rail
♦ rail /r'eɪl/ (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.
She gripped the hand rail in the lift.
2 [N-COUNT]
A rail is a horizontal bar that you hang things on.
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.
= track
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.
5 [VERB] V against/at n
If you rail against something, you criticize it loudly and angrily. (WRITTEN)
He railed against hypocrisy and greed...
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...
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.pic|ture rail (picture rails)
also picture-rail
[N-COUNT]
A picture rail is a continuous narrow piece of wood which is fixed round a room just below the ceiling. Pictures can be hung from it using string and hooks. (mainly BRIT)
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.
She gripped the hand rail in the lift.
2 [N-COUNT]
A rail is a horizontal bar that you hang things on.
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.
= track
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.
5 [VERB] V against/at n
If you rail against something, you criticize it loudly and angrily. (WRITTEN)
He railed against hypocrisy and greed...
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...
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.pic|ture rail (picture rails)
also picture-rail
[N-COUNT]
A picture rail is a continuous narrow piece of wood which is fixed round a room just below the ceiling. Pictures can be hung from it using string and hooks. (mainly BRIT)