ˈridge-bone
Forms: 1 hrycgbán, 4–5 rugge-, 4–6 rygge-, rigge- (5 ? ragge-), 5–6 rydge-, 5– ridgebone (6 ridg-); also 4 -boon, 5 -boone, 4–5 -bon.
[OE. hrycgbán, = OFris. regben, MDu. rig(ge)-, rug(ge)been (Du. ruggebeen), MLG. ruggebên (LG. rügge-, rügbên), OHG. rukkipein (MHG. rückbein, G. rückenbein), Norw. ryggbein, Sw. -ben, Da. rygben.]
The spine or back-bone. Now rare or Obs. (common c 1380–1610). For northern and Sc. examples, see rig-bone.
| a 1000 Ags. Ps. (Lamb.) xxxi. 4 Ᵹewend ic eom on..yrm⁓ðum minum, þanne tobrocen bið hrycgban. |
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1344 So ryde þay of by resoun bi þe rygge bonez, Euenden to þe haunche. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 383 Perdix..made it i-toþed as a rugge boon of a fische. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 226 A greet boch þat comeþ of þe passioun of þe riggeboon. c 1425 Eng. Conq. Irel. 142 My fyngyr ys gretter than was my faders ryggebone. 1485 Bk. St. Albans f iij b, Than schall ye kyt the skyrtis..And after the Ragge boon cuttis euen also. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health cccxxii. 104 b, The backe bone or the rydge bone the which may have many diseases. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxvii. (1887) 105 It helpeth the ridgebone, by stowping, bending, and coursing about. 1651 Raleigh's Ghost 85 Throughout the whole spine or ridge⁓bone of the back. 1765 J. L. Jackson Riding 7 The rider..sitting with his body erect, his ridge bone answering to the ridge bone of the horse. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth viii, The saddle and the man were girthed on the ridge-bone of a..Flemish mare. |