rail

rail
[[t]re͟ɪl[/t]]
♦♦♦
rails, railing, railed
1) N-COUNT: oft supp N A rail is a horizontal bar attached to posts or fixed round the edge of something as a fence or support.

They had to walk across an emergency footbridge, holding onto a rope that served as a rail...

She gripped the hand rail in the lift.

2) N-COUNT A rail is a horizontal bar that you hang things on.

...frocks hanging from a rail...

This pair of curtains will fit a rail up to 7ft 6in wide.

3) N-COUNT: usu pl Rails are the steel bars which trains run on.

The train left the rails but somehow forced its way back onto the line.

Syn:
4) N-UNCOUNT: oft N n If you travel or send something by rail, you travel or send it on a train.

The president traveled by rail to his home town.

...the electric rail link between Manchester and Sheffield.

5) VERB If you rail against something, you criticize it loudly and angrily. [WRITTEN]

[V against/at n] He railed against hypocrisy and greed...

[V against/at n] I'd cursed him and railed at him.

6) → See also railing
7) PHRASE If something is back on the rails, it is beginning to be successful again after a period when it almost failed. [JOURNALISM]

They are keen to get the negotiating process back on the rails...

Her career is back on the rails.

8) PHRASE: V inflects If someone goes off the rails, they start to behave in a way that other people think is unacceptable or very strange, for example they start taking drugs or breaking the law.

They've got to do something about these children because clearly they've gone off the rails.


English dictionary. 2008.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • rail — rail …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • rail — [ raj ] n. m. • 1817; mot angl.; cf. a. fr. raille, reille « barre »; lat. regula 1 ♦ Chacune des barres d acier profilées, mises bout à bout sur deux lignes parallèles et posées sur des traverses pour constituer une voie ferrée; chacune des deux …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Rail — or rails may refer to:* Guard rail, for safety or support * Handrail, on a stairway * Rallidae, the group of birds called rails * Rail tracks * The hot rolled steel profiles used on rail tracks or Tramway tracks ** Railway rail ** Vignoles rail… …   Wikipedia

  • Rail — Rail, n. [Akin to LG. & Sw. regel bar, bolt, G. riegel a rail, bar, or bolt, OHG. rigil, rigel, bar, bolt, and possibly to E. row a line.] 1. A bar of timber or metal, usually horizontal or nearly so, extending from one post or support to another …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • rail — [reɪl] noun [uncountable] TRANSPORT TRANSPORT travel or transport by train: • What percentage of goods are sent by rail? • rail travel * * * rail UK US /reɪl/ noun [U] TRANSPORT …   Financial and business terms

  • Rail — Rail, n. [F. r[^a]le, fr. r[^a]ler to have a rattling in the throat; of German origin, and akin to E. rattle. See {Rattle}, v.] (Zo[ o]l.) Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds of the family {Rallid[ae]}, especially those of the genus… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Raíl — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Para la moneda, véase Riel camboyano. Riel moderno[cita requerida]. Se denomina riel, carril o raíl a cada una de las barras met …   Wikipedia Español

  • rail — Ⅰ. rail [1] ► NOUN 1) a bar or series of bars fixed on upright supports or attached to a wall or ceiling, serving as part of a fence or barrier or used to hang things on. 2) a steel bar or continuous line of bars laid on the ground as one of a… …   English terms dictionary

  • rail — rail1 [rāl] n. [ME raile < OFr reille < L regula,RULE] 1. a bar of wood, metal, etc. placed horizontally between upright posts to serve as a barrier or support 2. a fence or railing; specif., the fence surrounding the infield of a racetrack …   English World dictionary

  • Rail — (r[=a]l), v. t. 1. To rail at. [Obs.] Feltham. [1913 Webster] 2. To move or influence by railing. [R.] [1913 Webster] Rail the seal from off my bond. Shak. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • raíl — Adaptación del inglés rail, ‘carril de la vía férrea’. En español se usa mayoritariamente como palabra bisílaba, con hiato entre las vocales en contacto: raíl [rra íl]. Se desaconseja, por tanto, la forma monosílaba ⊕ rail [rráil], con diptongo… …   Diccionario panhispánico de dudas

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