RAIL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Rail

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/reɪl/ Listen

Rail

noun

1.

A barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports. Synonym: railing.

2.

Short for railway. "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. Synonyms: rails, runway, track.

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.

verb

(past & past part. railed; pres. part. railing)

1.

Complain bitterly. Synonym: inveigh.

2.

Enclose with rails. Synonym: rail in.

3.

Provide with rails.

4.

Separate with a railing. Synonym: rail off.

5.

Convey (goods etc.) by rails.

6.

Travel by rail or train. Synonym: train. "She trained to Hamburg"

7.

Lay with rails.

8.

Fish with a handline over the rails of a boat.

9.

Spread negative information about. Synonyms: revile, vilify, vituperate.

10.

Criticize severely. Synonym: fulminate. "She railed against the bad social policies"

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Etymology of 'Rail'

Related searches:

rail technology

snake-rail fence

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Rail" Quotes from Famous Books

... on a rail amidst roars of laughter. What a bear-like, poultrified, be-poodled object he was!—burred and sheathed in rumpled gray feathers from his hair to his heels. The sight and smell of him scared the horses. There were tufts of feathers ...

— The Light in the Clearing • Irving Bacheller

... keep him going. "As for the sea," said he, "I have had enough—too much. It is all right while your pluck lasts, but once get a shake, and you had better give it up. And the little boat!—I broke that rail as I was getting poor Andrew's body on board. She is all right, but ...

— The Confessions of a Beachcomber • E J Banfield

... full: its long bar, shaped something like the letter J, supported many lounging arms and elbows; its burnished foot-rail was scraped by boots of many shapes and sizes; its heavy air, thick with cigarette smoke, hummed with many voices. In one corner, a remote corner where few ventured to penetrate, Soapy leaned, as pallid and noncommittal as ever, while ...

— The Definite Object - A Romance of New York • Jeffery Farnol

... from San Francisco, the traveller has twice to cross the bay: once by the busy Oakland Ferry, and again, after an hour or so of the railway, from Vallejo junction to Vallejo. Thence he takes rail once more to mount the long green strath ...

— The Silverado Squatters • Robert Louis Stevenson

... crowd on the wharf. Take her with you, came the thought. It is easy to be kind. She will be supremely happy. It was almost a temptation one moment, and the succeeding moment it became a terror. He was in a panic at the thought of it. His tired soul cried out in protest. He turned away from the rail with a groan, muttering, "Man, you are too sick, you ...

— Martin Eden • Jack London

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