| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| rail1 |
| |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  r l |
| NOUN: | 1a. A bar extending horizontally between supports, as in a fence. b. A structure made of such bars and supports and forming a barrier or guard; a railing. 2. A steel bar used, usually in pairs, as a track for railroad cars or other wheeled vehicles. 3. The railroad as a means of transportation: goods transported by rail. 4. A horizontal framing member in a door or in paneling. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: railed, rail·ing, rails
To supply or enclose with rails or a rail. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English raile, from Old French reille, from Latin r gula, straight piece of wood, ruler. See reg- in Appendix I.
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
