▪ I. ‖ reis1, n. pl.
(reɪs)
Now Hist. Forms: 6 reyes, 6–7 reys, 8 rayes, 7–9 reis; 7–9 rees, 8 rez, 8–9 res, reas. sing. 8 re, 8–9 ree, 9 rea, rei.
[a. Pg. reis pl.; the correct sing. is real (see real n.1), of which the normal pl. would be reaes.]
A former Portuguese money of account of very small value (equal c 1906 to about one-twentieth of a penny in Portugal and one-fortieth in Brazil), of which one thousand formed a milreis. (In India the rea was latterly the four-hundredth part of a rupee.)
| 1555 Eden Decades 348 Alowynge to hym in pension seuen hundreth reys monethly. marg. Seuen hundreth reys are .x.s. 1598 W. Phillip tr. Linschoten (1864) 165 The Cooper hath three Duckets a moneth, and 3900 Reyes fraught. 1662 J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 107 The Order there is to sell them at 400 Reis. 1691 Locke Lower. Interest Wks. 1727 II. 59 In Portugal they count their Money by Reys, a very small, or rather imaginary Coin. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 207, 60 Rees make a Tango. 1720 Lond. Gaz. No. 5911/1 The King of Portugal has..laid a Tax of 200 Reas (in English Money about 13 Pence Half⁓penny) per Pound upon all Sugar. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. App. 6 Their Accounts [at Bombay] are kept by Rayes and Rupees. [Cf. Yule & Burnell Anglo-Ind. Gloss. (1886) s.v., Accounts were kept at Bombay in rupees, quarters, and reas,down at least to November, 1834.] 1872 Mark Twain Innoc. Abr. v. 35 The Portuguese pennies or reis (pronounced rays) are prodigious. It takes one thousand reis to make a dollar. |
| sing. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Ree, a Portuguese Coin, of which 40 make 1 Ryal or 6 Pence in English Money. 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Money, The good baruco is equal to a Portuguese ree. 1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master v. 100 note, A rea is the lowest coin in India. 1875 Jevons Money xiv. 184 The Portuguese unit of account, called the rei, is worth only about the nineteenth part of an English penny, and is probably the smallest unit in the world. |
▪ II. ‖ reis2, rais
(raɪs)
Also 6 raiz, reiz, 7–8 reys.
[a. Arab. raﻋīs (also raﻋis and rāﻋis) chief, f. rās head: hence also F. réis, raïs, Pg. arraes, arrais, Sp. arraez.]
1. The captain of a boat or vessel.
| 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. vii, The Rais and Azappis of the gallies. Ibid. xvii, A Raiz of the gallie and a Ianissarie. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 291 The Reiz, or Captaines of the Gallies. 1753 Scots Mag. XV. 16/1 A rais, that is the captain of a corsair. 1775 R. Chandler Trav. Asia M. (1825) I. 56 The rais was an obstinate hairy savage. 1845 Mem. Lady H. Stanhope I. 269 He then was entitled fully to the rank of Räis Hassan, or Captain Hassan. 1863 Petherick Trav. in Afr. 4 May (1869) I. 322 The reis of our nugger came overland to the ‘Kathleen’. 1886 Sir C. W. Wilson Fr. Korti to Khartum 137 The reis or pilot with his assistants, who navigated the ship. |
2. A chief or governor.
| 1678 J. Phillips tr. Tavernier's Trav. i. v. 228 In every Village or Borough there is a Reis, or chief of the place. 1849 E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 62 When he found himself degraded from his position of Rais, or Chief Amir. |
b. Hist. Reis Effendi, the title of an officer of state in the former Turkish empire, who acted as chancellor and minister of foreign affairs.
| 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2301/1 Solyman immediately sent before to Constantinople, the Testerdar and Reys Effendi, with the Seal and Standard of Mahomet. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) II. x. iv. 240 The reys effendi represented, that the season was too far advanced. 1819 T. Hope Anastasius (1820) I. iv. 77 The conference between a certain Embassador and the Reïs Effendee would produce a new war. |