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Webster 1913 Edition

Rail

Rail

(rāl)
,
Noun.
[OE.
reil
,
reȝel
, AS.
hrægel
,
hrægl
, a garment; akin to OHG.
hregil
, OFries.
hreil
.]
An outer cloak or covering; a neckerchief for women.
Fairholt.

Rail

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

Rail

,
Noun.
[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 of 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.

Rail

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Railed
(rāld)
;
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.

Rail

,
Noun.
[F.
râle
, fr.
râler
to have a rattling in the throat; of German origin, and akin to E.
rattle
. See
Rattle
,
Verb.
]
(Zool.)
Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds of the family
Rallidae
, especially those of the genus
Rallus
, and of closely allied genera. They are prized as game birds.
☞ 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 longirostris
, var.
crepitans
); the king, or red-breasted, rail (
Rallus elegans
) (called also
fresh-water marshhen
); the lesser clapper, or Virginia, rail (
Rallus Virginianus
); and the Carolina, or sora, rail (
Porzana Carolina
). See
Sora
.
Land rail
(Zool.)
,
the corncrake.

Rail

,
Verb.
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.

Rail

(rāl)
,
Verb.
T.
1.
To rail at.
[Obs.]
Feltham.
2.
To move or influence by railing.
[R.]
Rail
the seal from off my bond.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Rail

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, &c.

RAIL

,
Noun.
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

,
Verb.
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.

Definition 2024

rail

rail

See also: raíl

English

Noun

rail ‎(plural rails)

  1. A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.
  2. The metal bar that makes the track for a railroad.
    • 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
      A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.
  3. A railroad; a railway, as a means of transportation.
    We travelled to the seaside by rail.
    a small Scottish village not accessible by rail
  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.
    • c. 2000, Nick Carroll, surfline.com :
      Rails alone can only ever have a marginal effect on a board's general turning ability.
Derived terms
Translations

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 […]
  2. (transitive) To enclose with rails or a railing.
    • Ayliffe
      It ought to be fenced in and railed.
  3. (transitive) To range in a line.
    • Francis Bacon
      They were brought to London all railed in ropes, like a team of horses in a cart.

Translations

Etymology 2

French râle, Old French rasle. Compare Medieval Latin rallus. Named from its harsh cry, Vulgar Latin *rasculum, from Latin rādere ‎(“to scrape”).

Noun

rail ‎(plural rails)

Wikispecies

  1. Any of several birds in the family Rallidae.

Usage notes

Not all birds in the family Rallidae are rails by their common name. The family also includes coots, moorhens, crakes, flufftails, waterhens and others.

Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

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?”, in 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

Etymology 4

From Middle English rail, reil, from Old English hræġl ‎(“agarment, dress, robe”). Cognate with Old Frisian hreil, reil, Old Saxon hregil, Old High German hregil ‎(“clothing, garment, dress”).

Alternative forms

  • rayle

Noun

rail ‎(plural rails)

  1. (obsolete) An item of clothing; a cloak or other garment; a dress.
  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, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur, Bk.V, Ch.iv:
      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

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology

Borrowing from English rail

Noun

rail f ‎(plural rails, diminutive railsje n or railtje n)

  1. rail

Usage notes

The diminutive railsjes is only used if used for railway tracks.[1]

References

  1. ↑ http://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/1519/railsje_railtje/

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʁaj/

Etymology

From English rail.

Noun

rail m ‎(plural rails)

  1. rail

Anagrams

Spanish

Noun

rail m ‎(plural railes)

  1. rail

Etymology

From Middle English rail, rayl, *reȝel, *reȝol (found in reȝolsticke ‎(“a ruler”)), partly from Old English regol ‎(“a ruler, straight bar”) and partly from Old French reille; both from Latin regula ‎(“rule, bar”), from regere ‎(“to rule, to guide, to govern”); see regular.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɹeɪɫ/, /ɹeɪl/
  • Rhymes: -eɪl

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