Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Ruby   /rˈubi/   Listen
Ruby

noun
(pl. rubies)
1.
A transparent piece of ruby that has been cut and polished and is valued as a precious gem.
2.
A transparent deep red variety of corundum; used as a gemstone and in lasers.
3.
A deep and vivid red color.  Synonyms: crimson, deep red.



Related searches:



WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Ruby" Quotes from Famous Books



... was then, towards the close of that wedding ceremony, that Sir Jacques suddenly made up his mind what should be the words graven inside what he intended should be his wedding gift to Rose Blake—that gift was a fine old-fashioned ruby ring, the only one of his mother's jewels he possessed, and the words he then chose in his own mind were those of the Psalmist, "O well is thee, and happy ...
— Good Old Anna • Marie Belloc Lowndes

... line of cabs and omnibuses that stood outside the I.B.&Q. depot was a Despardoux car, dazzling the eye with brass, and reflecting the passing throng in the deep, ruby, red of its highly polished surface. Its only occupant was Miss Grace Sinclair, suffocating in a leather coat, and with her shy, pretty face well concealed behind an automobile mask. At the side of the car, neatly pinned to one of the long rawhide baskets, was the following invitation ...
— The Motormaniacs • Lloyd Osbourne

... very sweet voice, in which she sings (unaided by instrumental music, and seated on a chair in the middle of the room) the artless ballads of her native country. I had the pleasure of hearing the 'Bonnets of Bonny Dundee' and 'Jack of Hazeldean' from her ruby lips two evenings since; not indeed for the first time in my life, but never from such a pretty little singer. Though both ladies speak our language with something of the tone usually employed by the inhabitants of the northern part of Britain, their accent is exceedingly pleasant, ...
— The Newcomes • William Makepeace Thackeray

... his bosom. His gown was fastened by a sash of black silk net-work, in which, instead of a poniard, or sword, was stuck a silver case, containing writing materials and a roll of parchment. The only ornament of his apparel consisted in a large ruby of uncommon brilliancy, which, when he approached the light, seemed to glow with such liveliness, as if the gem itself had emitted the rays which it only reflected back. To the offer of refreshment, the stranger replied, ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume XIII, No. 370, Saturday, May 16, 1829. • Various

... the various occurrences of the afternoon. She was sorry for the man in the tree; she was sorry that the agent for the Royal Ruby grape had been obliged to go away; and I had a good deal of trouble during dinner to make her see things in the proper light. But I succeeded ...
— Rudder Grange • Frank R. Stockton

... a jewel, and as such she is known by the family in general which recalls to my mind an interesting biennial custom which was said to hold good in the Manwell family. Every time a lesser jewel made its appearance, the mother-jewel was presented with a diamond and ruby ornament of varying magnificence, with the words "The price of a good woman is far above rubies" conveniently ...
— The Professional Aunt • Mary C.E. Wemyss

... bromide paper is that it must be handled in a dark-room. But this objection is not as serious as it may seem. An ordinary living room at night furnishes a delightful place in which to make prints, if we handle our solutions with reasonable care. The ruby glass can be removed from the dark-room lamp, and the orange glass used alone. But in this case, as indeed with the ruby light, care must be taken to guard against too much light. Development should be conducted ...
— Bromide Printing and Enlarging • John A. Tennant

... had not been forgotten, as a visit to the lady's home quickly proved. He was royally entertained, and the lady's husband insisted upon presenting him with a ruby scarf pin, doing so in the names of both his wife and his ...
— The Boy from the Ranch - Or Roy Bradner's City Experiences • Frank V. Webster

... of one single ruby made into a cup, about half a foot high, an inch thick, and filled with round pearls of half a drachm each. 2. The skin of a serpent, whose scales were as bright as an ordinary piece of gold, and had the virtue ...
— The Junior Classics, V5 • Edited by William Patten

... a splendid King with a Ruby Crown. The Princess was delighted, for, as of course you have guessed, he was the real King ...
— The Great Red Frog • Mosnar Yendis (AKA Sidney Ransom)

... is the wretch! I sought not, Last night, to my reverie sold, Its ruby circle! I thought not Of glimmering ...
— Enamels and Cameos and other Poems • Theophile Gautier

... slipped into the lane through a narrow back gate. It seemed to Mollie that the darkness fell like a curtain, so quickly did it come dropping down. High up above the trees they could see the red lantern shining in the dusk like a glowing ruby; the air was growing chilly, and all the warm bright colours were fading into a dull uniform grey, when suddenly out of the shadowy dimness there leapt a dark form—a form with a bushy ...
— The Happy Adventurers • Lydia Miller Middleton

... golden at the top, And rounded as a poet's silver rhyme; The mellow days are ruby ripe, that drop One after one into the lap ...
— The Coming of the Princess and Other Poems • Kate Seymour Maclean

... a queen That sees what my love hath seen?— The blood of little children shed To make one royal ruby red! Then, tell me, music, why the great For quarrelling trumpets abdicate This ...
— The Lord of Misrule - And Other Poems • Alfred Noyes

... not from the rose-cheek of the maiden, nor refused the touch of the ruby lip; but they loved her too well to sully by one wronging thought the tender confidence of perfect innocence, or cause her guileless heart a single pang. For womanhood was ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. IV. October, 1863, No. IV. - Devoted to Literature and National Policy. • Various

... exclaimed Laura, as the Capo di Rosso glowed in the sun with all the beauty of a fabulous ruby. "Are you ...
— A Splendid Hazard • Harold MacGrath

... Mosaic Painting, Encaustic Tile Bodies, Body Stains, Coloured Dips — Glazes. China Glazes, Ironstone Glazes, Earthenware Glazes, Glazes without Lead, Miscellaneous Glazes, Coloured Glazes, Majolica Colours — Gold and Gold Colours. Gold, Purple of Cassius, Marone and Ruby, Enamel Coloured Bases, Enamel Colour Fluxes, Enamel Colours, Mixed Enamel Colours, Antique and Vellum Enamel Colours, Underglaze Colours, Underglaze Colour Fluxes, Mixed Underglaze Colours, Flow ...
— The Dyeing of Woollen Fabrics • Franklin Beech

... an appetite fresh and hearty, But I was, as many young barristers are, An impecunious party. I'd a swallow-tail coat of a beautiful blue— A brief which I bought of a booby— A couple of shirts and a collar or two, And a ring that looked like a ruby! ...
— Bab Ballads and Savoy Songs • W. S. Gilbert

... the press-gang had set his heart on this youth (so had another individual, of whom more anon!) but the youth, whose name was Ruby Brand, happened to have an old mother who was at that time in very bad health, and she had also set her heart, poor body, on the youth, and entreated him to stay at home just for one half-year. Ruby willingly consented, and from that time forward ...
— The Lighthouse • R.M. Ballantyne

... walls which spread out indefinitely, its gardens, blue waters, flaxen plains, and the mountains. Did he pause on the steps at sunset, the two harbours, rounded cup-shape, shone, rimmed by the quays, like lenses of ruby. To the left, the Lake of Tunis, stirless, without a ripple, as rich in ethereal lights as a Venetian lagoon, radiated in ever-altering sheens, delicate and splendid. In front, across the bay, dotted with the sails ...
— Saint Augustin • Louis Bertrand

... a time should come when he desireth to go thus into the world behold! here is a ring set with a very precious ruby; let him bring that ring to me or to any of our sons wheresoever he may find us, and by that ring we shall know that he is my son and their brother, and we will receive him with ...
— The Story of the Champions of the Round Table • Howard Pyle

... opening a closet, the guide produced an old iron helmet, which had been found in a tomb where a knight had been buried in his armor; and three gold rings and one brass one, taken out of the graves, and off the finger-bones of mediaeval archbishops,—one of them with a ruby set in it; and two silver-gilt chalices, also treasures of the tombs; and a wooden head, carved in human likeness, and painted to the life, likewise taken from a grave where an archbishop was supposed to have been buried. They found ...
— Passages From the English Notebooks, Complete • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... warmth has left the sky, The summer songs have died away; And, withered, in the footpaths lie The fallen leaves, but yesterday With ruby and with topaz gay. ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

... made answer, and lifting up his chin, displayed a circle round the neck brighter in colour than the ruby. "The marks of martyrdom," he continued, "are our insignia of honour. Fisher and I have the purple collar, as Friar Forrest and Cranmer have ...
— Colloquies on Society • Robert Southey

... peece of Earth: That I am meeke and gentle with these Butchers. Thou art the Ruines of the Noblest man That euer liued in the Tide of Times. Woe to the hand that shed this costly Blood. Ouer thy wounds, now do I Prophesie, (Which like dumbe mouthes do ope their Ruby lips, To begge the voyce and vtterance of my Tongue) A Curse shall light vpon the limbes of men; Domesticke Fury, and fierce Ciuill strife, Shall cumber all the parts of Italy: Blood and destruction shall be so in vse, ...
— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare

... ring is a diamond and a ruby, or a diamond and a sapphire, set at right angles or diagonally. Bangles with the bridal monogram set in jewels are very pretty, and a desirable ornament for the bridesmaids' gifts, serving as a memento and a particularly neat ornament. ...
— Manners and Social Usages • Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood

... throat brilliant green. This species saddles its nest upon branches often at heights of 20 or 30 feet from the ground. They are made of plant down and generally decorated with lichens on the outside, similar to nests of the Ruby-throat. The two white ...
— The Bird Book • Chester A. Reed

... King a ruby of such a glowing red that it was as though the souls of all the grapes of Burgundy had been pressed to ...
— Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard • Eleanor Farjeon

... and ruby glowing Was the fair palace door, Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing, And sparkling evermore, A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty Was but to sing, In voices of surpassing beauty, The wit and ...
— Poets of the South • F.V.N. Painter

... coat of light blue, trimmed with white and black, bearing his crest jauntily atop of his head, the blue jay presents an attractive picture. And, indeed, although I myself feel that the Baltimore oriole, the scarlet tanager, the ruby-throated hummingbird, and many of the wood warblers carry off the palm for brilliancy of plumage, there are persons who declare that the jay is the most handsomely colored bird in our ...
— Our Bird Comrades • Leander S. (Leander Sylvester) Keyser

... door appeared now a lady of slim, graceful form, in a toilet of the greatest elegance, her head decorated with feathers, flowers, and lace, her cheeks highly painted, and her fine ruby lips encircled by a pert, and at the same time a mocking smile, which displayed two rows of the finest teeth. With this smile upon her lips she moved forward with a light and spirited step, turning ...
— Marie Antoinette And Her Son • Louise Muhlbach

... There was none even of that flying hue which is supposed to be intended when a woman is called a brunette. When she first came to Croker's Hall, health produced no variation. Nor did any such come quickly; though before she had lived there a year and a half, now and again a slight tinge of dark ruby would show itself on her cheek, and then vanish almost quicker than it had come. Mr Whittlestaff, when he would see this, would be almost beside himself ...
— An Old Man's Love • Anthony Trollope

... sitting by the side of that dainty damsel, looking so spoonily into her deep blue eyes, playing so daintily with her golden curls, sucking honey so frequently from her ruby lips, beware! beware! BEWARE! Remember, when she wants stamps, you can't put her off as your pa did your ma. You can't say, "Business is awful dull," because she'll do the business, and make you her book-keeper or porter ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 2, No. 29, October 15, 1870 • Various

... flew back again, flashed out again, and again withdrew. Then the snake's body flashed out after it, and melted on the moonlit air. Another, and another, and another. Then a low roaring noise, and all the windows of the basement shone out ruby-coloured, and the moon looked bleared ...
— Bulldog And Butterfly - From "Schwartz" by David Christie Murray • David Christie Murray

... of sympathy in Clym's tone that Eustacia slowly drew up her sleeve and disclosed her round white arm. A bright red spot appeared on its smooth surface, like a ruby on Parian marble. ...
— The Return of the Native • Thomas Hardy

... the shade again and looked out. The mountain was bathed in a wonderful ruby light fading into amethyst, and all the path between was many-colored like a pavement of jewels set in filigree. While she looked the picture changed, glowed, softened, and changed again, making her think of the chapter about the ...
— A Voice in the Wilderness • Grace Livingston Hill

... plundered the city and broke the idols, sending Jug Sum to Ghazni, where he was soon stripped of his ornaments. He then ordered his head to be struck off and his body to be thrown on the highway. According to the account of the historian Hago Mahomet of Kandahar, there was a ruby found in one of the temples which weighed four ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 5 • Various

... the sons of Rome drink wine as their national daily beverage. The Anglo-Saxons and Germans drink it in the same way as the Romans of the second century B.C., on formal occasions, or as a medicine. When you see at an European or American table the gold or the ruby of the fair liquor gleaming in the glasses, remember that this is another inheritance from the Roman Empire and an ultimate effect of the victories of Rome; that probably we should drink different ...
— Characters and events of Roman History • Guglielmo Ferrero

... used by artists; in the fourth case (10) are the sulphurets of silver, the beautiful crystallised sulphurets of antimony, chiefly from Transylvania, and the delicate plumose antimony, or feather ore; in the fifth case (11) are the sulphur salts, including the ruby, silver, &c.; and in the sixth case (12) are the sulphurets of Arsenic, red orpiment, of which the best comes from Persia, cobalt glance, &c., bringing the series of ...
— How to See the British Museum in Four Visits • W. Blanchard Jerrold

... the moment. He scanned her fiercely, the plain, costly gown, the ruby blazing on her ungloved hand. Then he glanced down at his own shabby Sunday suit. She was the richest woman in Delaware, and he had not a dollar in his pocket, and no way ...
— Frances Waldeaux • Rebecca Harding Davis

... admitted. The Right Reverend Doctor was still seated at the breakfast table, dressed in a morning-gown of fine black stuff, such as the brothers of the Franciscan order of monks usually wear, to which order he belonged. He wore black silk stockings, gold knee-buckles to his small-clothes, a rich ruby ring upon his finger, and a small gold cross, net with brilliants, about his neck. This last was not usually visible; but as he had not yet dressed for the day, it hung over his vest. He sat, or rather lolled back in a ...
— Going To Maynooth - Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of - William Carleton, Volume Three • William Carleton

... were uttered, I became aware that some change had taken place at the further end of the Hall. Looking up, the dark background had disappeared, and under a species of deep archway, behind the seats of the Chiefs, was visible a wall diapered in ruby and gold, and displaying in various interwoven patterns the several symbols of the Zinta. Towards the roof, exactly in the centre, was a large silver star, emitting a light resembling that which the full moon ...
— Across the Zodiac • Percy Greg

... touch by dipping her hand over the gunnel, the sea that had stripped her of everything but life and body, the dress and boots she wore and the yellow oilskin coat that covered her. Her hand resting on the gunnel shewed her that she still wore her rings, exquisite rings of emerald, ruby and diamonds, fresh washed with spray. They held her eyes as her mind, swaying just as the boat swayed to the swell, tried to ...
— The Beach of Dreams • H. De Vere Stacpoole

... has gi'en him a chain of the beaten gowd, And a ring with a ruby stone: 'As lang as this chain your body binds, Your ...
— Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth - Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - Second Series • Frank Sidgwick

... Caid Ambroise Thomas 2. Waltz—Ruby Royal Louis Gregh 3. Selection—War Songs Arr. by George Purdy Introducing the following selections: Kingdom Coming, When This Cruel War Is Over, Babylon Is Fallen, [Transcriber's note: Unreadable text], The Vacant Chair, Tramp, ...
— Shenandoah - Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911 • Bronson Howard

... pond the fish were of different colours. There were, let me see, six ponds, did I not say? Yes—well in the first the fish were gold, in the second silver, in the third bronze; and in the three others even prettier, for in them the fish were ruby, emerald, and topaz. I mean they were of those colours, and in the water they gleamed as if they were made of the precious stones themselves. Lena gazed at them in perfect delight, and held out her hands so that the spray from the fountains fell on them, half ...
— Hoodie • Mary Louisa Stewart Molesworth

... were stronger hands than mine That digged the Ruby from the earth— More cunning brains that made it worth The large desire of a King; And bolder hearts that through the brine Went down the ...
— Indian Tales • Rudyard Kipling

... kinds of articles were jumbled together regardless of their nature. On the floor was a litter of silk and silver goods, boxes, broken portmanteaux, ropes, baskets, and on the counter nearest the door a tiny silver cage of beautiful workmanship inhabited by a tiny golden bird with ruby eyes. ...
— The Pointing Man - A Burmese Mystery • Marjorie Douie

... society, it may be remembered that I demonstrated the ease and simplicity with which those beautiful results maybe obtained, by printing in an ordinary printing frame by the light of my petroleum developing lamp, raising one of its panes of ruby glass for the purpose for five seconds, and then developing by ferrous oxalate until I got the amount of intensity requisite. On that evening, in the course of a very just criticism by one of our members, Mr. J. V. Robinson, he pointed out what was ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 288 - July 9, 1881 • Various

... discovered was a parrot; and Langila intimated that my dinner was served. And a very excellent dinner it proved to be; for the parrot was tender, juicy, of very appetising flavour, and perfectly cooked, while the little cakes of hot bread were particularly good. Then the wine! It was of a rich ruby colour and exquisite aroma, but light and innocuous as water. As for the fruits, I had never before—and have never since—tasted such luscious peaches and grapes. And all this elegance and luxury, I kept reminding myself, existed in ...
— Through Veld and Forest - An African Story • Harry Collingwood

... Though glad to return to Europe, it was not without some feeling of regret that I rode for the last time through the forest where I had so often wandered during the years I had been at Santo Domingo. The woods had become as familiar to me as home scenes. No more should I see the white-headed ruby humming-bird come darting down the brook, chasing away the green-throat from its bathing-place; no more watch the flocks of many-coloured birds hunting the insects in the forests, or admire the wonderful instincts of the tropical ants. I listened with pleasure ...
— The Naturalist in Nicaragua • Thomas Belt

... Philippe, struck motionless, stood quite at his ease, letting wander over her his eyes that glowed and sparkled with the flame of love. What lovely thick hair hung upon her ivory white back, showing sweet white places, fair and shining between the many tresses! She had upon her snow-white brow a ruby circlet, less fertile in rays of fire than her black eyes, still moist with tears from her hearty laugh. She even threw her slipper at a statue gilded like a shrine, twisting herself about from very ribaldry and allowed her bare ...
— Droll Stories, Volume 1 • Honore de Balzac

... ring with the ruby—it is a ruby, is it not?—may I also examine it? . . . I am very fond of rubies. . . Thank you; you are most obliging. . . It seems to be an especially fine stone—and worth . . . how many rose nobles would ...
— Beatrix of Clare • John Reed Scott

... kind, and the idea of a beautiful woman behind a veil completely fascinated my childish mind. And the book was full of the most amazing stories collected from all kinds of outlandish sources. One story, called 'The Flying Donkey of the Ruby Hills,' riveted my attention so much that it possessed me, and even now I feel that I can repeat every word of it. It was a story of a donkey-driver, who, having lost his wife Alawiyah, went and lived alone in the ruby hills of Badakhshan, where the Angel of Memory fashioned for ...
— Aylwin • Theodore Watts-Dunton

... of thrills, what beats gettin' back to your own home town? Why, say, that mornin' when we unloads from the Agnes after a whole month of battin' around, New York looked to me like it had been touched up with gold leaf and ruby paint. Things seemed so fresh and crisp, and all so sort of natural and familiar. And the sounds and ...
— Wilt Thou Torchy • Sewell Ford

... a shining reproof to all low-grade German "ruby" enamels, so-called "boort" facings, and the dangerous and unsatisfactory alumina compounds which please dividend-hunting owners and turn skippers crazy. The rudder-gear and the gas lift-shunt, seated ...
— Actions and Reactions • Rudyard Kipling

... the air with her broad sails. To the point, always to the point, he turns in straight lines. How stumbling and heavy is the flight of the "burly, dozing bumblebee," beside this quick intelligence! Our knight of the ruby throat, with lance in rest, makes wild and rapid sallies on this "little mundane bird,"—this bumblebee,—this rolling sailor, never off his sea-legs, always spinning his long homespun yarns. This rich ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 32, June, 1860 • Various

... Jimmie. It don't look nice for us to stay here so late alone, not till—to-morrow. Ruby and Essie and Charley are going to meet us in the minister's back parlor at ten sharp in the morning. We can be back here by noon and get the place cleared up enough to give 'em a little lunch, just a ...
— Americans All - Stories of American Life of To-Day • Various

... Chevalier's apartment. Entering, he was surprised—even in that Land of Mystery—to find the room profoundly dark, smelling of Eastern drugs, and the Chevalier sitting before a large plate of glass which he was examining by the aid of a lurid ruby lamp,—the only light in the weird gloom. His face was pale and distraught, ...
— New Burlesques • Bret Harte

... of the days became shorter. The sun still rose, described a flat arch to the south, and sank after an hour and a half. Soon the days lasted only half an hour, until one day they had only a glimpse of the sun's upper curve glittering for a moment like a flashing ruby above the horizon. Next day there was twilight at noon, but at any rate there was a reflection of the sunset red. During the following weeks the gloominess became more and more intense. At noon, however, there was still a perceptible light, and the blood-red streak appeared ...
— From Pole to Pole - A Book for Young People • Sven Anders Hedin

... list, which is still preserved in the Trivulzio library, gives a description of the different jewels which in the troubled times at the close of his reign were pledged to bankers in Rome and Milan.[19] There was the balass ruby, called El Spigo or "the ear of corn," which was valued at the enormous sum of 250,000 ducats; and the jewel of Il Lupo, "the wolf," consisting of one large diamond and three choice pearls, which the goldsmiths priced at 120,000 ducats. There was the ...
— Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, 1475-1497 • Julia Mary Cartwright

... out one of the drawers in the toilet-table and took out of it a hollow gold bracelet and a thin ring with a ruby in it. ...
— The Chorus Girl and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov

... gathered to see them off. And there, with their four smiling faces framed in the Pullman windows, we shall take leave of the Pony Rider Boys. They will next be heard from in another volume, entitled, "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS, or the Secret of Ruby Mountain," a stirring tale of adventure and daring deeds among the Missouri mountains, in which the lads pass ...
— The Pony Rider Boys in Montana • Frank Gee Patchin

... ruby-wine high worship claim; * Dishonour 'twere to see their honour waste: Bury me, when I'm dead, by side of vine * Whose veins shall moisten bones in clay misplaced; Nor bury me in wold and wild, for I * Dread only after death no wine ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 10 • Richard F. Burton

... fine," Spoke the voice of Ruby, gently: "Ay" said Sapphire, "they're divine!"— Looking at his blue intently. "But we're blest," said Ruby, then, "And we'll ...
— The Mistress of the Manse • J. G. Holland

... time. John Anderson, a merchant was, And dealt with profit and with loss In groceries and dainty "grub," With wine, Jamaica, rum and shrub, That had no leaves upon its stem, Though beads like dewdrops did begem Its ruby rippling diadem. ...
— Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants • William Pittman Lett

... was so beautiful and so fair.]—her noble open forehead, eyebrows which could be only blamed for being so regularly arched that they looked as if drawn by a pencil, eyes continually beaming with the witchery of fire, a nose of perfect Grecian outline, a mouth so ruby red and gracious that it seemed that, as a flower opens but to let its perfume escape, so it could not open but to give passage to gentle words, with a neck white and graceful as a swan's, hands of alabaster, with a form ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - MARY STUART—1587 • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... the most precious of all the accomplishments, and justly preferred by Solomon to riches, power, and all exterior attainments. The blue color of the sapphire represented Faith; the verdure of the emerald, Hope; the redness of the ruby, Charity; and the splendor of the topaz, good works." Jewelers, who usually deal so little in sentiment in their works, may learn from this ingenious allegory the advantage of calling up the wonder-working aid of ...
— Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) • S. Spooner

... brilliant little red and purple Alpine snap-dragon, and by the cushion-forming growths of saxifrages and other minute plants which encrust the rocks and bear, closely set in their compact, green, velvet-like foliage, tiny flowers as brilliant as gems. A ruby-red one amongst these is "the stalkless bladder-wort" (Silene acaulis), having no more resemblance at first sight to the somewhat ramshackle bladder-wort of our fields than a fairy has to a fishwife. There are many ...
— More Science From an Easy Chair • Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester

... Big Tom. His great, hairy face was darker than usual, what with the battering it had received, and the blood which was drying upon it. There was a scarlet gap across one of those prominent ears, the lobe of which was as red as if set with a ruby. As he swung the door and advanced unsteadily, he tried to keep his face averted from those in the room, and hitched petulantly at a sleeve of his shirt, which had been ripped from end to end by a blow. Spent, bent, ...
— The Rich Little Poor Boy • Eleanor Gates

... that looked like a red night-cap, and from it was fluttering a flag, on which was a singular assemblage of stars and stripes—all this was strange and incomprehensible. He recognized on the sign, however, the ruby face of King George, under which he had smoked so many a peaceful pipe; but even this was singularly metamorphosed. The red coat was changed for one of blue and buff, a sword was held in the hand instead of a sceptre, the head was decorated with a cocked hat, and underneath was painted ...
— Short Stories Old and New • Selected and Edited by C. Alphonso Smith

... earlier times prodigious dragons that spouted fire and poisonous vapors from their nostrils had their homes in there. In fact, one was still living in there in our own time. It was as long as a tree, and had a body as big around as a tierce, and scales like overlapping great tiles, and deep ruby eyes as large as a cavalier's hat, and an anchor-fluke on its tail as big as I don't know what, but very big, even unusually so for a dragon, as everybody said who knew about dragons. It was thought that this dragon was of a brilliant blue ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... mouth of the Thames at night, have you? It's a scene from wonderland; houses like blobs of indigo fencing you in; ships drifting past like black ghosts in the misty air, and the purple sky above never so dark as the river, the river with its shifting lights of ruby and emerald and topaz, like an oily, opaque serpent gliding with a weird life of its own.... Come; you must ...
— Oscar Wilde, Volume 1 (of 2) - His Life and Confessions • Frank Harris

... was actually a giant balloon eight thousand feet in diameter, one-half "silvered" with a greenish reflective surface inside that reflected only that light that could be utilized by the ruby rods at its long focal center; and that absorbed the remainder of the incident solar radiation, dumping it through to its black outside surface, and on into the vastness of space. This half of the big balloon was the spherical collector mirror, facing, ...
— Where I Wasn't Going • Walt Richmond

... of an ex-college athlete. She was a plump, short girl, somewhat square in build, but distinctly handsome, showing beautiful teeth in her cordial smile. If the smile had been less cordial Miss Child might have conceived the catty idea that the magnificent ruby-velvet hooded evening cloak had been put on to impress the humble new acquaintance. However, it would have been mean to suspect a sister of Mr. Balm of Gilead of such a snobbish trick. And ...
— Winnie Childs - The Shop Girl • C. N. Williamson

... consistency of the white of an egg; is slippery to the touch, tasteless, and odorless. Plasmodia vary in color in different species and at different times in the same species. The prevailing color is yellow, but may be brown, orange, red, ruby-red, violet, in fact any tint, even green. Young plasmodia in certain species are colorless (as in Diderma floriforme), while many have a peculiar ecru-white or creamy tint difficult to define. Not only does the color change, sometimes more than once in the course of the life history ...
— The North American Slime-Moulds • Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride

... a merry-go-round, canopied in gay stripes, and built to accommodate a party of twelve dolls. There were six deep seats, each lined with ruby plush, for as many lady dolls: There were six prancing Arab steeds—bay and chestnut and dappled gray—for an equal number of men. A small handle turned to wind up the merry-go-round. Whereupon the seats revolved gayly, the Arabs curvetted; ...
— The Poor Little Rich Girl • Eleanor Gates

... her rainbow wings Fold, but in fairy-spheres) a living well Of sylvan joy art thou, whose thousand springs Gush, sinless, gladness, peace ineffable, And that luxuriousness of being, which Mocks eloquence: warm, holy, ruby, rich. ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, - Volume 12, No. 329, Saturday, August 30, 1828 • Various

... Lo Tsin Shan was original to begin with and mysterious afterward. Suppose a Siamese prince brings a pound of gold leaf to gild things with, and some Ceylon pilgrims leave a few dozen little bronze images with a ruby in each eye. They've 'acquired merit,' so they say. It goes to their credit on some celestial record. Their next existence will be the better to that extent anyway, now. Suppose the temple's gilded all over, and lumber rooms packed to the roof ...
— The Belted Seas • Arthur Colton

... am also the king of a far country, and I have made bold to offer you some of the wine of my kingdom." So saying, he lifted his gold-lined cloak, and took from beneath it a crystal decanter, covered with gold and ruby ornaments, with one hundred and one beautifully carved silver goblets hanging from its neck, and which contained about eleven gallons of the most delicious wine. He placed it before the dwarf, who, having tasted the wine, gave a great cheer, and shouted to his slaves ...
— Ting-a-ling • Frank Richard Stockton

... Uhila! As the twilight glow Faded in soft immeasurable plains Of darkness, so the beauty in his heart Faded in clouds of wrath. The great fire blazed— A ruby in the raven hair of night— And clear across the flames Uhila saw His rival, garlanded with blossoms, pale, Calm as a happy lover. Could he smile Over his empty hands and meekly bow— Uhila bow!—to ...
— The Rose of Dawn - A Tale of the South Sea • Helen Hay

... thundering skyward. Crack! Crack! Whirling over and over through a cloud of floating feathers, a heavy weight struck the springy earth. There lay the big mottled bird, splendid silky ruffs spread, dead eyes closing, a single tiny crimson bead twinkling like a ruby on the gaping beak. ...
— The Fighting Chance • Robert W. Chambers

... profession a criminal, but by birth a human being, chuckled savagely and this time threw in the clutch. With a grinding of gravel the racing-car leaped into the night, its ruby rear lamp winking in farewell, its tiny siren answering the great siren of the prison in jeering notes ...
— The Red Cross Girl • Richard Harding Davis

... Lady Clara blushed ruby red up to the roots of her hair when her eyes fell on the address of the letter, for she knew it to be in the handwriting of Owen Fitzgerald. Perhaps the countess from the corner of her eye may have observed some portion of her daughter's ...
— Castle Richmond • Anthony Trollope

... hidden among the weeds; others with strange, striped shells crawled snail-like over the bottom, amidst many so small that they were mere specks. And all the while, as the boat glided on over the surface, there were flashes of gold, silver, ruby, topaz, sapphire, and amethyst, for shoals of fish, startled by their coming, darted through the sunlit water, to hide in the waving groves of sea-weed, or nestle down among the ...
— Jack at Sea - All Work and no Play made him a Dull Boy • George Manville Fenn

... Mountebanking cease, COFFEE'S a speedier Cure for each Disease; How great its Vertues are, we hence may think, The Worlds third Part makes it their common Drink: In Breif, all you who Healths Rich Treasures Prize, And Court not Ruby Noses, or blear'd Eyes, But own Sobriety to be your Drift. And Love at once good Company and Thrift; To Wine no more make Wit and Coyn a Trophy, But come each Night and ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers

... rich pattern—lilies of the valley, whose blossoms were formed of pearl, whose leaves were of emeralds, and whose dew was of diamonds. Snowy gloves and snowy shoes completed this toilet, the effect of which was rich, chaste, and elegant beyond description. Mrs. Middleton wore a superb dress of ruby-colored velvet. ...
— Ishmael - In the Depths • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... our dear daughter Philippa, to our very dear daughter Mary, Countess of Derby, on the day of her marriage; and also "40 shillings for as many pence put upon the book on the day of the espousals of our much beloved son, the Earl of Derby." Eight marks are ordered to be paid for "a ruby given by us to our very dear daughter Mary:" 13s. 4d. for the offering at the mass. Ten marks from us to the King's minstrels being there on the same day; and ten marks to four minstrels of our ...
— Henry of Monmouth, Volume 1 - Memoirs of Henry the Fifth • J. Endell Tyler

... boy's limp thing hanging down, we used to wonder what change would come over it, and how. Well, here was an opportunity of examining, at my ease, the wonderful curiosity that had so puzzled us. The last edge of the sheet passing over it touched its ruby head; it throbbed and pulsated to the view. I was afraid this had awakened Fred, but no, he slept as sound as ever. So I gently raised myself on my bottom, and gazed on the dear object I had so longed to see and feel. There it stood up like ...
— The Romance of Lust - A classic Victorian erotic novel • Anonymous

... Oriental embroidery in blue and burnt-orange, and her beauty was further enhanced by a gray hat planned to match her dress, with a plume of shaded orange and blue. On her fingers were four or five rings, far too many—an opal, an emerald, a ruby, and a diamond—flashing ...
— The Financier • Theodore Dreiser

... queer, old-fashioned ring in the form of a snake, and in its mouth was a ruby worth about two hundred and fifty dollars. The eyes were ...
— The Crime of the French Cafe and Other Stories • Nicholas Carter

... with black, fixed glance remained watching his visitor's approach; and the young priest, acquainted with the usual ceremonial, knelt and kissed the large ruby which the prelate wore on his hand. However, ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

... Ortiz the interpreter to present it in her name to Soto, as she could not deliver it with her own hands without transgressing the rules of decorum[160]. Soto stood up and received it with much respect, and presented her in return with a ruby which he wore on his finger. Thus peace was ratified with this princess, who now returned to the other side of the river, all the Spaniards admiring her beautiful appearance ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 5 • Robert Kerr

... Alkali Bill can whittle more chips in an hour than some men could in a week. Much of the Humboldt Valley, through which my road now runs, is at present flooded from the vast quantities of water that are pouring into it from the Ruby Range of mountains now visible to the southeast, and which have the appearance of being the snowiest of any since leaving the Sierras. Only yesterday I threatened to shed blood before I left Nevada, and sure enough my prophecy is destined to speedy fulfilment. Just east of the Osino Caon, and ...
— Around the World on a Bicycle V1 • Thomas Stevens

... Bashfulness and apathy are a tough husk in which a delicate organization is protected from premature ripening. It would be lost if it knew itself before any of the best souls were yet ripe enough to know and own it. Respect the naturlangsamkeit which hardens the ruby in a million years, and works in duration in which Alps and Andes come and go as rainbows. The good spirit of our life has no heaven which is the price of rashness. Love, which is the essence of God, is not for levity, but ...
— Essays, First Series • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... be performed. But he said nothing, and Matteo walked from tree to tree, dropping here a piece of cup, there a fragment of plate; and, wherever the china fell, the ground between the trees turned to diamond or sapphire or ruby. With the walls it was just the same. Every kind of precious stone known and unknown was to be found in that wonderful orchard, even to a carbuncle which grew on a courtier's toe in consequence of his incautious action ...
— Edmund Dulac's Fairy-Book - Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations • Edmund Dulac

... Moore (1950:180) remarked that the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is a moderately common migrant, wintering from sea level to 9350 feet throughout Mexico, except in a few states. The only published record of a specimen of this hummer in the State is of a male taken ...
— Birds from Coahuila, Mexico • Emil K. Urban

... Cat. "Let her eyes be as bright as the stars, her neck smell like the rose, her hair shine more than gold, her honied lips be ruby coloured; let her beauty be resplendent, and superior to Venus, let her be in all respects a ...
— The Anatomy of Melancholy • Democritus Junior

... a wealthy nobleman, but it was far better than death as a suspected conspirator. And Agathemer was hopeful of our future, of survival, of escape, of comfort somewhere after he had sold another emerald, ruby, or opal. Nothing could, for any length of time, dim or cloud the light ...
— Andivius Hedulio • Edward Lucas White

... down from the cars, Near a still country village, and lit their cigars. They had left the hot town for a stroll and a chat, And wandered on looking at this and at that,— Plumed grass with pink clover that waltzed in the breeze, Ruby currants in gardens, and pears on the trees,— Till a green church-yard showed them its sun-checkered gloom, And in they both went and sat down on a tomb. The dead name was mossy; the letters were dim; ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 8, No. 47, September, 1861 • Various

... the creepers, Flashed a feathered jewel past, Ruby-crested, topaz-throated, Plucked the ...
— Andromeda and Other Poems • Charles Kingsley

... Monsieur Bongrand took notice of Goupil's clothes. The new notary wore a white cravat, a shirt of dazzling whiteness adorned with ruby buttons, a waistcoat of red velvet, with trousers and coat of handsome black broad-cloth, made in Paris. His boots were neat; his hair, carefully combed, was perfumed—in short he ...
— Ursula • Honore de Balzac

... had taken the lady's other hand, and was examining the square ruby with a diamond on ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. XXXI, No. 3, July 1908. • Various

... hills of Habersham, And oft in the valleys of Hall, The white quartz shone, and the smooth brook stone Did bar me of passage with friendly brawl; And many a luminous jewel lone (Crystals clear or a-cloud with mist, Ruby, garnet, or amethyst) Made lures with the lights of streaming stone In the clefts of the hills of Habersham, In the beds of ...
— Eighth Reader • James Baldwin

... with golden slides and a clasp of ivory upon it, and a buckle of jet black upon the clasp. A helmet of gold was on the head of the knight, set with precious stones of great virtue, and at the top of the helmet was the image of a flame-coloured leopard with two ruby-red stones in its head, so that it was astounding for a warrior, however stout his heart, to look at the face of the leopard, much more at the face of the knight. He had in his hand a blue-shafted lance, but from the haft to the point it was stained crimson-red, with the ...
— The Mabinogion Vol. 1 (of 3) • Owen M. Edwards

... receives from metals are sufficient to produce these varieties. Thus, amethyst, or purple quartz, is tinged with a little iron and manganese. Rose quartz, or false ruby, derives its colour from manganese. Avanturine is a beautiful variety of quartz, of a rich brown colour, which, from a peculiarity of texture, appears filled with bright spangles. Small crystals of quartz, tinged with iron, are found in Spain, and have been termed hyacinths ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, - Issue 560, August 4, 1832 • Various

... freshness and soft whispers, I had been looking at an enchanting turn of a head in a faint light of its own, the tawny hair with snared red sparks brushed up from the nape of a white neck and held up on high by an arrow of gold feathered with brilliants and with ruby gleams all along its shaft. That jewelled ornament, which I remember often telling Rita was of a very Philistinish conception (it was in some way connected with a tortoiseshell comb) occupied an undue place in my memory, tried to come into some sort of significance even in my sleep. Often I dreamed ...
— The Arrow of Gold - a story between two notes • Joseph Conrad

... hot sand. Lo, and behold! What did she see? Tall shade trees had sprung up along the path she had traveled, and each tiny grain of sand that the wonderful thread had touched was now changed into a diamond, or ruby, or emerald, or some other precious stone. On one side the pathway across the desert shone and glittered, while on the other the graceful trees cast a ...
— Boys and Girls Bookshelf (Vol 2 of 17) - Folk-Lore, Fables, And Fairy Tales • Various

... used to look at her, and his very flesh would creep at the thought that, ere long, he must hurl this fair creature into the dust of affliction; must, with a word, take the ruby from her lips, the rose from her cheeks, the sparkle from her glorious eyes—eyes that beamed on him with sweet affection, and a mouth that never opened, but to show some simplicity of mind, or some pretty burst of ...
— A Simpleton • Charles Reade



Words linked to "Ruby" :   corundum, chromatic, corundom, reddish, precious stone, redness, rubify, transparent gem, gem, spinel ruby, jewel



Copyright © 2024 Dictionary One.com