Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian hreil , reil garment, Old High German hregil , regil garment, armour, and further with Old Icelandic hræll weaving batten < the same Indo-European base as ancient Greek κρόκη weft ( < κρέκειν to weave) + the Germanic base of -el suffix¹.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman raille, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French (chiefly northern) reille bar, rail, board (end of the 11th cent. in Rashi in specific sense ‘crossbar for securing a door’; French regional (Normandy) raîle ) < classical Latin rēgula straight stick, bar, rod (see regula n.). Compare post-classical Latin rellia (c1155 in a British source), raila , rela , reyla (frequently from 14th cent. in British sources), all in sense ‘horizontal bar, rail’. Compare Middle Dutch rēghel straight rod, ruler (Dutch regel ), Middle Low German rēgel crossbar, load-bearing horizontal timber in a building, part of the upper hull of a ship, Old High German rigil crossbar, especially for securing a door (Middle High German rigel , riegel , German Riegel ), all < classical Latin rēgula . Compare rule n.¹Some of the forms could alternatively be explained as being developed from ravel n.¹, which shows some semantic overlap. Many of the compounds listed below (compare Compounds 1b and Compounds 2) have parallels in railway n. and railroad n. It is uncertain whether earlier examples such as the following show the Middle English or the Anglo-Norman word:1294–5 Naval Acct. in B. Sandahl Middle Eng. Sea Terms (1951) I. 91 viij d. in j ligno et Reyles emptis de eodem. With sense 1d compare also:1453–5 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1888) III. 160 Pro emendacione de le grece et le reyle infra aulam ibidem.

Etymology: < Middle French rale, raille (late 12th cent. in Old French as rasle ; French râle , French regional (Picardy) reille , (Burgundy) raille ), probably < râler to make a rasping sound when breathing (see râle n.), on account of its rasping cry. Compare Old Occitan rascla (c1300; Occitan rascla). Compare also post-classical Latin rallus (13th cent.; subsequently adopted in scientific Latin as a genus name), German Ralle (16th cent.), both < French.

Etymology: < rail v.⁵ Compare earlier railing n.²

Etymology: Apparently < rail v.¹ (compare quot. 1887 at rail v.¹ 2).

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps metaphorical uses of rail v.² (although this is first attested later), or perhaps the reflex of an unattested Old English derivative of regol rule ( < classical Latin rēgula regula n.). Perhaps compare rule v.

Etymology: < rail n.² Compare post-classical Latin regulare to fit with rails (1323 in a British source: see regulate v.), rilare (1266 in a British source), raillare (1379 in a British source), Anglo-Norman reiller , railler to rail off (mid 12th cent.), to train (a vine) on rails (a1413). Compare slightly earlier railing n.¹With sense 2 compare slightly earlier railed adj. 1. With sense 4 compare earlier railing-line n. at railing n.¹ Compounds. N.E.D. (1903) also records a sense ‘to confine (sheep) by rails’, but this results from a misreading in an earlier edition (apparently Surtees Society 1857, and probably resulting from misinterpretation of a long s ) of rayse , variant of raise v.¹, in the following quot.:a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 88 Yett some will perswade to rayse them a little before they goe to field.