rail

rail

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of rail in English

English Online Dictionary. What means rail‎? What does rail mean?

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: rāl, IPA(key): /ɹeɪl/, [ɹeɪɫ]
  • Rhymes: -eɪl

Etymology 1

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 regō (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 forming part of the track for a railroad.
  3. A railroad; a railway, as a means of transportation.
  4. (electronics) A conductor maintained at a fixed electrical potential relative to ground, to which other circuit components are connected.
  5. A horizontal piece of wood that serves to separate sections of a door or window.
  6. (surfing) One of the lengthwise edges of a surfboard.
    • c. 2000, Nick Carroll, surfline.com [2]:
      Rails alone can only ever have a marginal effect on a board's general turning ability.
  7. (Internet) A vertical section on one side of a web page.
  8. (drugs) A large line (portion or serving of a powdery illegal drug).
  9. Each of two vertical side bars supporting the rungs of a ladder.
    Synonyms: stile, stringer
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To travel by railway.
  2. (transitive, rail transport, of rolling stock) To place on a track.
  3. (transitive) To enclose with rails or a railing.
  4. (transitive) To range in a line.
  5. (transitive, vulgar, slang) To sexually penetrate in a rough manner.
Derived terms
  • derail
  • rerail
  • unrail
Translations

Etymology 2

From French râle, rale, from Middle French raalle, from 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
  • Aldabra rail
  • Aztec rail (Rallus tenuirostris)
  • banded rail
  • barred rail (Hypotaenidia okinawae)
  • bar-winged rail
  • buff-banded rail (Hypotaenidia philippensis)
  • Calayan rail (Gallirallus calayanensis)
  • Chatham rail
  • chestnut rail (Eulabeornis castaneoventris)
  • clapper rail (Rallus crepitans)
  • Dieffenbach's rail
  • forest rail (Rallicula spp.)
  • grey-throated rail (Canirallus oculeus)
  • Guam rail (Hypotaenidia owstoni)
  • Inaccessible Island rail
  • invisible rail
  • king rail (Rallus elegans)
  • Laysan rail
  • mangrove rail (Rallus longirostris)
  • Mexican rail
  • New Guinea flightless rail
  • Nkulengu rail
  • Okinawa rail (Hypotaenidia okinawae)
  • pink-legged rail (Hypotaenidia insignis)
  • red rail
  • Ridgway's rail (Rallus obsoletus)
  • Rouget's rail
  • Roviana rail (Hypotaeinidia rovianae)
  • snoring rail (Aramidopsis plateri)
  • Virginia rail
  • water rail (Rallus aquaticus)
  • white-throated rail
  • Woodford's rail (Hypotaenidia woodfordi)
  • wood rail (Aramides spp.)
  • Zapata rail
Related terms
  • ralline
Translations

See also

  • corncrake

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).
    Synonyms: fulminate, inveigh
    • 1910, "Saki", H. H. Munro, The Bag,[4]
      The Major’s fury clothed and reclothed itself in words as frantically as a woman up in town for one day’s shopping tries on a succession of garments. He reviled and railed at fate and the general scheme of things, he pitied himself with a strong, deep pity too poignant for tears, he condemned every one with whom he had ever come in contact to endless and abnormal punishments.
Derived terms
  • raillery
Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English rail, reil, from Old English hræġl (garment, 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.
Derived terms
  • night-rail

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, of a liquid) To gush; to flow.

See also

  • ride the rail

Anagrams

  • Lair, aril, lair, lari, liar, lira, rial

Catalan

Alternative forms

  • raïl (superseded)

Etymology

Borrowed from English rail.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian) [ˈrajl]

Noun

rail m (plural rails)

  1. rail
    Synonym: carril

Further reading

  • “rail” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English rail.

Pronunciation

  • (Belgium) IPA(key): /rel/
  • (Netherlands) IPA(key): /reːl/

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.

Descendants

  • Caribbean Javanese: ril
  • Indonesian: rel

References

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English rail.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʁaj/
  • Homophone: raï

Noun

rail m (plural rails)

  1. rail

Further reading

  • “rail”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

  • lira

Spanish

Noun

rail m (plural railes)

  1. (rare) Alternative form of raíl

Further reading

  • “rail”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.