Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Race

Race

(rās)
,
Verb.
T.
To raze.
[Obs.]
Spenser.

Race

(rās)
,
Noun.
[OF.
raïz
, L.
radix
,
-icis
. See
Radix
.]
A root.
“A race or two of ginger.”
Shak.
Race ginger
,
ginger in the root, or not pulverized.

Race

,
Noun.
[F.
race
; cf. Pr. & Sp.
raza
, It.
razza
; all from OHG.
reiza
line, akin to E.
write
. See
Write
.]
1.
The descendants of a common ancestor; a family, tribe, people, or nation, believed or presumed to belong to the same stock; a lineage; a breed.
The whole
race
of mankind.
Shakespeare
Whence the long
race
of Alban fathers come.
Dryden.
☞ Naturalists and ethnographers divide mankind into several distinct varieties, or races. Cuvier refers them all to three, Pritchard enumerates seven, Agassiz eight, Pickering describes eleven. One of the common classifications is that of Blumenbach, who makes five races: the Caucasian, or white race, to which belong the greater part of the European nations and those of Western Asia; the Mongolian, or yellow race, occupying Tartary, China, Japan, etc.; the Ethiopian, or negro race, occupying most of Africa (except the north), Australia, Papua, and other Pacific Islands; the American, or red race, comprising the Indians of North and South America; and the Malayan, or brown race, which occupies the islands of the Indian Archipelago, etc. Many recent writers classify the Malay and American races as branches of the Mongolian. See Illustration in Appendix.
2.
Company; herd; breed.
For do but note a wild and wanton herd,
Or
race
of youthful and unhandled colts,
Fetching mad bounds.
Shakespeare
3.
(Bot.)
A variety of such fixed character that it may be propagated by seed.
4.
Peculiar flavor, taste, or strength, as of wine; that quality, or assemblage of qualities, which indicates origin or kind, as in wine; hence, characteristic flavor; smack.
“A race of heaven.”
Shak.
Is it [the wine] of the right
race
?
Massinger.
5.
Hence, characteristic quality or disposition.
[Obs.]
And now I give my sensual
race
the rein.
Shakespeare
Some . . . great
race
of fancy or judgment.
Sir W. Temple.
Syn. – Lineage; line; family; house; breed; offspring; progeny; issue.

Race

,
Noun.
[OE.
ras
,
res
,
rees
, AS.
rǣs
a rush, running; akin to Icel.
rās
course, race. √118.]
1.
A progress; a course; a movement or progression.
2.
Esp., swift progress; rapid course; a running.
The flight of many birds is swifter than the
race
of any beasts.
Bacon.
3.
Hence: The act or process of running in competition; a contest of speed in any way, as in running, riding, driving, skating, rowing, sailing; in the plural, usually, a meeting for contests in the running of horses;
as, he attended the
races
.
The
race
is not to the swift.
Eccl. ix. 11.
I wield the gauntlet, and I run the
race
.
Pope.
4.
Competitive action of any kind, especially when prolonged; hence, career; course of life.
My
race
of glory run, and
race
of shame.
Milton.
5.
A strong or rapid current of water, or the channel or passage for such a current; a powerful current or heavy sea, sometimes produced by the meeting of two tides;
as, the Portland
Race
; the
Race
of Alderney.
6.
The current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel in which it flows; a mill race.
☞ The part of the channel above the wheel is sometimes called the headrace, the part below, the tailrace.
7.
(Mach.)
A channel or guide along which a shuttle is driven back and forth, as in a loom, sewing machine, etc.
Race cloth
,
a cloth worn by horses in racing, having pockets to hold the weights prescribed.
Race course
.
(a)
The path, generally circular or elliptical, over which a race is run
.
(b)
Same as
Race way
, below.
Race cup
,
a cup given as a prize to the victor in a race.
Race glass
,
a kind of field glass.
Race horse
.
(a)
A horse that runs in competition; specifically, a horse bred or kept for running races
.
(b)
A breed of horses remarkable for swiftness in running
.
(c)
(Zool.)
The steamer duck
.
(d)
(Zool.)
A mantis.
Race knife
,
a cutting tool with a blade that is hooked at the point, for marking outlines, on boards or metals, as by a pattern, – used in shipbuilding.
Race saddle
,
a light saddle used in racing.
Race track
.
Same as
Race course
(a)
, above.
Race way
,
the canal for the current that drives a water wheel.

Race

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Raced
(rāst)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Racing
(rā′sĭng)
.]
1.
To run swiftly; to contend in a race;
as, the animals
raced
over the ground; the ships
raced
from port to port.
2.
(Steam Mach.)
To run too fast at times, as a marine engine or screw, when the screw is lifted out of water by the action of a heavy sea.

Race

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To cause to contend in a race; to drive at high speed;
as, to
race
horses
.
2.
To run a race with.

Webster 1828 Edition


Race

RACE

,
Noun.
[L. radix and radius having the same original. This word coincides in origin with rod, ray, radiate, &c.]
1.
The lineage of a family, or continued series of descendants from a parent who is called the stock. A race is the series of descendants indefinitely. Thus all mankind are called the race of Adam; the Israelites are of the race of Abraham and Jacob. Thus we speak of a race of kings, the race of Clovis or Charlemagne; a race of nobles, &c.
Hence the long race of Alban fathers come.
2.
A generation; a family of descendants. A race of youthful and unhandled colts.
3.
A particular breed; as a race of mules; a race of horses; a race of sheep.
Of such a race no matter who is king.
4.
A root; as race-ginger, ginger in the root or not pulverized.
5.
A particular strength or taste of wine; a kind of tartness.

RACE

,
Noun.
[L. gradior, gressus, with the prefix g. Eng. ride.]
1.
A running; a rapid course or motion, either on the feet, on horseback or in a carriage, &c.; particularly, a contest in running; a running in competition for a prize.
The race was one of the exercises of the Grecian games.
I wield the gauntlet and I run the race.
2.
Any sunning with speed.
The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beast.
3.
A progress; a course; a movement or progression of any kind.
My race of glory run.
Let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Heb. 12.
4.
Course; train; process; as the prosecution and race of the war. [Not now used.]
5.
A strong or rapid current of water, or the channel or passage for such a current; as a mill-race.
6.
By way of distinction, a contest in the running of horses; generally in the plural. The races commence in October.

RACE

,
Verb.
I.
To run swiftly; to run or contend in running. The animals raced over the ground.

Definition 2024


race

race

See also: racé and race-

English

Noun

race (countable and uncountable, plural races)

  1. A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective. Several horses run in a horse race, and the first one to reach the finishing post wins
    The race around the park was won by Johnny, who ran faster than the others.
    We had a race to see who could finish the book the quickest.
    • 2012 November 2, Ken Belson, "," New York Times (retrieved 2 November 2012):
      After days of intensifying pressure from runners, politicians and the general public to call off the New York City Marathon in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, city officials and the event’s organizers decided Friday afternoon to cancel the race.
  2. A progressive movement toward a goal.
  3. A fast-moving current of water, such as that which powers a mill wheel.
  4. Swift progress; rapid course; a running.
    • Francis Bacon
      The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beasts.
  5. Competitive action of any kind, especially when prolonged; hence, career; course of life.
    • Milton
      My race of glory run, and race of shame.
  6. Travels, runs, or journeys. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  7. The bushings of a rolling element bearing which contacts the rolling elements.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

race (third-person singular simple present races, present participle racing, simple past and past participle raced)

  1. (intransitive) To take part in a race (in the sense of a contest).
    The drivers were racing around the track.
  2. (transitive) To compete against in such a race.
    I raced him to the car, but he was there first, so he got to ride shotgun.
  3. (intransitive) To move or drive at high speed.
    • 2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, Japan pockets the subsidy ”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:
      Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."
    As soon as it was time to go home, he raced for the door.
    Her heart was racing as she peered into the dimly lit room.
  4. (intransitive) Of a motor, to run rapidly when not engaged to a transmission.
    • 1891 (December) Arthur Conan Doyle, The Man with the Twisted Lip:
      "My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built."
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle French race, from Italian razza, of uncertain origin.

Noun

race (countable and uncountable, plural races)

  1. A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics:
    1. A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage (compare ethnic group). See Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race.
      • 1913, Martin Van Buren Knox, The religious life of the Anglo-Saxon race
    2. A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of common physical characteristics, such as skin color or hair type.
      Race was a significant issue during apartheid in South Africa.
      • 2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 164:
        Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?
      The Native Americans colonized the New World in several waves from Asia, and thus they are considered part of the same Mongoloid race.
    3. A large group of sentient beings distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage (compare species, subspecies).
      A treaty was concluded between the race of elves and the race of men.
      • 1898, Herman Isidore Stern, The gods of our fathers: a study of Saxon mythology, page 15)
        There are two distinct races of gods known to Norse mythology[.]
  2. (taxonomy) A population geographically separated from others of its species that develops significantly different characteristics; an informal term for a subspecies.
    Nevertheless, as our varieties certainly do occasionally revert in some of their characters to ancestral forms, it seems to me not improbable, that if we could succeed in naturalising, or were to cultivate, during many generations, the several races, for instance, of the cabbage, in very poor soil (in which case, however, some effect would have to be attributed to the direct action of the poor soil), that they would to a large extent, or even wholly, revert to the wild aboriginal stock.
    Charles Darwin
  3. A breed or strain of domesticated animal.
    • Shakespeare
      For do but note a wild and wanton herd, / Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, / Fetching mad bounds.
  4. (figuratively) A category or species of something that has emerged or evolved from an older one (with an implied parallel to animal breeding or evolutionary science).
    The advent of the Internet has brought about a new race of entrepreneur.
    Recent developments in artificial intelligence has brought about a new race of robots that can perform household chores without supervision.
  5. (obsolete) Peculiar flavour, taste, or strength, as of wine; that quality, or assemblage of qualities, which indicates origin or kind, as in wine; hence, characteristic flavour.
    • Shakespeare
      a race of heaven
    • Massinger
      Is it [the wine] of the right race?
  6. (obsolete) Characteristic quality or disposition.
    • Shakespeare
      And now I give my sensual race the rein.
    • Sir W. Temple
      Some [] great race of fancy or judgment.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle French, from Latin radix.

Noun

race (plural races)

  1. A rhizome or root, especially of ginger.
    • 1842, Gibbons Merle, The Domestic Dictionary and Housekeeper's Manual, page 433:
      On the third day after this second boiling, pour all the syrup into a pan, put the races of ginger with it, and boil it up until the syrup adheres to the spoon.
Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: fast · middle · effort · #881: race · ladies · rise · looks

Anagrams

References

  • Diez, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Sprachen, "Razza."
  • Notes:
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Eric Voegelin, The History of the Race Idea: From Ray to Carus, volume 3
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Anatoly Liberman, The Oxford Etymologist Looks at Race, Class and Sex (but not Gender), or, Beating a Willing Horse
  3. Diez, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Sprachen, "Razza."
  4. Giacomo Devoto, Avviamento all'etimologia italiana, Mondadori

Danish

Etymology 1

From French race, from Italian razza.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /raːsə/, [ˈʁɑːsə]

Noun

race c (singular definite racen, plural indefinite racer)

  1. race (racial category)
  2. breed
Inflection

Etymology 2

From the English noun race.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /rɛjs/, [ˈɹɛjs]

Noun

race n (singular definite racet, plural indefinite race)

  1. a race (a contest where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective)
  2. a rush
Inflection
Synonyms

Etymology 3

From the English verb race.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /rɛːsə/, [ˈʁɛːsə]

Verb

race (imperative race, infinitive at race, present tense racer, past tense racede, perfect tense er/har racet)

  1. to race (to compete in a race, a contest where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective)
  2. to rush
Synonyms
  • ræse

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -eːs
  • IPA(key): /reːs/

Etymology

From English race.

Noun

race f (plural races, diminutive racejes n)

  1. Speed contest, race

Derived terms

Verb

race

  1. first-person singular present indicative of racen
  2. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of racen
  3. imperative of racen

French

Etymology

From Italian razza, from Old High German reiza (line), or possibly from Arabic رَأْس (raʾs, head). Alternatively, razza may have been borrowed from Old French haraz (culture of horses) as well. Another theory is that the Italian word came from Latin ratio (the nominative, as opposed to ragione from the accusative rationem, which nonetheless was attested with a similar sense to razza in the late Middle Ages; ratio also came to mean "idea" or "conception of something" in Ecclesiastical Latin), and underwent a change of gender later from an original form *razzo, or else derived ultimately from generatio through apheresis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʁas/
  • Rhymes: -as

Noun

race f (plural races)

  1. race (classification)
  2. kind
  3. (zoology) breed

Synonyms

Related terms

References

Anagrams


Middle French

Noun

race f (plural races)

  1. race; breed
    • 1595, Michel de Montaigne, Essais, book II, chapter 11:
      Je le doy plus à ma fortune qu’à ma raison : Elle m’a faict naistre d’une race fameuse en preud’hommie, et d’un tres-bon pere
      I owe more to my luck than to my intelligence. It was luck that meant I was born into a race famous for it's gentlemanliness, and to a very good father

Polish

Noun

race f

  1. nominative plural of raca
  2. accusative plural of raca
  3. vocative plural of raca