rally

Pluralrallies

Formsrallies, rallying, rallied

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A public gathering or mass meeting, not mainly a protest, held to build enthusiasm for a cause.

   Supporters packed the stadium for a campaign rally the night before the vote.

   Organizers staged a rally to drum up enthusiasm for the conservation effort.

   Similargathering, meeting, assembly, convention

   Note

   A gathering meant to fire people up rather than air a grievance: campaign rallies and election rallies are the typical cases. The word comes through French rallier from Latin re- + ad + ligare, "to bind; to ally," so a rally is, at root, a binding together again. When the crowd has come to object rather than cheer, the word shifts toward the protest meaning.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A protest or demonstration for or against a cause, often featuring speeches and frequently without marching.

   Demonstrators held a rally outside city hall to demand stronger gun laws.

   The union called a rally to oppose the proposed layoffs.

   Similardemonstration, protest, demo

   Note

   Strongest in North American usage, this is the gathering that protests: speakers and a crowd in one place, often with no march at all. The use is not confined to North America, as Nicola Slawson's 2017 report on an EDL rally in Birmingham shows. A political rally can be either kind. Whether the crowd cheers or objects is what separates it from the enthusiasm-building meeting.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To come back into orderly arrangement and renew united effort, as scattered troops regroup and assemble.

   Exhausted and scattered, the regiment rallied at the ridge before nightfall.

   Good units rally fast once an officer restores order.

   Similarunite, assemble

   Oppositescatter, disperse

   Note

   Here the scattered side does the regrouping itself: "The Grecians rally," in Dryden's Virgil of 1697. The intransitive use reaches well beyond war. John Tillotson in 1664 has particles of matter rally together to form a world. Louise Taylor's 2019 World Cup report has England repeatedly rallying, "refusing to fold." In sport it means regaining shape and effort under pressure.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To collect scattered or confused troops and bring them back into order; to gather and reunite them.

   The captain rallied his scattered men and led them back into the line.

   Strong leaders rally their followers after a defeat.

   Similarmuster

   Oppositescatter, disperse, disband

   Note

   The transitive verb puts the commander in charge and the troops as object: rally the men, rally one's forces. It is the most literal reading of the "bind again" origin, since it means re-binding what has scattered. Muster is close, but rally carries the sense that the body had been broken or thrown into confusion and is now restored to order.

5. 5
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To gather one's strength or vital powers again; to regain health or consciousness.

   After days of fever, the old man finally rallied.

   Patients often rally once the infection is brought under control.

   Similarrecover, recuperate

   Oppositedecline, weaken, deteriorate, relapse

   Note

   The verb works both with and without an object. Letitia Elizabeth Landon's Ethel Churchill (1837) has a man seek "in vain" to rally his spirits. With no object, the person does the rallying, as when a patient rallies after illness. Recuperate is the close synonym, and rally suits the turning point when strength or consciousness begins to return.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A motorsport event in which competitors drive a series of timed special stages, the winner having the shortest total time.

   The driver clinched the rally with the fastest cumulative time across all stages.

   Spectators lined the forest track to watch the rally roar past.

   Note

   Motor racing against the clock rather than against a visible rival: cars start at intervals, so no one races wheel to wheel, and each special stage is timed separately. The result is a sum. The lowest cumulative time across all stages wins, which means a driver can lose individual stages and still take the rally.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   In racket sports, the sequence of strokes exchanged between the serve and the scoring of a point.

   A grueling rally of more than thirty strokes ended the set.

   He lost the rally by hitting the ball into the net.

   Similarexchange

   Note

   Racket-sport commentary measures play in these exchanges: the serve opens one, and the winning or losing of the point closes it. The word works the same way across tennis, table tennis, badminton and squash, and it pairs naturally with length: a long rally, a thirty-stroke rally. Keep it apart from the timed driving event, which shares the spelling and the sports pages but is a different sport entirely.

8. 8
   nouncountable

   An upward recovery in prices following a decline, said of a market, stock, or similar.

   Investors welcomed the late-afternoon rally that erased the morning's losses.

   A sharp rally in oil prices lifted energy shares.

   Similarrecovery, rebound, upturn, upswing, surge

   Oppositeslump, decline, downturn, fall

   Note

   Market language for a turn upward that only makes sense after a fall. A rally presupposes a decline, which is what separates it from a plain rise in prices. Traders speak of a rally in oil, in a stock, or across an index. The image matches a patient's recovery: what was failing gathers strength again.

9. 9
   verbintransitive

   Of a market or stock, to recover and rise again after a decline in prices.

   The index rallied sharply in the final hour of trading.

   Markets tend to rally once uncertainty fades.

   Similarrebound, recover

   Oppositedecline

   Note

   The verb is intransitive, and its subject is always the thing being priced: a market, an index, a stock, Bitcoin. The size of the recovery follows by, and since marks the low point. Nils Pratley wrote in 2022 that Bitcoin had "rallied by about 10% since the downwards lurch." Rebound and bounce back are close synonyms, and decline is the opposite. The noun is the market rally.

10. 10
    verbtransitive

    To tease or make fun of someone in a friendly, good-humored way.

    The old sailors rallied the new recruit about his seasickness.

    They would rally him good-naturedly whenever he forgot a name.

    Similartease, rib, chaff, josh, kid

    Note

    This is a different word altogether. It comes from French railler and is kin to rail, "to scoff," which is why it sounds like rallying troops but means teasing. The person teased is the object, and the topic follows on or upon: "rally him on the subject" in Sheridan's The School for Scandal (1777). John Gay's The Fan (1713) spells it railly'd.

11. 11
    noununcountable

    Good-humored teasing and banter exchanged in a friendly spirit.

    Their letters were full of affectionate rally and teasing.

    The dinner passed in easy rally between old friends.

    Similarbanter, raillery, badinage, chaff, repartee

    Note

    Unlike the meeting, the race and the market rally, this noun is uncountable: friends trade easy rally, never a rally or rallies. It belongs with the teasing verb and shares its French origin. Raillery is its closer and more familiar relative, and modern writers usually reach for that word or for banter instead.

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