Etymology 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. Doublet of regal, regula, rigol, and rule.
A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
2
The metal bar forming part of the track for a railroad.
A "moving platform" scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
3
A railroad; a railway, as a means of transportation.
We travelled to the seaside by rail.
a small Scottish village not accessible by rail
2 more examples
rail transport
It is impossible not to share the mood of excitement, of self-confidence, of pride, which seized those who lived through this heroic age of the engineers, as the railway first linked Channel and Mediterranean, as it became possible to travel by rail to Seville, to Moscow, to Brindisi, as the iron tracks pushed westwards across the North American prairies and mountains and across the Indian sub-continent in the 1860s, up the Nile valley, and into the hinterlands of Latin America in the 1870s.1975, Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Capital. 1848-1875, published 1995, page 72:
ISA devices draw power from the +5 V, −5 V, +12 V, and −12 V rails of the power supply unit.
There has been another, fairly gradual change in the ATX specification: Initially a lot of power was supplied on the 5V and 3.3V rails, but over time more and more power shifted to 12V because it's more efficient. Modern (ATX12V 2.x) PSUs supply most of their power on the 12V rail and not a lot on the 5V rail, which means a modern PSU may not be able to supply an old board, unless it's a really beefy PSU—because providing 500W on the 12V rail is of very little use to an AT or early ATX system.2019 December 5, Michal Necasek, “Power Trouble”, in OS/2 Museum, archived from the original on 25 Sep 2022:
5
A horizontal piece of wood that serves to separate sections of a door or window.
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Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, Surfing One of the lengthwise edges of a surfboard.
Rails alone can only ever have a marginal effect on a board's general turning ability.c. 2000, Nick Carroll, surfline.com http://www.surfline.com/community/whoknows/10_21_rails.cfm
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Internet A vertical section on one side of a web page.
We're experimenting with ads in the right-hand rail.
8
Drugs, Medicine, Pharmacology, Sciences A large line (portion or serving of a powdery illegal drug).
Do a couple rails and chase your own tail2013, Jason Isbell, Super 8:
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Each of two vertical side bars supporting the rungs of a ladder.
Etymology 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. Doublet of regal, regula, rigol, and rule.
1
To travel by railway.
Mottram of the Indian Survey had ridden thirty and railed one hundred miles from his lonely post in the desert […]1890, Rudyard Kipling, At the End of the Passage:
It ought to be fenced in and railed.1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. […], London: […] D. Leach, and sold by John Walthoe […], →OCLC:
4
To range in a line.
They were brought to London all railed in ropes, like a team of horses in a cart.1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:
5
Slang, Vulgar To sexually penetrate in a rough manner.
All I can think about is being seventeen days sober and desperate to rail a line of blow after last night's group outing to see Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring (at my request), which, in hindsight, was a fucking dumb thing for a rehab to approve of.2025 May 27, Tommy Dorfman, “Finding God”, in Maybe This Will Save Me: A Memoir of Art, Addiction and Transformation, Harlequin, →ISBN:
Etymology 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”).
Till thou canst raile the seale from off my bond Thou but offend'st thy Lungs to speake so loud: Repaire thy wit good youth, or it will fall To endlesse ruine. I stand heere for Law.c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
He always said: “Let them rail on; he laughs best who laughs last.”1882, Mark Twain, “The Stolen White Elephant”:
3 more examples
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.1910, "Saki", H. H. Munro, The Bag,https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1870/1870-h/1870-h.htm#page75
Chief Joyi railed against the white man, whom he believed had deliberately sundered the Xhosa tribe, dividing brother from brother.1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 27:
The Queen may be celebrating her jubilee but the Queen's English Society, which has railed against the misuse and deterioration of the English language, is to fold.2012 June 4, Lewis Smith, “Queen’s English Society says enuf is enough, innit?: Society formed 40 years ago to protect language against poor spelling and grammar closes because too few people care”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2016:
Etymology 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”).
1
Obsolete An item of clothing; a cloak or other garment; a dress.
2
Obsolete Specifically, a woman's headscarf or neckerchief.
A course hempen raile about her shoulders.1592, Thomas Nashe, Pierce Penniless:
his breste and his brayle was bloodé – and hit rayled all over the see.1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum iv”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:
So furiously each other did assayle, / As if their soules they would attonce haue rent / Out of their brests, that streames of bloud did rayle / Adowne, as if their springes of life were spent[…].1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC: