Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- In ornithology, of or pertaining to the rictus: as, rictal vibrissæ. See
rictus
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the rictus.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective possessing the qualities of a
rictus
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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The engraver's tools make beautiful striations and cross-hatchings on foliage and on birds' wings and rictal bristles, feathers fine as whiskers, that watercolor alone can never produce.
The Joys of Slow Looking Willard Spiegelman 2011
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Race, gender, appearance, body language, rictal spouses and offspring, even bursts of tragic grandeur, are all subsumed by marketing and "image-making", now magnified by "virtual" technology.
Archive 2008-06-01 2008
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He jammed a chair under the doorknob and shot himself up with enough heroin to blow the heart out of a draft horse, his mouth rictal when the rush took him.
Dave Robicheaux Ebook Boxed Set James Lee Burke 2002
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He jammed a chair under the doorknob and shot himself up with enough heroin to blow the heart out of a draft horse, his mouth rictal when the rush took him.
Dave Robicheaux Ebook Boxed Set James Lee Burke 2002
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One could often find him on television with his somewhat high-pitched voice, his aureole of white hair, and his faintly rictal grin, promoting the virtues of vitamin C.
Odd Man In Bernstein, Jeremy 1995
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I watch him through my telescope, his rictal bristles quivering around his beak, his tiny dark eye like a drop of ink, a white blaze dabbed in the middle of his black forehead like a pilgrim’s badge, a black back and tail, and a white panel on his folded wings.
A Year on the Wing TIM DEE 2009
hernesheir commented on the word rictal
(adj): pertaining to the rictus, as for instance the rictal bristles of the whipoorwill.
January 1, 2009