I
Circular band of gold, silver, or other precious or decorative material usually worn on the finger, but sometimes on the toes, the ears, or the nose.
The earliest examples were found in the tombs of ancient Egypt. In addition to being worn as adornment, rings have functioned as symbols of authority, fidelity, or social status. In the early Roman republic, most were made of iron, gold being reserved for persons of high status; but by the 3rd century BC anyone except a slave could wear a gold ring. The Romans are thought to have originated engagement rings, symbolizing a promise of marriage. In the Middle Ages, signet rings were important in religious, legal, and commercial transactions; memorial, posy, and keepsake rings served sentimental purposes; occult rings supposedly had magical powers; and poison rings had hollow bezels that could be filled with poison for the purpose of suicide or homicide.
II
In modern algebra , a set of elements with two operations, referred to as "addition" and "multiplication," that conform to certain conditions.
These specify that the set is closed under both operations, the associative law holds for both operations, the commutative law holds for addition, the distributive law holds, there is an additive identity (known as zero), and every element has an additive inverse (see inverse function ). The set of integer s is a ring. See also field theory .
III
[c mediumvioletred] (as used in expressions)
growth ring
Ring of Fire
Whiskey Ring
change ringing