rail
$ \mathrm{rail}^1 |rāl|
noun
1. a bar or series of bars, typically fixed on upright supports, serving as part of a fence or barrier or used to hang things on:
e.g. a curtain rail.
(the rails) the inside boundary fence of a racecourse.
2. a steel bar or continuous line of bars laid on the ground as one of a pair forming a railroad track:
e.g. trolley rails.
often as modifier railroads as a means of transportation:
e.g. rail fares
e.g. traveling by rail.
3. the edge of a surfboard or sailboard.
4. a horizontal piece in the frame of a paneled door or sash window. Compare with stile2.
5. Electronics a conductor which is maintained at a fixed potential and to which other parts of a circuit are connected: e.g. the anode must be connected to the positive supply rail.
verb
1. with object provide or enclose (a space or place) with a rail or rails:
e.g. the altar is railed off from the nave.
2. no object (in windsurfing) sail the board on its edge, so that it is at a sharp angle to the surface of the water:
e.g. the more you pull down on the boom, the more you rail.
PHRASES
go off the rails
informal begin behaving in a strange, abnormal, or wildly uncontrolled way.
DERIVATIVES
ORIGIN
$ \mathrm{rail}^2 |rāl|
｟かたい文｠ «…を» (怒りをもって)厳しく非難する, 不平を言う, ののしる «against, at»
e.g. he railed at human fickleness.
DERIVATIVES
ORIGIN
$ \mathrm{rail}^3 |rāl|
noun
a secretive bird with drab gray and brown plumage, typically having a long bill and found in dense waterside vegetation.
Family Rallidae (the rail family):
e.g. several genera, especially Rallus, and numerous species. The rail family also includes the crakes, gallinules, moorhens, and coots.
ORIGIN