Plov·er n.
 1. Zool. Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds belonging to the family Charadridæ, and especially those belonging to the subfamily Charadrinsæ. They are prized as game birds.
 2. Zool. Any grallatorial bird allied to, or resembling, the true plovers, as the crab plover (Dromas ardeola); the American upland, plover (Bartramia longicauda); and other species of sandpipers.
 Note: ☞ Among the more important species are the blackbellied plover or blackbreasted plover (Charadrius squatarola) of America and Europe; -- called also gray plover, bull-head plover, Swiss plover, sea plover, and oxeye; the golden plover (see under Golden); the ring plover or ringed plover (Aegialitis hiaticula).  See Ringneck. The piping plover (Aegialitis meloda); Wilson's plover (Aegialitis Wilsonia); the mountain plover (Aegialitis montana); and the semipalmated plover (Aegialitis semipalmata), are all small American species.
 Bastard plover Zool., the lapwing.
 Long-legged plover, or yellow-legged plover. See Tattler.
 Plover's page, the dunlin. [Prov. Eng.]
 Rock plover, or Stone plover, the black-bellied plover. [Prov. Eng.]
 Whistling plover. (a) The golden plover. (b) The black-bellied plover.
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 Ring n.  A circle, or a circular line, or anything in the form of a circular line or hoop.
 2. Specifically, a circular ornament of gold or other precious material worn on the finger, or attached to the ear, the nose, or some other part of the person; as, a wedding ring.
    Upon his thumb he had of gold a ring.   --Chaucer.
    The dearest ring in Venice will I give you.   --Shak.
 3. A circular area in which races are or run or other sports are performed; an arena.
 Place me, O, place me in the dusty ring,
 Where youthful charioteers contend for glory.   --E. Smith.
 4. An inclosed space in which pugilists fight; hence, figuratively, prize fighting. “The road was an institution, the ring was an institution.”
 5. A circular group of persons.
 And hears the Muses in a ring
 Aye round about Jove's alter sing.   --Milton.
 6. Geom. (a) The plane figure included between the circumferences of two concentric circles. (b) The solid generated by the revolution of a circle, or other figure, about an exterior straight line (as an axis) lying in the same plane as the circle or other figure.
 7. Astron. & Navigation An instrument, formerly used for taking the sun's altitude, consisting of a brass ring suspended by a swivel, with a hole at one side through which a solar ray entering indicated the altitude on the graduated inner surface opposite.
 8. Bot. An elastic band partly or wholly encircling the spore cases of ferns. See Illust. of Sporangium.
 9. A clique; an exclusive combination of persons for a selfish purpose, as to control the market, distribute offices, obtain contracts, etc.
    The ruling ring at Constantinople.   --E. A. Freeman.
 Ring armor, armor composed of rings of metal. See Ring mail, below, and Chain mail, under Chain.
 Ring blackbird Zool., the ring ousel.
 Ring canal Zool., the circular water tube which surrounds the esophagus of echinoderms.
 Ring dotterel, or Ringed dotterel. Zool. See Dotterel, and Illust. of Pressiroster.
 Ring dropper, a sharper who pretends to have found a ring (dropped by himself), and tries to induce another to buy it as valuable, it being worthless.
 Ring fence. See under Fence.
 Ring finger, the third finger of the left hand, or the next the little finger, on which the ring is placed in marriage.
 Ring formula Chem., a graphic formula in the shape of a closed ring, as in the case of benzene, pyridine, etc. See Illust. under Benzene.
 Ring mail, a kind of mail made of small steel rings sewed upon a garment of leather or of cloth.
 Ring micrometer. Astron. See Circular micrometer, under Micrometer.
 Saturn's rings. See Saturn.
 Ring ousel. Zool. See Ousel.
 Ring parrot Zool., any one of several species of Old World parrakeets having a red ring around the neck, especially Palaeornis torquatus, common in India, and Palaeornis Alexandri of Java.
 Ring plover. Zool. (a) The ringed dotterel. (b) Any one of several small American plovers having a dark ring around the neck, as the semipalmated plover (Aegialitis semipalmata).
 Ring snake Zool., a small harmless American snake (Diadophis punctatus) having a white ring around the neck. The back is ash-colored, or sage green, the belly of an orange red.
 Ring stopper. Naut. See under Stopper.
 Ring thrush Zool., the ring ousel.
 The prize ring, the ring in which prize fighters contend; prize fighters, collectively.
 The ring. (a) The body of sporting men who bet on horse races. [Eng.] (b) The prize ring.
 Ring·neck n.
 1. Zool. Any one of several species of small plovers of the genus Aegialitis, having a ring around the neck. The ring is black in summer, but becomes brown or gray in winter.  The semipalmated plover (Aegialitis semipalmata) and the piping plover (Aegialitis meloda) are common North American species.  Called also ring plover, and ring-necked plover.
 2. Zool. The ring-necked duck.
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