rice

plural rices

1. uncountableCereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.

   Drought stress causes yield reductions and sometimes total crop failures in rainfed rice areas of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

   1982, International Rice Research Institute, Drought Resistance in Crops with Emphasis on Rice

   2 more examples

   Rice is a tropical plant; yet Carolina and Georgia grow the finest in the world; heavier grained, better filled, and more merchantable, than any imported into Europe from the Indies.

   1831, Daniel Jay Browne, The Naturalist, volume 1, page 375

   Rice transformed with genes encoding human CYP1a1, CYP2B6, and CYP2C19 are more tolerant of various herbicides than non-transgenic rice plants, due to increased metabolism by the introduced P450 enzymes [Kawwahigashi et al. 2005a, 2007, 2008; James et al. 2008].

   2014, V. S. Rao, Transgenic Herbicide Resistance in Plants

2. countableA specific variety of this plant.

   The rices of Kashmír are infinite in variety. In one tahsíl I have found fifty-three varieties.

   1895, Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmír

   2 more examples

   First, we have the Italian rices; secondly, the rices of the French colonies of Indo-China and Madagascar, which are beginning to cultivate rices of very fine quality, altogether superior to those that were cultivated only a few years back.

   1922 April 28, L. Humbert, “America Has Hard Competition in France”, in Rice Journal and Southern Farmer, volume 25, number 4

   For commercial purposes, the rices are classified according to the kernel length as short-grain, medium-grain, longgrain and long-slender-grain.

   2000, R.K Singh, U.S. Singh, G.S. Khush, editors, Aromatic Rices

3. uncountableThe seeds of this plant used as food.

   In Britain too rice is reputed to increase the sexual faculties.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 207

   3 more examples

   Mold boiled rice, when hot, in cups which have been previously dipped in cold water; when cold, turn them out on a flat dish, arranging them uniformly; then with a tea-spoon scoop out a little of the rice from the top of each cone, and put in its place any kind of jelly.

   1881, Mary Foote Henderson, Practical Cooking and Dinner Giving

   In sum, when a modern Japanese family and its members sit around the supper table eating their bowls of Japanese-grown rice, they are not simply indulging a gastronomic preference for short-grained and slightly sticky japonica rice over long-grained indica rice from Thailand.

   1998, Noreen G. Dowling, Sustainability of Rice in the Global Food System

   On the festival day, rice is cooked together with this rice knot above.

   2010, S. D. Sharma, Rice: Origin, Antiquity and History

   1. countableuncountableThe seeds of wild rice, used as food.

      We shoot bows and arrows. We hunt, fish, paddle canoes, have war dances, ride horses, run, jump, gather rice, gather berries, throw spears, rock cradles, worship the Great Spirit, grind corn, have council meetings, and perform dozens of other activities that Indians do.

      1933, Roy J. McMurray, The Journal of Health and Physical Education, volume 4, number October 1933, page 48

4. ethnichumorousslangsluruncountableThe types of automobile modifications characteristic of a rice burner.
5. countableslanguncountablecomputingAn instance of customization of a user interface.

   This is my first rice!

present singular third person rices · participle present ricing · participle past riced · past riced

1. transitiveTo squeeze through a ricer; to mash or make into rice-sized pieces (especially potatoes).

   Following ricing, the potato mash proceeds to the drum drier where flaking is done.

   1961, Potato Chipper, volume 21, page 88

   2 more examples

   Riced Potato. Have a flat dish and the colander hot. With a spoon, rub mashed potato through the colander on to the hot dish.

   1881, Maria Parloa, Miss Parloa's New Cook Book: A Guide to Marketing and Cooking

   Last night I riced the potatoes and added in the cream and butter while they were hot, so today wll we have to do is add flour and roll them out.

   2015, Lorna Seilstad, As Love Blooms (The Gregory Sisters Book #3): A Novel

2. intransitiveTo harvest wild rice (Zizania spp.)

   As it was, the Indian seldom bothered to harvest wild rice on public waters after opening day of the ricing season.

   2002, David Laursen, A Capital Place: Reminiscences of a Sandy Lake Boyhood

   2 more examples

   In northern Minnesota the whites have invented the verb "to rice," and speak of "ricing," i. e., harvesting the crop of wild rice.

   1894, John Merle Coulter, Botanical Gazette, page 505

   When ricing, the Ojibway dress warmly at first; by midday they may shed some clothes as harvest toil combines with the hot sun of late summer to warm them.

   1988, Thomas Vennum, Wild rice and the Ojibway people

3. rareTo throw rice at a person (usually at a wedding).

   The couple was well riced and sent on their way.

   2002, Helen Argers, The Gilded Lily

   2 more examples

   So far as I can make out, the idiotic function of “ricing” English brides and bridegrooms is not twenty years old.

   1886 July 24, “Echoes of the Week”, in The Illustrated London News, volume 89, page 90

   As the reception ended the two newlyweds were riced to death and fled into an awaiting getaway car and drove off...followed by a stream of tin cans.

   2006, Timothy Lee, Billy: A Gay Trilogy

4. transitivecomputingTo customize the user interface of a computer system, e.g. a desktop environment. (derived from rice out)

plural rices · alternative rise

1. IrelandScotlanddialectalA twig or stick.

   Another form of dead-hedge is the stake-and-rice, and it is formed of the branches of forest trees; and where these are plentiful and thorns scarce, it is an economical dead fence.

   1851, Henry Stephens, The Book of the Farm, volume 1

   2 more examples

   To guard the bank from the impression of the water, a fence, OF STAKE AND RICE, may be made along the bottom of it next the sea, which will last till the surface on that side is sufficiently swarded, and the mound properly consolidated.

   1834, John Johnstone, A systematic treatise on the theory and practice of draining land

   "Gilbert White, the well-known naturalist, in a letter dated Selborne, Oct. 4th, 1775, says, 'Our people here, you know, call coppice-wood or hedge-wood rice or rise. Is this word still in use in that neighbourhood? And is it also known in Surrey?"

   1881 July 16, Notes and Queries (6), volume 6

2. obsoletebusinessA bobbin or spool.

   Swift (rice) Skein holder, hank holder.

   1977, Marianne Straub, Hand weaving and cloth design

   2 more examples

   […] taken unlawfully from the same house five "machines called 'Engine-Weaving Loomes' worth thirty pounds, and two ounces of silke worth five shillings, and two joynt-stooles worth three shillings, and a pair of 'Rices to wind silke on' worth four shillings […]

   1892, John Cordy Jeaffreson, editor, Middlesex County Records, volume 4

   The hanks are placed upon light, collapsible hexagon reels termed rices, which are easily lifted out of their position for the reception of the hank.

   1895, Richard Marsden, Cotton Weaving: Its Development, Principles, and Practice

plural Rices · alternative Rise · alternative Wrice

1. countableuncountableA surname from Welsh [in turn originating as a patronymic].

   For a micromoon and Friday the 13th full moon to occur together is extraordinarily rare. The last time it happened was in 1832 and it won't happen again for more than 500 years according to Tony Rice, a meteorologist and engineer at NASA.

   2019 September 13, Matthew Cappucci, “For the first time in 13 years, a full moon rises this Friday the 13th”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 29 Oct 2020

   1 more example

   This past weekend, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach set off a firestorm with his full-page ad in the New York Times accusing National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice of turning a blind eye to the Rwandan genocide when she was on President Bill Clinton’s national security team in the 1990s.

   2015 March 4, Jill Jacobs, “Shmuley Boteach isn’t ‘America’s rabbi’”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2023

2. A number of places in the United States:
   1. countableuncountableA former town in the Rice Valley, San Bernardino County, California.
   2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Cloud County, Kansas.
   3. countableuncountableA city in Benton County, Minnesota.
   4. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Putnam County, Ohio.
   5. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Wasco County, Oregon, named after Horace Rice.
   6. countableuncountableA minor city in Navarro County, Texas, named after William Marsh Rice.
   7. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Prince Edward County, Virginia.
   8. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Stevens County, Washington, named after William B. Rice.
   9. countableuncountableA number of townships in the United States, listed under Rice Township.

1. abbreviationacronymuncountablemedicineAcronym of rest, ice, compression, elevation (“a treatment method for soft-tissue injuries”).

   The RICE method is a simple self-care technique that aims to reduce swelling, ease pain, and speed up healing.

   2024 April 24, Amy Gopal, Shelly Shepard, “RICE Method for Injuries”, in WebMD

   1 more example

   The care manager greeted Beth and Jim as they prepared to leave, […] and offered to give them brochures about RICE and physical therapy […] After the RICE therapy, Dr. Meredith recommended rehab for strengthening the ankle so that Beth could return to her physical fitness […]

   2017, Ida Critelli Schick, edited by Laurinda Beebe Harman and Frances H. Cornelius, Ethical Health Informatics: Challenges and Opportunities, 3rd edition, Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning, →ISBN, page 277

2. abbreviationacronymuncountablemedicineAcronym of rest, immobilization, cold, elevation (“a treatment method for soft-tissue injuries”).
3. abbreviationacronymuncountablechemistryAcronym of reaction, initial, change, equilibrium (“a tabular system for keeping track of changing concentrations in an equilibrium reaction”).
4. abbreviationacronymuncountablebusinessAcronym of reciprocating internal combustion engine.