QUO WARRANT°, in law, a writ issuing against any person or corpora tion that usurps any office or franchise, to inquire by what authority he or it supports his or its claim, in order to de termine the right, r, the 18th letter and the 14th con sonant of the English language, is classed as a semi-vowel and a liquid. It is also called a trill. It is generally con sidered to have two sounds: The first, when it begins a word or syllable, and when it is preceded by a consonant, be ing then produced by an expulsion of vo calized breath, as in ran, tree, morose, etc.; the second, less decidedly conson antal, heard at the end of words and syl lables, and when it is followed by a con sonant, being formed by a vibration of the lower part of the tongue, as in her, star, beard, etc. In Scotch and some di alects, r has always the same sound, be ing uttered with a strong vibration of the tongue, but less guttural than in French or German. By the Romans r was called the "dogs' letter," from its sound resembling the snarling of dogs. In words derived from the Greek we follow the custom of the Romans, who represented the aspirated sound with which r was pronounced by the Greeks, by rh, as in rhapsody, rhetoric, etc. In
such words, however, the h has no influ ence on the pronunciation of the English word, and is, therefore, entirely super fluous. R and 1 are frequently inter changed (see remarks under L).
As an initial, R represents the Latin rex=king, as George R.=George, king; or regina=queen, as Victoria R.=Vic toile, queen. It also represents English royal, as R. N.=Royal Navy, R. A.= Royal Artillery. In astronomy it stands for right, as R. A.=Right Ascension; in proper names, for Richard, Robert, etc.; in monumental inscriptions, for requies eat, as R. I. P.=requieseat in he (or she) rest in peace; in Biblical lit erature for revised, as R. V.=revised ver sion. As a symbol, R was formerly used to stand for 80, and with a dash over it, for 80,000. In medicine, R stands for Latin recipe=take. The three R's, a humorous and familiar designation for the three elementary subjects of edu cation: reading, writing and arithmetic.
RA (more properly RE) , the name of the god of the sun among the ancient Egyptians. He is represented, like Horus, with the head of a hawk, and bearing the disk of the sun on his head.