rail1

noun

• 1a bar or series of bars fixed on upright supports or attached to a wall or ceiling, serving as part of a barrier or used to hang things on:a curtain rail
• (the rails) the inside boundary fence of a racecourse.

• 2a steel bar or continuous line of bars laid on the ground as one of a pair forming a railway track:the goods train left the rails
• [mass noun, often as modifier] railways as a means of transport:rail fares travelling by rail

• 3a horizontal piece in the frame of a panelled door or sash window. Compare with stile².

• 4the edge of a surfboard or sailboard.

• 5 Electronics a conductor which is maintained at a fixed potential and to which other parts of a circuit are connected: the anode must be connected to the positive supply rail

verb

• 1 [with object] provide or enclose (a space or place) with a rail or rails:the altar is railed off from the nave

• 2 [with object and adverbial of direction] convey (goods) by rail:perishables were railed into Manhattan

• 3 [no object] (in windsurfing) sail the board on its edge: the more you pull down on the boom, the more you rail