I. ˈrās noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English ras, rase, from Old Norse rās; akin to Old English rǣs rush, running leap, Middle Low German rās strong current, Middle High German rasen to storm, rage, Latin rorarii skirmishers, Greek erōē rush, impetus
1. chiefly Scotland : the act of rushing onward : run
2.
a. : a strong or rapid current of water that flows through a narrow channel
b. : a heavy or choppy sea ; especially : one produced by the meeting of two tides
c. : a watercourse (as a brook or run) used or made for an industrial purpose (as for mining or for turning the waterwheel of a mill)
d. : the current flowing in such a course
3.
a. : a set course (as of the sun) or duration of time : period
b. : the course of life : career
4.
a. : a running in competition : a contest of speed (as in running, riding, sailing)
b. races plural : a meeting for contests in the running especially of horses
attended the races
— compare handicap , purse race , stake race , sweepstake
c. : a contest involving progress toward a goal (as election to public office or a winning total of games in a season's play)
three-cornered race for governor
finished second in the professional hockey league race
5. : a fenced lane or passageway ; specifically Australia : a passageway in a sheep drafting yard
6. : a track or channel in which something rolls or slides: as
a. : a slide on the lay of a loom for a shuttle
b. : a groove for the balls in a ball bearing or rollers in a roller bearing — see roller bearing illustration
c. : a groove in a pulley in which a rope runs
7. : slipstream
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
intransitive verb
1. : to run or engage in a race : compete in speed
eight horses will race for the cup
2. : to go, move, or run at top speed or out of control especially through urgency, compulsion, or zest
we'll move out … and send the rebels racing for safety — Kenneth Roberts
his mind raced ahead to guess the full import of the message — Gordon Merrick
3. : to run too fast under a diminished load
the propeller raced wildly as the stern rose
transitive verb
1. : to engage in a race with : contest with in speed
offered to race him to the big tree
2.
a. : to enter in a race : cause to contend in a race
race a maiden horse against a winner
b. : to race against
racing the clock
c. : to drive at high speed
raced his car across the desert
d. : transport or propel at maximum speed and haste
fast-sailing ships … built expressly to race tea from China — British Book Centre
3. : to speed (as an engine or motor) without a working load or in disengagement from the transmission
Synonyms: see run
III. verb
Etymology: Middle English racen, short for aracen, from Old North French aracier, modification (influenced by Old French a- off, away — from Latin ab ) of Latin eradicare to pluck out by the roots — more at of , eradicate
obsolete : tear , pluck , snatch
IV. noun
dialect chiefly England : pluck 2a
V. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English racen, alteration of rasen to rase
1. : to cut, scratch, or score with a sharp point
2. obsolete : erase
VI. noun
( -s )
: a shallow cut : scratch , slash
VII. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French, generation, family, from Italian razza
1.
a. obsolete : generation
b. obsolete : the act of breeding or producing offspring
male he created thee, but thy consort female for race — John Milton
c. : a breeding stock of animals
race of mares
2.
a. : the descendants of a common ancestor : a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock
the impoverished scion of a noble race
b. : a class or kind of individuals with common characteristics, interests, appearance, or habits as if derived from a common ancestor
the race of doctors
the whole race of mankind — Shakespeare
the Anglo-Saxon race
the Jewish race
3. : any of various infraspecific taxonomic groups: as
a. : microspecies
b. : subspecies
c. : a permanent or fixed variety
d. : breed
e. : physiologic race
f. : a division of mankind possessing traits that are transmissible by descent and sufficient to characterize it as a distinct human type
Caucasian race
Mongoloid race
4. obsolete : inherited temperament or disposition
now I give my sensual race the rein — Shakespeare
5.
a. : distinctive flavor, taste, or strength (as of wine) : the quality indicating origin or kind
b. archaic : raciness
Synonyms:
race , nation , and people , even though in technical use they are commonly differentiated, are often used popularly and interchangeably to designate one of a number of great divisions of mankind, each made up of an aggregate of persons who are thought of, or think of themselves, as comprising a distinct unit. In technical discriminations, all more or less controversial and often lending themselves to great popular misunderstanding or misuse, race is anthropological and ethnological in force, usually implying a distinct physical type with certain unchanging characteristics, as a particular color of skin or shape of skull
the Caucasian race
the Malay race
the Ethiopian race
although sometimes, and most controversially, other presumed common factors are chosen, as place of origin
the Nordic race
or common root language
the Aryan race
In popular use race can apply to any more or less clearly defined group thought of as a unit usually because of a common or presumed common past
the Anglo-Saxon race
the Celtic race
the Hebrew race
nation , primarily political in force, usually designates the citizenry as a whole of a sovereign state and implies a certain homogeneity because of common laws, institutions, customs, or loyalty
the British nation
the French nation
the house must have been built before this country was a nation — Allen Tate
what is a nation? A group of human beings recognizing a common history and a common culture, yearning for a common destiny, assuming common habits, and generally attached to a specific piece of the earth's surface — David Bernstein
Sometimes it is opposed to state
a state is accidental; it can be made or unmade; but a nation is something real which can be neither made nor destroyed — J.R.Green
and often not clearly distinguishable from race in comprising any large group crossing national boundaries and with something significantly in common
the children of the world are one nation; the very old, another — Jan Struther
for the two nations that alone inhabit the earth, the rich and the poor — Edith Sitwell
the Gypsy nation
people , sometimes interchangeable with nation though stressing a cultural or social rather than a national unity, can apply to a body of persons, as a whole or as individuals, who show a consciousness of solidarity or common characteristics not wholly comprised by race or nation , suggesting a common culture or common interests or ideals and a sense of kinship
the Mexican people — Virginia Prewett
the British and American peoples — Sir Winston Churchill
we, the people of the United States — U.S. Constitution
we, the peoples of the United Nations — U.N. Charter
a new government, which, for certain purposes, would make the people of the several states one people — R.B.Taney
Synonym: see in addition variety .
VIII. noun
( -s )
Etymology: origin unknown
: an elongate white mark on the face of a horse or dog
IX. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French rais root, from Latin radic-, radix — more at root
: a root of ginger
X. adjective
Etymology: French ras shaven, flat, from Latin rasus, past participle of radere to scrape — more at rat
of a ship : designed to lie low in the water