rail

Less common meanings

6. 6
   ladder sidenouncountable

   Either of the two vertical side bars of a ladder into which the rungs are fixed.

   He wiped the paint off the left rail before folding the ladder away.

   The ladder's rails were made of lightweight aluminum.

   Similarstile, stringer

   Note

   Ladder rails come in pairs, with the rungs fixed between them, and the part has two other names: stile and stringer both mean this upright side bar. Notice the change of direction. Here the bar stands vertical, while the barrier rail runs horizontally. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • A ladder has two side rails supporting its rungs. en.wiktionary.org
   • Stile and stringer also name a ladder's upright side bar. en.wikipedia.org
   • The ladder sense describes a vertical member, whereas the barrier sense describes a horizontal bar. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   fence inverbtransitive

   To enclose or fence in an area with rails or a railing.

   After two hikers slipped, the town railed off the steep edge of the overlook.

   The builders had to rail in each balcony with steel bars before anyone moved in.

   UsageUsually rail off or rail in a place: they railed off the pond.

   Similarfence, enclose

   Note

   A verb made straight from the barrier rail: to rail an area is to put rails around it. It sits easily beside fencing, as in John Ayliffe's Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani (1726): 'It ought to be fenced in and railed.' Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The enclosing verb rail derives directly from the noun rail. whichenglish.com
   • John Ayliffe wrote Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani. archive.org
   • The book was first published in 1726. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quoted wording is attributed to Ayliffe's Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   marsh birdnouncountable

   Any of several marsh-dwelling birds of the family Rallidae, typically with short rounded wings and long toes for walking on soft ground.

   The birdwatcher finally glimpsed a rail slipping through the dense marsh grass.

   Several rails nested in the wetland that spring.

   Note

   The bird's name is a separate word, borrowed from French râle and named for the bird's harsh cry. Its root is Latin rādere, 'to scrape', so the name is a sound picture of a scraping call. It has no connection with bars or railways. Medieval Latin rallus is the same name, and it lives on in the family name Rallidae. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

   • The bird name was borrowed from French râle. en.wiktionary.org
   • The bird was named for its harsh cry. en.wikipedia.org
   • The name derives ultimately from Latin rādere, meaning 'to scrape', referring to the call. en.wiktionary.org
   • The bird name has a separate origin from rail meaning a bar or railway. en.wiktionary.org
   • The bird name is unrelated to bars and railways. en.wikipedia.org
   • Medieval Latin rallus means 'rail'. en.wiktionary.org
   • The family name Rallidae preserves the name through the genus Rallus. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   door framenouncountable

   A horizontal piece of wood that divides the sections of a door or window frame.

   The carpenter joined each rail to the vertical stiles with mortise and tenon joints.

   Decorative molding ran along the top rail of the paneled door.

10. 10
    drug linenounslangcountable

    A sizable line of a powdered drug arranged for snorting.

    She bent down and snorted a fat rail off the counter.

    Police found a rail of white powder still laid out on the glass table.

    Similarline

    Note

    Drug slang in which size is the point: a rail is a line laid out large. It counts like any ordinary noun (a fat rail, a couple rails), and Jason Isbell's song 'Super 8' (2013) uses it in exactly that way. The same image lies behind the verb for snorting a line, where you rail a line rather than do one. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Jason Isbell's song 'Super 8' was released in 2013. jasonisbell.bandcamp.com
    • The song uses 'rails' as a countable noun in the drug sense. alleyesmedia.com
11. 11
    snort drugsverbslangtransitive

    To inhale a line of a powdered drug through the nose.

    They rail ketamine off the back of a phone.

    She railed the last line and passed the straw along.

    Similarsnort

    Note

    The verb that goes with the noun for a big line: to rail is to take that line in one snort. It is transitive, and its object can be the drug or the line itself, as in Tommy Dorfman's Maybe This Will Save Me (2025): "desperate to rail a line of blow." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Tommy Dorfman wrote Maybe This Will Save Me, first published in 2025. harlequin.com
    • The quoted words occur in Dorfman's memoir, in the chapter 'Finding God'. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    put on trackverbtransitive

    To set a railway vehicle onto the track.

    Note

    A railway workers' verb, and strictly transitive: its object is rolling stock, such as a wagon, a coach or a locomotive, set onto the running rails so the wheels sit on the track. It is the mechanical side of the verb and has little to do with traveling by train, which takes no object at all. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Wagons, coaches and locomotives are examples of railway rolling stock. en.wikipedia.org
13. 13
    rough sexverbslangvulgartransitive

    To penetrate someone sexually in a rough, vigorous manner.

    They rail each other hard whenever they fight and make up.

    The whole song was him bragging that he railed her senseless.

    Similarpound, bang

14. 14
    game board edgenouncountable

    The raised border running around the edge of a game board, especially in backgammon.

    Her die bounced off the rail and rolled to a stop near the middle of the board.

    The dice bounced off the rail of the backgammon board and rolled onto the floor.

    Note

    Backgammon's border matters most as a boundary for the dice. A throw counts only when both dice come to rest flat inside the board, not cocked against or on top of the rail. The edge is part of the rules as well as the furniture, and players watch it on every roll. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • A valid throw requires both dice to settle flat inside the board. world-backgammon-association.com
    • Dice cocked against the rail or resting on top of it do not constitute a valid throw; the border therefore affects the rules. usbgf.org
15. 15
    nounobsolete

    A garment, such as a cloak or dress.

    Note

    This is a different word from the bar and the railway, though the spelling is the same. It comes from Old English hræġl, meaning "garment, dress, robe," and has relatives in Old Frisian hreil and Old High German hregil. Because it is obsolete, it belongs to the reading of older texts or to deliberate period color, never to plain modern speech. The headscarf meaning narrows it to a single item of a woman's dress. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The garment word has a different origin from rail meaning a bar or railway; it descends from Old English hræġl, meaning garment, dress or robe. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old Frisian hreil and Old High German hregil are cognates. en.wiktionary.org
    • The headscarf sense is a specific sense of the garment word. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    nounobsolete

    A woman's headscarf or neckerchief.

    A course hempen raile about her shoulders.

    1592, Thomas Nashe, Pierce Penniless

    Note

    The general 'garment' sense narrowed to one item a woman wore at the head or neck. Thomas Nashe's Pierce Penniless (1592) puts 'a course hempen raile about her shoulders'. That rail is made of coarse hemp, which suggests ordinary cloth rather than finery. The spelling raile is the one to look for in texts of that period. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • The general garment word has a narrower sense denoting a woman's headscarf or neckerchief. en.wiktionary.org
    • Thomas Nashe wrote Pierce Penniless. pages.uoregon.edu
    • Pierce Penniless was first published in 1592. research.ncl.ac.uk
    • The work contains the quoted wording. pages.uoregon.edu
    • The coarse hemp cloth suggests ordinary material rather than finery; this is supported by its being taken from a hop bag. pages.uoregon.edu
    • The spelling raile occurs in the period text. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    verbobsolete

    To flow forth or gush out.

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

    1470, Thomas Malory, “Capitulum iv”

    Note

    An obsolete verb of uncertain origin, probably from Anglo-Norman raier, and in Malory and Spenser it runs with blood. Malory's Le Morte Darthur has blood that 'rayled all over the see'. Spenser's Faerie Queene (1596) has 'streames of bloud' that 'rayle adowne'. Readers of older verse meet it as rayle, and it has no link to the railway words. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The verb has an uncertain origin, probably Anglo-Norman raier. en.wiktionary.org
    • Malory uses the verb of blood in Le Morte Darthur, with the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
    • Spenser uses rayle of flowing blood, with the quoted wording, in The Faerie Queene. en.wikisource.org
    • The spelling rayle occurs in older verse. en.wikisource.org
    • This verb is etymologically distinct from the railway senses of rail. en.wiktionary.org
18. 18
    verbobsolete

    Of the wind, to blow.

    Note

    The wind's counterpart to the obsolete 'gushing' verb, from the same probable source. It applied to moving air what that verb applied to moving liquid. It is obsolete and was used only of wind. A modern reader who meets wind that 'rails' in an older text should read it as blowing, not complaining. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The wind and liquid senses belong to the same verb, with the same probable source. en.wiktionary.org
    • The obsolete wind sense means to blow, paralleling the liquid sense's meaning of flowing. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    verbrare

    To travel from place to place by railroad.
20. 20
    noun

    Either of the lengthwise edges of a surfboard, running from nose to tail.
21. 21
    noun

    A vertical band running along one side of a web page.
22. 22
    verbobsolete

    To arrange or set out in a line.

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

    1622, Francis, Lord Verulam