rail

English

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Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Old French reille, Latin regula (“rule, bar”), from regere (“to rule, to guide, to govern”); see regular.

Noun

rail (plural rails)

  1. A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
  2. The metal bar that makes the track for a railroad.
  3. A railroad; a railway.
  4. A horizontal piece of wood that serves to separate sections of a door or window.
  5. (surfing) One of the lengthwise edges of a surfboard.
    • circa 2000, Nick Carroll, surfline.com [1]:
      Rails alone can only ever have a marginal effect on a board's general turning ability.
Derived terms
Terms derived from the noun "rail"
Translations
a horizontal bar; a railing
the metal bar that makes the track for a railroad
a railroad; a railway
a horizontal piece of wood that serves to separate sections of a door or window
lengthwise edges of a surfboard
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Verb

rail (third-person singular simple present rails, present participle railing, simple past and past participle railed)

  1. (intransitive) To travel by railway.
    • Rudyard Kipling
      Mottram of the Indian Survey had ridden thirty and railed one hundred miles from his lonely post in the desert […]

Etymology 2

French râle, Old French rasle. Compare Medieval Latin rallus. Named from its harsh cry, Vulgar Latin rasculum, from Latin radere, to scrape.

Noun

rail (plural rails)

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Wikispecies

  1. Any of several birds in the family Rallidae.
Derived terms
  • banded rail
Related terms
Translations
small bird in the family Rallidae

See also

Etymology 3

From Middle French railler.

Verb

rail (third-person singular simple present rails, present participle railing, simple past and past participle railed)

  1. To complain violently (against, about).
    • 2012 June 4, Lewis Smith, “Queen's English Society says enuf is enough, innit?”, the Guardian:
      The Queen may be celebrating her jubilee but the Queen's English Society, which has railed against the misuse and deterioration of the English language, is to fold.
    • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 27:
      Chief Joyi railed against the white man, whom he believed had deliberately sundered the Xhosa tribe, dividing brother from brother.
Translations
to complain

Etymology 4

Old English hræġl.

Noun

rail (plural rails)

  1. (obsolete) An item of clothing; a cloak or other garment.
  2. (obsolete) Specifically, a woman's headscarf or neckerchief.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Fairholt to this entry?)
Derived terms

Etymology 5

Probably from Anglo-Norman raier, Middle French raier.

Verb

rail (third-person singular simple present rails, present participle railing, simple past and past participle railed)

  1. (obsolete) To gush, flow (of liquid).
    • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:
      his breste and his brayle was bloodé – and hit rayled all over the see.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.2:
      So furiously each other did assayle, / As if their soules they would attonce haue rent / Out of their brests, that streames of bloud did rayle / Adowne, as if their springes of life were spent [...].

Anagrams

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Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

rail f (plural rails, diminutive railtje)

  1. rail
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French

Pronunciation

Etymology

From English rail.

Noun

rail m (plural rails)

  1. rail

Anagrams

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Last modified on 22 May 2013, at 06:57