▪ I. ˈrippling, vbl. n.1
[f. ripple v.1]
The action or process of cleaning flax, etc., from seeds.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 434/2 Rypelynge, of flax, or oþer lyke, avulsio. 1660 Howell Parly of Beasts 14 There must be..rippling, braking,..and heckling of Hemp. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 456 When the flax grows crooked, it is more liable to be hurt in the rippling and swingling. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 739 The operation of rippling should be performed as soon as possible after the crops have been pulled. 1846 Sproule Flax 17 The interval between pulling and rippling should not be great. |
b. attrib., as rippling-comb, rippling-machine, rippling-stick.
| c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 545 Swangulstoke, riplingcombe, swyngilwande. 1483 Cath. Angl. 306/2 A Ripplyng stoke. 1721 Kelly Scot. Prov. 95 Every Thing has its time, and so has the Rippling-comb. a 1796 Burns Had I the Wyte? 29 He claw'd her wi' the ripplin-kame. 1837 Flemish Husb. (L.U.K., III.) 44 Drawing the flax through a rippling machine, which is a kind of comb with blunt iron teeth. 1847 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VIII. ii. 375 Four men, with two rippling-combs, will take the seed off rather more than an acre in the day. |
▪ II. ˈrippling, vbl. n.2 rare.
[f. ripple v.2]
A scratch or graze; the action of grazing a surface.
| c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 5750 Yet it hurt not the king, Vnethes but a litle ripling. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Wales Pref., Like a Ball cast down and deaded on a soft Floor,..without the least Ripling or Rebounding. |
▪ III. ˈrippling, vbl. n.3
Also 7–8 ripling, 8 replin(g.
[f. ripple v.3]
1. The formation, or appearance, of ripples on the surface of water; spec. a strong ruffling of the sea caused by conflicting currents or tides.
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. i. 138 The Ship is carried away by unknown Currents,..discovered by their Ripplings. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. 494, I found by the ripling of the Sea, that there was a strong Current against us. 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 299, I took all imaginable precaution to discover any ripling, or discoloured water. 1744 J. Philips Jrnl. Anson's Exped. 30 note, A Replin is a Meeting of two Currents, which creates a cockling in the Sea, and makes it appear like shallow Water. 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 127 Many calms and ripplings of currents. 1820 W. Scoresby Acc. Arc. Regions I. 287 This occasions ripplings in the water. 1850 M{supc}Cosh Div. Govt. iv. ii. (1874) 486 Like the rippling on the surface of a stream made by winds opposed to the current. 1860 Maury Phys. Geogr. (Low) ix. §445 The tiny ripplings of this feeble tide. |
| fig. 1891 Spectator 22 Aug., Agitated by the vivid rippling of all sorts of changeful sympathies. |
2. U.S. = ripple n.3 1.
| 1745 W. Pote Jrnl. Captivity French & Indian War (1896) 55 This Day was foul weather the Greatest part of the Day, and likewise verey bad Paddling, on account of Ripplings and falls. 1751 J. Bartram Observ. Trav. Pennsylv. etc. 47 Half a mile farther we came to a rippling, which carried us with prodigious swiftness down the stream. 1755 L. Evans Middle Brit. Colonies 26 At Hart's Rock, the River [Ohio] makes..a very sharp Rippling, where the Boatmen are obliged to wade and hawl up near the Rocks. 1832 W. D. Williamson Hist. Maine I. 57 Here are ripplings, to avoid which, a canal was cut twenty rods in length. |
3. The sound made by water in motion.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Rippling, a broken and interrupted noise, produced by a current. 1810 Crabbe Borough i. 290 Now walking silent, by the river's side, The ear perceives the rippling of the tide. 1899 Rodway Guiana Wilds 226 In the direction from which the rippling of a stream could be heard. |
▪ IV. ˈrippling, ppl. a.
[f. ripple v.3]
That ripples; flowing in ripples.
| 1670 Boyle Tracts, Bottom of Sea 6 He perceived the Water to make a rippling noise (as the Sea-men call it). 1781 Cowper Anti-Thelyphth. 24 Inconstant as the beams that play On rippling waters in an April day. 1801 Foster in Life & Corr. (1846) I. 133 The rippling course of a rill. 1852 Longfellow Warden of Cinque Ports ii, The red autumn sun..glanced on flowing flag and rippling pennon. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede i. xv, It was not heavy, massive, merely rippling hair, but soft and silken. 1877 L. Morris Epic of Hades ii. 145 Streams Laughed with a rippling music. |
Hence ˈripplingly adv.
| 1844 Fraser's Mag. XXX. 433 A rill which ran ripplingly over the pebbles. |