Rines

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Edges or borders of objects such as leaves or petals; thin rims or outer bands surrounding a surface; narrow ridges or raised strips on a structure
2. The outermost perimeters or margins of a form; slender circumferential lines edging a shape; fine linear contours outlining a feature
3. The borders or fringe areas of an item; delicate narrow bands encircling or defining a part; slight raised edges or boundaries on an object

Etymology: "Rines" is the plural of "rine," a word whose meaning has drifted far from its roots. Its most likely ancestor is the Old English "hrīnan," meaning "to strip" or "to touch," which passed into Middle English as "rinen." That verb sense of stripping or grazing a surface lies somewhere behind the modern idea of a thin outer edge. A second, unrelated line of descent also feeds into the picture. Old English "ryne" meant "a course" or "a flow," and it is related to words for channels and streams. The link to a boundary is not obvious, which is why the origin is usually treated with caution. The sense of "rine" as an outer margin or edging is most plausibly a variant of "rind," the outer skin or peel of a fruit or other object. Rind and rine share the idea of a thin outer layer, and the two forms have been confused and merged over time. "Rines," then, names the fine outer lines that trace the edge of a form.