A Cross Raguly. 
raguly 
merits, except that the lines make oblique an- 
gles with one another: said of one of the lines 
in heraldry, which is used to 
separate the divisions of the 
field or to form the boundary of 
any ordinary. 
Ragusan(ra-g6'san),fl. andn. 
Ragusa (see def . ) '+ -an. Cf. ar- 
gouy.] I. a. Of or pertaining to 
Kagusa in Dalmatia, on the Adri- 
atic, a city belonging to Austria, 
but for many centuries prior to the time of 
Napoleon I. an independent republic. 
II. . A native or an inhabitant of Kagusa. 
ragweed (rag' wed), . 1 . Any plant of the com- 
posite genus Ambrosia; especially, the common 
North American species A. trifida, the great 
ragweed or horse-cane, and A. artemisieefolia, 
the Koman wormwood or hogweed. Both are 
sometimes called bittenceed. The former is commonly 
found on river-banks, has three-lobed leaves, and is 
sometimes 12 feet high. The latter, a much-branching 
plant from 1 to 3 feet high, with dissected leaves, grows 
everywhere in waste places, along roads, etc., and is trou- 
blesome in fields. Its pollen is regarded as a cause of hay. 
fever. The plants of this genus are monoecious, the flow- 
ers of the two sexes borne in separate heads, the female 
heads producing a single flower with the ovoid involucre 
closed over it. The flowers are greenish and inconspicu- 
ous. See Ambrosia, 2. 
2. The ragwort or St.- James- wort, Senecio Jaco- 
biea. [Prov. Eng.J 
rag-wheel (rag'hwel), B. 1. In !c/i.,awheel 
having a notched or serrated margin. 2. A 
cutlers' polishing-wheel or soft disk made by 
clamping together a number of disks cut from 
some fabric Rag-wheel and chain, a contrivance 
for use instead of a band or belt when great resistance is 
to be overcome, consisting of a wheel with pins or cogs on 
the rim, and a chain in the links of which the pins catch. 
See cut under chain-wheel. 
rag-wool (rag' wul),H. Wool from rags ; shoddy. 
rag-work (rag'werk), B. 1. Masonry built with 
undressed flat stones of about the thickness of 
a brick, and having a rough exterior, whence 
the name. 2. A manufacture of carpeting or 
similar heavy fabric from strips of rag, which 
are either knitted or woven together. Compare 
rag carpet, under ragl. 
ragworm (rag'werm), n. Same as mud-worm. 
ragwort (rag'wert), n. The name of several 
plants of the genus Senecio; primarily, S. Ja- 
eobsea of Europe and 
northern Asia. This is 
an erect herb from 2 to 4 
feet high, with bright-yel- 
low radiate heads in a corn- 
Ct terminal corymb ; the 
res are irregularly lobed 
and toothed, whence the 
name. Also called benweed, 
cankerweed, St.~Ja)nes-wort, 
kadle-dock, jacob&a, etc. ; in 
Ireland fairies'-horse. Some- 
times ragweed. African 
ragwort. See Othomta. 
Golden ragwort, a North 
American plant, Senecio 
aureug, from 1 to 3 feet 
high, sometimes lower, 
bearing corymbs of golden- 
yellow heads in spring: 
verycommon and extremely 
variable. It is said to have 
been a favorite vulnerary 
with the Indians, and is by 
some regarded as an em* 
menagogue and diuretic. 
Also called squaw-weed 
and lijeroaL Purple rag- 
wort, the purple jacobaja, 
Senecif) elegans, a handsome 
garden species from the 
Cape of Good Hope : a 
smooth herb with pinnatifld leaves and corymbed heads, 
the rays purple, the disk yellow or purple. Sea-ragwort. 
Same as dusty -miller, 2. Woolly ragwort, Senecio tomen- 
toms of the southern United States, a plant covered with 
scarcely deciduous hoary wool. 
rahatet, t. An erroneous form of rate 1 . 
He neuer tinned rahatyng of those persones that oifred 
sacrifice for to haue good health of bodie. 
Udatt, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 86. (Dories.) 
Rahu (rii'ho), n. [Skt. Rdlru; derivation ob- 
scure.] In Hindu myth., the demon that is sup- 
posed to be the cause of the eclipses of the sun 
and moon. 
Baia (ra'a), n. [NL., also Raja, < L. raw,, a ray: 
see ray 2 .] A genus of batoid selachians: used 
with various limits, (a) By the old authors it was ex- 
tended to all the species of the order or suborder Raise. 
(6) By modern authors it is restricted to those Raiidae (in 
the narrowest sense) which have the pectorals separated 
by the snout, the caudal rudimentary, and the ventrals 
distinct and notched. It comprises nearly 40 species, 
generally called skates or rays. See cuts under skate and 
ray*. 
Raise (ra'e), . pi. [NL., pi. of L. rala, a ray: 
see Baia.'] An order or suborder of selachians, 
4940 
comprising the rays or skates, and distinguished 
by the position of the branchial apertures on the 
lower surface of the body, and the depressed and 
disk-like trunk in combination with the out- 
spread pectorals. Also called B/ttni/ld. 
raian (ra'an), a. and w. [< NL. Rai(a) + -.] 
Same as raioid. 
raible (ra'bl), v. A Scotch form of rabble 1 . 
Wee Miller neist the guard relieves, 
And orthodoxy raibles. Burns, Holy Fair. 
raid (rad), M. [Also ratle; < ME. rade. Northern 
form of rode, < AS. rad, a riding, = Icel. rcitlh, 
a riding, a raid : see road, of which raid is a va- 
riant, prob. in part from the cognate Icel. form.] 
1. A hostile or predatory incursion; especially, 
an inroad or incursion of mounted men; a 
swooping assault for injury or plunder; a foray. 
Then he a proclamation maid, 
All men to meet at Inverness, 
Throw Murray land to mak a raid. 
Battle of Harlaw (Child's Ballads, VII. 184). 
So the ruffians growl'd, 
Fearing to lose, and all for a dead man, 
Their chance of booty from the morning's raid. 
Tennyson, Qeraint. 
Hence 2. A sudden onset in general; an ir- 
ruption for or as if for assault or seizure ; a de- 
scent made in an unexpected or undesired man- 
ner: as, a police raid upon a gambling-house. 
[Chiefly colloq.] 
raid (rad), v. [< raid, w.] I. intrans. To go 
upon a raid ; engage in a sudden hostile or dis- 
turbing incursion, foray, or descent. 
The Saxons were perpetually raiding along the confines 
of Gaul. The Atlantic, LXV. 153. 
II. trans. 1. To make a raid or hostile attack 
upon ; encroach upon by foray or incursion. 
Hence 2. To attack in any way ; affect inju- 
riously by sudden or covert assault or invasion 
of any kind : as, to raid a gambling-house. [Col- 
loq.] To raid the market, to derange prices or the 
course of trade, as on the stock-exchange, by exciting dis- 
trust or uncertainty with regard to values ; disturb or de- 
press prices by creating a temporary panic. [Colloq.} 
raider (ra'der), ii. [< raid + -erl.] One who 
makes a raid ; one engaged in a hostile or pred- 
atory incursion. 
raign't, < t. [ME. re^weii , by apheresis for ar- 
raign^ (ME. araynen, etc.).] To arraign. 
And many other exstorcioners and promoters in dyuers 
contreys within the reame was broght to London, and put 
in to prysons, and reyned at the Gyld Halle with Empson 
and Dudley. Arnold's Chronicle, p. xliv. 
raign-t, n. and c. An obsolete spelling of reign. 
i, the upper part of the stem 
with the heads of golden ragwort 
(Senecio aureus} ; z, the rhizome 
with the lower part of the stem 
and the leaves ; a, the achene. 
Rafidae (ra'i-de), ... pi. [NL., < Raia + -<(?*.] 
A family of hypotreme selachians, or Raise, 
typified by the genus Raia ; the skates and rays 
proper. The species have a moderately broad rhombic 
disk, a more or less acute snout, the tail slender but not 
whip-like, and surmounted by two small dorsals without 
spines, and no electrical apparatus. The females are 
oviparous, eggs inclosed in quadrate corneous capsules 
being cast. In this respect the linli<l;i differ from all the 
other ray-like selachians. The species are quite numer- 
ous, and every sea has representatives. Formerly the 
family was taken in a much more extended sense, em- 
bracing all the representatives of the suborder except the 
saw-fishes. Also Jiajulffi. 
Raiinae (ra-i'ne), w. pi. [NL., < Raia + -iwa?.] 
A subfamily of rays, coextensive with the fam- 
ily Raiidee in its most restricted sense. 
raikt, v. i. See rake'*. 
rail 1 (ral), M. [< ME. mil, raile, rayl, 'regel, 
*regol (in comp. rcgolstifke, a ruler), partly < 
AS. reffol (not found in sense of 'bar' or 'rail' 
except as in reyolstieea (> ME. regoteticke), a 
ruler, a straight bar, but common in the de- 
rived sense 'a rule of action,' = MD. reghel, 
rijglicl, rijcliel, ricliel, a bar, rail, bolt, later rich- 
gel, a bar, shelf, D. riijctiel, a bar, = MLG. regel, 
LG. regel, a rail, cross-bar, = OHG. rigil, MHG. 
rigel, G. riegel, a bar, bolt, rail, = Sw. regel = 
Dan. rigel, a bar, bolt ; partly < OF. reille, raille, 
roille, roile, reilhe, relle, rele, a bar, rail, bolt, 
board, plank, ladder, plow-handle, furrow, row, 
etc.,F. dial, reille, ladder, reille, raille, plowshare 
(< LG.); < L. regula, a straight piece of wood, 
a stick, bar, staff, rod, rule, ruler, hence a rule, 
pattern, model : see rule 1 . Rail 1 is thus a doub- 
let of rule 1 , derived through AS., while rule 1 is 
derived through OF., from the same L. word. 
Cf . r 2 .] 1. A bar of wood or other material 
passing from one post or other support to an- 
other. Rails, variously secured, as by being mortised to 
or passing through slots in their supports, etc., are used 
to form fences and barriers and for many other purposes. 
In many parts of the United States rail fences are com- 
monly made of rails roughly split from logs and laid zig- 
zag with their ends resting upon one another, every inter- 
section so formed being often supported by a pair of cross- 
stakes driven into the ground, upon which the top rails 
rest. 
rail 
2. A structiire consisting of rails and their 
sustaining posts, balusters, or pillars, and con- 
stituting an inclosure or line of division : often 
used in the plural, and also called a railing. The 
rails of massive stone, elaborately sculptured, which form 
the ceremonial inclosures of ancient Buddhist topes, tem- 
ples, sacred trees, etc., in India, are among the most char- 
acteristic and important features of Buddhist architec- 
ture, and are the most remarkable works of this class 
known. 
The Orownd within the Baylei must bee coveryd with 
blake Cloth. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 33. 
There lyeth a white marble in form of a graves-stone, 
environed with a rale of brasse. Sandys, Travailes, p. 127. 
The Bharhut rail, according to the inscription on it, 
was erected by a Prince Vadha Pala. . . . The Buddh 
Gaya rail is a rectangle, measuring 181 ft. by 98 ft. 
J. Ferijumm, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 85. 
3. In joinery, a horizontal timber in a piece of 
framing or paneling. Specifically (o) In a door, 
sash, or any paneled work, one of the horizontal pieces be- 
tween which the panels lie, the vertical pieces being 
called stile*. See cut under door. (6) The course of pieces 
into which the upper ends of the balusters of a stair are 
mortised, (c) In furniture-making and fine joinery, any 
piece of the construction passing between two posts or 
other members of the frame : as, the head-rail or foot-rotf 
in a bedstead. Hence (d) A corresponding member in 
construction in other materials than wood, as a tie in 
brass or iron furniture. 
4. Naut., one of several bars or timbers in a 
ship, serving for inclosure or support. The rail, 
specifically so called, is the fence or upper part of the 
bulwarks, consisting of a course of molded planks or small 
timbers mortised to the stanchions, or sometimes to the 
timber-heads. The part passing round the stern is the 
ta/rail. The forecasUe-raU, poop-rail, and top-rail are bars 
extended on stanchions across the after part of the fore- 
castle-deck, the fore part of the poop, and the after part 
of each of the tops, respectively. A pin-rail fs part of a 
rail with holes in it for belaying-pins ; and a fife-rail is a 
rail around the lower part of a mast, above the deck, with 
similar holes. The ratts of the head are curved pieces of 
timber extending from the bows on each side to the hull 
of the head, for its support 
5. One of the iron or (now generally) steel bars 
or beams used on the permanent way of a rail- 
way to support and guide the 
wheels of cars and motors. The 
general form now most in use for steam- 
railways is that known as the T-rail. But, 
though these rails all have a section vague- 
ly resembling the letter T, the proportions 
of the different parts and the weights of 
the rails are nearly as various as the rail- , 
ways themselves. In the accompanying ' " ": 
diagram is shown a section of a rail weigh- ^J;. c . JJJj. 
ing 76 pounds per yard in length, the part' rf is at' ihc 
weight of the length of one yard being the inner side of the 
common mode of stating the weights of J"" 1 ' 1 ' and " iad = 
rails. These weights are in modern rails ith the thSS"^ 
sometimes as great as 80 or 85 pounds the car-wheel. 
per yard, the more recent tendency having 
been toward heavier locomotives and heavier rails. The 
cut shows the comparative dimensions of the various 
parts. (Compare Ash-joint, fish-plate, and fishl, v. t, 8.) 
The curved junctions of the web with the head and the 
base are called the fillets. 
6. The railway or railroad as a means of trans- 
port : as, to travel or send goods by rail. [Col- 
loq.] 
French and English made rapid way among the drago- 
manish officials of the rail. 
W. a. Jtussell, Diary In India, I. 24. 
On the question of rail charges a good deal might be 
written. Quarterly Rev., CXLV. 319. 
The tourists find the steamer waiting for them at the 
end of the rail. C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 270. 
7. In cotton-spinning, a bar having an up-and- 
down motion, by which yarn passing through is 
guided upon the bar and is distributed upon 
the bobbins Adhesion of wheels to rails. Seeod- 
hesian. Capped rail. See capi. Compound rail, a 
railway-rail made in two longitudinal counterparts bolted 
together in such manner that opposite ends of each pro- 
ject beyond the other part to produce a lapping joint when 
the rails are spiked to the ties or sleepers. Also called 
grattnma ro. Double-headed rail, a railway-mil 
without flanges, with two opposite heads united by a web. 
It is always used with chairs, and by turning it upside 
down it can be used after the upper head has become so 
worn as to be useless. False rail, in ship-carp., a thin 
piece of timber attached inside of a curved head-rail in 
order to strengthen it. Fish-bellied rail, a cast-iron 
railway-rail having a convex or downwardly arching un- 
der surface to strengthen its middle part, after the man- 
ner of some cast-iron beams and girders. It was intro- 
duced in 1805. Flat rail, a railway-rail of cast-iron or 
wrought-iron fastened by spikes to longitudinal sleepers. 
The cast-iron flat rail was first used in 1776. Middle rail, 
in carp., that rail of a door which is on a level with the 
hand, and on which the lock is usually fixed, whence it is 
sometimes called the lock-rail. See cut under door. Pipe 
rail, a rail of iron pipe joined by fittings as in pipe-fitting. 
Such rails, of iron or brass, are now much used in engine- 
rooms of ships, at the sides of locomotives, on iron bridges, 
elevated railways, etc. -Pipe-rail fittings, the screw- 
threaded fittings, including couplings, elbows,crosses,tees, 
flanges, etc., used in putting together pipe- rail ings, and 
usually of an ornamental pattern. Point-rail, a pointed 
rail used in the construction of a rail way-switch. Rail- 
drilling machine, a machine for drilling holes in the web 
of steel rails for the insertion of fish-plate bolts. Rail- 
