Rule

(rool.) (From A. S. regole.] Generally, that which is laid down and established as a principle, or settled by authority for guidance and direction; thus, a statute or law is a rule of conduct for the citizens of a State; precedents in law are rules of decision to judges. (Eccl., .) Alaw or regulation to be observed by an order or community and its particular members.-(Gram.) An established form of construction, with reference to a particular or analogous cla of words.-(Arith.) A certain prescribed series of numerical proce es, calculated to discover a number from the given conditions to which an unknown number is under subjection. R. of Three. (Arith.) A rule which directs, when three terms are stated, howto find a fourth, which shall have the same ratio to the third term as the second has to the first;- otherwise termed the rule of proportion. [s. 782]