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Authority vs Rung - What's the difference?

authority | rung | Related terms |

Authority is a related term of rung.


As nouns the difference between authority and rung

is that authority is (label) the power to enforce rules or give orders while rung is a crosspiece forming a step of a ladder; a round.

As a verb rung is

(only in senses related to a bell — etymology 2) .

authority

English

Alternative forms

* authourity (obsolete)

Noun

  • (label) The power to enforce rules or give orders.
  • * 1883 , (Howard Pyle), (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)
  • But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.
  • (label) Persons in command; specifically, government.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
  • , chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities . A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Legal highs: A new prescription , passage=No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.}}
  • (label) A person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject.
  • * 1930 September 18, Albert Einstein, as quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1988) by Banesh Hoffman
  • To punish me for my contempt of authority', Fate has made me an ' authority myself.

    Derived terms

    * moral authority

    rung

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) hrung.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A crosspiece forming a step of a ladder; a round.
  • A crosspiece between legs of a chair.
  • (nautical, dated) A floor timber in a ship.
  • (dated) One of the stakes of a cart; a spar; a heavy staff.
  • (engineering, dated) One of the radial handles projecting from the rim of a steering wheel.
  • (engineering, dated) One of the pins or trundles of a lantern wheel.
  • Etymology 2

    From the verb ring . (en)

    Verb

    (head)
  • (only in senses related to a bell — etymology 2)
  • (chiefly, dialectal) (ring)
  • *1723 , Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury , VI:
  • *:With ecchoing Shouts the vaulted Chamber rung , / Belle Chuck'' was now the ''TOAST of ev'ry Tongue.
  • * {{quote-journal, journals=Report of State Officers, Board and Committees to the General ..., page=229,
  • books.google.com/books?id=YHYbAQAAIAAJ, South Carolina. General Assembly, year=1906, passage=Mr. Seibels, in his testimony, said I rung' him up to see about labels. He is very much mistaken. I ' rung him up to see about bottles.}}
  • *
  • *
  • Usage notes

    "Rang" and "rung" are incorrect for the past of "ring" in the sense of encircle. "Rung" as a simple past is usually considered incorrect.