rail (n.)

  1. a barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports

    [ Syn: railing ]

  2. short for railway; he traveled by rail; he was concerned with rail safety'

  3. a bar or pair of parallel bars of rolled steel making the railway along which railroad cars or other vehicles can roll

    [ Syn: track , rails , runway ]

  4. a horizontal bar (usually of wood or metal)

  5. any of numerous widely distributed small wading birds of the family Rallidae having short wings and very long toes for running on soft mud

    rail (v.)

  1. complain bitterly

    [ Syn: inveigh ]

  2. criticize severely; He fulminated against the Republicans plan to cut Medicare; She railed against the bad social policies

    [ Syn: fulminate ]

  3. enclose with rails; rail in the old graves

    [ Syn: rail in ]

  4. provide with rails; The yard was railed'

  5. separate with a railing; rail off the crowds from the Presidential palace

    [ Syn: rail off ]

  6. convey (goods etc.) by rails; fresh fruit are railed from Italy to Belgium'

  7. travel by rail or train; They railed from Rome to Venice; She trained to Hamburg

    [ Syn: train ]

  8. lay with rails; hundreds of miles were railed out here'

  9. fish with a handline over the rails of a boat; They are railing for fresh fish'

  10. spread negative information about; The Nazi propaganda vilified the Jews

    [ Syn: vilify , revile , vituperate ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.