n. [ Icel. kringla orb; akin to kring around, and to D. kring circle, and to E. cringe, crank. ] 1. A withe for fastening a gate. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) An iron or pope thimble or grommet worked into or attached to the edges and corners of a sail; -- usually in the plural. The cringles are used for making fast the bowline bridles, earings, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The leader of a circle of dancers; hence, the leader of a number of persons acting together; the leader of a herd of animals. [ 1913 Webster ]

A primacy of order, such an one as the ringleader hath in a dance. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Opprobriously, a leader of a body of men engaged in the violation of law or in an illegal enterprise, as rioters, mutineers, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ringleaders were apprehended, tried, fined, and imprisoned. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The ringed dotterel, or ring plover. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Ring + -let. ] 1. A small ring; a small circle; specifically, a fairy ring. [ 1913 Webster ]

You demi-puppets, that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A curl; especially, a curl of hair. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Her golden tresses ] in wanton ringlets waved. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A springe. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A little spring. [ 1913 Webster ]

But yet from out the little hill
Oozes the slender springlet still. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no strings. [ 1913 Webster ]

His tongue is now a stringless instrument. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. tringle. ] A curtain rod for a bedstead. [ 1913 Webster ]