▪ I. rit, n.1 Sc. and north.
Also ritt.
[f. rit v.1]
1. A scratch; a slight incision.
| 1821 Scott Pirate xv, Ye might as weel give it a ritt with the teeth of a redding-kame. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 423 Scratt, a rit. 1900 Shetland News 8 Dec. (E.D.D.), All his sheep had the same mark. It was—on the right ear two rits, and a bit out before. |
2. The rut made by a cart-wheel.
| 1828 in Craven Gloss. 1878 in Cumbld. Gloss. |
▪ II. † rit, n.2
(rɪt)
Slang. abbrev. of ritualist 2. Obs.
| 1878 Oxf. Times 23 Mar. 8/1 On dit that five notoriously ritualistic undergraduates were received into the Church of Rome... Most of these young gentlemen have distinguished themselves in Oxford as Roaring Rits. 1898 A. Cavalier Let. in C. Mackenzie My Life & Times (1963) II. 243 My mater calls me a ‘dirty Rit’. ‘So we've got a Rit in the house, have we.’ 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 209/2 Rit,..a ritualistic clergyman. |
▪ III. rit, n.3 dial.
[Shortened form of ritling: see reckling.]
The smallest and weakest pig of a litter; a ritling. Also transf. of a person.
| 1885 R. Holland Gloss. County of Chester (1886) 288 Rit.., the smallest pig of a litter. Also applied to a puny child. 1940 Manch. Guardian Weekly 15 Mar. 216 We gave special food to the rit of one brood (the little one known in other parts [than Cheshire] as the runt or reckling, and by other names). 1962 Orton & Halliday Survey Eng. Dial. I. i. 279 Q[uestion] What do you call the smallest and weakest pig of the litter?..La[ncashire]..ɹɪt. 1969 Orton & Barry Ibid. II. i. 288 Ch[eshire] ɹɪt... St[affordshire]..ɹɪt. |
▪ IV. rit, v.1 Now Sc. and north.
Forms: 3–6 ritte, 5 rytt, 9 rit(t. pa. tense 4 ritt(e, rytte, 8 ritted. pa. pple. 9 ritted (ritten).
[ME. ritte(n, perh. repr. OE. *rittan, = OHG. rizzan, MHG. and G. ritzen, of the same meaning.]
1. To rip or cut with a sharp instrument; to tear; to scratch; to slit (a sheep's ear).
| c 1300 Havelok 2495 Sket cam a ladde with a knif, And bigan rith at þe to For to ritte, and for to flo. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 479 Þe breche adoun he þrest, He ritt & gan to riȝt. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 5030 Þay..laide to frensche strokes rounde, Þat hure haberkes ritte. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 16807 Many a baly scho ther rittes And many a scheld sche al to-sclittes. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 1954 He made hir oute of hir witte To gnayste, to cry, hir hare to rytt. 1548 Thomas Ital. Dict., Diramare, to ritte, breake, or cut of the braunches from the tree. Ibid., Isuenare, to cutte or to ritte the veines. 1825 Jamieson s.v., Dinna rit the table wi' that nail. 1869 Peacock Lonsdale Gloss., Rit, to make a mark. 1892 G. Stewart Shetland Tales 104 Just as he rits up da fish, oot flees a kittywake. 1894 R. S. Ferguson Hist. Westm. 290 A Herdwick sheep's ear is halved, and quartered,..and ritted into all sorts of patterns. |
b. (See quots. and rut v.)
| 1825 Jamieson s.v., You had better rit the hail length of the ditch, before ye begin. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Rit, to trim or pare the edge of a drain, path, &c. by means of a ritter or ritting-knife. 1878 Cumbld. Gloss., Rit, to cut the first line of a trench or drain, &c., with a spade. |
2. To thrust (a sword) through one. rare—1.
| 17.. Young Johnstone iv. in Child Ballads II. (289) 295 Young Johnstone had a nut-brown sword,..And he ritted it through the young Colnel. |
▪ V. rit, v.2 Kentish dial.
(See quots.)
| c 1700 Kennett in MS. Lansd. 1033, 325 b, Ritting of hemp or flax, Kent, to set up the single shots against walls or hedges till by the wind and sun they are ritted or dried. 1887 Kentish Gloss., Rit, to dry hemp or flax. |
▪ VI. rit
obs. form of right n.1 and adv.