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4 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]
Rank \Rank\ (r[a^][ng]k), a. [Compar. Ranker
(r[a^][ng]k"[~e]r); superl. Rankest.] [AS. ranc strong,
proud; cf. D. rank slender, Dan. rank upright, erect, Prov.
G. rank slender, Icel. rakkr slender, bold. The meaning seems
to have been influenced by L. rancidus, E. rancid.]
1. Luxuriant in growth; of vigorous growth; exuberant; grown
to immoderate height; as, rank grass; rank weeds.
[1913 Webster]
And, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one
stalk, rank and good. --Gen. xli. 5.
[1913 Webster]
2. Raised to a high degree; violent; extreme; gross; utter;
as, rank heresy. ``Rank nonsense.'' --Hare. ``I do forgive
thy rankest fault.'' --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. Causing vigorous growth; producing luxuriantly; very rich
and fertile; as, rank land. --Mortimer.
[1913 Webster]
4. Strong-scented; rancid; musty; as, oil of a rank smell;
rank-smelling rue. --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
5. Strong to the taste. ``Divers sea fowls taste rank of the
fish on which they feed.'' --Boyle.
[1913 Webster]
6. Inflamed with venereal appetite. [Obs.] --Shak.
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Rank modus (Law), an excessive and unreasonable modus. See
Modus, 3.
To set (the iron of a plane, etc.) rank, to set so as to
take off a thick shaving. --Moxon.
[1913 Webster]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) : [ web1913 ]
(a) To put in order in a particular manner; to prepare;
as, to set (that is, to hone) a razor; to set a saw.
Tables for to sette, and beddes make. --Chaucer.
(b) To extend and bring into position; to spread; as, to
set the sails of a ship.
(c) To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the
keynote; as, to set a psalm. --Fielding.
(d) To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state; to
replace; as, to set a broken bone.
(e) To make to agree with some standard; as, to set a
watch or a clock.
(f) (Masonry) To lower into place and fix solidly, as the
blocks of cut stone in a structure.
6. To stake at play; to wager; to risk.
I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the
hazard of the die. --Shak.
7. To fit with music; to adapt, as words to notes; to prepare
for singing.
Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute.
--Dryden.
8. To determine; to appoint; to assign; to fix; as, to set a
time for a meeting; to set a price on a horse.
9. To adorn with something infixed or affixed; to stud; to
variegate with objects placed here and there.
High on their heads, with jewels richly set, Each
lady wore a radiant coronet. --Dryden.
Pastoral dales thin set with modern farms.
--Wordsworth.
10. To value; to rate; -- with at.
Be you contented, wearing now the garland, To have
a son set your decrees at naught. --Shak.
I do not set my life at a pin's fee. --Shak.
11. To point out the seat or position of, as birds, or other
game; -- said of hunting dogs.
12. To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to
assign; as, to set an example; to set lessons to be
learned.
13. To suit; to become; as, it sets him ill. [Scot.]
14. (Print.) To compose; to arrange in words, lines, etc.;
as, to set type; to set a page.
To set abroach. See Abroach. [Obs.] --Shak.
To set against, to oppose; to set in comparison with, or to
oppose to, as an equivalent in exchange; as, to set one
thing against another.
To set agoing, to cause to move.
To set apart, to separate to a particular use; to separate
from the rest; to reserve.
To set a saw, to bend each tooth a little, every alternate
one being bent to one side, and the intermediate ones to
the other side, so that the opening made by the saw may be
a little wider than the thickness of the back, to prevent
the saw from sticking.
To set aside.
(a) To leave out of account; to pass by; to omit; to
neglect; to reject; to annul.
Setting aside all other considerations, I will
endeavor to know the truth, and yield to that.
--Tillotson.
(b) To set apart; to reserve; as, to set aside part of
one's income.
(c) (Law) See under Aside.
To set at defiance, to defy.
To set at ease, to quiet; to tranquilize; as, to set the
heart at ease.
To set at naught, to undervalue; to contemn; to despise.
``Ye have set at naught all my counsel.'' --Prov. i. 25.
To set a trap, snare, or gin, to put it in a proper
condition or position to catch prey; hence, to lay a plan
to deceive and draw another into one's power.
To set at work, or To set to work.
(a) To cause to enter on work or action, or to direct how
tu enter on work.
(b) To apply one's self; -- used reflexively.
To set before.
(a) To bring out to view before; to exhibit.
(b) To propose for choice to; to offer to.
To set by.
(a) To set apart or on one side; to reject.
(b) To attach the value of (anything) to. ``I set not a
straw by thy dreamings.'' --Chaucer.
To set by the compass, to observe and note the bearing or
situation of by the compass.
To set case, to suppose; to assume. Cf. Put case, under
Put, v. t. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
To set down.
(a) To enter in writing; to register.
Some rules were to be set down for the
government of the army. --Clarendon.
(b) To fix; to establish; to ordain.
This law we may name eternal, being that order
which God . . . hath set down with himself, for
himself to do all things by. --Hooker.
(c) To humiliate.
To set eyes on, to see; to behold; to fasten the eyes on.
To set fire to, or To set on fire, to communicate fire
to; fig., to inflame; to enkindle the passions of; to
irritate.
To set flying (Naut.), to hook to halyards, sheets, etc.,
instead of extending with rings or the like on a stay; --
said of a sail.
To set forth.
(a) To manifest; to offer or present to view; to exhibt;
to display.
(b) To publish; to promulgate; to make appear. --Waller.
(c) To send out; to prepare and send. [Obs.]
The Venetian admiral had a fleet of sixty
galleys, set forth by the Venetians. --Knolles.
To set forward.
(a) To cause to advance.
(b) To promote.
To set free, to release from confinement, imprisonment, or
bondage; to liberate; to emancipate.
To set in, to put in the way; to begin; to give a start to.
[Obs.]
If you please to assist and set me in, I will
recollect myself. --Collier.
To set in order, to adjust or arrange; to reduce to method.
``The rest will I set in order when I come.'' --1 Cor. xi.
34.
To set milk.
(a) To expose it in open dishes in order that the cream
may rise to the surface.
(b) To cause it to become curdled as by the action of
rennet. See 4
(e) .
To set much, or little, by, to care much, or little,
for.
To set of, to value; to set by. [Obs.] ``I set not an haw
of his proverbs.'' --Chaucer.
To set off.
(a) To separate from a whole; to assign to a particular
purpose; to portion off; as, to set off a portion of
an estate.
(b) To adorn; to decorate; to embellish.
They . . . set off the worst faces with the
best airs. --Addison.
(c) To give a flattering description of.
To set off against, to place against as an equivalent; as,
to set off one man's services against another's.
To set on or upon.
(a) To incite; to instigate. ``Thou, traitor, hast set on
thy wife to this.'' --Shak.
(b) To employ, as in a task. `` Set on thy wife to
observe.'' --Shak.
(c) To fix upon; to attach strongly to; as, to set one's
heart or affections on some object. See definition 2,
above.
To set one's cap for. See under Cap, n.
To set one's self against, to place one's self in a state
of enmity or opposition to.
To set one's teeth, to press them together tightly.
To set on foot, to set going; to put in motion; to start.
To set out.
(a) To assign; to allot; to mark off; to limit; as, to
set out the share of each proprietor or heir of an
estate; to set out the widow's thirds.
(b) To publish, as a proclamation. [Obs.]
(c) To adorn; to embellish.
An ugly woman, in rich habit set out with
jewels, nothing can become. --Dryden.
(d) To raise, equip, and send forth; to furnish. [R.]
The Venetians pretend they could set out, in
case of great necessity, thirty men-of-war.
--Addison.
(e) To show; to display; to recommend; to set off.
I could set out that best side of Luther.
--Atterbury.
(f) To show; to prove. [R.] ``Those very reasons set out
how heinous his sin was.'' --Atterbury.
(g) (Law) To recite; to state at large.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) : [ web1913 ]
Staff \Staff\, n.; pl. Staves (? or ?; 277) or Staffsin
senses 1-9, Staffs in senses 10, 11. [AS. st[ae]f a staff;
akin to LG. & D. staf, OFries stef, G. stab, Icel. stafr, Sw.
staf, Dan. stav, Goth. stabs element, rudiment, Skr.
sth[=a]pay to cause to stand, to place. See Stand, and cf.
Stab, Stave, n.]
1. A long piece of wood; a stick; the long handle of an
instrument or weapon; a pole or srick, used for many
purposes; as, a surveyor's staff; the staff of a spear or
pike.
And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of
the altar to bear it withal. --Ex. xxxviii.
7.
With forks and staves the felon to pursue. --Dryden.
2. A stick carried in the hand for support or defense by a
person walking; hence, a support; that which props or
upholds. ``Hooked staves.'' --Piers Plowman.
The boy was the very staff of my age. --Shak.
He spoke of it [beer] in ``The Earnest Cry,'' and
likewise in the ``Scotch Drink,'' as one of the
staffs of life which had been struck from the poor
man's hand. --Prof.
Wilson.
3. A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a
badge of office; as, a constable's staff.
Methought this staff, mine office badge in court,
Was broke in twain. --Shak.
All his officers brake their staves; but at their
return new staves were delivered unto them.
--Hayward.
4. A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
5. The round of a ladder. [R.]
I ascend at one [ladder] of six hundred and
thirty-nine staves. --Dr. J.
Campbell (E.
Brown's
Travels).
6. A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded,
the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
Cowley found out that no kind of staff is proper for
an heroic poem, as being all too lyrical. --Dryden.
7. (Mus.) The five lines and the spaces on which music is
written; -- formerly called stave.
8. (Mech.) An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
9. (Surg.) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife,
used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
10. [From Staff, 3, a badge of office.] (Mil.) An
establishment of officers in various departments attached
to an army, to a section of an army, or to the commander
of an army. The general's staff consists of those
officers about his person who are employed in carrying
his commands into execution. See ['E]tat Major.
11. Hence: A body of assistants serving to carry into effect
the plans of a superintendant or manager; as, the staff
of a newspaper.
Jacob's staff (Surv.), a single straight rod or staff,
pointed and iron-shod at the bottom, for penetrating the
ground, and having a socket joint at the top, used,
instead of a tripod, for supporting a compass.
Staff angle (Arch.), a square rod of wood standing flush
with the wall on each of its sides, at the external angles
of plastering, to prevent their being damaged.
The staff of life, bread. ``Bread is the staff of life.''
--Swift.
Staff tree (Bot.), any plant of the genus Celastrus,
mostly climbing shrubs of the northern hemisphere. The
American species ({C. scandens) is commonly called
bittersweet. See 2d Bittersweet, 3
(b) .
To set, or To put, up, or down, one's staff, to take
up one's residence; to lodge. [Obs.]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) : [ web1913 ]
Rank \Rank\, a. [Compar. Ranker; superl. Rankest.] [AS. ranc
strong, proud; cf. D. rank slender, Dan. rank upright, erect,
Prov. G. rank slender, Icel. rakkr slender, bold. The meaning
seems to have been influenced by L. rancidus, E. rancid.]
1. Luxuriant in growth; of vigorous growth; exuberant; grown
to immoderate height; as, rank grass; rank weeds.
And, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one
stalk, rank and good. --Gen. xli. 5.
2. Raised to a high degree; violent; extreme; gross; utter;
as, rank heresy. ``Rank nonsense.'' --Hare. ``I do forgive
thy rankest fault.'' --Shak.
3. Causing vigorous growth; producing luxuriantly; very rich
and fertile; as, rank land. --Mortimer.
4. Strong-scented; rancid; musty; as, oil of a rank smell;
rank-smelling rue. --Spenser.
5. Strong to the taste. ``Divers sea fowls taste rank of the
fish on which they feed.'' --Boyle.
6. Inflamed with venereal appetite. [Obs.] --Shak.
Rank modus (Law), an excessive and unreasonable modus. See
Modus, 3.
To set (the iron of a plane, etc.) rank, to set so as to
take off a thick shaving. --Moxon.
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