-- Rag"ged*ly, adv. -- Rag"ged*ness, n.

{ Rag"gie (rg"g), or Rag"gy }, a. Ragged; rough. [Obs.] "A stony and raggie hill." Holland.

||Ragh`u*van"sa (rg`*vn"s), n. [Skr. Raguvaça.] A celebrated Sanskrit ||poem having for its subject the Raghu dynasty.

Ra"ging (r"jng), a. & n. from Rage, v. i. -- Ra"ging*ly, adv.

Ra"gious (r"js), a. Raging; furious; rageful. [Obs.] -- Ra"gious*ness, n. [Obs.]

Rag"lan (rg"lan), n. A loose overcoat with large sleeves; -- named from Lord Raglan, an English general.

Rag"man (-man), n.; pl. Ragmen (-men). A man who collects, or deals in, rags.

Rag"man, n. [See Ragman's roll.] A document having many names or numerous seals, as a papal bull. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

Rag"man's roll` (-manz rl`). [For ragman roll a long list of names, the devil's roll or list; where ragman is of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. ragmenni a craven person, Sw. raggen the devil. Icel. ragmenni is fr. ragr cowardly (another form of argr, akin to AS. earg cowardly, vile, G. arg bad) + menni (in comp.) man, akin to E. man. See Roll, and cf. Rigmarole.] The rolls of deeds on parchment in which the Scottish nobility and gentry subscribed allegiance to Edward I. of England, A. D. 1296. [Also written ragman- roll.]

Ra*gout" (r*g"), n. [F. ragoût, fr. ragoûter to restore one's appetite, fr. L. pref. re- re- + ad to + gustare to taste, gustus taste. See Gust relish.] A dish made of pieces of meat, stewed, and highly seasoned; as, a ragout of mutton.

Rag"pick`er (rg"pk`r), n. One who gets a living by picking up rags and refuse things in the streets.

{ Ra*guled" (r*gld"), Rag*guled" (rg-), } a. [Cf. F. raguer to chafe, fret, rub, or E. rag.] (Her.) Notched in regular diagonal breaks; -- said of a line, or a bearing having such an edge.

<! p. 1185 pr=vmg !>

Rag"weed` (rg"wd`), n. (Bot.) A common American composite weed (Ambrosia artemisiæfolia) with finely divided leaves; hogweed.

Great ragweed, a coarse American herb (Ambrosia trifida), with rough three-lobed opposite leaves.

Rag"work` (-wûrk`), n. (Masonry) A kind of rubblework. In the United States, any rubblework of thin and small stones.

Rag"wort` (-wûrt`), n. (Bot.) A name given to several species of the composite genus Senecio.

Senecio aureus is the golden ragwort of the United States; S. elegans is the purple ragwort of South Africa.

||Ra"ia (r"y), n. [L., a ray. Cf. Ray the fish.] (Zoöl.) A genus of ||rays which includes the skates. See Skate.

||Ra"iæ (r"y), n. pl. [NL. See Raia.] (Zoöl.) The order of elasmobranch ||fishes which includes the sawfishes, skates, and rays; -- called also ||Rajæ, and Rajii.

Raid (rd), n. [Icel. reið a riding, raid; akin to E. road. See Road a way.] 1. A hostile or predatory incursion; an inroad or incursion of mounted men; a sudden and rapid invasion by a cavalry force; a foray.

Marauding chief! his sole delight The moonlight raid, the morning fight.

Sir W. Scott.

There are permanent conquests, temporary occupations, and occasional raids.

H. Spenser.

A Scottish word which came into common use in the United States during the Civil War, and was soon extended in its application.

2. An attack or invasion for the purpose of making arrests, seizing property, or plundering; as, a raid of the police upon a gambling house; a raid of contractors on the public treasury. [Colloq. U. S.]

Raid, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raided; p. pr. & vb. n. Raiding.] To make a raid upon or into; as, two regiments raided the border counties.

Raid"er (-r), n. One who engages in a raid. [U.S.]

Rail (rl), n. [OE. reil, reel, AS. hrægel, hrægl, a garment; akin to OHG. hregil, OFries. hreil.] An outer cloak or covering; a neckerchief for women. Fairholt.

Rail, v. i. [Etymol. uncertain.] To flow forth; to roll out; to course. [Obs.]

Streams of tears from her fair eyes forth railing.

Spenser.

Rail, n. [Akin to LG. & Sw. regel bar, bolt, G. riegel a rail, bar, or bolt, OHG. rigil, rigel, bar, bolt, and possibly to E. row a line.] 1. A bar of timber or metal, usually horizontal or nearly so, extending from one post or support to another, as in fences, balustrades, staircases, etc.

2. (Arch.) A horizontal piece in a frame or paneling. See Illust. of Style.

3. (Railroad) A bar of steel or iron, forming part of the track on which the wheels roll. It is usually shaped with reference to vertical strength, and is held in place by chairs, splices, etc.

4. (Naut.) (a) The stout, narrow plank that forms the top of the bulwarks. (b) The light, fencelike structures of wood or metal at the break of the deck, and elsewhere where such protection is needed.

Rail fence. See under Fence. -- Rail guard. (a) A device attached to the front of a locomotive on each side for clearing the rail of obstructions. (b) A guard rail. See under Guard. -- Rail joint (Railroad), a splice connecting the adjacent ends of rails, in distinction from a chair, which is merely a seat. The two devices are sometimes united. Among several hundred varieties, the fish joint is standard. See Fish joint, under Fish. -- Rail train (Iron & Steel Manuf.), a train of rolls in a rolling mill, for making rails for railroads from blooms or billets.

Rail, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Railed (rld); p. pr. & vb. n. Railing.] 1. To inclose with rails or a railing.

It ought to be fenced in and railed.

Ayliffe.

2. To range in a line. [Obs.]

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

Bacon.

Rail, n. [F. râle, fr. râler to have a rattling in the throat; of German origin, and akin to E. rattle. See Rattle, v.] (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds of the family Rallidæ, especially those of the genus Rallus, and of closely allied genera. They are prized as game birds.

The common European water rail (Rallus aquaticus) is called also bilcock, skitty coot, and brook runner. The best known American species are the clapper rail, or salt-marsh hen (Rallus longirostris, var. crepitans); the king, or red-breasted, rail (R. elegans) (called also fresh-water marsh-hen); the lesser clapper, or Virginia, rail (R. Virginianus); and the Carolina, or sora, rail (Porzana Carolina). See Sora.

Land rail (Zoöl.), the corncrake.

Rail, v. i. [F. railler; cf. Sp. rallar to grate, scrape, molest; perhaps fr. (assumed) LL. radiculare, fr. L. radere to scrape, grate. Cf. Rally to banter, Rase.] To use insolent and reproachful language; to utter reproaches; to scoff; -- followed by at or against, formerly by on. Shak.

And rail at arts he did not understand.

Dryden.

Lesbia forever on me rails.

Swift.

Rail (rl), v. t. 1. To rail at. [Obs.] Feltham.

2. To move or influence by railing. [R.]

Rail the seal from off my bond.

Shak.

Rail"er (-r), n. One who rails; one who scoffs, insults, censures, or reproaches with opprobrious language.

Rail"ing, a. Expressing reproach; insulting.

Angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them.

2 Pet. ii. 11.

Rail"ing, n. 1. A barrier made of a rail or of rails.

2. Rails in general; also, material for making rails.

Rail"ing*ly, adv. With scoffing or insulting language.

Rail"ler*y (rl"lr* or rl"-; 277), n. [F. raillerie, fr. railler. See Rail to scoff.] Pleasantry or slight satire; banter; jesting language; satirical merriment.

Let raillery be without malice or heat.

B. Jonson.

Studies employed on low objects; the very naming of them is sufficient to turn them into raillery.

Addison.

||Rail`leur" (r`lyr" or r`yr"), n. [F.] A banterer; a jester; a mocker. ||[R.] Wycherley.

{ Rail"road` (rl"rd`), Rail"way` (- w`), } n. 1. A road or way consisting of one or more parallel series of iron or steel rails, patterned and adjusted to be tracks for the wheels of vehicles, and suitably supported on a bed or substructure.

The modern railroad is a development and adaptation of the older tramway.

2. The road, track, etc., with all the lands, buildings, rolling stock, franchises, etc., pertaining to them and constituting one property; as, a certain railroad has been put into the hands of a receiver.

Railway is the commoner word in England; railroad the commoner word in the United States.

In the following and similar phrases railroad and railway are used interchangeably: --

Atmospheric railway, Elevated railway, etc. See under Atmospheric, Elevated, etc. -- Cable railway. See Cable road, under Cable. -- Ferry railway, a submerged track on which an elevated platform runs, for carrying a train of cars across a water course. -- Gravity railway, a railway, in a hilly country, on which the cars run by gravity down gentle slopes for long distances after having been hauled up steep inclines to an elevated point by stationary engines. -- Railway brake, a brake used in stopping railway cars or locomotives. -- Railway car, a large, heavy vehicle with flanged wheels fitted for running on a railway. [U.S.] -- Railway carriage, a railway passenger car. [Eng.] -- Railway scale, a platform scale bearing a track which forms part of the line of a railway, for weighing loaded cars. -- Railway slide. See Transfer table, under Transfer. -- Railway spine (Med.), an abnormal condition due to severe concussion of the spinal cord, such as occurs in railroad accidents. It is characterized by ataxia and other disturbances of muscular function, sensory disorders, pain in the back, impairment of general health, and cerebral disturbance, -- the symptoms often not developing till some months after the injury. -- Underground railroad or railway. (a) A railroad or railway running through a tunnel, as beneath the streets of a city. (b) Formerly, a system of coöperation among certain active antislavery people in the United States, by which fugitive slaves were secretly helped to reach Canada. [In the latter sense railroad, and not railway, was used.] "Their house was a principal entrepôt of the underground railroad." W. D. Howells.