race

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to…

   A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective.

   • Several horses ran in a horse race: the first one to reach the finishing post won.
   • The race to cure cancer
   • The race around the park was won by Johnny, who ran faster than the others.
2. 2

   Swift progress

   Swift progress; rapid motion; an instance of moving or driving at high speed.

   • The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beasts.
   • Hence the rapid race / Of light, and lustre from th' effusive sun
3. 3

   A race condition

   A race condition; a bug or problem that occurs when two or more components attempt to use the same resource at the same time.

   • Many problems of oscillations and races are solved by this arrangement.
   • As the name implies, a race condition means that two processes are competing within the same time interval, and the race affects the integrity or correctness of the computing tasks.
4. ›+ 26 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A sequence of events

      A sequence of events; a progressive movement toward a goal.

      • A race of wicked acts / Shall flow out of my anger, and o’erspread / The world’s wide face[.]
   2. 5

      A fast-moving current of water.

      • Here are in these seas two dangerous races, the one called St. Alban's, the other Portland Race.
   3. 6

      A water channel, especially one built to lead water to or from a point where it is…

      A water channel, especially one built to lead water to or from a point where it is utilised, such as that which powers a millwheel.

      • Any miners intending to divert and use water for mining or general purposes, or to cut a race or construct dams or reservoirs in connection therewith, shall give notice in writing thereof to the Warden […]
   4. 7

      A path that something or someone moves along.

      • My race of glory run, and race of ſhame,
      • Don't let fear be a factor for you as the finish line of harvest calls out to you to join the race of eternity. Clear the table of excuses and go!
   5. 8

      A guide or channel that a component of a machine moves along

      A guide or channel that a component of a machine moves along:

      • I have lately seen a shuttle machine of Messrs. Grover Baker's construction, in which the shuttle worked in a semi-circular race and produced two stitches at each revolution of the wheel.
      • Meanwhile another lug on the shuttle-band engages another carrier at the other end of the loom, and the belt, continuing to move in the same direction, conveys the carrier across the race in a similar manner as above described.
   6. 9

      A keno gambling session.

   7. 10

      To take part in a race (in the sense of a contest).

      • The drivers were racing around the track.
      • "I cannot wait to race in front of the amazing home crowd," she added.
   8. 11

      To compete against in a race (contest).

      • I raced him to the car, but he was there first, so he got to ride shotgun.
      • […]a fresh fox popped out of a pit, and they raced him to Cherrington, where hounds were stopped at dark[…]
   9. 12

      To move or drive at high speed

      To move or drive at high speed; to hurry or speed.

      • As soon as it was time to go home, he raced for the door.
      • Her heart was racing as she peered into the dimly lit room.
      • The horse raced past the barn fell.
   10. 13

       To run rapidly when not engaged to a transmission.

       • "My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built."
       • He put the transmission into drive and pressed the gas. The engine raced and the motor home rocked, gently, but did not move forward.
   11. 14

       A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry,…

       A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics (see Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race):

       • The Canadian race is one of the most vigorous on the globe.
       • Felovves, they ſhall never more us vvithſtonde, / For I ſe them all drovvned in the raſe of Irlonde.
       • I believe that the British race is the greatest of the governing races that the world has ever seen.
   12. 15

       A group of organisms distinguished by common characteristics

       A group of organisms distinguished by common characteristics; often an informal infraspecific rank in taxonomy, below species

   13. 16

       A category or kind of thing distinguished by common characteristics.

       • You do not tell me her diſeaſe; and perhaps have not been able yourself fully to underſtand it. I hope it is not of the cephalic race.
       • Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, / Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
       • Who does not like rhubarb pies? Not sour, soggy articles, such as have brought reproach upon the whole race of pies, but sweet, juicy pies, with light, flaky crust, a compound that has no rival.
   14. 17

       Peculiar flavour, taste, or strength, as of wine

       Peculiar flavour, taste, or strength, as of wine; that quality, or assemblage of qualities, which indicates origin or kind, as in wine; hence, characteristic flavour.

       • Is it [the wine] of the right race?
       • On the day following Elizabeth's interview with Gideon, this innocent relish—the olives which gave zest, or the walnuts which gave race and richness, to Monkshaugh's moderate hebdomadal glass of old claret—was not forgotten.
   15. 18

       Characteristic quality or disposition.

       • And now I give my sensual race the rein.
       • […]some great race of fancy or judgment in the contrivance[…]
       • His conversation, too, had a race and flavour peculiarly its own: it was nervous, sententious, and tinctured with genuine wit.
   16. 19

       The sexual activity of conceiving and bearing biological offspring.

       • It behooveth therefore that the Mares appointed for race, be well compacted, of a decent quality, being fair and beautiful to look upon, the belly and loins being great, in age not under three nor above ten years old.
       • Male he created thee, but thy consort / Femal for Race; then bless’d Mankinde, and said, / Be fruitful, multiplie, and fill the Earth[.]
   17. 20

       Ancestry, lineage.

       • Yes, madam, believe it, she is a gentlewoman of very absolute behaviour, and of a good race.
       • Wars of religion, more sanguinary, cruel, and ruinous than even those of Henry the fifth and Edward the third, rise in succession under the three last princes of the race of Valois.
       • That very estate which the Lyndons now possess in Ireland was once the property of my race.
   18. 21

       A step in a lineage or succession

       A step in a lineage or succession; a generation.

       • In ſeveral orders of knighthood, as in that of Malta, &c. the candidates muſt prove a nobility of four races or deſcents.
       • We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them—they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors.
       • Perhaps this is the reason why it is an article of faith with the servants, handed down from race to race, that the departed Tisher was a hairdresser.
   19. 22

       Progeny, offspring, descendants.

       • Have I my pillow left unpressed in Rome, / Forborne the getting of a lawful race, / And by a gem of women, to be abused / By one that looks on feeders?
   20. 23

       To assign a race to

       To assign a race to; to perceive as having a (usually specified) race.

       • To be raced as black in the U.S. translates symbolically into being considered inferior to whites, lazy, immoral, boisterous, violent, and sexually promiscuous.
       • From this perspective, the project of progressive blackness entails the edification of black people and the elimination of all forms of domination that limit this edification for all those raced as black.
       • By avoiding being raced as white, whites are able to maintain the illusion that they have always been individuals, that they have always accomplished their achievements through merit alone.
   21. 24

       To pass down certain phenotypic traits to offspring.

   22. 25

       A rhizome or root, especially of ginger.

       • I must have saffron to color the warden pies; mace; dates, none—that's out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pounds of prunes, and as many of raisins o' th' sun.
       • On the third day after this second boiling, pour all the syrup into a pan, put the races of ginger with it, and boil it up until the syrup adheres to the spoon.
   23. 26

       To sharpen (a grindstone) by scraping its surface.

       • Another source of dust arises from the "hanging" and "racing" of the grindstones. […] This is effected by holding a bar of steel against it whilst it is slowly turned, and is known as "racing" the stone.
       • The cracks, owing to the custom of sending the stones with rough surfaces from the quarry, are not so clearly visible until the grinders have 'raced' the stones, or, in other words, smoothed the sides and grinding faces.
       • Racing means the turning up, cutting or dressing of a revolving grindstone at the factory before the grindstone is brought into use for the first time.
   24. 27

       Alternative spelling of raze.

       • Buckles and agglettes at vnwares, ſhall race his bowe, a thinge both euill for the fight, ⁊ perillous for freatinge.
       • Then File one edge very ſtraight by laying a ſtraight Ruler juſt vvithin the edge of it, and dravving or raceing vvith a point of hardned Steel a bright line by the ſide of the Ruler: […]
   25. 28

       To pluck or snatch (something)

       To pluck or snatch (something); also, to pull (something).

       • But nowe a ſtronge man not vſed to ſhoote, at a girde, can heue vp ⁊ plucke in ſunder many a good bowe, as wilde horſes at a brunt doth race and plucke in peeces many a ſtronge carte.
       • Stanley did dreame the boare did race his helme, / But I diſdaind it, and did ſcorne to flie, […]
   26. 29

       A surname.

The neighborhood

• neighborracial
• neighborracism
• neighborracist