Join Us On

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

Thesaurus

Medical

Scrabble^®

Spanish Central

Browse Dictionary Browse Thesaurus

Get our free apps!iPhone•iPad•Android

Dictionary

¹rail

noun \ˈrāl\

Definition of RAIL

a : a bar extending from one post or support to another and serving as a guard or barrier

b : a structural member or support

a : railing 1

b : a light structure serving as a guard at the outer edge of a ship's deck

c : a fence bounding a racetrack

a : a bar of rolled steel forming a track for wheeled vehicles

b : track

c : railroad

Origin of RAIL

Middle English raile, from Anglo-French raille, reille bar, rule, from Latin regula straightedge, rule — more at rule

First Known Use: 14th century

Other Railroad Terms

cowcatcher, cupola, gauge, vestibule, yard

Rhymes with RAIL

ail, ale, bail, bale, Bâle, brail, braille, Braille, dale, fail, flail, frail, Gael, gale, Gale, grail, hail, hale, jail, kale, mail, male, nail, pail, pale, quail, Quayle, sail, sale, scale, shale, snail, stale, swale, tael, tail, taille, tale, trail, vail, vale, veil, wail, wale, whale, Yale

²rail

verb

Definition of RAIL

transitive verb

: to provide with a railing : fence

First Known Use of RAIL

14th century

³rail

noun

plural rail or rails

Definition of RAIL

: any of numerous wading birds (family Rallidae, the rail family) that are of small or medium size and have short rounded wings, a short tail, and usually very long toes which enable them to run on the soft mud of marshes

Illustration of RAIL

Origin of RAIL

Middle English raile, from Middle French raalle

First Known Use: 15th century

⁴rail

verb

Definition of RAIL

intransitive verb

: to revile or scold in harsh, insolent, or abusive language

— rail·er noun

Origin of RAIL

Middle English, from Middle French railler to mock, probably from Old French reillier to growl, mutter, from Vulgar Latin *ragulare to bray, from Late Latin ragere to neigh

First Known Use: 15th century

Synonym Discussion of RAIL

scold, upbraid, berate, rail, revile, vituperate mean to reproach angrily and abusively. scold implies rebuking in irritation or ill temper justly or unjustly <angrily scolding the children>. upbraid implies censuring on definite and usually justifiable grounds <upbraided her assistants for poor research>. berate suggests prolonged and often abusive scolding <berated continually by an overbearing boss>. rail (at or against) stresses an unrestrained berating <railed loudly at their insolence>. revile implies a scurrilous, abusive attack prompted by anger or hatred <an alleged killer reviled in the press>. vituperate suggests a violent reviling <was vituperated for betraying his friends>.

RAILER Defined for Kids