins
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring through
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring true
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring up
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: ring up the curtain
sense: Terms derived from ring (verb, etymology 2)
word: unring