raign2+

andv. An obsolete spelling of reign. Raiidæ (rā'i-dē), n. pl. [NL., A family of hypotreme selachians, or Raiæ, typified by the genus Raia; the skates and rays proper. The species have a moderately broad rhombic disk, a more or le 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 Raiidæ differ from all the other ray-like selachians. The species are quite numerous, and every sea has representatives. Formerly the family was taken in a much more extended sense, embracing all the representatives of the suborder except the saw-fishes. Also Rajidæ. Raiinæ (ra-i'ne), n. pl. [NL., raikt, v. i. See rake2. rail 2. A structure consisting of rails and their sustaining posts, balusters, or pillars, and constituting an inclosure or line of division: often used in the plural, and also called a railing. The rails of ma ive stone, elaborately sculptured, which form the ceremonial inclosures of ancient Buddhist topes, temples, sacred trees, etc., in India, are among the most characteristic and important features of Buddhist architecture, and are the most remarkable works of this cla known. The Grownd within the Rayles 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 bra e. Sandys , Travailes, p. 127. The Bharhut rail , according to the inscription on it, was erected by a Prince Vâdha Pala. The Buddh Gaya rail is a rectangle, measuring 131 ft. by 98 ft. J. Fergu on , Hist. Indian Arch., p. 85. 3. In joinery, a horizontal timber in a piece of framing or paneling. Specifically-( a ) In a door, sash, or any paneled work, one of the horizontal pieces between which the panels lie, the vertical pieces being called stiles. See cut under door. (b) 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 pa ing between two posts or other members of the frame: as, the head- rail or foot- rail in a bedstead. Hence-(d) A corresponding member in construction in other materials than wood, as a tie in bra 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 course of molded planks or small timbers mortised the stanchions, sometimes to the timber-heads. The part pa ing round the stern is the taffrail. The forecastle - rail, poop - rail, and top - rail are bars extended on stanchions acro the after part of the forecastle-deck, the fore part of the poop, and the after part of each of the tops, respectively. A pin - rail is 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 rails 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 railway to support and guide the The wheels of cars and motors. railways is that known as the T - rail. But, general form now most in use for steam IMG:content-1577.png:[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small] though these rails all have a section vaguely resembling the letter T, the proportions of the different parts and the weights of the rails are nearly as various as the railways themselves. In the accompanying diagram is shown a section of a rail weighing 75 pounds per yard in length, the weight of the length of one yard being the common mode of stating the weights of rails. These weights are in modern rails sometimes as great as 80 or 85 pounds per yard, the more recent tendency having been toward heavier locomotives and heavier rails. C IMG:content-1578.png:[ocr errors] web; c, base; the part d is at the inner side of the head, and made to correspond with the throat of the car-wheel. The cut shows the comparative dimensions of the various parts. (Compare fish - joint, fish - plate, and fish1, 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 transport: as, to travel or send goods by rail. [Colloq.] French and English made rapid way among the dragoman ish officials of the rail . W. H. Ru ell , 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. IMG:content-1579.png:[blocks in formation] Sw. regel a bar, bolt; partly reille , raille , Dan, rigel, a bar, b roille, roile, roile, reilhe, relle, rele, a bar, rail, bolt, board, p plank, ladder, plow-handle, furrow, row, etc.,. etc., F. dial. reille, ille, ladder, reille, raille, plowshare ( the rails are spiked to the ties or sleepers. Also called continuous rail. - Double-headed rail, a railway-rail 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 usele . 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 under surface to strengthen its middle part, after the manner of some cast-iron beams and girders. It was introduced 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. - Fipe rail, a rail of iron pipe joined by fittings as in pipe-fitting. Such rails, of iron or bra , 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, cro es, tees, flanges, etc., used in putting together pipe-railings, and usually of an ornamental pattern. - Point-rail, a pointed rail used in the construction of a railway-switch. - Rail drilling machine, a machine for drilling holes in the web of steel rails for the insertion of fish-plate bolts. - Rail rail straightening machine, a portable screw-pre for straightening bent or crooked rails or iron bars. - Rail under ( naut.), with the lee rail submerged: as, the ve el sailed rail under. - Rolled rail, a rail made of wrought iron or steel by rolling. Steel-headed rail, a railway rail having a wrought-iron base and web and a steel head. Such rails were too expensive for general use, and have given place to the Be emer-steel rails. Also called steel - topped rail. — Steel rail, a rolled-steel railway rail. The first steel rails were manufactured in England by Mushet in 1857. The development of the use steel rails, stimulated by the invention of the celebrated Be e mer proce for making cheap mild steel from which rails of far greater durability than those of wrought-iron can be manufactured, has been rapid, and has resulted in the substitution of steel rails for wrought-iron rails on nearly all important railways in the world. - To ride on a rail. See ride. - Virginia rail fence. Same as snake fence (which see, under fence ).