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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.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Ring from Infoplease:
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