ringlet

English

Etymology

From ring +‎ -let. Compare Middle English ryngyl, ryngyll, rengel (“ringlet”).

Noun

ringlet (plural ringlets)

1. A small ring.
2. A lock, tress.

   Her hair was in ringlets.

   • 1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, pages 53–54:

     For knovv by lot from Jove I am the povvr / Of this fair VVood, and live in Oak'n bovvr, / To nurſe the Saplings tall, and curl the grove / VVith ringlets quaint, and vvanton vvindings vvove.

   • 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:

     She was both beautiful and young to their eyes. Her hair was a rich red in color and fell in flowing ringlets over her shoulders. Her dress was pure white but her eyes were blue, and they looked kindly upon the little girl.

3. (entomology) Any of various butterflies with small rings on the wings, in the tribe Satyrini of the family Nymphalidae, such as Aphantopus hyperantus.

Derived terms

• common ringlet
• Darwin ringlet
• mountain ringlet
• orange ringlet

 

Translations

lock, tress

• Bashkir: бөҙрә (böźrə)
• Bulgarian: къдрица (bg) f (kǎdrica)
• Dutch: pijpenkrul (nl) f
• Esperanto: buklo (eo)
• Finnish: kihara (fi)
• French: boucle (fr) f
• Hungarian: lokni (hu)
• Irish: bachall f, búcla m, drol m, lúibín (ga) m, caschiabh f, fáinne (ga) m, fáinneog f, iodh f, lúb (ga) f
• Italian: ricciolo (it) m
• Japanese: 巻き毛 (ja) (makige)
• Manx: cassag f, kiog f, skiog f
• Maori: urumāwhatu, makawe (mi)
• Ottoman Turkish: پورچك (pürçek), مار (mar)
• Persian: مرغول (fa) (marğul)
• Plautdietsch: Kroll f
• Russian: ло́кон (ru) m (lókon)
• Scottish Gaelic: cuach f, snìomh m, cleachd f, camalag f, dual m, camag f, bachlag f, glib f
• Ukrainian: ку́чер (kúčer), ло́кон (uk) (lókon)

butterfly

• Finnish: heinäperhonen
• Hungarian: ökörszemlepke
• Russian: глазо́к цвето́чный m (glazók cvetóčnyj), глазо́к чёрно-бу́рый m (glazók čórno-búryj)
• Welsh: iâr fach y glaw f

Verb

ringlet (third-person singular simple present ringlets, present participle ringleting, simple past and past participle ringleted)

1. (transitive) To form into ringlets.
   • 1877, Ella Farman, Good-for-nothing Polly, page 163:

     "It's very becoming!" said Pollie coaxingly, taking his curly head, which she had been brushing and ringleting for the last half hour, all damp, into her arms.

2. (transitive) To surround or encircle like a ringlet.
   • 1980, Stephen King, The Mist:

     I think now that if it had gripped me with those suckers, I would have gone out into the mist too. But it didn't. It grabbed Norm. And the third tentacle ringleted his other ankle. Now he was being pulled away from me.

Anagrams

• Giltner, Tingler, tingler, tringle

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

ringlet

1. second-person plural subjunctive I of ringeln