It has the true ring—has intrinsic merit; bears the mark of real talent. A metaphor taken from the custom of judging genuine money by its “ring” or sound. Ring, a circlet, is the Anglo-Saxon hring; ring, to sound a bell, etc., is the verb hring-an.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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