[*** \mathrm{rail}^1] |rāl|

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.

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.

go off the rails

informal begin behaving in a strange, abnormal, or wildly uncontrolled way.

railage noun

railless adjective

Middle English: from Old French reille ‘iron rod’, from Latin regula ‘straight stick, rule’.

[*** \mathrm{rail}^2] |rāl|

verb no object (rail against/rail at/rail about)

complain or protest strongly and persistently about:

｟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.

railer noun

late Middle English: from French railler, from Provençal ralhar ‘to jest’, based on an alteration of Latin rugire ‘to bellow’.

[*** \mathrm{rail}^3] |rāl|

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.

late Middle English: from Old Northern French raille, perhaps of imitative origin.