Meanings
rind1
plural rinds
- Tree bark.
- A hard, tough outer layer, particularly on food such as fruit, cheese, etc.
cheese rind; lemon rind; lime rind
3 more examples
Make sure you don't leave any of the rind on those lemons.
Sweetest nut hath sourest rind.
c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind / With all thy charms, although this corporal rind / Thou hast immanacled.
Comus
1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC - figurativelyrareuncountableusually "the"The gall, the crust, the insolence; often as "the immortal rind"
"I'm hanged if I know how you've got the immortal rind to come at me with a yarn like this."
1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 2184 more examples
Taking the money from a man when he's got his pants down. What are you, a doctor or a tailor's tout? Thirty bucks! If I figured you'd have the rind to touch me that much I'd have lashed them up with a pair of braces!
1939, Roy Forster, Joyous Deliverance, London: Thornton Butterworth, p. 262April 9, 1940. Then one of our RAF customers had the rind to suggest that ‘you women ought to give up smoking for the duration you know’. This, when they have the alternative of smoking pipes which is not open to us, …
1940, Amy Helen Bell (ed.), London Was Ours: Diaries and Memoirs of the London Blitz, 1940-1941, published 2002, Kingston, Ontario: Queen's University, p. 99“Oh?” she said. “So you have decided to revise my guest list for me? You have the nerve, the – the –” I saw she needed helping out. “Audacity,” I said, throwing her the line. “The audacity to dictate to me who I shall have in my house.” It should have been “whom”, but I let it go. “You have the –” “Crust.” “– the immortal rind,” she amended, and I had to admit it was stronger, “to tell me whom” – she got it right that time – “I may entertain at Brinkley Court and who” – wrong again – “I may not.”
1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC[About a football match.] Come the second half and the Trinidadians and Tobagans had the immortal rind to make excursions into the England half, the spectacle of which was deeply offensive to those whose memories extend to those happy days before 1962, when independence was unwisely conferred on this archipelago. Back in those days, a game like this would have presented little anxiety. Any goals scored by the Trinidadians, or Tobagans for that matter, would have been instantly become the property of the Crown and therefore added to England's tally. Glad times – 22 men working together for a common aim. However, such is the insolence of the modern age that these dark fellows dared approach the England penalty box, forelocks untugged, as if demanding instant entry to the Garrick club without having been put up by existing members.
2010, David Stubbs, Send Them Victorious: England's Path to Glory 2006-2010, O Books (Zero Books), p. 12
present singular third person rinds · participle present rinding · participle past rinded · past rinded
- transitiveTo remove the rind from.
rind2
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
rind · noun, verb
- Proto-Indo-European*rem-“to come to rest, support or prop oneself”
- Proto-Germanic*rindō
- Proto-West Germanic*rindā
- Old Englishrind
- Middle Englishrind
- Englishrind
From Middle English rind, rinde, from Old English rind and rinde (“treebark, crust”), from Proto-West Germanic *rindā, from Proto-Germanic *rindō, *rindǭ (“crust, rind”), from Proto-Indo-European *rem- (“to come to rest, support or prop oneself”). Cognate with German Rinde (“bark, rind”). Related to English rand.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek φλοιός, λέπος
- φλοιός (phloiós)tree bark
- λέπος (lépos)hard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- λέπυρον (lépuron)hard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Bulgarian кора, кора
- кора (kora)tree bark
- кора (kora)hard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Catalan crosta, escorça
- crostahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- escorçahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- closcahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- cotnahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Czech kůra, kůra
- kůratree bark
- kůrahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Danish skal, skorpe
- skalhard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- skorpehard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- sværhard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Dutch schil, bast
- schilhard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- basthard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Finnish kuori
- kuorihard outer layer of fruit, cheese
French pelure, croûte
- pelurehard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- croûtehard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- couennehard outer layer of fruit, cheese
German Rinde, Schwarte
- Rindehard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- Schwartehard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Hungarian kéreg, héj
- kéregtree bark
- héjhard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Italian corteccia, buccia
- cortecciatree bark
- bucciahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- crostahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Latin crusta
- crustahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Lithuanian pluta, luoba
- plutahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- luobahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- žievėhard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- žievelėhard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Māori hiako, kiri
- hiakohard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- kirihard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- pehahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- tapehahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Norwegian bark, skorpe
- barkhard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- skorpehard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- svorhard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- skallhard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Polish kora, skóra
- koratree bark
- skórahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- skórkahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- łupinahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Portuguese casca
- cascahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Russian кожура́, ко́рка
- кожура́ (kožurá)hard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- ко́рка (kórka)hard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- ко́жица (kóžica)hard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- шку́рка (škúrka)hard outer layer of fruit, cheese
- параплица (paraplica)an iron support fitting
Scottish Gaelic cairt
- cairthard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Spanish corteza, cáscara
- cortezatree bark
- cáscarahard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Swedish skal
- skalhard outer layer of fruit, cheese
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with rind
Anagrams
Cite this entry
rind. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rind
“rind.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rind. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rind,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rind.
Source: rind on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.