different between rail vs regular

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?l/, [?e??]
• Rhymes: -e?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English rail, rayl, *re?el, *re?ol (found in re?olsticke (“a ruler”)), partly from Old English regol (“a ruler, straight bar”) and partly from Old French reille; both from Latin regula (“rule, bar”), from regere (“to rule, to guide, to govern”); see regular.

Noun

rail (plural rails)

1. A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
2. The metal bar that makes the track for a railroad.
3. A railroad; a railway, as a means of transportation.

4. A horizontal piece of wood that serves to separate sections of a door or window.
5. (surfing) One of the lengthwise edges of a surfboard.
   • c. 2000, Nick Carroll, surfline.com [1]:

     Rails alone can only ever have a marginal effect on a board's general turning ability.

6. (Internet) A vertical section on one side of a web page.

7. (drugs) A large line (portion or serving of a powdery illegal drug).
   • 2013, Jason Isbell, "Super 8":

     Do a couple rails and chase your own tail

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Verb

rail (third-person singular simple present rails, present participle railing, simple past and past participle railed)

1. (intransitive) To travel by railway.
   • 1890, Rudyard Kipling, At the End of the Passage

     Mottram of the Indian Survey had ridden thirty and railed one hundred miles from his lonely post in the desert […]

2. (transitive) To enclose with rails or a railing.
   • 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon juris canonici Anglicani

     It ought to be fenced in and railed.

3. (transitive) To range in a line.

   • They were brought to London all railed in ropes, like a team of horses in a cart.

Derived terms

• unrail

Translations

Etymology 2

From French râle, Old French rasle. Compare Medieval Latin rallus. Named from its harsh cry, Vulgar Latin *rasculum, from Latin r?dere (“to scrape”).

Noun

rail (plural rails)

Wikispecies

1. Any of several birds in the family Rallidae.

Usage notes

• Not all birds in the family Rallidae are rails by their common name. The family also includes coots, moorhens, crakes, flufftails, waterhens and others.

Derived terms

• Aztec rail
• banded rail
• buff-banded rail
• clapper rail
• king rail
• mangrove rail
• Mexican rail
• Okinawa rail
• Ridgway's rail
• water rail

Related terms

• ralline

Translations

See also

• corncrake

Etymology 3

From Middle French railler.

Verb

rail (third-person singular simple present rails, present participle railing, simple past and past participle railed)

1. To complain violently (against, about).
   • 1623, William Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice" (First folio)

     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.

   • 1882, Mark Twain, The Stolen White Elephant, [2]

     Now that the detectives were in adversity, the newspapers turned upon them, and began to fling the most stinging sarcasms at them. This gave the minstrels an idea, and they dressed themselves as detectives and hunted the elephant on the stage in the most extravagant way. The caricaturists made pictures of detectives scanning the country with spy-glasses, while the elephant, at their backs, stole apples out of their pockets. And they made all sorts of ridiculous pictures of the detective badge—you have seen that badge printed in gold on the back of detective novels no doubt, it is a wide-staring eye, with the legend, “WE NEVER SLEEP.” When detectives called for a drink, the would-be facetious barkeeper resurrected an obsolete form of expression and said, “Will you have an eye-opener?” All the air was thick with sarcasms. But there was one man who moved calm, untouched, unaffected, through it all. It was that heart of oak, the chief inspector. His brave eye never drooped, his serene confidence never wavered. He always said: “Let them rail on; he laughs best who laughs last.”

   • 1910, "Saki", H. H. Munro, The Bag,[3]

     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 poignent for tears, he condemned every one with whom he had ever come in contact to endless and abnormal punishments.

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 27:

     Chief Joyi railed against the white man, whom he believed had deliberately sundered the Xhosa tribe, dividing brother from brother.

Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English rail, reil, from Old English hræ?l (“garment, dress, robe”). Cognate with Old Frisian hreil, reil, Old Saxon hregil, Old High German hregil (“clothing, garment, dress”).

Alternative forms

• rayle

Noun

rail (plural rails)

1. (obsolete) An item of clothing; a cloak or other garment; a dress.
2. (obsolete) Specifically, a woman's headscarf or neckerchief.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fairholt to this entry?)

Derived terms

• night-rail

Etymology 5

Probably from Anglo-Norman raier, Middle French raier.

Verb

rail (third-person singular simple present rails, present participle railing, simple past and past participle railed)

1. (obsolete, of a liquid) To gush, flow.

   • his breste and his brayle was bloodé – and hit rayled all over the see.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.2:

     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 […].

See also

• ride the rail

Anagrams

• Lair, aril, lair, lari, liar, lira, rial

Catalan

Alternative forms

• raïl (superseded)

Etymology

Borrowed from English rail.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?rajl/

Noun

rail m (plural rails)

1. rail

   Synonym: carril

Further reading

• “rail” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English rail.

Pronunciation

• (Belgium) IPA^(key): /rel/
• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /re?l/

Noun

rail f (plural rails, diminutive railsje n or railtje n)

1. rail

Usage notes

The diminutive railsjes is only used if used for railway tracks.

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: rel

References

French

Etymology

From English rail.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?aj/
• Homophone: raï

Noun

rail m (plural rails)

1. rail

Further reading

• “rail” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• lira

Spanish

Noun

rail m (plural railes)

1. (rare) Alternative form of raíl

Further reading

• “rail” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology

From Middle English reguler, from Anglo-Norman reguler, Middle French reguler, regulier, and their source, Latin r?gul?ris (“continuing rules for guidance”), from r?gula (“rule”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“move in a straight line”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: re?gyo?ol?r IPA^(key): /????j?l?/
• (US) enPR: re?gy?l?r, re?gy?l?r, IPA^(key): /????j?l?/, /????l??/, [????j??l?], [????l??]
• Rhymes: -??j?l?(?), -??j?l?(?), -???l?(?)
• (US) Hyphenation: reg?u?lar

Adjective

regular (comparative more regular, superlative most regular)

1. (Christianity) Bound by religious rule; belonging to a monastic or religious order (often as opposed to secular). [from 14th c.]
2. Having a constant pattern; showing evenness of form or appearance. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: equable, uniform, unvarying; see also Thesaurus:steady

   Antonyms: chaotic, irregular; see also Thesaurus:unsteady

3. (geometry, of a polygon) Both equilateral and equiangular; having all sides of the same length, and all (corresponding) angles of the same size [from 16th c.]
4. (geometry, of a polyhedron) Whose faces are all congruent regular polygons, equally inclined to each other.
5. Demonstrating a consistent set of rules; showing order, evenness of operation or occurrence. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: in order, ruly, tidy; see also Thesaurus:orderly

   Antonyms: chaotic, tumultuous; see also Thesaurus:disorderly
6. (astronomy) Of a moon or other satellite: following a relatively close and prograde orbit with little inclination or eccentricity.
7. (now rare) Well-behaved, orderly; restrained (of a lifestyle etc.). [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: decent, seemly, well-mannered

   Antonyms: degenerate, irregular

8. Happening at constant (especially short) intervals. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: cyclical, frequent; see also Thesaurus:periodic

   Antonyms: irregular, noncyclic

9. (grammar, of a verb, plural, etc) Following a set or common pattern; according to the normal rules of a given language. [from 17th c.]

   Synonym: (verbs) weak

   Antonyms: irregular, (verbs) strong

10. (chiefly US) Having the expected characteristics or appearances; normal, ordinary, standard. [from 17th c.]

    Synonyms: basic, common, unremarkable; see also Thesaurus:normal, Thesaurus:common

    Antonyms: irregular, outlandish, weird; see also Thesaurus:strange
11. (chiefly military) Permanently organised; being part of a set professional body of troops. [from 17th c.]

    Antonym: irregular

12. Having bowel movements or menstrual periods at constant intervals in the expected way. [from 18th c.]
13. (colloquial) Exemplary; excellent example of; utter, downright. [from 18th c.]

    Synonyms: absolute, thorough, unalloyed; see also Thesaurus:total
14. (botany, zoology) Having all the parts of the same kind alike in size and shape.

15. (crystallography) Isometric.
16. (snowboarding) Riding with the left foot forward.

    Antonym: goofy

17. (mathematical analysis, not comparable, of a Borel measure) Such that every set in its domain is both outer regular and inner regular.

Antonyms

• irregular
• non-regular, nonregular

Coordinate terms

• (snowboarding): switch

Related terms

Translations

Adverb

regular (not comparable)

1. (archaic, dialect, nonstandard) Regularly, on a regular basis.

Noun

regular (plural regulars)

1. A member of the British Army (as opposed to a member of the Territorial Army or Reserve).
2. A frequent, routine visitor to an establishment.

3. A frequent customer, client or business partner.

4. (Canada) A coffee with one cream and one sugar.
5. Anything that is normal or standard.
   • 2011, Jamie MacLennan, ZhaoHui Tang, Bogdan Crivat, Data Mining with Microsoft SQL Server 2008

     You separate the marbles by color until you have four groups, but then you notice that some of the marbles are regulars, some are shooters, and some are peewees.

6. A member of a religious order who has taken the three ordinary vows.
7. A number for each year, giving, added to the concurrents, the number of the day of the week on which the Paschal full moon falls.
8. A fixed number for each month serving to ascertain the day of the week, or the age of the moon, on the first day of any month.

Synonyms

• (routine visitor): frequenter, habitué, patron, usual suspects

Antonyms

• non-regular, nonregular

Translations

References

• regular in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• regular in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Asturian

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Late Latin r?gul?ris.

Adjective

regular (epicene, plural regulares)

1. regular
2. fine, OK, average

Related terms

• regularidá

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin r?gul?re, present active infinitive of r?gul?. Compare the doublet reglar, borrowed earlier from the same source.

Verb

regular (first-person singular indicative present regulo, past participle reguláu)

1. to regulate

Conjugation

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /r?.?u?la/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /re.?u?la?/
• Rhymes: -a(?)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Late Latin r?gul?ris.

Adjective

regular (masculine and feminine plural regulars)

1. regular (having a constant pattern)

   Antonym: irregular

2. normal, average
3. (geometry) regular (both equilateral and equiangular)

   Antonym: irregular

Derived terms

• regularitat
• regularitzar
• regularment

Related terms

• irregular
• regla

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin r?gul?re, present active infinitive of r?gul?.

Verb

regular (first-person singular present regulo, past participle regulat)

1. (transitive) to regulate

Conjugation

Derived terms

• regulador

Related terms

• regulació

Further reading

• “regular” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “regular” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “regular” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “regular” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /???u?la?/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?e?u?la(?)/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Late Latin r?gul?ris.

Adjective

regular m or f (plural regulares, comparable)

1. regular
2. average

Declension

Derived terms

• irregular
• regularmente

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin r?gul?. Compare the doublet regrar, borrowed earlier from the same source.

Verb

regular (first-person singular present indicative regulo, past participle regulado)

1. to regulate
2. to tune (an engine)
3. to set (a watch, clock)

Conjugation

Related terms

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /re?u?la?/, [re.??u?la?]

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Late Latin r?gul?ris.

Adjective

regular (plural regulares)

1. regular, steady, even
2. fair, fairly good, average
3. common, ordinary, middling, so-so
4. (grammar) regular

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin r?gul?re, present active infinitive of r?gul?.

Verb

regular (first-person singular present regulo, first-person singular preterite regulé, past participle regulado)

1. to regulate
2. to control
3. to adjust
4. to put in order

Conjugation

Related terms