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Rail vs Air - What's the difference?

rail | air |

As nouns the difference between rail and air

is that rail is a horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing or rail can be any of several birds in the family rallidae or rail can be (obsolete) an item of clothing; a cloak or other garment; a dress while air is .

As a verb rail

is to travel by railway or rail can be to complain violently ((against), (about)) or rail can be (label) to gush, flow (of liquid).

rail

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), ; see regular.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
  • * , chapter=7
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail , close to the stern.}}
  • The metal bar that makes the track for a railroad.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme
  • A railroad; a railway.
  • A horizontal piece of wood that serves to separate sections of a door or window.
  • (surfing) One of the lengthwise edges of a surfboard.
  • * Nick Carroll, surfline.com [http://www.surfline.com/community/whoknows/10_21_rails.cfm]:
  • Rails alone can only ever have a marginal effect on a board's general turning ability.
    Derived terms
    * guardrail * handrail * live rail * railcard * railfanning * railhead * railway * ride the rails * split rail * third rail

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To travel by railway.
  • * Rudyard Kipling
  • Mottram of the Indian Survey had ridden thirty and railed one hundred miles from his lonely post in the desert
  • To enclose with rails or a railing.
  • * Ayliffe
  • It ought to be fenced in and railed .
  • To range in a line.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • They were brought to London all railed in ropes, like a team of horses in a cart.

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun) (Rallidae) (Rallidae)
  • Any of several birds in the family Rallidae.
  • Usage notes

    Not all birds in the family Rallidae are rails by their common name. The family also includes coots]], moorhens, crakes, flufftails, [[waterhen, waterhens and others.
    Derived terms
    * banded rail

    See also

    * corncrake

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) railler.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To complain violently ((against), (about)).
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=June 4 , author=Lewis Smith , title=Queen's English Society says enuf is enough, innit? , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=The Queen may be celebrating her jubilee but the Queen's English Society, which has railed against the misuse and deterioration of the English language, is to fold.}}
  • * 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 27:
  • Chief Joyi railed against the white man, whom he believed had deliberately sundered the Xhosa tribe, dividing brother from brother.

    Etymology 4

    From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An item of clothing; a cloak or other garment; a dress.
  • (obsolete) Specifically, a woman's headscarf or neckerchief.
  • (Fairholt)
    Derived terms
    * night-rail

    Etymology 5

    Probably from (etyl) raier, (etyl) raier.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To gush, flow (of liquid).
  • *, Bk.V, Ch.iv:
  • *:his breste and his brayle was bloodé – and hit rayled all over the see.
  • *1596 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , IV.2:
  • *:So furiously each other did assayle, / As if their soules they would attonce haue rent / Out of their brests, that streames of bloud did rayle / Adowne, as if their springes of life were spent.
  • Anagrams

    * * * * * * English terms with multiple etymologies ----

    air

    English

    Noun

  • (uncountable, historical, astrology, alchemy, science) The atmospheric substance above the surface of the earth which animals breathe, formerly considered to be a single substance, one of the four basic elements of ancient philosophy and one of the five basic elements of Eastern traditions.
  • (uncountable, physics, meteorology) That substance, now understood as the mixture of gases comprising the earth's atmosphere.
  • (usually, with the) The apparently open space above the ground; the mass of this substance around the earth.
  • A breeze; a gentle wind.
  • A feeling or sense.
  • * November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, " Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
  • Smalling’s quick one-two of yellow cards towards the end of the first half had left an air of inevitability about what would follow and, if anything, it was probably a surprise that City restricted themselves to Sergio Agüero’s goal bearing in mind another of United’s defenders, Marcos Rojo, was taken off on a stretcher early in the second half with a dislocated shoulder.
  • * 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , Chapter I,
  • The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she bent over it, her profile was clearly outlined. She held the flower to her face with a long-drawn inhalation, then went up the steps, crossed the piazza, opened the door without knocking, and entered the house with the air of one thoroughly at home.
  • A sense of poise, graciousness, or quality.
  • * 1815 , (Jane Austen), (Emma) , :
  • "He is very plain, undoubtedly--remarkably plain:--but that is nothing compared with his entire want of gentility. I had no right to expect much, and I did not expect much; but I had no idea that he could be so very clownish, so totally without air . I had imagined him, I confess, a degree or two nearer gentility."
  • (usually plural) Pretension]]; [[snobby, snobbishness; pretence that one is better than others.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.}}
  • (music) A song, especially a solo; an aria.
  • * 1813 , (Jane Austen), (Pride and Prejudice) , :
  • "If I," said Mr. Collins, "were so fortunate as to be able to sing, I should have great pleasure, I am sure, in obliging the company with an air ; for I consider music as a very innocent diversion, and perfectly compatible with the profession of a clergyman"
  • (informal) Nothing; absence of anything.
  • An air conditioner or the processed air it produces. Can be a mass noun or a count noun depending on context; similar to hair .
  • (obsolete, chemistry) Any specific gas.
  • (snowboarding, skateboarding, motor sports) A jump in which one becomes airborne.
  • Synonyms

    * * atmosphere * aura * nimbus

    Derived terms

    * airbag * air base * air bed * airborne * air bounce * airbrake * airbrush * air bubble * airbus * air cargo * air carrier * air chamber * Air Chief Marshal * air cleaner * Air Commodore * air compressor * air-conditioned * air-conditioner * air-conditioning * air-cooled * air corridor * aircraft * aircrew * air cushion * air display * airdrome * airdrop * air duct * airfield * air flow * air force * airframe * air freight * air freshener * air guitar * airgun * air hole * air hostess * airing cupboard * air intake * air lane * airless * air letter * airlift * airline * airliner * airlock * airmail * airman * Air Marshal * air mattress * air navigation * air out * airplane * air pocket * airport * air pressure * air pump * air purifier * air quotes * air raid * air rifle * airscrew * air-sea rescue * air shaft * airshed * airship * air show * airsick * airsickness * air sign * airspace * airspeed * airstrike * airstrip * airsuit * air support * airtaxi * air terminal * airtight * air time * air-to-air * air-to-ground * air-to-surface * air traffic control * air traffic controller * air vent * Air Vice Marshal * airwaves * airway * airwoman * airworthiness * airworthy * airy * alkaline air * breath of fresh air * build castles in the air * catch air * castle in the air * clear the air * dead air * dephlogisticated air * fire air * fixed air * fluoro acid air * fresh air * get some air / take some air * give oneself airs * hepatic air * hot air * inflammable air * in the air * into thin air * mid-air * mephitic air * nitrous air * on air * on the air * phlogisticated air * pure air * put on airs * too many balls in the air * up in the air * vital air * vitriolic acid air (air)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To bring (something) into contact with the air, so as to freshen or dry it.
  • To let fresh air into a room or a building, to ventilate.
  • It's getting quite stuffy in this room: let's open the windows and air it.
  • To discuss varying viewpoints on a given topic.
  • * 1917 , National Geographic , :
  • Thus, in spite of all opposition, the rural and urban assemblies retained the germ of local government, and in spite of the dual control, as the result of which much of their influence was nullified, they did have a certain value in airing abuses and suggesting improvements.
  • To broadcast, as with a television show.
  • Statistics

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