Adjacent Words

Rail definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

RAIL, n.
1. A cross beam fixed at the ends in two upright posts.
[In New England, this is never called a beam; pieces of timber of the proper size for rails are called scantling.]
2. In the United States, a piece of timber cleft, hewed or sawed, rough or smooth, inserted in upright posts for fencing. The common rails among farmers, are rough, being used as they are split from the chestnut or other trees. The rails used in fences of boards or pickets round gentlemen's houses and gardens, are usually sawed scantling and often dressed with the plane.
3. A bar of wood or iron used for inclosing any place; the piece into which ballusters are inserted.
4. A series of posts connected with cross beams, by which a place is inclosed.
In New England we never call this series a rail, but by the general term railing. In a picket fence, the pales or pickets rise above the rails; in a ballustrade, or fence resembling it, the ballusters usually terminate in the rails.
5. In a ship, a narrow plank nailed for ornament or security on a ship's upper works; also, a curved piece of timber extending from the bows of a ship to the continuation of its stern, to support the knee of the head, etc.
RAIL, n. A bird of the genus Rallus, consisting of many species. The water rail has a long slender body with short concave wings. The birds of the genus inhabit the slimy margins of rivers and ponds covered with marsh plants.
RAIL, n.
A woman's upper garment; retained in the word nightrail, but not used in the United States.
RAIL, v.t.
1. To inclose with rails.
2. To range in a line.
RAIL, v.i. [Eng. to brawl.]
To utter reproaches; to scoff; to use insolent and reproachful language; to reproach or censure in opprobrious terms; followed by at or against, formerly by on.
And rail at arts he did not understand.
Lesbia forever on e rails.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports [syn: railing, rail]
2: short for railway; "he traveled by rail"; "he was concerned with rail safety"
3: a bar or pair of parallel bars of rolled steel making the railway along which railroad cars or other vehicles can roll [syn: track, rail, rails, runway]
4: a horizontal bar (usually of wood or metal)
5: any of numerous widely distributed small wading birds of the family Rallidae having short wings and very long toes for running on soft mud v
1: complain bitterly [syn: rail, inveigh]
2: enclose with rails; "rail in the old graves" [syn: rail, rail in]
3: provide with rails; "The yard was railed"
4: separate with a railing; "rail off the crowds from the Presidential palace" [syn: rail, rail off]
5: convey (goods etc.) by rails; "fresh fruit are railed from Italy to Belgium"
6: travel by rail or train; "They railed from Rome to Venice"; "She trained to Hamburg" [syn: train, rail]
7: lay with rails; "hundreds of miles were railed out here"
8: fish with a handline over the rails of a boat; "They are railing for fresh fish"
9: spread negative information about; "The Nazi propaganda vilified the Jews" [syn: vilify, revile, vituperate, rail]
10: criticize severely; "He fulminated against the Republicans' plan to cut Medicare"; "She railed against the bad social policies" [syn: fulminate, rail]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English raile, from Anglo-French raille, reille bar, rule, from Latin regula straightedge, rule — more at rule Date: 14th century 1. a. a bar extending from one post or support to another and serving as a guard or barrier b. a structural member or support 2. a. railing 1 b. a light structure serving as a guard at the outer edge of a ship's deck c. a fence bounding a racetrack 3. a. a bar of rolled steel forming a track for wheeled vehicles b. track c. railroad II. transitive verb Date: 14th century to provide with a railing ; fence III. noun (plural rail or rails) Etymology: Middle English raile, from Middle French raalle Date: 15th century any of numerous wading birds (family Rallidae, the rail family) that are of small or medium size and have short rounded wings, a short tail, and usually very long toes which enable them to run on the soft mud of marshes IV. intransitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French railler to mock, probably from Old French reillier to growl, mutter, from Vulgar Latin *ragulare to bray, from Late Latin ragere to neigh Date: 15th century to revile or scold in harsh, insolent, or abusive language Synonyms: see scold • railer noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 a level or sloping bar or series of bars: a used to hang things on. b running along the top of a set of banisters. c forming part of a fence or barrier as protection against contact, falling over, etc. 2 a steel bar or continuous line of bars laid on the ground, usu. as one of a pair forming a railway track. 3 (often attrib.) a railway (send it by rail; rail fares). 4 (in pl.) the inside boundary fence of a racecourse. 5 a horizontal piece in the frame of a panelled door etc. (cf. STILE(2)). --v.tr. 1 furnish with a rail or rails. 2 (usu. foll. by in, off) enclose with rails (a small space was railed off). 3 convey (goods) by rail. Phrases and idioms: off the rails disorganized; out of order; deranged. over the rails over the side of a ship. rail fence esp. US a fence made of posts and rails. rail gun an electromagnetic projectile launcher used esp. as an anti-missile weapon. Derivatives: railage n. railless adj. Etymology: ME f. OF reille iron rod f. L regula RULE 2. v.intr. (often foll. by at, against) complain using abusive language; rant. Derivatives: railer n. railing n. & adj. Etymology: ME f. F railler f. Prov. ralhar jest, ult. f. L rugire bellow 3. n. any bird of the family Rallidae, often inhabiting marshes, esp. the corncrake and water rail. Etymology: ME f. ONF raille f. Rmc, perh. imit.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rail Rail, n. A railroad as a means of transportation; as, to go by rail; a place not accesible by rail.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rail Rail, n. [OE. reil, re[yogh]el, AS. hr[ae]gel, hr[ae]gl a garment; akin to OHG. hregil, OFries. hreil.] An outer cloak or covering; a neckerchief for women. --Fairholt.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rail Rail, v. i. [Etymol. uncertain.] To flow forth; to roll out; to course. [Obs.] Streams of tears from her fair eyes forth railing. --Spenser.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rail Rail, n. [Akin to LG. & Sw. regel bar, bolt, G. riegel a rail, bar, or bolt, OHG, rigil, rigel, bar, bolt, and possibly to E. row a line.] 1. A bar of timber or metal, usually horizontal or nearly so, extending from one post or support to another, as in fences, balustrades, staircases, etc. 2. (Arch.) A horizontal piece in a frame or paneling. See Illust. of Style. 3. (Railroad) A bar of steel or iron, forming part of the track on which the wheels roll. It is usually shaped with reference to vertical strength, and is held in place by chairs, splices, etc. 4. (Naut.) (a) The stout, narrow plank that forms the top of the bulwarks. (b) The light, fencelike structures of wood or metal at the break of the deck, and elsewhere where such protection is needed. Rail fence. See under Fence. Rail guard. (a) A device attached to the front of a locomotive on each side for clearing the rail obstructions. (b) A guard rail. See under Guard. Rail joint (Railroad), a splice connecting the adjacent ends of rails, in distinction from a chair, which is merely a seat. The two devices are sometimes united. Among several hundred varieties, the fish joint is standard. See Fish joint, under Fish. Rail train (Iron & Steel Manuf.), a train of rolls in a rolling mill, for making rails for railroads from blooms or billets.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rail Rail, v. i. [F. railler; cf. Sp. rallar to grate, scrape, molest; perhaps fr. (assumed) LL. radiculare, fr. L. radere to scrape, grate. Cf. Rally to banter, Rase.] To use insolent and reproachful language; to utter reproaches; to scoff; followed by at or against, formerly by on. --Shak. And rail at arts he did not understand. --Dryden. Lesbia forever on me rails. --Swift.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rail Rail, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Railed; p. pr. & vb. n. Railing.] 1. To inclose with rails or a railing. It ought to be fenced in and railed. --Ayliffe. 2. To range in a line. [Obs.] They were brought to London all railed in ropes, like a team of horses in a cart. --Bacon.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rail Rail, v. t. 1. To rail at. [Obs.] --Feltham. 2. To move or influence by railing. [R.] Rail the seal from off my bond. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rail Rail, n. [F. r[^a]le, fr. r[^a]ler to have a rattling in the throat; of German origin, and akin to E. rattle. See Rattle, v.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds of the family Rallid[ae], especially those of the genus Rallus, and of closely allied genera. They are prized as game birds. Note: The common European water rail (Rallus aquaticus) is called also bilcock, skitty coot, and brook runner. The best known American species are the clapper rail, or salt-marsh hen (Rallus lonqirostris, var. crepitans); the king, or red-breasted, rail (R. elegans) (called also fresh-water marshhen); the lesser clapper, or Virginia, rail (R. Virginianus); and the Carolina, or sora, rail (Porzana Carolina). See Sora. Land rail (Zo["o]l.), the corncrake.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(rails, railing, railed) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A rail is a horizontal bar attached to posts or fixed round the edge of something as a fence or support. She gripped the hand rail in the lift. N-COUNT: oft supp N 2. A rail is a horizontal bar that you hang things on. This pair of curtains will fit a rail up to 7ft 6in wide. N-COUNT 3. Rails are the steel bars which trains run on. The train left the rails but somehow forced its way back onto the line. = track N-COUNT: usu pl 4. If you travel or send something by rail, you travel or send it on a train. The president traveled by rail to his home town. N-UNCOUNT: oft N n 5. If you rail against something, you criticize it loudly and angrily. (WRITTEN) He railed against hypocrisy and greed... VERB: V against/at n 6. see also railing 7. If something is back on the rails, it is beginning to be successful again after a period when it almost failed. (JOURNALISM) They are keen to get the negotiating process back on the rails... PHRASE 8. If someone goes off the rails, they start to behave in a way that other people think is unacceptable or very strange, for example they start taking drugs or breaking the law. They've got to do something about these children because clearly they've gone off the rails. PHRASE: V inflects

Moby Thesaurus

L, attack, baluster, balustrade, banister, bar, barrier, bawl out, berate, bottle up, boundary, box up, branch, bulkhead in, cable railway, cage, censure, check, chew out, cloister, cog railway, condemn, confine, constrain, coop, coop in, coop up, cork up, crib, criticize, decry, denounce, detain, el, electric railway, elevated, elevated railway, embankment, encage, enclose, feeder, feeder line, fence, fence in, fulminate, gravity-operated railway, gruel, handrail, hedge, hem, hem in, hold, hold in custody, hold in restraint, horse railway, immure, impound, inhibit, jaw, junction, keep in, keep in custody, keep in detention, lath, light railroad, line, main line, mere shadow, metro, mew, mew up, monorail, pale, palisade, paper, pen, pen up, picket, pound, rack railway, rack-and-pinion railway, rail in, rail line, railing, railroad, railway, rake, rate, restrain, restrict, revile, roadbed, roadway, rod, scold, seal up, shackle, shadow, shaving, shut in, shut up, sidetrack, siding, skeleton, slat, slip, soup, splinter, stone wall, streak, street railway, streetcar line, subway, switchback, terminal, terminus, tongue-lash, track, tram, tramline, trestle, trolley line, trunk, trunk line, tube, turnout, underground, upbraid, vein, vituperate, vociferate, wafer, wall, wall in