rail post (ralpost)

In carp.: ( a ) A baluster for a stair-rail, hand-rail, or a balustrade. (b) A newel. Also called railing - post. rail-punch (ral punch), n. A machine for punching holes in the webs of rails, and for analogous uses. railroad (ral'rōd), n. [ The London "Courier," in detailing the advantages of rail- roads upon the locomotive steam engine principle, contains a remark relative to Mr. Rush, our present minister in London..: "Whatever parliament may do, they cannot stop the course of knowledge and improvement! The American government has po e ed itself, through its minister, of the improved mode of constructing and making rail - roads , and there can be no doubt of their immediate adoption throughout that country." Niles's Register, April 2, 1825. Alas! even the giddine attendant on a journey on this Manchester rail - road is not so perilous to the nerves as that too frequent exercise in the merry-go-round of the ideal world. Scott, Count Robert of Paris, Int., p. xi. (Oct. 15, 1831). On Monday I shall set off for Liverpool by the railroad , which will then be opened the whole way. Macaulay, in Trevelyan, II. 20. Lady Buchan of Athlone writes thus in 1833: "I have a letter from Sir John, who strongly recommends my going by the railroad . " N. and Q., 7th ser., VIII. 379. Commi ioner of Railroads. See commi ioner. - Elevated railroad. See railway. Railroad euchre. See euchre. Underground railroad. (a) See underground. railway, under railway. (b) In the United States before the abolition of slavery, a secret arrangement for enabling slaves to escape into free territory, by pa ing them along from one point of concealment to another till they reached Canada or some other place of safety. railroad (ral'rod), v. t. [ A New York daily some time ago reported that a common thief. was railroaded through court in a few Pop . Sci . Mo. , XXXII. 758. The Alien act, that was railroaded through at the close of the last se ion. Sci . Amer ., N. S., LVII. 37. IMG:content-1582.png:[blocks in formation] rail-splitter (rāl's plit"èr), п . One who splits logs into rails for making a rail fence. Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States from 1861 to 1865, who in his youth had occasionally split rails, was some- times popularly called the rail- splitter , and clubs of his partizans a umed the name Rail - splitters . [U.S.] Yes: he had lived to shame me from my sneer, To lame my pencil, and confute my pen; To make me own this hind of princes peer, This rail - splitter a true-born king of men. of a military railway outfit. - Pneumatic railway. (a) A railway in which cars are propelled by air-pre ure behind them. In one form of pneumatic railway the cars were pushed like pistons through a tunnel by pre ure of air on the rear. The system failed of practical succe from the difficulties met with in the attempt to carry it out on a large scale. Also called atmospheric railway (which see, under atmospheric ). (b) A railway in which cars are drawn by pneumatic locomotives. Scarcely more succe has been reached in this method than in that described above. -Portable railway, or portable railroad , a light rail- way-track made in detachable sections, or otherwise con- structed so that it may be easily taken up, carried about, and transported to a distance, for use in military opera- tions, in constructing roads, in building operations, in making excavations, etc. The rails are frequently of wood, or of wood plated with iron. - Prismoidal rail- way, a railway consisting of a single continuous beam or tru supported on posts or columns. The engine and cars run astride of the beam, the former being provided with grip-wheels to obtain the hold on the track requisite for draft.-Railway brain, a term applied to certain cases developed by railway accident, in which a trau- matic neurosis is believed to be of cerebral origin. - Rail- way Clauses Consolidation Act, an English statute of 1845 (8 and 9 Vict., c. 20) consolidating the usual statutory provisions applicable to railway corporations, enabling them to take private property, and giving them special rights or special duties. Railway cut-off saw. See saw1.- Railway post-office. See post-office. Railway scrip. See scrip . - Railway spine, an affection of the accident. See under spine . The railway spine has taken its place in medical nomen- clature. Sci . Amer ., N. S., LX. 22. Underground railway, a railway running through a continuous tunnel, as under the streets or other parts of a city; a subterranean railway. railway-car (ral'wa-kär), n. Any vehicle in general (the locomotive or other motor and its tender excepted) that runs on a railway, whe- ther for the transportation of freight or of pa engers. railway-carriage (rāl'wā-kar"āj), n . way-car for pa enger-traffic. [Eng.] railway-chair (rāl'wā-char), n. Same as rail- railway-company (rāl'wā-kum"pa-ni), n . stock company, usually organized under a char- ter granted by special legislative enactment, for the purpose of constructing and operating railway, and invested with certain special powers, as well as subject to special restric- tions, by the terms of its charter. railway-cro ing (rālʼwā-krôs"ing), n . 1. An intersection of railway-tracks.-2. The inter- section of a common roadway or highway with the track of a railway. railway-slide (ral'wa-slīd), n. A turn-table. [Eng.] railway-stitch (rāl'wa-stich), n. 1. In crochet , same as tricot - stitch .-2. In embroidery , a sim- ple stitch usually employed in white embroi- dery, or with flo or filoselle.-3. In worsted- work or Berlin-wool work, a kind of stitch used on leviathan canvas, large and loose, and cov- ering the surface quickly. railway-switch (ral' wa-swich), n . See switch . railway-tie (ral'wa-ti), п . See tic . repair-shops, and also all other property of the operating company, as stocks, bonds, and other securities. Most exrailway-train (rāl'wā-trān), n . isting railways employ steam-locomotives; but systems of raim (rām), v . t . Same as ream2 . propulsion by endle wire ropes or cables, by electric locomotives, and by electromotors placed on individual cars to which electricity generated by dynamos at suitable stations is supplied from electrical conductors extending along the line, or from storage-batteries carried by the cars, have recently made notable progre . Horse-rail- raiment (ra'ment), n . [Early mod. E. rayment ; raiment , rayment , short for arayment , laterarraiment , mod.arrayment : see arrayment , Cf. ray , by apheresis for array .] That in which one is arrayed or clad; clothing; vesture; formerly sometimes, in the plural, garments. [Now only poetical or archaic.] That you'll vouchsafe me raiment , bed, and food. Shak ., Lear, ii. 4. 158. Truth's Angel on horseback, his raiment of white silk powdered with stars of gold. Middle ton, Triumphs of Truth. =Syn. Clothes, dre , attire, habiliments, garb, costume, array. These words are all in current use, while raiment and vesture have a poetic or antique sound. raimondite (ra'mon-dīt), n . [Named after A. Raimondi , an Italian scientist who spent many years in exploring Peru.] A basic sulphate of iron, occurring in hexagonal tabular crystals of a yellow color. rainl (rān), n . [Early mod. E. rayne , rein , reyn, reyne , reane , rezn , rien , ren , ran , regn (often contr. rēn ) = OS. reg an , reg in = OFries. rein = D. regen = MLG. regen = OHG. reg an , MHG. regen , G. regen = Icel. Sw. Dan. regn = Goth. rign , rain; cf. L. rigare , moisten (see irrigation ), Gr. βρέχειν , wet (see cmbroca- tion ).] 1. The descent of water in drops through the atmosphere, or the water thus fall- ing. In general, clouds constitute the reservoir from which rain descends, but the fall of rain in very small quantities from a cloudle sky is occasionally observed. The aqueous vapor of the atmosphere, which condenses There it reyneth not but litylle in that Contree; and for that Cause they have no Watre, but zif it be of that Flood of that Ryvere. Mandeville , Travels, p. 45. Evermore so sternliche it ron , And blew therwith so wonderliche loude, That wel neighe no man heren other koude. And in Elyes tyme heuene was yclosed, That no reyne ne rone . Piers Plowman (B), xiv. 66. Shak ., T. N., v. 1. 401. 2. To fall or drop like rain: as, tears rained from their eyes. The Spaniards presented a fatal mark to the Moorish mis- siles, which rained on them with pitile fury. Pre scott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 7. Down rained the blows upon the unyielding oak. William Morris , Earthly Paradise, III. 252. IMG:content-1583.png:[blocks in formation] To rain cats and dogs. See cat1. rain2 (rān), n. [Origin obscure.] 1. A ridge. Hall i well.-2. A furrow. [Prov. Eng. in both senses.] They reaped the corne that grew in the raine to serve that turne, as the corne in the ridge was not readie. Wynne, History of the Gwedir Family, p. 87. ( Encyc . Dict .) rain3t, n. An obsolete spelling of rein1 . rain ball (rānʼbál), n . One of the festoons of the mamma to-cumulus, or pocky cloud: so called because considered to be a sign of rain. [Prov. Eng.] rainband (ran'band), n. A dark band in the solar spectrum, situated on the red side of the D line, and caused by the absorption of that part of the spectrum by the aqueous vapor of the atmosphere. The intensity of the rainband varies with the amount of vapor in the air, and is thus of some importance as an indication of rain. Direct-vision spectroscopes of moderate dispersion are best adapted for observing it. Pocket instruments of this kind, designed for the purpose, are called rainband - spectroscopes. vial is. At every hour, when there is sufficient light, the intensity of the rainband is observed and recorded. Nature , XXXV. 589. rain-bird (rān'bėrd), n . [ reyne - bryde ; rain1 + bird1 .] A bird supposed to foretell rain by its cries or actions, as the rain-crow. Many birds become noisy or uneasy before rain, the popular belief having thus considerable foundation in fact. (a) The green woodpecker, Gecinus virid is . Also rain - fowl , rain - pie. [Eng.] (b) The large ground-cuckoo of Jamai ca, Sau rother a vetula ; also, a related cuckoo, Piaya plu rainbow (rān'bō), n. [ reinbowe , reinboze , renboze, regn - bog a , rēnboga (= OFries. reinboga = D. regenboog = MLG. regenboge , regensboge (cf. LG. water - boog ) = OHG. reganbo go , MHG. regenboge , G. regenbogen = Icel. regn bog i = Sw. regnbåge = Dan. regnbue ), regn , rain, + bog a , bow: see rain and bow3 , n.] 1. A bow, or an arc of a circle, consisting of the prismatic colors, formed by the refraction and reflection of rays of light from drops of rain or vapor, appearing in the part of the heavens opposite to the sun. When large and strongly illuminated, the rainbow presents the appearance of two concentric arches, the inner being called the primary and the outer the secondary rainbow. Each is formed of the colors of the solar spectrum, but the colors are arranged in reversed order, the red forming the exterior ring of the primary bow and the interior of the secondary. The primary bow is formed by rays of the sun that enter the upper part of falling drops of rain, and undergo two refractions and one reflection; the secondary, by rays that enter the under part of rain-drops, and undergo two refractions and two reflections. Hence, the colors of the secondary bow are fainter than those of the primary. The rainbow is regarded as a symbol of divine beneficence toward man, from its being made the token of the covenant that the earth should never again be destroyed by a flood (Gen. ix. 13-17). Smaller bows, sometimes circular and very brilliant, are often seen through ma es of mist or spray, as from a waterfall or from waves about a ship. (See fog - bow .) The moon sometimes forms a bow or arch of light, more faint than that formed by the sun, and called a lunar rainbow. Thanne ic ofe[r]-téo hefenes mid wlene. thanne bith atáwed min rén bóge . betwuxe than folce [vel wlcne]. thanne beo ic zemenézed mines weddes. that ic nelle henon forth mancyn. mid watere adrenche. Old Eng . Homilies (ed. Morris), 1st ser., xxiv. 225. ( Rich .) Taunede [showed] him in the wa[l]kene a-buuen Rein - bowe . Genesis and Exodus , 1. 637. When in Heav'n I see the Rain - boaw bent, I hold it for a Pledge and Argument. Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 2. Intersecting rainbows are not uncommon. They require, of course, for their production, two sources parallel rays; and they are seen when, behind the spectator, there is a large sheet of calm water. Tait , Light, § 165. 2. In her., the representation of a half-ring divided into seven concentric narrow rings and arched upward, each end resting on a clump of clouds. To avoid the difficulty of finding seven different the number of concentric rings is sometimes diminished to three, usually azure, or, and gudes that is, blue, gold, and red. 3. In ornith., a humming-bird of the genus Diphlogena, containing two most brilliantly plumaged species, D. iris of Bolivia, and D. hes per us of Ecuador.-4. The rainbow-fish.-Rainbow style, a method of calico-printing in which the colors are blended with one another at the edges. - Spurious or supernumerary rainbow, a bow always seen in connection with a fine rainbow, lying close inside the violet of the primary bow, or outside that of the secondary one. colors are fainter and le pure, as they proceed from the Its