rice

Etymology 1

From Middle English rys, from Old French ris, from Old Italian riso, risi, from Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza), from an Eastern Iranian language related to Middle Persian blnj (*brinǰ). Theorized to come to Iranian languages from Sanskrit व्रीहि (vrīhi). Prior to Sanskrit, it is speculated to be either a borrowing from a Dravidian language (compare Proto-Dravidian *wariñci (“rice”)), thence from Austroasiatic languages such as Proto-Mon-Khmer *sruʔ (“paddy rice”). Alternatively Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza) is said to be from Hebrew אורז (órez), from South Arabian areez ultimately from Old Tamil 𑀅𑀭𑀺𑀘𑀺 (arici).

noun

1. (uncountable) Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.
   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
   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
   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. (countable) A 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
   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. April 1922, 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. (uncountable) The seeds of this plant used as food.
   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
4. (uncountable, slang, ethnic slur, humorous) The types of automobile modifications characteristic of a rice burner.

verb

1. (transitive) To squeeze through a ricer; to mash or make into rice-sized pieces (especially potatoes).
   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
   Following ricing, the potato mash proceeds to the drum drier where flaking is done. 1961, Potato Chipper, volume 21, page 88
   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. (intransitive) To harvest wild rice (Zizania sp.)
   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
   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
3. (rare) To throw rice at a person (usually at a wedding).
   So far as I can make out, the idiotic function of “ricing” English brides and bridegrooms is not twenty years old. July 24 1886, “Echoes of the Week”, in The Illustrated London News, volume 89, page 90
   The couple was well riced and sent on their way. 2002, Helen Argers, The Gilded Lily
   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. (computing, transitive) To customize the user interface of a computer system, e.g. a desktop environment.

Etymology 2

From Middle English ris, rys, from Old English hrīs (“branch; twig”), from Proto-Germanic *hrīsą (“bush; twig”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreys- (“to turn; bend; wind; move; shake”). Cognate with Scots reise, rice (“twigs; brushwood”), West Frisian riis, rys, Dutch rijs (“little branch; twig; osier; whip”), German Low German Ries, German Reis (“twig; sprig; shoot”), Swedish ris (“twigs; brush; rod”), Icelandic hrís.

noun

1. (now chiefly, dialectal, Scotland, Ireland) A twig or stick.
   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
   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
   "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?" July 16 1881, Notes and Queries (6), volume 6
2. (weaving, obsolete) A bobbin or spool.
   […] 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
   Swift (rice) Skein holder, hank holder. 1977, Marianne Straub, Hand weaving and cloth design