2. To fall into perplexity and confusion. [Obs.]

Till, by their own perplexities involved, They ravel more, still less resolved.

Milton.

3. To make investigation or search, as by picking out the threads of a woven pattern. [Obs.]

The humor of raveling into all these mystical or entangled matters.

Sir W. Temple.

Rav"el*er (-r), n. [Also raveller.] One who ravels.

Rave"lin (rv"ln; 277), n. [F.; cf. Sp. rebellin, It. revellino, rivellino; perhaps fr. L. re- again + vallum wall.] (Fort.) A detached work with two embankments which make a salient angle. It is raised before the curtain on the counterscarp of the place. Formerly called demilune, and half-moon.

Rav"el*ing (rv"'l*ng), n. [Also ravelling.] 1. The act of untwisting or of disentangling.

2. That which is raveled out; esp., a thread detached from a texture.

Ra"ven (r"v'n), n. [AS. hræfn; akin to D. raaf, G. rabe, OHG. hraban, Icel. hrafn, Dan. ravn, and perhaps to L. corvus, Gr. ko`rax. √19.] (Zoöl.) A large black passerine bird (Corvus corax), similar to the crow, but larger. It is native of the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America, and is noted for its sagacity.

Sea raven (Zoöl.), the cormorant.

Ra"ven, a. Of the color of the raven; jet black; as, raven curls; raven darkness.

Rav"en (rv"'n), n. [OF. raviné impetuosity, violence, F. ravine ravine. See Ravine, Rapine.] [Written also ravin, and ravine.] 1. Rapine; rapacity. Ray.

2. Prey; plunder; food obtained by violence.

Rav"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ravened (-'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Ravening.] [Written also ravin, and ravine.]

1. To obtain or seize by violence. Hakewill.

2. To devour with great eagerness.

Like rats that ravin down their proper bane.

Shak.

Rav"en, v. i. To prey with rapacity; to be greedy; to show rapacity. [Written also ravin, and ravine.]

Benjamin shall raven as a wolf.

Gen. xlix. 27.

||Rav`e*na"la (rv`*nä"l), n. [Malagasy.] (Bot.) A genus of plants ||related to the banana.

Ravenala Madagascariensis, the principal species, is an unbranched tree with immense oarlike leaves growing alternately from two sides of the stem. The sheathing bases of the leafstalks collect and retain rain water, which flows freely when they are pierced with a knife, whence the plant is called traveler's tree.

Rav"en*er (rv"'n*r), n. 1. One who, or that which, ravens or plunders. Gower.

2. A bird of prey, as the owl or vulture. [Obs.] Holland.

Rav"en*ing, n. Eagerness for plunder; rapacity; extortion. Luke xi. 39.

Rav"en*ing, a. Greedily devouring; rapacious; as, ravening wolves. -- Rav"en*ing*ly, adv.

Rav"en*ous (rv"'n*s), a. [From 2d Raven.] 1. Devouring with rapacious eagerness; furiously voracious; hungry even to rage; as, a ravenous wolf or vulture.

2. Eager for prey or gratification; as, a ravenous appetite or desire.

-- Rav"en*ous*ly, adv. -- Rav"en*ous*ness, n.

Ra"ven's-duck` (r"v'nz-dk`), n. [Cf. G. ravenstuch.] A fine quality of sailcloth. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Rav"er (rv"r), n. One who raves.

Rav"in (rv"'n), a. Ravenous. [Obs.] Shak.

{ Rav"in, Rav"ine } (rv"'n), n. [See 2d Raven.] Food obtained by violence; plunder; prey; raven. "Fowls of ravyne." Chaucer.

Though Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shrieked against his creed.

Tennyson.

{ Rav"in, Rav"ine, } v. t. & i. See Raven, v. t. & i.

Ra*vine" (r*vn"), n. [F., a place excavated by a torrent, a ravine, fr. ravir to snatch or tear away, L. rapere; cf. L. rapina rapine. See Ravish, and cf. Rapine, Raven prey.] 1. A torrent of water. [Obs.] Cotgrave.

2. A deep and narrow hollow, usually worn by a stream or torrent of water; a gorge; a mountain cleft.

Rav"ing (rv"ng), a. Talking irrationally and wildly; as, a raving lunatic. -- Rav"ing*ly, adv.

Rav"ish (rv"sh), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ravished (-sht); p. pr. & vb. n. Ravishing.] [OE. ravissen, F. ravir, fr. L. rapere to snatch or tear away, to ravish. See Rapacious, Rapid, and - ish.] 1. To seize and carry away by violence; to snatch by force.

These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin Will quicken, and accuse thee.

Shak.

This hand shall ravish thy pretended right.

Dryden.

2. To transport with joy or delight; to delight to ecstasy. "Ravished . . . for the joy." Chaucer.

Thou hast ravished my heart.

Cant. iv. 9.

3. To have carnal knowledge of (a woman) by force, and against her consent; to rape. Shak.

Syn. -- To transport; entrance; enrapture; delight; violate; deflour; force.

Rav"ish*er (-r), n. One who ravishes (in any sense).

Rav"ish*ing, a. Rapturous; transporting.

Rav"ish*ing*ly, adv. In a ravishing manner.

Rav"ish*ment (-ment), n. [F. ravissement. See Ravish.] 1. The act of carrying away by force or against consent; abduction; as, the ravishment of children from their parents, of a ward from his guardian, or of a wife from her husband. Blackstone.

2. The state of being ravished; rapture; transport of delight; ecstasy. Spenser.

In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.

Milton.

3. The act of ravishing a woman; rape.

Rav"is*sant (rv"s*snt), a. [F.] (Her.) In a half-raised position, as if about to spring on prey.

<! p. 1193 pr=vmg !>

Raw (r), a. [Compar. Rawer (-r); superl. Rawest.] [AS. hreáw; akin to D. raauw, LG. rau, G. roh, OHG. r, Icel. hrr, Dan. raa, Sw. rå, L. crudus, Gr. kre`as flesh, Skr. kravis raw flesh. &radic;18. Cf. Crude, Cruel.] 1. Not altered from its natural state; not prepared by the action of heat; as, raw sienna; specifically, not cooked; not changed by heat to a state suitable for eating; not done; as, raw meat.

2. Hence: Unprepared for use or enjoyment; immature; unripe; unseasoned; inexperienced; unpracticed; untried; as, raw soldiers; a raw recruit.

Approved himself to the raw judgment of the multitude.

De Quincey.

3. Not worked in due form; in the natural state; untouched by art; unwrought. Specifically: (a) Not distilled; as, raw water. [Obs.] Bacon. (b) Not spun or twisted; as, raw silk or cotton. (c) Not mixed or diluted; as, raw spirits. (d) Not tried; not melted and strained; as, raw tallow. (e) Not tanned; as, raw hides. (f) Not trimmed, covered, or folded under; as, the raw edge of a piece of metal or of cloth.

4. Not covered; bare. Specifically: (a) Bald. [Obs.] "With skull all raw." Spenser (b) Deprived of skin; galled; as, a raw sore. (c) Sore, as if by being galled.

And all his sinews waxen weak and raw Through long imprisonment.

Spenser.

5. Disagreeably damp or cold; chilly; bleak; as, a raw wind. "A raw and gusty day." Shak.

Raw material, material that has not been subjected to a (specified) process of manufacture; as, ore is the raw material used in smelting; leather is the raw material of the shoe industry. -- Raw pig, cast iron as it comes from the smelting furnace.

Raw, n. A raw, sore, or galled place; a sensitive spot; as, to touch one on the raw.

Like savage hackney coachmen, they know where there is a raw.

De Quincey.

Raw"bone` (r"bn`), a. Rawboned. [Obs.] Spenser.

Raw"boned` (-bnd`), a. Having little flesh on the bones; gaunt. Shak.

Raw"head` (r"hd`), n. A specter mentioned to frighten children; as, rawhead and bloodybones.

Raw"hide` (r"hd`), n. A cowhide, or coarse riding whip, made of untanned (or raw) hide twisted.

Raw"ish, a. Somewhat raw. [R.] Marston.

Raw"ly, adv. 1. In a raw manner; unskillfully; without experience.

2. Without proper preparation or provision. Shak.

Raw"ness, n. The quality or state of being raw.

Ray (r), v. t. [An aphetic form of array; cf. Beray.] 1. To array. [Obs.] Sir T. More.

2. To mark, stain, or soil; to streak; to defile. [Obs.] "The filth that did it ray." Spenser.

Ray, n. Array; order; arrangement; dress. [Obs.]

And spoiling all her gears and goodly ray.

Spenser.

Ray, n. [OF. rai, F. rais, fr. L. radius a beam or ray, staff, rod, spoke of a wheel. Cf. Radius.] 1. One of a number of lines or parts diverging from a common point or center, like the radii of a circle; as, a star of six rays.

2. (Bot.) A radiating part of a flower or plant; the marginal florets of a compound flower, as an aster or a sunflower; one of the pedicels of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius. See Radius.

3. (Zoöl.) (a) One of the radiating spines, or cartilages, supporting the fins of fishes. (b) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.

4. (Physics) (a) A line of light or heat proceeding from a radiant or reflecting point; a single element of light or heat propagated continuously; as, a solar ray; a polarized ray. (b) One of the component elements of the total radiation from a body; any definite or limited portion of the spectrum; as, the red ray; the violet ray. See Illust. under Light.

5. Sight; perception; vision; -- from an old theory of vision, that sight was something which proceeded from the eye to the object seen.

All eyes direct their rays On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze.

Pope.

6. (Geom.) One of a system of diverging lines passing through a point, and regarded as extending indefinitely in both directions. See Half-ray.

Bundle of rays. (Geom.) See Pencil of rays, below. -- Extraordinary ray (Opt.), that one of two parts of a ray divided by double refraction which does not follow the ordinary law of refraction. -- Ordinary ray (Opt.), that one of the two parts of a ray divided by double refraction which follows the usual or ordinary law of refraction. -- Pencil of rays (Geom.), a definite system of rays. -- Ray flower, or Ray floret (Bot.), one of the marginal flowers of the capitulum in such composite plants as the aster, goldenrod, daisy, and sunflower. They have an elongated, strap-shaped corolla, while the corollas of the disk flowers are tubular and five-lobed. -- Ray point (Geom.), the common point of a pencil of rays. -- Röntgen ray (rnt"gn) (Phys.), a kind of ray generated in a very highly exhausted vacuum tube by the electrical discharge. It is capable of passing through many bodies opaque to light, and producing photographic and fluorescent effects by which means pictures showing the internal structure of opaque objects are made, called radiographs, or sciagraphs.. So called from the discoverer, W. C. Röntgen. -- X ray, the Röntgen ray; -- so called by its discoverer because of its enigmatical character, x being an algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity.