<B>rhombic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having the form of a rhombus. <DD><B> 2. </B>having a rhombus as a base or cross section. <DD><B> 3. </B>bounded by rhombuses. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Chemistry.) having to do with a system of crystallization characterized by three unequal axes intersecting at right angles; orthorhombic. </DL>
<A NAME="rhombical">
<B>rhombical, </B>adjective. =rhombic.</DL>
<A NAME="rhombohedral">
<B>rhombohedral, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, or in the form of, a rhombohedron. </DL>
<A NAME="rhombohedron">
<B>rhombohedron, </B>noun, pl. <B>-drons,</B> <B>-dra.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a solid bounded by six rhombic planes. </DL>
<A NAME="rhomboid">
<B>rhomboid, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a parallelogram with equal opposite sides, unequal adjacent sides, and oblique angles. <DD><I>adj. </I> shaped like a rhombus or rhomboid. </DL>
<A NAME="rhomboidal">
<B>rhomboidal, </B>adjective. =rhomboid.</DL>
<A NAME="rhomboideus">
<B>rhomboideus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-dei.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a pair of muscles that help to hold and manipulate the upper arms. </DL>
<A NAME="rhombus">
<B>rhombus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-buses,</B> <B>-bi.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a parallelogram with equal sides, usually having two obtuse angles and two acute angles; diamond. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=rhombohedron.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="rhomeson">
<B>rho meson,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a highly unstable and short-lived elementary particle with a mass about 1400 times that of the electron, produced in high-energy collisions between particles. </DL>
<A NAME="rhonchal">
<B>rhonchal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with a rhonchus. </DL>
<A NAME="rhonchial">
<B>rhonchial, </B>adjective. =rhonchal.</DL>
<A NAME="rhonchus">
<B>rhonchus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-chi.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a coarse sound resembling a snore, caused by obstruction of the bronchial tubes or trachea with secretions. </DL>
<A NAME="rhotacism">
<B>rhotacism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an excessive use, mispronunciation, or substitution of the sound represented by <I>r</I> in English. </DL>
<B>rhubarb, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a garden plant with very large leaves, whose thick, sour stalks are used for making sauce or pies; pieplant. It belongs to the buckwheat family. <DD><B> 2. </B>its stalks. <DD><B> 3. </B>the sauce made of them. <DD><B> 4. </B>a purgative medicine made from a kind of dried rhubarb. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Slang.) a violent argument or protest, usually marked by scornful comment. <BR> <I>Ex. a ball game filled with rhubarbs.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="rhubarbing">
<B>rhubarbing, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) <DD><I>adj. </I> (of actors) muttering sounds to simulate background noise of talk or conversation. <DD><I>noun </I> noisy talk. <BR> <I>Ex. The players filed off the stage, and the silence dissolved in the rhubarbing of the multitude of spectators (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="rhumb">
<B>rhumb, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any one of the 32 points of the compass. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=rhumb line.</B> </DL>
<B>rhumbatron, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Electronics.) <DD><B> 1. </B>two hollow metal containers in a klystron for changing the flow of electrons into the ultrahigh-frequency current. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=klystron.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="rhumbline">
<B>rhumb line,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a line on the surface of a sphere cutting all meridians at the same oblique angle; loxodromic curve. </DL>
<A NAME="rhumbsailing">
<B>rhumb sailing,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> sailing on a rhumb line. </DL>
<A NAME="rhus">
<B>rhus, </B>noun, pl. <B>rhus</B> or <B>rhuses.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a sumac, especially poison sumac or poison ivy. </DL>
<A NAME="rhyme">
<B>rhyme, </B>verb, <B>rhymed,</B> <B>rhyming,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to sound alike, especially in the last part. <BR> <I>Ex. "Long" and "song" rhyme. "Go to bed" rhymes with "sleepyhead."</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to make rhymes. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to put or make into rhyme. <BR> <I>Ex. to rhyme a translation.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to use (a word) with another that rhymes with it. <BR> <I>Ex. to rhyme "love" and "dove."</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a word or line having the same last sound as another. <BR> <I>Ex. "Cat" is a rhyme for "mat." "Hey! diddle, diddle" and "The cat and the fiddle" are rhymes.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>verses or poetry with some of the lines ending in similar sounds. <DD><B> 3. </B>an agreement in the final sounds of words or lines. Also, <B>rime.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>without rhyme or reason,</B> </I>having no system or sense. <BR> <I>Ex. On an irregular bare earth floor, machinery was strewn without apparent rhyme or reason (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="rhymer">
<B>rhymer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who makes rhymes. Also, <B>rimer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="rhymeroyal">
<B>rhyme royal,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a seven-line stanza in iambic pentameter with the lines arranged <I>a b a b b c c.</I> Chaucer introduced it into English. </DL>
<A NAME="rhymescheme">
<B>rhyme scheme,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the pattern of rhymes used in a stanza, verse, or poem, usually denoted by letters. (Example:) <I>"a a b b c c"</I> denotes a couplet rhyme scheme. </DL>
<A NAME="rhymester">
<B>rhymester, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a maker of rather poor rhymes or verse. Also, <B>rimester.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="rhymingslang">
<B>rhyming slang,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a type of slang in which instead of the word or phrase intended to be used, another word or phrase that rhymes with it is substituted. (Examples:) <I>Tit for tat</I> is rhyming slang for <I>derby hat, grasshopper</I> for <I>copper</I> (policeman), <I>Joanna</I> for <I>piano.</I> Rhyming slang is very common in the cockney dialect and in Australian slang. </DL>
<A NAME="rhynchocephalian">
<B>rhynchocephalian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> belonging to an order of nearly extinct, small, lizardlike reptiles. <DD><I>noun </I> a rhynchocephalian reptile. <BR> <I>Ex. The tuatara of New Zealand is the only extant rhynchocephalian.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="rhynchophoran">
<B>rhynchophoran, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of the beetles having the head prolonged into a snout; weevil. </DL>
<A NAME="rhynchophorous">
<B>rhynchophorous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or belonging to the rhynchophorans. </DL>
<A NAME="rhyolite">
<B>rhyolite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a volcanic rock containing quartz with texture often showing the lines of flow. </DL>
<A NAME="rhyolitic">
<B>rhyolitic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or resembling rhyolite. </DL>
<A NAME="rhythm">
<B>rhythm, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>movement with a regular repetition of a beat, accent, rise and fall, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. the rhythm of the tides, the rhythm of one's heartbeats.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a repetition of musical beats; arrangement of recurring strong and weak accents. <BR> <I>Ex. A rhythm of One two three One two three is characteristic of waltz.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>arrangement of syllables or cadences in a line of poetry. <BR> <I>Ex. The rhythms of "The Lord's Prayer," "The Night Before Christmas" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" are different.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a grouping by accents or beats. <BR> <I>Ex. triple rhythm, rumba rhythm.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Biology.) a pattern of involuntary behavior, action, etc., occurring regularly and periodically. <BR> <I>Ex. Bees, which have a marked rhythm and are active only in the daytime, cannot be trained on other than a 24-hour basis (J. L. Cloudsley-Thompson).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B><B>=rhythm method.</B> <DD><B> 7. </B>(Fine Arts.) the proper relation of parts producing a harmonious whole, especially by repeating certain forms and colors. </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmandblues">
<B>rhythm and blues,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) rock'n'roll with blues as its melodic element. </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmband">
<B>rhythm band,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a children's musical band of percussion instruments such as chimes, gongs, cymbals, wood blocks, sticks, and drums. </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmed">
<B>rhythmed, </B>adjective. =rhythmical.</DL>
<A NAME="rhythmic">
<B>rhythmic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>=rhythmical.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. Berto Lardera ... gets an almost musical sense of rhythmic movement in his pieces (New Yorker).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>=rhythmics.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmical">
<B>rhythmical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having rhythm. <BR> <I>Ex. rhythmical speech.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of or having to do with rhythm. <BR> <I>Ex. rhythmical sound in music.</I> adv. <B>rhythmically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmicity">
<B>rhythmicity, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> rhythmic character. <BR> <I>Ex. The rhythmicity of the heart is as much a built-in feature as the anatomical structure of its cells (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmics">
<B>rhythmics, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the science of rhythm and rhythmical structures. <DD><B> 2. </B>exercises done to music, especially as part of a physical education program. </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmist">
<B>rhythmist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who is expert in, or has a fine sense of, rhythm. </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmize">
<B>rhythmize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-mized,</B> <B>-mizing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to put into rhythm. noun <B>rhythmization.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmless">
<B>rhythmless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having no rhythm. </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmmethod">
<B>rhythm method,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a form of birth control involving a period of continence coordinated with the estimated period of ovulation. </DL>
<A NAME="rhythmsticks">
<B>rhythm sticks,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a pair of wooden sticks struck together to beat time, especially in a rhythm band. </DL>
<A NAME="rhytidectomy">
<B>rhytidectomy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> cosmetic surgery to tighten the skin about the face and neck. <BR> <I>Ex. The face-lift (rhytidectomy) corrects pendulous neck skin, wrinkled cheeks and jowls, and softens grooves from mouth to nose (New York Times Magazine).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="rhytidome">
<B>rhytidome, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) the outer bark, consisting of alternating layers of cork and dead cortex. </DL>
<A NAME="rhyton">
<B>rhyton, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ta.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a kind of drinking vessel used in ancient Greece, shaped like a horn and having the form of an animal's head at the lower end. </DL>
