1. A horizontal bar (usually of wood or metal)
   "He leaned against the rail of the ship"
    
2. A barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports
   "They installed a rail along the steep staircase for safety";
   - railing
    
3. A bar or pair of parallel bars of rolled steel making the railway along which railway cars or other vehicles can roll
   "The train smoothly glided along the steel rails";
   - track, rails
    
4. System of transportation using trains to pull passengers or freight
   "he travelled by rail"; "he was concerned with rail safety";
   - railway [Brit, Cdn], railroad [N. Amer], railroad line [N. Amer], railway line [Brit, Cdn], railway system [Brit, Cdn]
    
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
   "We spotted a secretive rail darting through the reeds"

1. Complain bitterly
   "He railed against the injustice";
   - inveigh
    
2. Criticize severely
   "She railed against the bad social policies";
   - fulminate
    
3. Enclose with rails
   "rail in the old graves";
   - rail in
    
4. (architecture) provide with rails
   "The yard was railed"
    
5. Separate with a railing
   "rail off the crowds from the Presidential palace";
   - rail off
    
6. Lay with rails
   "hundreds of miles were railed out here"
    
7. Convey (goods etc.) by rails
   "fresh fruit are railed from Italy to Belgium"
    
8. Travel by rail or train
   "They railed from Rome to Venice";
   - train
    
9. Fish with a handline over the rails of a boat
   "They are railing for fresh fish"

Derived forms: rails, railing, railed

Type of: bar, barrier, complain, confine, denounce, denunciate, divide, enclose, fish, furnish, hold in, kick [informal], kvetch [N. Amer, informal], lay, line, moan, offer, plain [archaic], provide, put down, render, repose, ride, separate, sound off, supply, transport, wader, wading bird

Part of: balustrade, banister, bannister, family Rallidae, handrail, railroad [N. Amer], railroad track [N. Amer], railway [Brit, Cdn], railway track [Brit, Cdn], Rallidae, streetcar track, tramline, tramway

Encyclopedia: Rail, Missouri