| 释义 |
▪ I. rule, n.|ruːl|
Forms: 3 riwle, 3–4 riule; 3 revle, 4–6 reule; 4–5 reul, 6–7 reull; 4 reuel(e, 5 reuyl, 6 reuyll; 4 rewel, 4–5 rewele, 4–6 rewil (5 rewile, rewyll(e, 5–6 rewill), 4–7 rewle (5 rewlle, 5–6 rewl, 6 rewll); 3 ruyle, 4 ruiele, ruyl; 4 ruele, 6 ruell(e; 4– rule, 5 rwle, rull, 6 rulle; 6 roule.
[a. OF. riule, reule, ruile, rule, etc. (see Littré and Godefroy):—L. rēgula straight stick, bar, ruler, pattern, etc. (cf. regula), which is also represented by OF. regle (F. règle) regle n.
The development of the leading senses took place in Latin, and does not correspond to the order of their appearance in English.]
I.
1. a. A principle, regulation, or maxim governing individual conduct.
a1225Ancr. R. 2 Þeos riwle is euere wiðinnen & rihteð þe heorte... Þeos riwle is cherite. 1340Ayenb. 97 Þise byeþ þe zeue ruieles of holy lyf þet þe zoþe salomon tekþ to his children. 1382Wyclif Gal. vi. 16 And who euere schulen suwe this rewle, pees vpon hem. 1451J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. Prol., A grete reule to all lerned men was sette be Seint Paule in þe first capitle Ad Romanos. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 237 The Jewes of a great conscience & of a rewle dooen abstain from eatyng of allmaner swynes fleashe. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 26 It is a rule here to shun all sadnes. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 528 If thou well observe The rule of not too much, by temperance taught. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 45 Tho' he guide others to Heaven by the plain-sailing Rules of the Gospel. 1784Cowper Task ii. 523 Their rules of life Defective and unsanction'd, prov'd too weak To bind the roving appetite. 1809Wordsw. Sonnets Indep. & Liberty ii. xii, A few strong instincts and a few plain rules. 1860Ruskin Unto this Last i. §7 All endeavour to deduce rules of action from balance of expediency is in vain.
b. Const. of some quality or principle.
a1300Cursor M. 17454 Quen giftes has for-don þe sight, Qua mai þan folu þe reul o right. 1535Coverdale Isaiah xxxii. 1 The kinge shal gouerne after y⊇ rule of rightuousnes. 1591Spenser M. Hubberd 1131 No care of justice, nor no rule of reason,..Did thenceforth ever enter in his minde. 1726Swift Gulliver i. i, I could not forbear shewing my Impatience (perhaps against the strict Rules of Decency) by putting my Finger frequently to my Mouth. 1780Mirror No. 79, A scrupulous observance of certain rules of decorum. 1840Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 49, I had no rule of morality, felt and believed. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede xx, Mrs. Poyser was strict in adherence to her own rules of propriety.
c. transf. Applied to a person or thing.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvi. (Baptist) 614 Sancte Iohnne þe scole of uertuise wes,..& reule of rychtwisnes but wen. 1639N. N. tr. Du Bosq's Compl. Woman i. 22 If they but cast their eyes on her who should be the rule of all their sex, as shee is the ornament. 1818Shelley Rev. Islam ix. xxviii. 9 They leave All hope, or love, or truth, or liberty,..To be a rule and law to ages that survive.
2. The code of discipline or body of regulations observed by a religious order or congregation; hence occas., the order or congregation itself.
a1225Ancr. R. 4 Nu aski ȝe hwat riwle ȝe ancren schullen holden? c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 59/196 Þat he scholde is ordre preouen, and is Revle al-so, Þoruȝ þe godspel of godes word. c1325Metr. Hom. 32 That was the reuel of sain Benet. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 246 Haueth none envye To lered ne to lewed, but lyueth after ȝowre rewle. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 193 Seint benet ordeyned the monken rull, and Seinte Austeyn chanoun Rull in erth. 1444Rolls of Parlt. V. 74/2 Professid yn the rule of Seint Austyn. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 18 b, As our holy father Saynt Austyn sayth in his rule. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 168 A begging Friar of the Order of Saint Francis..gave me to eat, but would receive no money for it; saying, it was against their rule to handle any money. 1631Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 130 There are foure rules, or religious Orders. 1738Chambers Cycl. s.v. Carthusians, Their rule..obliges them to..a total abstinence from flesh. 1771Encycl. Brit. II. 630/1 The rule of the Franciscans..is briefly this. 1848J. H. Newman Loss & Gain iii. x, It was indeed but ten years..since the severest of modern rules had been introduced into England. 1890Meynell Newman iv. 55 Next month Father Newman, with Stanton and St. John,..formally received Faber..into the rule of St. Philip Neri.
transf.1340–70Alex. & Dind. 507 Sire emperour alixandre, þis arn oure lawes, Boþe oure reule & oure riht þat we þe rede holde. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage iii. vii. (1614) 276 An excellent Doctor, named Boni, framed their [Caballists] rule and prayers. 1846Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 7 Angels with us rehearse their own majestic rule.
attrib.c1450in Aungier Syon (1840) 262 Sche schal put from her her..cowle, mantel, crown, and veyle, and remayne in her rewle cote. Ibid. 264 The abbes schal ȝeue her holy water and a rewle cote.
3. a. A principle regulating practice or procedure; a fixed and dominating custom or habit.
rule of the road: see road n. 5 e. Similarly rule(s) of the sea (Smyth, 1867).
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 451 Þe pope..forsook þe reule of þe olde tyme, and sacrede Thurstyn and ȝaf hym the pal. 1470–85Malory Arthur x. lv. 505 Is þt the rule of yow arraunt knyghtes for to make a knyght to Iuste will he or nyll? 1572Satir. Poems Reform. xxxiv. 60 In Scotland had not bene sic tuill, Gif this had bene þe common reull. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 178 Of a strange nature is the sute you follow, Yet in such rule, that the Venetian Law Cannot impugne you. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ., Case of Conscience, 'Twas against the rules of his house. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 432 It had long been the rule at Rome that no officer of justice or finance could enter the dwelling inhabited by the minister who represented a Catholic state. 1893Gee Auscultation & Percussion (ed. 4) 92 Let mediate auscultation ever be considered the rule of practice.
b. A regulation determining the methods or course of a game or the like. rules of the game transf., conventions in political or social relations or the like.
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 183 The Lapithæ..taught the Steed..the Rules of War to know. 1778C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 189 The game of billiards, with the rules and odds. 1831Scott Ct. Rob. xxxii, The rules of fair battle will be punctually observed. 1837Penny Cycl. VIII. 158/1 The rules [of cricket] are at once too well known and too complicated to be here explained. 1895Outing XXVII. 250/2 The off-side rule should be clearly understood. 1910S. E. White Rules of Game xli. 644 Things change; and a man is foolish to act as though they didn't. He's just got to keep playing along according to the rules of the game. And they keep changing too. 1936M. Mitchell Gone with Wind xxxi. 521 The rules of the game had been changed and..honest labor could no longer earn its just reward. 1964Rousseas & Farganis in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 287 Operating within the rules-of-the-game of institutionalized conflict. 1974Daily Tel. 15 Oct. 18/2 As leader of the Opposition Mr Heath, under the rules of the game, has the right of reply tonight to Mr Wilson's Ministerial broadcast last night.
c. Without article: Rigid system or routine. out of rule, contrary to custom.
1796C. Smith Marchmont I. 141 Lady Dacres either did not or would not see how very much the conduct of her visitor was out of rule. 1820Irving Sketch Bk. II. 219 No being acts more rigidly from rule than the Indian.
4. Law.
a. An order made by a judge or court, the application of which is limited to the case in connexion with which it is granted. Also called a particular rule or rule of court.
rule absolute, an order following a rule nisi and changing a conditional direction into a peremptory command. rule nisi: see nisi.
1447–8J. Shillingford Lett. (Camden) 41 That matier, whiche longe tyme hath abiden yn travers bitwixte yow,..was commytted..to the rule of the two chief Justises and me. 1474Rolls of Parlt. VI. 118/2 Like Processe, Rule, Jugement and Execution be had theryn, as usuelly is used in Writtes of Dette. 1612Bacon Ess., Of Judicature, The partes of a Iudge are..to giue the rule or sentence. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. 203 Upon this condition, that he enter into a rule of court to confess, at the trial of the cause, three of the four requisites for the maintenance of the plaintiff's action. 1771Junius Lett. lxvii. (1788) 342 The rule against him was made absolute. 1841Penny Cycl. XX. 220/2 Rules not general are such as are confined to the particular case in reference to which they have been granted.
transf.1853Miss Mulock Agatha's Husb. II. 38 She thought the rule absolute was painfully prevalent in the Harper family.
b. A formal order or regulation governing the procedure or decisions of a court of law; an enunciation or doctrine forming part of the common law, or having the force of law. Also called a (standing) rule of court. rules of evidence, the legal rules that apply to the giving of evidence.
1530Palsgr. 264/2 Rule of cannon lawe, canon. 1609Skene Reg. Maj. 100 Many profitable principals, and rewles of the lawes of this Realme, worthie to be remembred. 1699Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 541 Mr. Pugh, clerk of the rules in the kings bench court. 1756J. Gilbert's Law of Evidence (rev. ed.) 8 The Rule of Evidence commands no farther than to produce the best that the Nature of the Thing is capable of. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. 64 The temporal courts adhering to the former, and the spiritual adopting the latter as their rule of proceeding. 1779Mirror No. 6, He felt no great inclination to load his memory with the rules of our municipal law. 1801T. Peake Law of Evidence p. v, The chapter on Parol Testimony, also is in a great measure new; for the rules of evidence in this respect have been so much altered, and so much light has been thrown on them by modern decisions, that, comparatively, little is to be collected from ancient books. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 523 Lord Thurlow said, that..the rule was such, and so many estates stood upon it, that it could not be shaken. 1841Penny Cycl. XIX. 379/2 Either according to the rules of the common law, or by the operation of the Statute of Uses. 1882Encycl. Brit. XIV. 358/1 The rule that every will must be in writing is a mere fragment—only the limb of a law. 1892S. L. Phipson Law of Evidence p. v, I have..adhered to one uniform method of arrangement throughout—that of stating: (1) The rules of evidence..[etc.]. 1908J. H. Wigmore in Sel. Ess. Anglo-Amer. Legal Hist. II. xl. 691 (heading) A general survey of the history of the rules of evidence. 1942E. M. Morgan in Model Code of Evidence (Amer. Law Inst.) 5 The rules of evidence have been developed in myriads of cases. Ibid. 34 This has led to the invention of the hypothetical question, which, as Mr. Wigmore says, ‘is one of the truly scientific features of the rules of Evidence’. 1956E. C. Conrad Mod. Trial Evidence I. i. 15 No exceptions to the general applicability of the rules of evidence as a broad proposition has been noted. 1973N.Y. Law Jrnl. 4 Sept. 3/4 This committee was not bound by the rules of evidence. It was not constrained to follow courtroom procedures.
c. rule of law: (a) with a and pl. : a valid legal proposition; (b) with the : a doctrine, deriving from theories of natural law, that in order to control the exercise of arbitrary power, the latter must be subordinated to impartial and well-defined principles of law; (c) with the : spec. in English law, the concept that the day-to-day exercise of executive power must conform to general principles as administered by the ordinary courts.
(a)a1634E. Coke Third Part Institutes Lawes Eng. (1644) vii. 53 In case of life the rule of law ought to be certain. 1756J. Gilbert's Law of Evidence (rev. ed.) 16 The Rule of Law that requires the greatest Evidence that the Nature of the Thing is capable of. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. xxiii. 383 If a whole county is interested in the question to be tried, the trial by the rule of law must be in some adjoining county. 1969Columbia Law Rev. LXIX. 1168 It is clear that those rules of precedent which are binding as ‘rules of practice’ are also rules of law.
(b)1883J. E. C. Welldon tr. Aristotle's Politics iii. §16. 154 The rule of law then..is preferable to the rule of an individual citizen. 1929Ld. Hewart New Despotism ii. 23 What is meant here by the ‘Rule of Law’ is the supremacy or the predominance of law, as distinguished from mere arbitrariness, or from some alternative mode, which is not law, or determining or disposing of the rights of individuals. 1936F. G. Wilson Elem. Mod. Politics viii. 207 It is of historic importance that the rule of law in the medieval and early modern sense was the rule of superearthly law..—eternal law, divine law, natural law, and human law. 1953T. D. Weldon Vocab. Politics iii. 69 Strictly speaking there is nothing difficult or impressive about ‘the Rule of Law’. It is merely a convenient way of referring to the fact that associations have rules and unless those rules are pretty generally kept and enforced the association breaks down and the activity which it was designed to promote becomes impracticable. 1959E. C. S. Wade in A. V. Dicey Law of Constitution (ed. 10) p. xcvii, In another sense the rule of law means the recognition of certain fundamental obligations as binding upon States in their dealings with one another... The United Nations..claims to give effect to the rule of law. Ibid. p. cvii, The International Commission of Jurists considers that the basic idea uniting lawyers in many different legal systems is a conception of the rule of law. 1971Engineering Apr. 54/1 Industry-wide negotiations, ending in a kind of rule-of-law. 1974J. LaPalombara Politics within Nations iii. 106 But the difference between the Rechtsstaat and constitutionalism is that the rule of law in the former is based on a concession from the ruler. 1977Rolling Stone 24 Mar. 31/2 Those senators..knew of the need to continue redeeming the rule of law that Edward Levi had begun.
(c)1885A. V. Dicey Law of Constitution v. 172 When we say that the supremacy or the rule of law is a characteristic of the English constitution, we generally include under one expression at least three distinct though kindred conceptions. We mean, in the first place, that no man is punishable or can be made to suffer in body or goods except for a distinct breach of law established in the ordinary legal manner before the ordinary courts of the land. 1923W. S. Holdsworth Hist. Eng. Law (rev. ed.) iv. 405 The precocious development of our common law has..given..the opportunity for the development of those two fundamental characteristics of our English constitution—the system of self-government and the rule of law. 1933W. I. Jennings Law & Constitution 256 The ‘rule of law’ in this sense means that public authorities ought not to have large powers. 1959Polit. Stud. VII. 114 He [sc. Dicey] would not have admitted for one moment that a Rule of Law followed from the mere fact that the conduct of government had a legal basis. 1971S. A. de Smith Constitutional & Admin. Law ii. 40 Nor would it be justifiable to examine the general concept of the rule of law at length... The concept is usually intended to imply (i) that the powers exercised by politicians and officials must have a legitimate foundation..and (ii) that the law should conform to certain minimum standards of justice. 1975Ld. Hailsham Door wherein I Went xxxvi. 253 The rule of law, an increasingly sophisticated idea..is essentially a province for an official with a foot in both camps, a sworn judge as well as a sworn Privy Councillor, with an independent duty towards the judiciary and the legal profession.
5. a. A regulation framed or adopted by a corporate body, public or private, for governing its conduct and that of its members; also attrib., as in rule-book (lit. and fig.). to bend or stretch the rules: to interpret the rules leniently, to overlook or allow an infringement of the rules; hence rule-bender.
joint rule, one observed by both branches of a legislature of two houses. standing rule, a permanent regulation of a corporate body governing its ordinary procedure.
1558Q. Mary Will in J. M. Stone Life (1901) 510 To keep and observe the ancient rewles and statuts of the said hows [Savoy Hospital]. 1659Heylin Certamen Epist. 89 Their Decretals were made by them intentionally to serve for a rule and a reiglement of the Church in general. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 90 To walk the Quarter-Deck in Quirpo is to walk against the Rules of the Navy. 1802James Milit. Dict., Rules and Articles. Under this term may be considered the military code of the British army. 1847Tennyson Princ. i. 176 Averring it was clear against the rules For any man to go. 1882Encycl. Brit. XIV. 356/1 The rules set by a club or society, and enforced upon its members by exclusion from the society,..are laws, but not positive laws. 1973Times 2 Nov. 5/7 Trying to get other members of the European Community to ‘bend the rules’ so that exports can be resumed. 1977‘O. Jacks’ Autumn Heroes ii. 37 He bent over backwards to be straight in all his dealings... He wouldn't stretch the rules.
attrib. and Comb.1857[see rubricist 1]. 1897Westm. Gaz. 6 Apr. 9/3 The rule book of the Old English Sheep-dog Club. 1898Ibid. 19 Oct. 6/1 The compounding parties bring themselves under the charge of rule-breaking. 1910W. M. Raine Bucky O'Connor 13 The situation was one not covered in the company's rule book. 1945F. H. Hubbard Railroad Avenue ii. 10 Casey was never the type known as a ‘rule-book engineer’. 1954W. Faulkner Fable 113 Germans fight wars by the rule⁓books. 1959M. Gilbert Blood & Judgement xiv. 151 Some stuffy old Chief Superintendent, who's lived with one finger in the Rule Book. 1968Punch 20 Mar. 417/3 Despite some fierce and not altogether rulebook tackling by their opponents, the Students were..taking the game right into the Police half. 1973M. Woodhouse Blue Bone iv. 36 The Communists..were bound to loathe the guts of the big old families since that was what the rule book said. 1978S. Brill Teamsters vii. 272 They were rule-benders (or perhaps sometimes lawbreakers) in a rule-benders and lawbreakers' world.
b. (Also with lower-case initials.) Rules Committee, a committee of a house of a U.S. federal or state legislature responsible for expediting the passage of bills.
1918H. W. Dodds Procedure in State Legislatures (Annals Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. Suppl. No. 1) iv. 60 Enjoying as much parliamentary power as the English cabinet, the rules committee [of the New York Assembly] nevertheless escapes any measure of responsibility before the people. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 12 June 5/2 Lobbying..was so intense the Rules Committee wouldn't release the legislation.
c. Followed by a number or letter: a particular regulation imposed by an institution (see quots.).
1929Bookman (U.S.) July 527/2 Rule G, in all railroad rule books, prohibiting the use of intoxicants. 1932Santa Fé Mag. Jan. 34/2 Getting drunk is Rule b, failing to protect your train or to flag it is 99, attending an investigation is going on the carpet. 1974Guidelines to Volunteer Services (N.Y. State Dept. Correctional Services) 43 Rule 5, when a parolee must abstain from alcohol. 1976A. Miller Inside Outside 6, I would also call on those men under Rule 43 (the segregation rule), and chat with them for a while. 1977Times 11 Apr. 7/7 Over 60 prisoners are in segregation ‘for the maintenance of good order or discipline’ under rule 43 on any one day.
6. a. the rules, a defined area in the neighbourhood of certain prisons, esp. those of the Fleet and King's Bench, within which certain prisoners, esp. debtors, were permitted to live on giving proper security. (Cf. liberty n.1 7 c.) † See also quot. 1662.
1662Virginia Stat. (1823) II. 77 If the sherriffe shall permitt any person dwelling within the rules of a prison..to walke abroad out of prison though with a keeper, and to have the benefitt of the rules or to lodge in his own house; the said sherriffe..shalbe ordered to pay the debt. 1786A. M. Bennett Juvenile Indiscr. V. 42 They live every bit as grand, and keep a mort of company in the rules. 1812Examiner 5 Oct. 639/2 He was permitted to live in the Rules—consequently his punishment was merely nominal. 1847Mrs. Gore Cast. in Air xxxv. (1857) 349, I took him out of the Rules of the Bench, and brought him home to my poor chimney-corner. 1883Ashton Soc. Life Q. Anne II. 247 To aid these, the prisoners took it in turns to perambulate the rules, and solicit help in money or kind.
b. The freedom of these bounds or ‘rules’. on rule, allowed to live in the rules.
1766Entick London IV. 265 Any prisoner for debt may..enjoy the rules [of the Fleet], or liberty to walk abroad, and to keep a house within the liberties of this prison, provided he can give security to the warden for his forthcoming. 1790Ann. Reg., Hist. 97 This bill therefore had contained clauses..abolishing an indulgence at present existing, commonly called rules, by which a prisoner is permitted to go out of his confinement to a certain distance. 1841Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. viii, Her lodgers used commonly to be prisoners on rule from that place [sc. the Fleet]. 1888Sir W. Besant 50 Yrs. Ago 77 Both at the King's Bench and the Fleet debtors were allowed to purchase what were called the Rules, which enabled them to live within a certain area outside the prison, and practically left them free.
II.
7. a. A principle regulating the procedure or method necessary to be observed in the pursuit or study of some art or science. See also rule of thumb; hence (nonce-wd.) rule-of-brain.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 251 Plato afterward made þat art [sc. Logic] more, and fonde þerynne meny principles and rules. c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 113 Now y stable to þe reules of þis science of Phisonomy & constituciouns suffyceantz abbreggyd, þat shal be greet profyt to þe. 1573Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.) 14 Schir Iohne Knox hes nocht weill considderit the rewlis of Dialectik. 1620T. Granger Div. Logike 258 The consequence, formall consecution or sequell agreeable to the rules of a Syllogisme. 1695Dryden Parallel Poet. & Paint. Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 115 One who perfectly understood the rules of painting. 1725Watts Logic (1736) 105 These two Rules being observed will always render a Definition reciprocal with the Thing defined. 1781Cowper Conversation 869 [This] May prove, though much beside the rules of art, Best for the public. 1828Whately Rhetoric in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 263 Hence arises another Rule,..that in order effectually to excite feelings of any kind, it is necessary to employ some copiousness of detail. 1866Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 365/2 Rule of the Octave, a well-known formula..which shews the method of accompanying or harmonising the ascending and descending scale. 1948L. MacNeice Holes in Sky 25 Tom and Tessy..of themselves significant, To rule-of-brain recalcitrant.
b. Coupled with the name of the discoverer or expounder.
1644Milton Educ. 6 Ornate Rhetorick taught out of the rule of Plato, Aristotle [etc.]. 1780Mirror No. 80, This.., if examined by the rules of Aristotle, will be found to contain all the requisites of the best dramatic composition. 1818Byron Juan i. cxx, I have a high sense Of Aristotle and the Rules. 1872Ruskin Eagle's Nest §93 We now build in our villages, by the rules of the Academy of London.
c. Grammar. A principle regulating or determining the form or position of words in a sentence. In modern Linguistics, usu. applied to any one of a system of rules that can be formulated in such a way that together they describe all the features of a language. Freq. Comb.
1495Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xvii. iii. 604 Holy wrytte wol not al way be subget to y⊇ rules of Gramer. 1530Palsgr. 304 Here endeth the rules of the nowne adjectyve. 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 97 An Emperor..being reproued for that he spake contrarie to the rules of Grammer. 1636B. Jonson Eng. Gram. xiv, We say not childen, which, according to the rule given before, is the right formation, but children. 1693C. Dryden Juvenal vii. (1726) 104 Be sure he knows exactly Grammar-Rules. 1737Gentl. Mag. VII. 329 The Translators had more regard to St. Stephen's Words,..than to any Grammar Rule. 1878Encycl. Brit. VIII. 397/1 Confusion and loss of old inflexions, and their replacement by prepositions, auxiliary verbs, and rules of position. 1953[see morpheme-sequence s.v. morpheme c]. 1957N. Chomsky Syntactic Struct. x. 107 A grammar has a sequence of rules from which phrase structure can be reconstructed and a sequence of morphophonemic rules that convert strings of morphemes into strings of phonemes. Connecting these sequences, there is a sequence of transformational rules. 1965Language XLI. 548 Language is rule-governed behavior, and learning a language involves internalizing the rules. 1968J. Lyons Introd. Theoret. Linguistics i. 48 Learning the language ‘naturally’ as children, they [sc. the speakers of a language] come to speak it according to certain systematic principles, or ‘rules’, ‘immanent’ in the utterances they hear about them. It is the task of synchronic linguistic description to formulate these systematic ‘rules’ as they operate in the language at a particular time. 1968Language XLIV. 735 It follows from premise 1 that from proto-language *L there will be n rule sequences into each of n daughter languages. 1971P. Kiparsky in W. O. Dingwall Survey Linguistic Sci. 612 The concept of rule opacity..has an important role to play elsewhere in linguistic theory. 1972Language XLVIII. 83 There is every reason to believe that they will allow one to get rid of the unprincipled blocking device of extrinsic rule⁓ordering. 1974G. M. Green Semantics & Syntactic Regularity vi. 194 The notions of redundancy rule, structural description feature, and deep-structure constraint were necessitated by the concepts of rule government. 1976[see phrase-structure s.v. phrase n. 7]. 1978Language LIV. 41 These features trigger rules that apply only to forms bearing the corresponding rule feature... We can call this device the ‘rule-feature’ theory. 1979Trans. Philol. Soc. 18 The rule-environment is arbitrary—why not a rule deleting no only when it is followed by N we might ask?
8. Math.
a. A prescribed method or process for finding unknown numbers or values, or solving particular problems.
rule of alligation, coss, fellowship, practice, proportion: see those words. rule of (false) position, falsehood, etc.: see position n. 3.
1542[see proportion n. 9 b]. 1561[see fellowship 9]. 1594Blundevil Exerc. i. xi. (1636) 32 You must worke the first or second Question sometimes by the Rule Reverse. 1652News Lowe-Co. 8 The Rules of Fellowship, of Three, And more to him familiar be. 1695[see alligation 2]. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 89 He can compose a Bowl of Punch by the Rules of Trigonometry. 1753Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. App. s.v., Rule of five, or, Compound Rule of Three. Ibid. s.v. Whist, By Mr. de Moivre's rules it will be found, that the total of the chances for the dealer = 92770723800. 1826in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 456/1 There are different methods of solving questions included under the rule of five or more terms. 1867Brande & Cox Dict. Sci., etc. III. 320/2 The rule known in the theory of equations as Descartes' Rule of Signs.
Comb.1847De Morgan Arith. Bks. Introd. p. xxii, I speak to the teacher, not the rule-driller.
b. rule of three, a method of finding a fourth number from three given numbers, of which the first is in the same proportion to the second as the third is to the unknown fourth. Also called the golden rule (see golden a. 5 b), rule of proportion.
The ordinary form, called the common or direct rule of three, is distinguished from the indirect, inverse, reverse, † back or backward: see inverse a. 3 a.
1594Blundevil Exerc. i. vi. (1636) 20 And this is the common kind of working by the Rule of three, whereof it is called the common Rule of Three. 1650Rudd Geom. Quest. 23 This is your first number in the Rule of Three. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. iv. 62 This must be done by the back Rule of Three. 1692Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. ii. ii. 91 The Rule of Three (or Golden Rule) both Direct and Reverse. 1706W. Jones Syn. Palmar. Matheseos 140 When the Rule of Three Direct has 1 for the 1st Term, 'tis usually called the Rule of Practice. 1828Moore Pract. Navig. p. xv, Rule of Three in Decimals is worked in the same manner as common Arithmetic. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xx, Working it by the rule of three direct and inversed.
attrib.1891Mrs. J. H. Riddell Mad Tour 213 Doing a rapid rule-of-three sum.
9. Without article in preceding senses, esp. in phr. by rule. work to rule: see work v. 27 d.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 22 Heore nomes beþ neodful and nempnen I þenke, Bi rule and bi resun. c1400Destr. Troy 10316 How be reason, or right, or rewle, may þou preue To deme hym so doghty in dedis of armys? 1667Milton P.L. v. 297 Nature here Wantond as in her prime,..Wilde above rule or art. c1718Prior P. Purganti 16 The picture wrought exact to rule, exempt from fault. 1780Cowper Progr. Error 189 Rufillus, exquisitely form'd by rule,..Wonders at Clodio's follies. 1831Scott Ct. Rob. xxviii, More modern taste.., by mixing the various orders, had produced such as were either composite, or totally out of rule. 1859Seeley Ecce Homo iii. (1865) 19 A certain skill in quarrelling by rule. 1870J. H. Newman Gram. Assent ii. viii. 279 They speak by rule and by book, though they judge and determine by common-sense.
III. 10. A standard of discrimination or estimation; a criterion, test, canon.
1382Wyclif 2 Cor. x. 13 Sothli we schulden not glorie into ful moche, but vp the mesure of reule, bi which God mesuride to vs. c1440Promp. Parv. 432/1 Rewle, of techynge, regula, norma. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 279 b, It descerneth or iudgeth, not onely..temporall thynges, but also y⊇ eternall,..and that by the rules of grace, ferre aboue all naturall reason. 1580G. Harvey Three Lett. Wks. (Grosart) I. 103 We are..authorised by the..Maiestie of our speach: which I accounte the only infallible and souueraine Rule of all Rules. 1638Rawley tr. Bacon's Life & Death (1650) 11 To finde out a Rule touching Length and Shortnesse of Life in Living Creatures is very difficult. 1681J. Flavel Method of Grace xxviii. 498 If the workman's hand were the rule of his work, it were impossible he should ever err in working. 1710J. Clarke tr. Rohault's Nat. Philos. (1729) I. 253 Having often observed, that an Object appears more confused the further it is distant from us, we make this a Rule of determining the Distances of Bodies. 1781Cowper Hope 566 A knave, when tried on honesty's plain rule. 1820Southey Life Wesley I. 265 A determination to allow no other rule of faith or practice than the Scriptures. 1850J. H. Newman Difficulties Anglicans i. v. (1891) I. 138 By what rule will you determine what divines are authoritative, and what are not? 1884Law Times Rep. L. 196/2 There can be no hard and fast rule by which to construe..commercial agreements.
Comb.1577Fulke Two Treat. agst. Papists 413 You are a rule giuer.
11. a. A fact (or the statement of one) which holds generally good; that which is normally the case.
On (the) exception proves the rule see exception 1 ⁋.
a1300Cursor M. 29177 Als for a reule þis sal þou take, þat for spusbreking and manath,..þat sal haue scrifte of seuen yere. c1398Chaucer Fortune 56 Wikke appetyt comth ay before sykenesse; In general this rewle may nat fayle. c1460J. Metham Wks. (E.E.T.S.) 92 And this ys a general rwle, that yff a lyne be ryght depe and wele colouryd yt sygnyfyith gode dysposycion off that membyr to the qwyche yt ys corespondent. 1508Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. Wks. (1876) 202 Truly it is a generall rule whan a synne ones purposed by consent in our mynde is deedly, what soeuer we do for the accomplysshement of the same is also deedly synne. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 333 They place this as a generall Rule, that all rites and ceremonies..be no longer meane thynges. 1639Fuller Holy War iii. xxiv. (1840) 162 Egypt was an exception from the rules of all other Countries. 1780Mirror No. 82, They consider..that their virtues and good qualities are only exceptions from the general rule. 1805Med. Jrnl. XIV. 410 Some degree of hesitation,..whether the rule is so general as has been supposed. 1862Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xix. 366 The possession of the gift throughout the Christian community was the rule and not the exception. 1883Morfill Slavonic Lit. i. 15 As we might expect, from the rule that the dialects of a language are truer to its spirit than the literary form.
Comb.1895Rashdall Univ. Mid. Ages II. 622 The earliest exceptions are of the rule-proving order.
b. as a (or the) rule, normally, generally.
1842Christie in Fleury's Eccl. Hist. I. 137 note, The Oblation was, as the rule, made in the morning. 1845Encycl. Metrop. II. 818/2 Where two decisions [are] of equal value,..as a rule, the second usually prevails. 1878Huxley Physiography 5 As a rule, hail falls in summer.
IV.
†12.
a. good (or right) rule, good order and discipline; a settled, well-regulated state or condition. Obs.
c1305St. Dunstan 46 in E.E.P. (1862) 35 Of þe hous of Glastnebure a gret ordeynour he was, And makede moche of gode reule, þat neuer er among hem nas. c1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 162 Prelates and prestes [shall yield account] of ilka suggette, Þat þai wald noght in right rewel sette. c1400Rom. Rose 4958 But Elde can..set men, by hir ordinaunce, In good reule and in governaunce. 1458Paston Lett. I. 422 If he wyll take up on hym to brynge hym in to good rewyll and lernyng. 1513T. More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 761 Wales..was begonne to be farre out of good rule and waxen wylde. 1570Satir. Poems Reform. xii. 19 To keip gude reule he raid, and tuke na rest.
†b. So without adjective, esp. in phr. to set (or put) in rule, to set a rule in. Obs.
c1450Brut ccxlv. (1908) 391 Þe King..restyd hym yn the Castell tylle þe toun was sette yn rewle and gouernawnce. 1467Paston Lett. II. 308, I have ben abought my liffelode to set a rewle ther in. 1490Caxton Eneydos xii. 44 Folke without Rule and without mesure. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) v. 21 Abbotis by rewll, and Lorde but ressone. 1605Shakes. Macb. v. ii. 16 He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause Within the belt of Rule.
†c. out of rule, in an irregular or disordered state. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 191 Þanne he torned to þe citee þat hatte ciuitas Crotoniorum, þat was al out of rule. 1390Gower Conf. I. 30 Thei hemself divide And stonden out of reule unevene. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 39 So long as out of Limit, and true Rule, You stand against anoynted Maiestie.
†13.
a. Conduct, behaviour, manner of acting. Obs.
c1440York Myst. xxvi. 34 Þer is a ranke swayne Whos rule is noȝt right. 1472Presentmts. Juries in Surtees Misc. (1890) 24 It is necessary to charge hym to be of gode reule. 1508Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 381 Sic reule gerris the be seruit wyth cald rost. 1535in Strype Ann. Ref. (1824) VI. 2 It is not meet for a child of her age to keep such rule yet. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 132 If you priz'd my Ladies fauour.., you would not giue meanes for this vnciuill rule.
†b. Breeding, upbringing. Obs.—1
146910th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 307 There sholde be no gentleman [h]is child of Irishe ruele..fusterid nor kepte in sojorne within the saide citie.
†c. Misrule, disorder, stir, riot. Obs.
1567Drant Horace, Ep. ii. i. G vj, Such rule and ruffle make the rowte that cum to see our geare. 1581Rich Farewell to Mil. Prof. Dd j, I doubte not, but to take suche order, as there shall no more any suche rule happen betweene you. 1593Passionate Morrice (1876) 79 No less rule than is in a taverne of great resort. 1622Drayton Poly-olb. xxvii. 251 Was never seen such rule In any place but here, at Boon fire, or at Yule. 1677Coles Eng.-Lat. Dict. i. s.v., Now I will go see what rule they keep, nunc in tumultum ibo. 1690W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 381 ‘What a rule is there?’ Quid turbæ est? 1703Thoresby Let. to Ray, ‘What a reul's here! You make a nise reul’; i.e. work, mad work.
14. a. Control, government, sway, dominion.
c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋217 Iob seith that in helle is noon ordre of rule. c1400Apol. Loll. (Camden) 73 Law canoun is callid law ordeynid of prelats of þe kirk,..to constreyn rebell bi holy rewl. c1450Holland Howlat 968 Fra rule, ressoun and richt redless I ran. a1533Ld. Berners Huon xx. 58, I pray and commaund that ye take in rule all my affayres. 1557Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 466 In all places of cyvile rule and regiment. 1655Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 47/1 Enough has been said to deter any Man of sound Judgment from Rule. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 301 His fair large Front and Eye sublime declar'd Absolute rule. 1727Dyer Grougar Hill 89 A little rule, a little sway,..Is all the proud and mighty have Between the cradle and the grave. 1808Scott Marm. vi. Introd. 40 Power laid his rod of rule aside. 1832Tennyson Love thou thy Land xv, Phantoms of other forms of rule, New Majesties of mighty States. 1865Ruskin Sesame ii. §68 The woman's power is for rule, not for battle.
Comb.1556Olde Antichrist 175 b, Their ambicion and desire of rule bearing.
b. With a, the, that, etc.
c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1275 A rewle haue I must Withyn Macrocosme. 1462Paston Lett. II. 83 Suche extorsyon..as hathe be do by suche as hathe had the rewyll. 1513More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 778 He trusted by his death to obtayne much of the rule which the Lorde Hastinges bare in his countrie. 1562Turner Baths 1 Brim⁓stone beareth the chefe rule. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 99 A Cutpurse of the Empire and the Rule. 1653Gataker Vind. Annot. Jer. 116 To exercise and execute that rule or regiment, whereunto they have assigned them. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 581 Though..thou..all the riches of this World enjoydst, And all the rule, one Empire.
15. a. The control or government of (= exercised by) a person or thing.
a1340Hampole Psalter xi. 4 What is he til whas rewle & connersacioun we sall be vndirloute? 1390Gower Conf. I. 7 The people stod in obeissance Under the reule of governance. 1444Coventry Leet Bk. I. 205 The for-namyd felauship..compromytted hem to abyde the Rule and ordynaunce of þe meire and his councell. 1538Starkey England i. ii. 53 Some pepul ther be to whome the rule of a prynce more agreth then a commyn counseyl. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 150 Greter matters than shotynge are vnder the rule and wyll of the wether. 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. 333 If David's rule Jerusalem displease, The dog-star heats their brains to this disease. 1700Prior Carm. Sec. xxv, Lead forth the Years for Peace and Plenty fam'd, From Saturn's Rule, and better Metal nam'd. 1758Binnell Descr. Thames 104 All Fishers, &c.,..coming to the City of London, shall be in the Rule of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. 1818Shelley Rosalind 934 Their jailors rule, they thought, Grew merciful. 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 272 Ill-disposed and intriguing individuals, inimical to British rule. 1879Froude Cæsar v. 46 The rule of an organised force was becoming the only possible protection against the rule of mobs.
†b. to have one's own rule, to be one's own master, to have one's way. Obs.
1390Gower Conf. I. 318 If that he mote His oghne rewle have upon honde, Ther schal no witt ben understonde. 1556Chron. Grey Friars (Camden) 11 He wolde not be governyd by the bargemen, but to have hys owne rewle.
16. The control, management, government, etc. of (= exercised over or in) something.
1390Gower Conf. III. 161 The londes reule upon him stod. 1432Paston Lett. I. 31 For the goode reule, demesnyng and seuretee of the Kynges persone. 1470–85Malory Arthur x. xxix. 460, I praye yow gyue me leue to haue the rule of the bataill. 1503–4Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 27 §11 Havyng wythin the seid Towne of Calays the rule & guydyng of his maisters goodes and marchaundyse. 1598Shakes. Merry W. i. iii. 59 The report goes, she has all the rule of her husbands Purse. 1634Milton Comus 21 Neptune..Took in by lot..Imperial rule of all the Sea-girt Iles. 1667― P.L. x. 582 The Serpent, whom they calld Ophion with Eurynome,..had first the rule Of high Olympus. 1758Binnell Descr. Thames 106 In the Year 1448, an Act..was made, whereby the Mayor of London was to have the Rule of the River of Thames. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 70 They aimed at the rule, not at the destruction of their country. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. 69 The rule of the conquered land was entrusted to William Fitz-Osbern.
V.
17. a. A graduated strip of metal or wood (marked with feet, inches, etc.) used for measuring length, esp. by carpenters and masons.
1340Ayenb. 150 Þes yefþe is þe maister of workes,..uor he deþ al to wylle and to þe line and to þe reule and to þe leade and to þe leuele. c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §13 Thanne hastow a brod Rewle, þat hath on either ende a Square plate perced with a certein holes. 1412York Fabric Rolls (Surtees) 351/1 Pro levells, Squares, et reules, 20d. c1440Promp. Parv. 432/1 Rewle, ynstrument, regula. 1513Douglas æneis vi. xv. 9 Sum bene mair crafty..With rewlis and with mesouris..For til excers the art of geometry. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 83 b, The carpenter hath his squyre, his rule, and his plummet. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. i. 7 Where is thy Leather Apron, and thy Rule? 1667Primatt City & C. Build. 50 Such a Workman will afford to do his work cheaper, than others who walk with their Rules by their sides. 1708Swift Proc. Bickerstaff Wks. 1751 IV. 207, I..was surprized to find my Gentleman..with a two-foot Rule in his hand, measuring my Walls. 1788Trans. Soc. Arts VI. 191 A small Brass Rule..divided into quarters of an inch. 1833H. Martineau Vanderput & S. ii. 25 You see that short man smoking with the rule in his hand. 1896Woolcombe Pract. Work Physics iii. 69 Attach..a strip of cardboard so that we may rest a rule upon them.
fig.1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. iii. 7, I haue not kept my square, but that to come Shall all be done by th' Rule. 1606― Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 133 Stubborne Criticks, apt..to square the generall sex By Cressids rule. 1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 59 Moneys were inuented and made by common consent to be the rule and square to set a price vnto all things.
b. Without article, freq. coupled with line or measure. Chiefly fig.
1611Cotgr., Reigleure,..a proceeding by rule and line. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 21 A Sharke..nine Foot long and a halfe by rule. 1638R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 72 With those that are deare to me, I neither observe Rule nor Measure. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 72 He..professes to do every Thing by Rule and Measure. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) II. 248/1 Whether we take this method, or begin upon the naked floor, all must be laid with the most exact truth by rule and line. 1864Newman Apol. i. (1904) 17/2 The process of change had been slow; it had been done not rashly, but by rule and measure.
attrib.1887Saintsbury Elizab. Lit. xi. (1890) 409 He showed..a tendency towards a severe rule-and-line form both of tragic scheme and of tragic versification.
c. to run the rule over (one): (a) Cant, see quot. 1874; (b) of police: to interrogate (a suspected criminal); (c) of a doctor of medicine: to examine (a patient).
1874Slang Dict. 273 ‘To run the rule over,’ is, among thieves, to try all a person's pockets quietly, as done by themselves, or to search any one thoroughly, as at the police-station. 1948Free-Lance Writer & Photographer Apr. 54/2 When a P.C. stops a suspect in the street and interrogates him, he ‘runs the rule over him’. 1953Times 21 Oct. 1/5 Good afternoon, doctor, I don't suppose it's anything really, just a bit off-colour..thought you'd better run the—er—rule over me.
18.
†a. A bar (of gold). Obs.
1382Wyclif Josh. vii. 21 Among the spuylis..two hundreth siclis of siluer, and a goldun rewle [L. regula] of fifti siclis. c1425Wyntoun Cron. ii. xii. 1082 Achor als þe mantil stal, Þe siluir and þe rewel wiþe all.
†b. Arch. = reglet 2. Obs.
1563Shute Archit. D j, Astragalus & his rule occupieth .1. part, the which rule is half the height of Astragalus.
c. poet. A shaft or beam of light.
1634Milton Comus 340 Som gentle taper..visit us With thy long levell'd rule of streaming light. 1745Warton in Dodsley's Collect. Poems (1782) IV. 225 The pale moon Pours her long-levell'd rule of streaming light.
d. Plastering. = screed.
1838Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XXV. 176/1 The second coat..is laid on..with the floting trowel, and floted to a straight, level surface, with rules of various lengths.
†19.
a. Array, marshalled order or line. Obs.
1390Gower Conf. III. 120 Cancer after the reule and space Of Signes halt the ferthe place. c1400Destr. Troy 5678 Out of rule or aray raungit on lenght. 1470–85Malory Arthur xx. xii. 818 Thus they came in ordre & rule as ful noble knyghtes. 1513Douglas æneis iii. vi. 176 Thai leifis remainis onsterit of thair place, Ne partis nocht furth of reule.
†b. A line or row of figures, etc. Obs.
c1425Crafte of Nombrynge 4 Euery of þese figuris bitokens hym selfe & no more, yf he stonde in þe first place of þe rewele... If it stonde in the secunde place of þe rewle, he betokens tene tymes hym selfe. c1440Pallad. on Husb. iv. 526 Suspence in rewle, hem kepe with pusk condite Ypuld in myddis of a day serene.
†20. A straight line drawn on paper, esp. for the writing of music. Obs.
1597T. Morley Introd. Mus. 3 A Cliefe is a charecter set on a rule at the beginning of a verse. Ibid., Assigning to euerie space and rule a seuerall Keye. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. 33 Cause them to haue each his ruling pen,..that they may rule their rules meete of the same compasse with their copies. 1662Playford Skill Mus. i. i. (1674) 2 Seven Letters of the Alphabet, which are set in the first Column, at the beginning of each Rule and Space.
21. = ruler n.1 3 b.
1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 281 Keeping one end of the Rule close to the Centre.., lay the other end of the Rule close to the Prick that you made on the line CD. 1826Southey Vind. Eccl. Angl. 150 St. Fursey..happened to have in his hand a writer's rule, which he cast into the sea. 1860J. Sherman in Mem. (1863) 23 The birch, the rule, the cane, were unsparingly used.
22. Typog.
a. A thin slip of metal (usually brass) used for separating headings, columns of type, articles, etc., and in ornamental work; also a dash short or long in type-metal, thus – (en rule) or thus — (em rule), used in punctuation, etc.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 18 He also provides Brass Rules of about Sixteen Inches long, that the Compositor may cut them into such Lengths as his Work requires. 1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 268 Full-points serve instead of Rules, in work of Accounts, to..connect the posted Article with its contingent valuation. 1824J. Johnson Typogr. II. 67 Rules are of three descriptions, viz. brass, metal, or space rules. 1855A. Wynter Curios. Civiliz. 48 The partition of a thin rule suffices to separate a call for the loan of millions from the..cry of the destitute gentlewoman. 1892A. Oldfield Man. Typogr. i, If rules are kept in standard sizes,..very little rule-cutting need be done.
b. Without article (brass rule), as a material.
1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 282 They may be counted valuable Sorts.., considering that they..save Brass rule. 1880Paper & Print. Trades Jrnl. No. 32. 40 The groundwork of the design is a fan, made up in brass rule to the correct shape. 1892A. Oldfield Man. Typogr. i, The cases of brass rule,..&c., are best kept mounted.
c. A composing- or setting-rule.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 214 This Rule is very commodious to Work with, because the Letter slides easier. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Printing, Taking the Rule from behind the last Line, he places it before it. 1892A. Oldfield Man. Typogr. i, The notch at the back part of the rule allows of its being drawn out without so much being cut away at the fore edge of the rule.
23. attrib. and Comb.
a. In sense 17, as rule-framer, rule-staff, rule-stone, rule-trade.
14..Deb. Carpenter's Tools 171 in Hazlitt E.P.P. I. 85 Than seyd the rewle-stone, Mayster hath many fone. 1846A. Young Naut. Dict., Rule-staff, a lath about four inches in breadth; used, in ship-building, for measuring the curve of a plank's edge in order to fay another plank to it. 1884B'ham Daily Post 28 July 3/4 Rule framer..used to jointed, folding, and slipping work. 1892Pall Mall G. 3 Oct. 7/2 He..applied himself with..zeal to the rule trade.
b. In sense 22, as rule-border, rule-cutter, rule-cutting, rule-ornament, rule-work.
1808C. Stower Printer's Grammar 94 Space rules..are, in intricate rule work,..neater than brass rule [etc.]. 1818Brathwait's Barnabees Jrnl. Notes 85 All the capitals and rule ornaments used in the first edition. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Rule-cutter, a printers'-smith who prepares brass column and page-rules for printers. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 772/1 Rule cutter, a machine for cutting to lengths rules and leads. 1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 116 Rule borders, a frame, usually of brass rule, fitted round a page. 1892[see sense 22].
c. In sense 3, as rule formulation, rule system; rule-bound (hence rule-boundedness), rule-giving, rule-governed adjs.
1905W. James Mem. & Stud. (1911) v. 89 You ask for a free man, and these utopias give you an ‘interchangeable part’, with a fixed number, in a rule-bound organism. 1950Mind LIX. 391 Why not say ‘rule-giving’ method? 1968Listener 29 Aug. 266/2 Societies have defined and structured rule systems of reward and punishment. 1977J. D. Douglas in Douglas & Johnson Existential Sociol. i. 39 As Becker realized, there is almost always conflict over such presentations of rule-boundedness. 1977A. Giddens Stud. in Social & Polit. Theory iii. 144 Universal pragmatics..attempts to reconstruct the rule systems which allow actors to communicate in any type of context. 1978C. Hookway in Hookway & Pettit Action & Interpretation 27 If indeterminacy obtains it is likely to infect the translation of the object language into a meta⁓language involved in the rule-formulation. 1978Listener 30 Mar. 396/2 To try to explain how the speaker's intentions, his rule-governed intentional behaviour, relates language to the world. 1979Dædalus Summer 9 Rule-bound, conventional, and traditional ethics continue to hold their own. Ibid. 20 It remains a normal, rule-governed collective activity.
d. rule-box, a rectangle formed by ruled or printed lines.
1928Publishers' Weekly 30 June 2605 Above the stamp..must be printed the words..enclosed in a rule box.
e. pl. used Comb., chiefly in senses 3 b and 5, as rulesmaker, rulespeople.
1963Punch 20 Mar. 416/1 Does anyone ever know the order of the draw? Yes, the rulespeople. 1974Sunday (Charleston, S. Carolina) 21 Apr. 3-a/3 Rulesmakers said politicians were put in a class by themselves, ‘because they get to practice all year in their daily work’. 1978Detroit Free Press 2 Apr. 6e/3 Whatever the coach can do for them, Bolinger-Boden-Markovich and all the other offensive linemen around have received very big help recently from the rulesmakers in their game.
▪ II. rule, v.|ruːl|
Forms: 3 riwlen; 4–6 rewle (5 rewlen, -yn), 6 rewl(l; 4–5 rewele (4 -ely, reuw-, ruwele), 6 rewill, rewall; 4–5 reulen, 4–7 reule, 5–7 reull (5 reuyll); 4 ruelie, 4, 6 ruele, 7 ruil; 4 rulen, rulye, 5 rulyn, roul(e, 6 Sc. rull, 4– rule.
[ad. OF. riuler, rieuler, reuler, ruler, etc. (see Godefroy):—L. rēgulāre to regulate, of which OF. regler (mod.F. régler) is a more learned adoption.]
I.
1. a. trans. To control, guide, direct, exercise sway or influence over (a person, his actions, life, etc.). † Also with inf.
a1225Ancr. R. 2 Moni cunne riwle beoð... Þe on riwleð þe heorte. a1340Hampole Psalter xxvi. 16 He takis me to norysch and to rewle, as fadire & modire. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 393 He was al i-ruled and i-ladde by ledynge and counsaille of mynstralles. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 136 Al this he didde for wrethe that this nobyll lordis hym roulide..in his tendyr age. 1447–8J. Shillingford Letters (Camden) 47 That my lord of Exceter were avysed and ruled so to come. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xx. 7 Trubill nevir thy self..Vthiris to rewill, that will not rewlit be. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 123 Your wisedome must so moderate and rule you. 1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 205 Now by Heauen, My blood begins my safer Guides to rule. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 166 Mercury..was esteemed to rule both our sleepe and our dreames. 1746Francis tr. Horace, Ep. i. i. 35 But meaner precepts now my life must rule. 1812Crabbe Tales ii. 406 Thus the frenzy ruled him. 1833I. Taylor Fanat. i. 7 The very same spirit of kindness which should rule us in the performance of a task such as the one now in hand. 1871R. Ellis tr. Catullus xlv. 15 So may he that is in this hour ascendant Rule us ever.
b. to be ruled, to submit to counsel, guidance, or authority; to listen to reason. Also const. by.
c1400Brut lxxxii. 83 And when þe Emperour..saw þat Arthure wolde nouȝt bene rewelede by him, he lete assemble..an huge hoste. 1470–85Malory Arthur vi. iv. 187 And ye wylle be reulyd by me, I shal help you out of this distresse. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xli. 7 Be rewlit rycht and keip this doctring. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Little French Lawyer iii. ii, 'Pray be rul'd Sir, This is the maddest thing. 1680C. Ness Church Hist. 263 Be ruled, or you will rue it. 1731Swift On his Death Wks. 1751 VII. 248 He would never take Advice: Had he been rul'd,..He might have liv'd these twenty Years. 1859Tennyson Enid 1472 But listen to me, and by me be ruled. c1921D. H. Lawrence Mr. Noon viii, in Mod. Lover (1934) 266 It's just like him—but there you are. Those that won't be ruled can't be schooled.
2. a. To moderate, restrain, curb (one's appetites, etc.) by the exercise of self-control.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 107 Þat alle þyne fyve wyttes scholde be yreuled after him. c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 70 In þy etynge þow shalt reule þy hond. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 63 Though my selfe haue learned to rule mine owne talke, I can not snaffle the tounge of a Carper. 1611Bible Prov. xvi. 32 He that ruleth his spirit [is better] then he that taketh a citie. 1820Scott Monast. xix, The good Abbot..commanded Halbert to rule his temper.
refl.1535Coverdale Prov. xvi. 32 He that can rule him selfe, is more worth then he yt wynneth a cite. 1855Mrs. Gaskell North & S. I. x. 126 Every one who rules himself to decency and sobriety of conduct. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xi. (1878) 225, I wanted chiefly to set forth the men that could rule themselves.
†b. refl. To conduct oneself, behave, act, in a certain way. Obs.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 294 Þenne in worlde was a wyȝe..Ful redy & ful ryȝtwys, & rewled hym fayre. c1374Chaucer Troylus v. 758 Who so wold..rewelyn hym by euery wightes wit shal he neuere þryue. 1470–85Malory Arthur vii. xxvii. 254 Now auyse me..what shalle I saye and in what manere I shal rule me. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xix. 1 How sowld I rewill me,..I wald sum wyisman wald dewyiss.
†c. intr. in the same sense. Obs.—1
1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 272 To put hem in preson, a peere þouȝ he were; And not to rewle as reremys, and rest on þe daies.
†d. dial. To be unruly. Obs.—0
1691Ray N.C. Words, Reul, to be rude, to behave ones self unmannerly, to rig.
3.
†a. To exercise, administer, wield (some power or authority). Obs.
1390Gower Conf. I. 12 But whil the lawe is reuled so,..I not how that thei scholde amende The woful world. a1450Cursor M. 9549 (Laud), Wyth-out thise þe kyng had no myȝt For to rule his kynghed. c1500Lancelot 1971 His ministeris that shuld the Iustice reull. 1570Satir. Poems Reform. xii. 34 Think ȝe with ressoun thay suld reule the rod.
b. To direct, guide, manage (a thing); to have under one's control.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. ii. (Tollemache MS.), In swymmynge he [the swan] useþ þat on foot in stede of an ore, and þe oþer in stede of a roþer, and reuleþ him selfe þerwith. a1400–50Alexander 5542 [He] raȝt to þaim þire rekenthis to rewle & to hald. 1447–8J. Shillingford Lett. (Camden) 36 Y most doe as y se the mater woll be ruled. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 1460, I shall of Fortune rule the reyne. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 8 Ane new courteour that rullit so the ruddar. 1630Capt. Smith Trav. & Adv. 13 Being not able to rule his horse and defend himselfe, he was throwne to the ground. 1818Shelley Rev. Islam iii. xxxi, I..dared not look upon the shape Of him who ruled the helm.
†c. Sc. To have charge or supervision of; to make (good) use of; to regulate (a clock). Obs.
1500–20Dunbar Poems lii. 11 Ȝour Hienes can nocht gett ane meter..To rule ȝour robbis, and dress the sam. 1535Lyndesay Satyre 2189 Sir, will ȝe reull this relict weill, All the wyfis will baith kis and kneill. 1595Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1848) II. 114 To cause mend and rewll the knok within the said Gray Freiris Kirk.
4. a. To govern, to exercise sovereign power over, to control with authority.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iv. 9 He schal reule my Reame and Rede me þe beste. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 175 Oon of þe seuene wise men þat rulede þe kyngdom of Perses. c1450Godstow Reg. 13 There god reulith both angel and man. 1486Henry VII at York in Surtees Misc. (1890) 54, I was regent and rewlid this rigion. 1535Coverdale Rev. ii. 27 He shal rule them with a rodde of yron. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 95 Thou art..Not fit to gouerne and rule multitudes. 1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 720 Christ was assumed into heaven, and by him is the Church ruled. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 8 Ye Deities..Who rule the Seasons, and the Year direct. 1735Pope Ep. Lady 261 She, who ne'er answers till a Husband cools, Or, if she rules him, never shews she rules. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 386 Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law. 1816Scott Antiq. xxvi, Them that guide the purse rule the house. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey i. viii, To rule men, we must be men. 1879Jefferies Wild Life vi, The belief in the power of certain persons to ‘rule the planets’ is profound.
b. transf. of things.
c1449Pecock Repr. ii. xvi. 242 These men aspieden weel..that the seid parties of heuen reuliden ful myche the worchingis of bodies here binethe in the louȝer world. 1535Coverdale Gen. i. 16 God made two greate lightes: one greater light to rule the daye, and a lesse light to rule the night. c1640Sir W. Mure Ps. cxxxvi. 8 The sunne to reull the day..Who did apoynt. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 530 Where Po first issues..And, awful in his Cradle, rules the Floods. 1726–46Thomson Winter 1 See, Winter comes, to rule the varied year. 1748Gray Alliance 80 Suspends th' inferior laws that rule our clay. 1822Shelley Triumph of Life 256 The star that ruled his doom was far too fair. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xi. 79, I now found that mechanical laws rule man in the long run.
c. Eccl. To lead (a choir) in singing.
1898Frere Use of Sarum I. 306 The rules for the days when the choir was ruled.
d. To dominate, prevail in.
1874Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1879) 59 Soft undulating lines rule the composition.
5. absol. To exercise sovereignty, to govern; to hold supreme command or sway.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. i. (Percy Soc.) 7 The head must rule, it cannot be denied. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 142 Better rule, then be rulde. 1616B. Jonson Epigr. i. xxxv, T' obey A prince that rules by example, more than sway. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 226 There they shall..thir great Senate choose Through the twelve Tribes, to rule by Laws ordaind. 1735Pope Prol. Sat. 197 Such a man, too fond to rule alone. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 195 There, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule, The village master taught his little school. 1842Tennyson Godiva 12 Godiva, wife to that grim Earl, who ruled In Coventry. 1865Ruskin Sesame ii. §51 Substituting their own will for the law of justice and love by which all true kings rule.
(b) Rule, Britannia: the usual name for a patriotic song sometimes sung on public occasions in Britain. Also as attrib. phr. Hence Rule-Briˈtanniaism chauvinism (nonce-wd.).
[1740Thomson & Mallett Alfred ii. v. 42 Ode... Rule, Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves.] 1806[see buff n.2 6]. a1888N.E.D. s.v. Briton, The ‘Rule Britannia’ period. 1898Academy 8 Oct. 25/1 A preference for accuracy above Rule-Britanniaism. 1899Kipling Absent-Minded Beggar 1 When you've shouted ‘Rule Britannia’, When you've sung ‘God save the Queen’. 1918Daily Mirror 12 Nov. 2/1 When the strains of ‘Rule, Britannia!’ rang out his Majesty raised his naval cap. 1936G. B. Shaw Simpleton i. 24 Let the whole earth be England; and let Englishmen rule it. (Singing) Rule Britannia: Britannia rules the wa— He blows his brains out. 1941‘G. Orwell’ Lion & Unicorn 19 In England all the boasting and flag-wagging, the ‘Rule Britannia’ stuff, is done by small minorities. 1968Listener 18 July 86/2 Judges are good at making grand Rule Britannia statements, like Judge Salmon's in 1958... ‘Everyone..is entitled to walk the streets in peace,..and free from fear.’
b. Const. over, † upon.
1530Palsgr. 695/2 This emperour ruleth upon mo regyons than any one man hath done in our tyme. 1611Bible Judges viii. 23, I will not rule ouer you, neither shall my sonne rule ouer you: the Lord shall rule ouer you. 1691Ray Creation i. (1692) 152 One..which by their help is enabled to rule over and subdue all inferiour Creatures. 1746Francis tr. Horace, Sat. i. vii. 24 What time o'er Asia with pretorial sway Great Brutus ruled. 1812Crabbe Tales xviii. 90 Better a woman o'er her house to rule, Than a poor child. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. 2 Each of them ruling over his subjects with justice.
c. transf. of things.
a1529Skelton Speke, Parrot 415 Frantiknes dothe rule, and all thyng commaunde. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. i. 111 What madnesse rules in braine-sicke men. 1657Austen Fruit Trees ii. 120 Although the Graft be predominant and rule in bringing forth good fruits. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 848 One Spirit in them rul'd, and every eye Glar'd lightning. 1746Francis tr. Horace, Sat. i. iii. 106 Yet while Reason rules, Let it hold forth its scales with equal hand. 1810Crabbe Borough vii. 128 This love of life, which in our nature rules, To vile imposture makes us dupes and tools. 1865Mozley Miracles vii. 290 In matters of ordinary life common sense of itself rules.
d. Slang phr. ― rule(s), O.K., used orig. in wall graffiti to affirm the superiority of a gang, football team, etc. Freq. in transf. use.
1975S. Jacobson in New Society 27 Mar. 780 (title) Chelsea rule—okay. 1976, etc. [see A. a]. 1981Times 31 June 1/1 It is a case of the tobacco industry rules, OK.
6. Comm.
a. Of prices: To be at a certain rate; to be current or prevalent.
1629Reg. Privy Counc. Scotl. Ser. ii. III. 11 Till they be trewlie informed how the pryces of the said victuall rules in suche parts of the countrie. 1653Urquhart Rabelais i. xxv, The shepherds courteously intreated them to give them some for their money, as the price then ruled in the market. 1822–56De Quincey Confess. Wks. 1862 I. 138 Which same prices..ruled..among the same kind of scenery. 1889Daily News 28 May 2/8 Sales dragged somewhat, prices ruling about the same as on Monday last. 1964Financial Times 3 Mar. 2/3 Prices yesterday ruled fully firm for all descriptions of merino fleece and skirtings.
b. Of commodities or trade: To bear a (specified) current price or value; to maintain a (given) average or quality. Also transf.
1690W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 381 How rule swine here? 1859Reade Love me little I. xii. 312 The Greek stock ruled from 56½–59. 1881Daily News 17 Jan. 3/4 Trade ruled dull at barely late rates. 1887W. Rye Norf. Broads 77 Things rule at starvation prices here. 1909Chambers's Jrnl. June 409/1 During the past year the longest period when the wind velocity ruled below five miles per hour was only seven days. 1979Morning News (Karachi) 24 May 7/1 In the jutes section Indus and Pak Jute ruled firm. Sugar shares were irregular.
c. To go in a certain way; to have a certain character, place, or quality.
a1676Bp. Guthrie Mem. (1702) 28 The Commissioners..sent privately to him his Neighbour my Lord Cranston, to bring them intelligence how Matters ruled above. 1890John Bull 5 Apr. 222/3 If these opinions..rule uppermost in the minds of the other eleven members of the Committee. 1891Daily News 30 Sept. 4/6 Fields ruled good, and some interesting racing was witnessed.
II.
7. To bring into a certain state by laying down a rule; also to rule into, to confine within (school bounds).
c1449Pecock Repr. iii. iv. 297 Therfore it [sc. the text] reulith no more prelatis into pouerte than ech lay persoon into pouerte. 1893Leland Mem. I. 91 Freedom from bad marks, and being ruled into bounds, and sent to bed at early hours.
8. a. To lay down judicially or authoritatively; to decide, determine, declare formally. In later use const. that, or with out of. Also with object and complement.
1425Rolls of Parlt. IV. 267 Howe þat courte had ruled his presence to been absent. 1642C. Vernon Consid. Exch. 26 The..Remembrancer is not to rule any such petition for an absolute exon. [etc.]. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 356 This case was heard before the Privy Council in 1730, when it was ruled that Lucretia took an estate tail. 1850J. H. Newman Difficulties of Anglicans (1891) I. i. i. 15 Public opinion..rules that every conclusion is absurd..except such as it recognizes itself. 1885Manch. Exam. 16 May 6/1 Mr. O'Brien..was ruled out of order on an attempt to discuss the political bearings of the recent visit to Ireland. 1928H. G. Wells Mr. Blettsworthy iii. 154 He it was had first ruled me insane and immune from Reproof.
ellipt.1884Law Rep. 26 Chanc. Div. 650 The sheriff was ruled for not returning an attachment against Briggs.
†b. To appoint or order (a person) to receive or do something. Obs.
1463Bury Wills (Camden) 24 And though William rewle hym to haue it and his yssew male, for defawte of hem I wille y⊇ seid John meryte next. 1473–5in Cal. Proc. Chanc. Q. Eliz. (1830) II. Pref. 58 Which John Saunder, by auctorite of this court, is ruled to enterplede with the seide Johan.
c. To decide, settle; to decree.
1843J. H. Newman Eccl. Miracles 105 Without ruling open questions this way or that. 1850Thackeray Pendennis liv, This most complaisant of men would have seen no harm,..if Pendennis the elder had so ruled it. 1873H. E. H. King Disciples, Ugo Bassi vii. (1877) 252 An order came To set us free; the statesmen having ruled Our ransom.
d. To shut or put out by formal decision. Also, more generally: to eliminate as a possibility; to make impossible; to decide against. orig. U.S.
1869‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. li. 539 Though they have been ruled out of our modern Bible, it is claimed that they were accepted gospel twelve or fifteen centuries ago. 1883― Life on Mississippi xlv. 413 One of these [mules] had to be ruled out, because he was so fast that he turned the thing into a one-mule contest. 1890Spectator 7 May, Resolved not to see expressions ruled out of the language merely because they are new. 1893Times 6 May 13/4 Four instructions were ruled out..as capable of being dealt with in Committee. 1903J. St. L. Strachey in ‘Vigilans sed æquus’ German Ambitions p. vii, To rule out the writings of the men on whom ‘Vigilans sed æquus’ has based his Letters because they are obscure..is to misunderstand the evolution of public affairs in Germany. 1925N. E. Odell in E. F. Norton Fight for Everest: 1924 335 The disadvantage of the North Col is the fact that the camp here must be pitched on snow, though under all but the worst conditions this need not rule it out. 1928Daily Tel. 12 June 13/4 The possibility of a battle between the rival Southern commanders cannot be ruled out. 1966C. Mackenzie Paper Lives vi. 85 The Right Honourable Henry Upjohn thought for a moment about trying that joke at the next political meeting in his constituency but ruled it out at once. 1971I. Butykai tr. Lukovich's Electric Foil Fencing ii. 84 Certain parts should be ruled out as being compulsory so that the combined movement should present an acceptable, applicable and expedient picture. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 13 Nov. 5/2 Nothing in the group's by-laws rules out inmates, officials said, so the invitations stand. The prisoners said they were ‘very pleasantly surprised’ to find they could join Phi Kappa Phi.
e. With in, used in opposition to sense 8 d above.
1904G. B. Shaw Let. 6 Dec. (1972) II. 471 It is just this personality that rules her out, whereas if we had a scrap of originality it would rule her in. 1973Observer 17 June 1/1, I haven't ruled it out and I haven't ruled it in.
III. †9. To arrange or set in order. Obs.
c1475Rauf Coilȝear 466 Dyamountis and Sapheir, Riche Rubeis in feir, Reulit full richt. Ibid. 670 The rufe reulit about in reuall of Reid, Rose reulit ryally [etc.].
10. a. To mark (paper, etc.) with parallel straight lines drawn with a ruler or by a machine.
c1440Promp. Parv. 432/1 Rewlyn, wythe instrument, regulo. 1530Palsgr. 695/2 This paper is nat well ruled, I can nat pricke upon it. 1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Linea, To rule a booke. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Rosette, Red Inke to rule bookes with. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. iv. 16 You must rule your Paper or Parchment with..Merid. Lines, and Parallel Lines. 1798Hutton Course Math. II. 54 Some sort of a field-book must be used... This book every one contrives and rules as he thinks fittest for himself. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. iii, He finished ruling the work he had in hand in a very neat and methodical manner. 1872Hardy Under Greenw. Tree Pref., Just enough..to pay for their fiddle-strings, rosin, and music-paper (which they mostly ruled themselves).
b. Comm. With off: to close (the books) for the day. Also absol.
1977Times 17 Sept. 20/4 Books were eventually ruled off within a band of 53/4–61/4 per cent. 1978Times 15 Aug. 18/8 Closing balances were being found at sharply lower levels, so that books were eventually ruled off within a band of 4½ per cent to 63/4 per cent. Ibid. 17 Aug. 21/3 Houses ruled off anywhere between 2 per cent and 4 per cent.
11. To form or mark out (a line) with or as with a ruler.
1599Drayton Idea xliii, Age rules my lines with wrinkles in my face. 1819Pantologia, Ruled-paper, paper on which the staves are ruled for receiving the written notes of any musical composition. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2001/1 The round form [of ruler] is very convenient for ruling parallel lines by one accustomed to its use.
fig.1634Ford Perk. Warbeck iii. ii, What our destinies Have ruled out in their books, we must not search, But kneel to. 1820Lamb Elia i. South-sea House, His actions seemed ruled with a ruler. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 206 The sunbeams..ruled a beam of light across the glacier. 1924R. Campbell Flaming Terrapin i. 18 As he rose up, the moon with slanted ray Ruled for those rapid hoofs a shining way. |