riata

English

Alternative forms

• reata

Etymology

From Spanish reata, from reatar (“to retie”). Compare lariat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈɑːtə/

Noun

riata (plural riatas)

1. (US, regional) A lariat or lasso. [from 19th c.]
   • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter I, in The Understanding Heart:

     “You double-crossing devil,” the young man growled. “ […] Hereafter you'll trot ahead of me at the end of a riata, while I keep you on the jump with a four-horse whip. Right now you're scattering my dunnage from hell to breakfast, […] ”

   • 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 429:

     A few blocks from the capitol we stripped him, cut off everything hanging between his legs, then fixed him with a riata and dragged him up and down Congress.

Anagrams

• Arita, Atari, Atira, Taira, aarti, arati, atari, atria, raita, taira, tarai, tiara

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrjata/ [ˈrja.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -ata
• Syllabification: ria‧ta

Noun

riata f (plural riatas)

1. (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, colloquial) a beating

   darle riata a alguien ― to give someone a beating

   echar riata ― to work hard, train hard

2. (El Salvador, Honduras, colloquial) drunkenness

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:borrachera

Derived terms

• volar riata

 

Further reading

• “riata”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16