Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A group of people identified as distinct from other groups because of supposed physical or genetic traits shared by the group. Most biologists and anthropologists do not recognize race as a biologically valid classification, in part because there is more genetic variation within groups than between them.
- noun A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution.
- noun A genealogical line; a lineage.
- noun Humans considered as a group.
- noun A usually geographically isolated population of organisms that differs from other populations of the same species in certain heritable traits.
- noun A breed or strain, as of domestic animals.
- noun A distinguishing or characteristic quality, such as the flavor of a wine.
- noun A competition of speed, as in running or riding.
- noun A series of such competitions held at a specified time on a regular course.
- noun An extended competition in which participants struggle like runners to be the winner.
- noun Steady or rapid onward movement.
- noun A strong or swift current of water.
- noun The channel of such a current.
- noun An artificial channel built to transport water and use its energy.
- noun A groovelike part of a machine in which a moving part slides or rolls.
- intransitive verb Sports To compete in a contest of speed.
- intransitive verb To move rapidly or at top speed.
- intransitive verb To run too rapidly due to decreased resistance or unnecessary provision of fuel.
- intransitive verb To compete against in a race.
- intransitive verb To cause to compete in a race.
- intransitive verb To transport rapidly or at top speed; rush.
- intransitive verb To cause (an engine with the gears disengaged, for example) to run swiftly or too swiftly.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To run swiftly; run in, or as if engaged in, a contest of speed.
- To run with uncontrolled speed; go or revolve wildly or with improper acceleration: said of a steam-engine, a wheel, a ship's screw, or the like, when resistance is diminished without corresponding diminution of power.
- To practise horse-racing as an occupation; be engaged in the business of running horses.
- To cause to run or move swiftly, push or drive onward in, or as if in, a trial of speed: as, to
race a horse; to race steamers. - To run, or cause horses, etc., to run, in competition with; contend against in a race.
- noun A rush; running; swift course.
- noun A course which has to be run, passed over, or gone through; onward movement or progression; career.
- noun A contest of speed; a competitive trial of speed, especially in running, but also in riding, driving, sailing, rowing, walking, or any mode of progression.
- noun Course, as of events; progress.
- noun Struggle; conflict; tumult; trouble.
- noun Course; line of onward movement; way; route.
- noun A strong or rapid current of water, or the channel or passage for such a current; a powerful current or heavy sea sometimes produced by the meeting of two tides: as, the Race of Alderney; Portland Race.
- noun A canal or watercourse from a dam to a water-wheel: specifically called the head-race.
- noun The watercourse which leads away the water after it leaves the wheel: specifically called the tail-race.
- noun A root. See
race-ginger , and hand, 13 . - To tear up; snatch away hastily.
- An obsolete form of
rase , raze. - In heraldry, same as
indented . - noun A calcareous concretion in brick-earth.
- noun The heart, liver, and lungs or lights of an animal, especially of a calf: same as
pluck , 4. - noun The circnlar path traversed by a horse in driving a machine by a horse-whim; a gin-ring or gin-race.
- noun In mech., an annular ring or groove in which the rollers of a roller-bearing, or the balls of a ball-bearing, travel; a ball-race; a roller-race. For a roller-bearing, the race is usually the frustum of a very flat cone, the rollers being frusta of the complementary cone.
- noun A narrow passage, fenced with hurdles, for sheep; a lane.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Howe took a narrow two point USA Crits lead with 20 laps to go in the race, and he held onto the orange and white jersey come the end of the race.
Jonathan Cantwell continues crit command with win at Chris Thater Criterium 2010
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Aryan race to leave behind literary relics of their existence on earth, then I say the Vedic poets are primitive; the Vedic language is primitive; the Vedic religion is primitive, and, taken as a whole, _more primitive than anything else that we are ever likely to recover in the whole history of our race_ ....
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It appears that the red race here, the _race capresse_, is particularly liable to the disease.
Two Years in the French West Indies Lafcadio Hearn 1877
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But the want of general efficient efforts, unobstructed by local laws and deleterious influences, cannot but, in a few years, convince the Boards that the colonization of the tribes West is the best, if not the only hope of prosperity to the race _as a race_.
Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers Henry Rowe Schoolcraft 1828
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Expansion of segregating F2 mapping populations hybrids were derived from crosses of race 2 (P6497) ×race 7 (P7064), and race 1 (48FPA18) ×race
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The term "race card", to those who understand it correctly, tends to suggest that someone was mistreated for reasons other than race and yet still insists that his/her mistreatment was due to race.
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It is formed from the term race, which prudery permits, and it expresses once and for all that for which the instinct exists -- not the individual at all, but the race which is to come after him.
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Regarding the title race he said: It was night when nobody else played in the Premier League.
Arsenal's Theo Walcott misses cup final, Cesc Fábregas a major doubt 2011
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Whether or not Roman Abramovich's spending really does put Chelsea back in the title race, it is possiblethey may have the biggest say in where the trophy ends up.
Crawley Town beat the odds to earn FA Cup visit to Manchester United 2011
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Cesc Fábregas's statement mentioned an underlying "respect" for the officials and an all-consuming passion for a club embroiled in the title race, but was less an apology and more an admission that, as he put simply, "so many things are said in the heat of the moment".
Cesc Fábregas risking his and Arsenal's reputation with petty battles | Dominic Fifield 2011
Prolagus commented on the word race
"Of race but with taste!"
("of race" is supposed to mean "hurriedly")
August 8, 2008
bilby commented on the word race
"Polls suggest the six closest state races on election day will be in Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada and Ohio.
Mr Obama has warned against complacency and urged Democratic supporters to vote."
- 'US rivals target knife-edge races', BBC website, 2 Nov 2008.
November 3, 2008