| 释义 |
▪ I. race, n.1|reɪs|
Forms: 3–4 ras, 4–5 raas, 4–6 rase, Sc. raiss, 5 north. rass, 6 Sc. raice, rais, rays, 4– race.
[a. ON. rás (Norw. and Sw. dial. rås), running, race, rush (of water), course, channel, row, series = OE. rǽs rese; of obscure etym. Orig. a northern word, coming into general use about the middle of the 16th c.]
I.
1. a. The act of running; a run. Freq. in phr. in, on, with a race. Now Sc.
c1325Metr. Hom. 141 To the bischope in a ras He ran. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 8938 Assahelle..thurgh rase wald turne bath buk and ra. 1375Barbour Bruce v. 638 In a raiss to the king he ran. c1460Towneley Myst. xxii. 145 Thyn apostels full radly ar run from the a rase. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 118 This nobill Dongard..Than with ane raice amang thame entert in. 1557Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 199, Chast Diane..And all her maides that sue her in the race. a1637B. Jonson Discov. Wks. (Rtldg.) 756/1 In the contention of leaping, they jump farthest, that fetch their race largest. 1687Dryden Hind. & P. i. 46 The bristled baptist Boar..mountains levelled in his furious race. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. v, The noble stag..Held westward with unwearied race. Mod. Sc. If ye're to jump that, ye'll need to tak' a race.
fig.1553T. Wilson Rhet. 48 Talking of faith, thei have fetcht their ful race from the xii signes in the zodiake. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 20 Blocks of the Diuel that are cast in our wayes, to cut off the rase of toward wittes. 1642Milton Apol. Smect. Introd., Wks. (1851) 273 This loose rayler,..having once begun his race, regards not how farre he flies out beyond all truth and shame.
†b. Phr. to rue a (or one's) race. Chiefly fig., to repent of the course one has taken. Obs.
c1440York Myst. xxx. 214 Rugge hym in ropes, his rase till he rewe. c1470Henryson Mor. Fab., Wolf & Sheep xiv, Ye sall rew this rais. Quhat was the caus, ye gaif me sic ane catche? 1560Rolland Seven Sages (1837) 32 He knew That it wald caus ane greit Offence, Kend weill that race that he wald rew.
c. fig. The course of life or some portion of it.
1513Douglas æneis iii. x. 122 The prince Eneas,..The fatis of goddis and rasis mony ane Rehersing schew. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 1 The Race that euery man in this his transitory life haue to runne. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 505 Thir Ministry perform'd, and race well run,..They die. 1671― Samson 597 My race of glory run, and race of shame. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 301 Thus thro' the Race of Life they [bees] quickly run. 1709Watts Hymn, ‘Awake, our Souls’ i, Awake, and run the heavenly Race. 1784Cowper Tiroc. 315 The well-known place Whence first we started into life's long race. 1850Tennyson In Mem. ix, My Arthur, whom I shall not see Till all my widow'd race be run.
†2. A rush, onset, charge; a raid. Obs.
1535Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 498 Fulgentius, with mony Pecht and Scot,..Full mony raice attour the wall hes maid. 1560Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 621 The sowr persute, and syne the resistance, The rigorous rais. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1986/1 Badlie yet could they make their rase, by reason the furrowes laie trauerse to their course.
†3. Rapid action, haste, hurry. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 26732 Ne tell noght [þi dedis] ouer wit renand ras, als dos þis men þat penis tas. c1400Sowdone Bab. 489 ‘Arise vp’, he saide in a ras, ‘We bene elles alle I-take’. a1400–50Alexander 1996 And þaim redes on a rase he & rechez to þe sedes. c1440Partonope 846 [She] ryseth vp in a grete raas.
†4.
a. The act of riding rapidly on horseback; a course in a tournament (cf. 7 b). Obs.
a1400Sir Perc. 1145 In he rydes one a rase Or that he wiste where he was. c1500Lancelot 3088 Thir sex in a Ras Deliuerly com prekand our the feldis. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. vi. 3 Scudamour..issewed, To have rencountred him in equall race. 16..Tom Potts 286 in Child Ballads II. 445/2 Then they turned their horsses round about, To run the race more egarlye.
†b. A journey or voyage. Obs.
c1400Laud Troy Bk. 4252 Prothesaly the formast was Off alle the schippis In that ras. 1513Douglas æneis iii. vi. 22 To me all devote godlie wychtis Schew we suld haue a prosper rais. Ibid. iv. x. 48 Sall I..Bid thaim mak sail anone, and a new rais? 1557Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 212 A Man may..Thrise wander out Vlisses race: Yet neuer finde Vlisses wife.
II.
5. a. Onward movement of a thing, as the heavenly bodies, a vehicle, etc.; running or rush of water (cf. 6). ? Obs. † Also, a sudden deviation from a line (quot. 1670).
a1300Cursor M. 23588 Sun and mon, and water and stern, þat rinnes nu wit ras sa yern. 13..Childh. Jesus 845 in Archiv neu. Spr. LXXIV. 338 Twa stremys..That neuermare of rase salle blyne. 1480Robt. Devyll 948 He spyed a great race of bloude in Robertes face. 1557N.T. (Genev.) 2 Tim. ii. 9 note, The worde of God hath it race and increaseth. 1581Marbeck Bk. of Notes 164 The Chariot came nigh unto them with a great race and mightie force. 1586Bright Melanch. xiii. 66 Some wheeles passing swifter than other some, by divers rases. 1633D. R[ogers] Treatise of Sacraments i. 168 Your streame weake;..and the staves of your wheele which should support the race of it pittifully broken. a1649Winthrop New Eng. (1853) I. 4 The tide set in with so strong a race. 1670Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1711) 76 It points off with a Race from the other Mountains..into the Channel.
b. esp. The daily (or annual) course of the sun through the heavens. Similarly of the moon.
Chiefly by conscious metaphor from sense 1, and usually with vb. to run.
1590Spenser F.Q. i. v. 44 The mother of dredd darkness..took her wonted way To ronne her timely race. Ibid. xi. 33 Titan rose to runne his daily race. 1662Tuke Adv. 5 Hours ii, The sun..ere half his race be run. c1742Gray Ignorance 11 Thrice hath Hyperion roll'd his annual race. 1784Cowper Task vi. 126 Should God again..interrupt the race Of the undeviating and punctual sun. a1822Shelley Hom. Sun. 10 The immortal Sun, Who, borne by heavenly steeds, his race doth run Unconquerably.
c. The course of time. (Chiefly used as in b.)
1595Shakes. John iii. iii. 39 If the mid-night bell Did..Sound on into the drowzie race of night. 1630Milton On Time 1 Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. iv. 15 Majestick Months set out..to their appointed Race. a1729Congreve Imit. Horace, Odes ii. xiv. 1 Eternity! that boundless race Which Time himself can never run.
†d. The course or progress of events, or of a narrative. Obs. rare.
c1590Bruce XI Serm. i. (1591) 6 Gif ȝee..consider the race of the historie. a1626Bacon On War with Spain 7 The Prosecution and Race of the Warre, carrieth the Defendant, to assaile and inuade, the..Patrimony of the first Aggressour.
†e. Impact; a shock, blow. Obs. rare.
c1400Sowdone Bab. 1349 He raught a stroke to Ferumbras..It brast his hawberke at þat ras. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 124 Sum gat ane rais gart all hir ribbis rak.
6. a. A strong current in the sea or a river.
Perh. partly ad. F. raz, ras in same sense, commonly regarded as a. Breton râz, a strait, narrow channel.
1375Barbour Bruce iii. 697 By the mole thai passyt ȝar, And entryt sone in-to the rase. c1400Sowdone Bab. 774 Wynde him blewe..over the salte flode And over the profounde rase. 1506Kalender of Sheph. H ij, Amonge the waues perylous on rases holowe. 1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 33 In your Sea stormes,..cross tydes, dangerouse races. 1625N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. vii. (1635) 130 Hee found a strong race, a Tide running sometimes Eastward, sometimes Westward. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 82 A short cockling Sea, as if it had been a Race, or place where two Tides meet. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton xiv. (1840) 238 Among innumerable islands,..without any pilot that understood the channel and races between them. 1828J. R. Planché Desc. Danube 72 The river narrows, and a slight fall, or what our sailors call a race, ensues. 188419th Cent. Feb. 245 We were able to head the races that spun out from submerged trees.
transf.1894Clark Russell Good Ship Mohock I. 15 The sky was a race of large torn cloud, white as milk.
b. Used in the names of special currents.
1375Barbour Bruce iii. 687 Quhar als gret stremys ar rynnand,..As is the raiss of Bretangȝe. c1530Hickescorner B iiij, I sawe them all drowned in the rase of Irelande. 1596C. Fitzgeffrey Sir. F. Drake (1881) 80 In that faire palace neere the milken race. 1697Lond. Gaz. No. 3317/4 He saw 5 Sail of Ships standing through the Race of Fountney. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1776) Eee ij b, The race of Portland. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. i. ii. 18 Through this channel, the sea, at high spring tides, sweeps at the rate of eight miles an hour... This passage is called the Race (or Ras) of Alderney.
III. 7. As a portion of time or space: †a. A space of time; a while. Obs. rare—1.
13..K. Alis. 7830 They lyved here bote lite ras; And sone echon forgete was!
†b. The distance or space between two points. knight's race (from 4 a): see quot. 1562. Obs.
1562Leigh Armorie 58 b, Alciatus saith that a man shall discerne colour, if he may come within a knights rase of any banner, but I neuer hard of any man, that came within an 100 rases of the Sun. Le: What is a knights rase? Ge: It is lx. foote of assise in length, of the field, and is of Here⁓haughts so called. 1600Holland Livy 1348 The plaine and base plot of the cittie..comprehendeth a Diameter or race almost of 8 Stadia.
c. A piece of ground suitable for running or racing (see 10). rare.
1612Drayton Poly-olb. iii. 23 Nor yet the level South can shew a smoother race. a1783Fair Annie 64 in Child Ballads II. 75/1, I wish that they were seven hares To run the castle race. 1890R. Bridges Shorter Poems ii. 7 Perilous in steep places Soft in the level races.
†8.
a. The course, line, or path taken by a person or a moving body. Also fig. Obs.
c1400Ser. J. Mandevelle & Gt. Souden 17 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 155 Your prestes that suld tech vertus trace, They ryn rakyll out of gud race. 1513Douglas æneis v. xiv. 84 Prince Enee persauit by his rais, Quhow that the schip did rok and tailȝevey. 1555Eden Decades 28 He diuerted from his accustomed rase which was by the Ilandes of Canarie. 1570Dee Math. Pref. 3 Of the auncient Mathematiciens, a Line is called the race or course of a Point. c1580Sidney Ps. xxvi. i, I have made my race Within the boundes of innocence to bide.
†b. A reach (of a river). Obs. rare—1.
1611Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xxxix. (1614) 77/1 A long race of the river Ouse.
c. The channel or bed (of a stream); esp. an artificial channel leading water to or from a point where its energy is utilized, as in a mill or a mining claim. See also head-, mill-, tail-race.
It is not clear whether there is any connexion between this sense and OF. rase, rasse, raze (15th c. in Godef.), watercourse, trench, ditch, (mill-) race.
1565–73Durham Depos. (Surtees) 212 The [law-] suit..for the raic[e] of the said water corne myln. 1777Wallingfen Inclos. Act 45 The beck, race, water, or watercourse. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 536 The race,..a canal 20 to 30 feet wide, and carried..through rocks and hills. 1805West's Antiq. Furness 74 There has been also a subterraneous passage, leading from the race of the rivulet. 1868Rep. U.S. Commissioners Agric. (1869) 334 The bottoms of the races are covered with small stones and a layer of fine gravel. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 293 The water, brought through races by miles of fluming, spouted clear and strong over heaps of auriferous earth. 1901M. Franklin My Brilliant Career xiv. 117 They have cut races between the two creeks. 1912B. E. Baughan Brown Bread 99 Little runnels and ‘races’ of water led through the plain from the mountain rivers. 1941I. L. Idriess Great Boomerang xxxi. 243 We would take the water from a creek on one side of a mountain and by means of a race (channel) take it completely around the mountain. 1976Jrnl. Lakeland Dial. Soc. 35 Ah thowt Ah wud ga up t' race an' then cross t' beck on t' steppin steans.
d. Weaving. The path or channel in the lay or batten along which the shuttle moves in crossing the web; the board or other support on which the shuttle slides.
1855[see lay-race s.v. lay n.8]. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1263/1 The picker..which strikes the fly-shuttle and drives it along the race. 1879Barlow Weaving 87 The warp threads are pressed down upon the race.
e. A circular path for a horse employed in driving machinery.
1833J. C. Loudon Encycl. Archit. 470 The back wall of the barn is to be sunk sufficiently deep for the wheel of the threshing-mill and the race (horse-course) from it. 1862[see gin-race s.v. gin n.1 12].
f. Austral. and N. Z. (See quot. 1872.)
1865M. A. Barker Station Life in N.Z. (1870) v. 34 The newly-shorn [sheep]..have passed thro' a narrow passage, called a ‘race’. 1872Rtldg.'s Ev. Boy's Ann. 53/2 Each lamb was driven through the narrow hurdle-passage..called a race. 1878E. S. Elwell Boy Colonists 214 They made a ‘lead’ in the stockyard for branding the cattle. This was something like a ‘race’ for drafting sheep, with a swing gate. 1934T. Wood Cobbers iv. 41 ‘Bullicks come aboard along a race. This is a race,’ and he pointed to narrow gang⁓ways, railed in on both sides, which sloped from the main deck down to the cattle deck. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Apr. 373/3 The units [of the pig house] are usually placed side by side under one continuous roof, a service race being provided along the front. 1963A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 180 The cattle were in the yards and the drovers and dogs were putting them through a ‘race’—two rows of wooden fencing with a swing gate at the end. 1977N.Z. Herald 8 Jan. 4–7/9 (Advt.), At present dairy and beef. Good race and fencing, tidal boundary, ample hay storage.
g. Mech. The space in which a drum or wheel revolves. (Cf. wheel-race.)
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 104 The stones of the race are hewn to a mould, and laid in their places with great care. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining 197.
h. Each of the two grooved rings of a ball or roller bearing.
1903Sci. Amer. Suppl. 2, Feb. 22689/1 The rollers are made to fit the inner and outer treads of the roller race. 1907,1908[see ball-race s.v. ball n.1 22]. 1930Engineering 4 Apr. 462/1 There are two rings of rollers running side by side between hardened and ground inner and outer races. 1960[see coin v.1 3 b]. 1968Autocar 25 Jan. 49/2, I drove the 2-litre car at Monte Carlo and we had transmission trouble there which was bad luck because it was a ball race that broke. 1971B. Scharf Engin. & its Language xii. 135 Ball bearings..consist of..an inner race, which is a grooved ring firmly attached to the shaft, and an outer race in the stationary housing. The balls which are free to rotate between the races are kept apart by means of a cage. 1980Dirt Bike Oct. 33/1 You may even need to replace the balls and races if they're dented or worn.
9. Mining. ‘A small thread of spar or ore’ (Raymond Gloss. Mining 1881).
1580Frampton Dial. Yron & Steele 144 If..of brimstone and quicksilver they were ingendred, there would be some rase of them, in the mynes of golde and silver. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. K iv b, This Keckle-Meckle Stuff has the Ore run with it in small Strings and Races.
b. A row or series. dial. and techn.
1880E. Cornwall Gloss., Race, a string, e.g. of onions. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-Mining 197 Race. See Journey. [= ‘A train or set of trains all coupled together.’] 1894Northumbld. Gloss., Race, a range or series. A race of pits. 1901Scotsman 8 Mar. 5/1 They were run into by a race of runaway hutches.
IV.
10. a. The act of running, riding, sailing, etc. in competition with one or more rivals; a contest of speed; in pl. usually denoting a series of horse-races held at a fixed time on a regular course.
1513Douglas æneis v. vii. 1 Eftir thir raissis done, and giftis gif. 1582Bible (Rheims) 1 Cor. ix. 24 They that runne in the race, al runne in deede, but one receiueth the price. 1641Brome Joviall Crew ii. Wks. 1873 III. 372 In Hide-Park, to see the Races, Horse and Foot. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 33 To indite Warrs..or to describe Races and Games. 1715–20Pope Iliad xxiii. 429 Young Nestor leads the race; Eumelus then. 1781Cowper Truth 13 He that would win the race must guide his horse Obedient to the customs of the course. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xvii, We're going on to the races. 1860Longfellow Wayside Inn, K. Olaf ii. xi, Swimming, skating, snow-shoe races.
transf. and fig.a1592H. Smith Serm. (1637) 518 A race, wherein they run striving who shall come first to the devill. 1751Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 61 Every competitor in the race of wit is left behind him. 1821Shelley Hellas 856 Ere thou Didst start for this brief race whose crown is death. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 86 The two nations which, if last in the race of political freedom, were foremost in the race of material civilization.
b. slang. A bet on a horse-race.
1894Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life II. 196, I had a fair race on Sir Bevys, L. Rothschild's horse, for the Derby.
c. fig. An electoral contest for public office. Phr. to make the race, to run for public office (see also quot. 1881). U.S.
1855I. C. Pray Mem. J. G. Bennett 288 He had been the first to start many of them upon the ground for a successful political race. 1881H. W. Pierson In Brush 132 To ‘make the race’ was to secure an election. Ibid. 133 This pursuit of office was always spoken of as a ‘race’. 1903N.Y. Even. Post 17 Sept. 1 Mr. Cutting ran up stairs to tell Dr. Gould..that Mr. Gront would make the race. 1949Dallas Morning News 1 May 1/7 He might perhaps consider making the Senate race. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 6 Nov. 24/3 New totals for..U.S. Senate races and gubernatorial races will churn out every five minutes.
d. As the second element in Comb. with a defining n., as armament race, arms race, moon race, space race, etc.: see under the first word.
e. In colloq. phr. to be in the race, to have a chance. Usu. in neg. contexts. Austral.
1945M. Trist Now that we're Laughing x. 73 With you and Daffy dressed up, none of us others will be in the race. 1953T. A. G. Hungerford Riverslake x. 227 ‘See that bloke?’ He pointed down the road after the vanished car. ‘A few years ago he wouldn't have been in the race to own a car like that.’ 1956J. T. Lang I Remember vi. 34 The trade unions realised that if the Chinese could get away with long hours and low pay they would not be in the race to get better conditions.
f. Electronics. In a switching circuit, a condition in which the time a component secondary circuit or device takes to operate has to be taken into account (as when two are required to operate simultaneously, though in practice one will operate before the other). Freq. attrib.
1954Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CCLVII. 170 In a composite transition matrix the presence of two or more of the digits ‘I’ indicates that at least two of the secondary relays are simultaneously unstable, and that a race condition exists. 1958S. H. Caldwell Switching Circuits xii. 469 The race condition in this instance can lead to false operation and we designate this as a critical race. 1969J. J. Sparkes Transistor Switching vii. 161 It is customary to arrange the logic so that all races are removed or rendered non-critical. 1975J. C. Boyce Digital Logic ix. 267 Races are characterized by arrows that skip rows on flowtables, since more than one gate must change at the same time to allow the operating point to follow the arrow.
V.
11. attrib. and Comb. a. General combs. (sense 10), as race-boat, race-colt, race driver, race-dust, race fund, race-ground, race list, race-manager, race mare, race-meeting, race-nag, race night, race record, race report, race-rider, race-riding, race-runner, race-time, race-week, race-winner; ‘used or worn by one who rides in a horse-race’, as race-cap, race-jacket, race-saddle; ‘intended for wearing at races’, as race-cloak, race-coat, race-dress, race-gown, race-hat; (sense 8 f) race gate, race shed. b. Special combs., as race-ball, a ball held in connexion with a race-meeting; race-board, (a) a gang-board; (b) the board on which a shuttle slides (see 8 d); race card, a printed card giving information about races; racecaster orig. U.S., a radio or television broadcaster who reports on horse-racing; race-circle, the course of a spindle in a braiding machine; race-cloth, a cloth used with a racing-saddle, having pockets to hold the weight required by the rules of the course (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); race-cup, a cup or other piece of plate given as a prize to the winner of a race; race game, a board game simulating a horse-race in which rival counters proceed at the throw of a dice; also transf.; race gang, a group of petty criminals who frequent race-meetings; race-glass (now usu. in pl.), a field-glass for use at races; hence race-glassed adj.; race-goer, a frequenter of race-meetings; also race-going a. and n.; race-mark, a mark attached to pigeons before a particular race; hence race-mark v. trans., to supply (pigeons) with race-marks; race-path, (a) a race-track; (b) the channel along which water flows to a mill-wheel; race-plate = racer 4 (see also curb n. 9 c); race-reader, (a) one who forecasts the performance of horses in a given race; (b) (see quot. 1953); also, a race commentator; hence race-reading; race stand, a stand at a race-course; race tankard (cf. race-cup); race-track orig. U.S. = race-course 1 a; also transf. and attrib.; race train, a special train which runs to and from a race-meeting; race-trough, a plank with raised edges along which goods are passed in loading or unloading ships or wagons; race walking, the act or practice of competing in a walking race; hence race walker; race walk v. intr. See also race-course, -day, -horse.
1775Sheridan Rivals ii. i, At our last *race ball. c1838W. H. Murray in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1973) IV. 162, I saw Charlotte at the race-ball, and fell over head and ears in love with her.
1808Ashe Travels III. 260 Ships have *race boards to the bank, which gives them an access so easy, that they are often visited from the shore. 1879Barlow Weaving 97 The middle shuttle boxes are..lowered to the level of the race-board.
1839Spirit of Times 15 June 177/1 It is most probable we would still have continued to get our *race boats from Philadelphia. 1866‘Argonaut’ Rowing & Training 7 The modern single⁓straike race-boat is composed.. of two parts. 1972C. Mudie Motor Boats & Boating 144 The race boat hull form is not of great value for cruising boats.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) I. 265 This trade (with *race-cards) is not carried on in town. 1967Listener 14 Sept. 325/3, I got hold of a race-card and I said to him: ‘This one's got a marvellous chance.’ 1979D. Francis Whip Hand ii. 23 It took a course in the country to..run out of racecards.
1938Amer. Speech XIII. 239/2 Newscaster and sportscaster are now common terms in Variety. *Racecaster is also found. 1969Australian 24 May 35/1 The caller will be 3DB's race⁓caster, Bill Collins.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 355/2 The *race-circles, in which the spindles are caused to move.
1850‘M. Tensas’ Odd Leaves Life Louisiana ‘Swamp Doctor’ 47 She couldn't 'tend races, and have a *race-colt of her own to comfort her 'clinin' years.
1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. iii. iii, All the family *racecups and corporation bowls.
1935A. G. Kennedy Current Eng. xiv. 613 In a recent issue of a widely read city paper..the following headings appeared..‘*Race Driver Pinned under Flaming Car.’ 1972N.Y. Times 3 Nov. 45/2 Look at that guy jumping lanes... You have race drivers the same way, but they never amount to nothin'.
1850Mrs. Browning Poems I. 216 Electric Pindar, quick as fear, With *race-dust on his cheeks.
1840Whyte Hist. Turf I. 200 The shareholders will receive five per cent{ddd}the remainder to go to the *race fund.
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 235/2 The Grand *Race Game, consists of a substantially cloth bound, folding board..printed in colors to represent a race track... Has six colored cardboard horses and riders..two wooden dice cups and two dice. 1903J. M. Falkner Nebuly Coat xiii. 187 A ‘race-game’ where the little leaden horse is moved steadily forward. 1930A. P. Herbert Water Gipsies xiv. 196 In that light the hare seemed tinier and the greyhounds toys... The place might have been some monstrous nursery ‘race-game’. 1973Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 29 June 40/2 Backgammon is a race game..and the precursor of every modern board-pieces-and-dice game.
1931M. Allingham Look to Lady xxiv. 250 Gipsies and *race gangs always hate each other. 1937E. Rickman On & off Racecourse xii. 271 The term ‘race gang’ is still a very favoured one by newspaper sub⁓editors.
1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. x. 251 He once asked Moore why he didn't put *race gates into his yards.
1865Let. 11 June in Ld. W. Lennox My Recoll. (1874) II. 153 General Fleury almost forced a *race-glass into the hands of the Emperor. 1938F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xix. 204 From the coach descended a number of the boys one of whom was carrying a pair of race-glasses. 1974D. Francis Knock Down (1976) xii. 137 The runners went down the far side and we lifted race-glasses to watch.
1868Daily Tel. 27 May, Some *race-glassed and blue-veiled traveller.
1880Baily's Monthly Mag. Feb. 71 *Race-goers are not, as a rule, early drinkers. 1948Sunday Pictorial 18 July 13/4 It has now been in operation for some time, and many race⁓goers are fed up with it. 1975D. Francis High Stakes i. 9 Racegoers were hurrying towards the stands to watch the imminent steeplechase.
1848Sporting Life 2 Sept. 324/2 A great favourite with the *race-going public. 1929S. Ertz Galaxy xv. 332 He had always been so busy with his..shooting, his race-going, and latterly his horses. 1963Times 23 Jan. 3/5 Waiting for any crumbs that may be going are the racecourses, the owners and the racegoing public. 1977D. Francis Risk ii. 12 Near the course the crawling racegoing jams would mean half an hour for the last mile.
1698J. Collier tr. Tertullian in Profaneness & Immorality Eng. Stage vi. 253 We have nothing to do with the Frensies of the *Race-Ground..or the Barbarities of the Bear-Garden. 1727in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1912) VII. 400 This Vestry Resolve to meet on Thursday..at the race Ground near Mr Bensons. 1802S. Chifney Genius Genuine 52, I was the next morning on the race ground. 1840Whyte Hist. Turf I. 260 The principal rooms overlooking the race-ground.
1856H. H. Dixon Post & Paddock xiii. 228 As plentiful now as..‘garters’ in later years, among the list of *race-jackets.
1833New Sporting Mag. V. 398 Chancing to have the *race list in my hand.
1812Sporting Mag. XL. 154 *Race-manager, or keeper of the stud-book at Newmarket.
1853Southern Lit. Messenger XIX. 70/1 He brought with him a small *race mare which excited the acquisitiveness of his father. 1976Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Oct. 1296/2 Park Top..began to emerge as the outstanding race-mare of her decade.
1890Homing News 3 Jan. 14/3 (Advt.), He is not certain about the *race marks.
1928Sunday Dispatch 8 July 22/3 Birds competing in the..race from Marennes,..will be *racemarked at No. 5 platform.
1809Sporting Mag. XXXIII. 108 This almost universal success at the *race-meetings.
a1634Randolph Poems (1875) II. 539 Keep his *race-nags, and in Hyde Park be seen. a1687Cotton Wks. (1765) 119 The base Hag Can of a Cudgel make a Race-Nag.
1795T. Wilkinson Wandering Patentee I. 241 The assembly⁓rooms keep the ladies entirely away the three *race nights.
1837Knickerbocker X. 413 The only *race-path known in this new settlement was that on which the husband and wife contended for the prize of domestic comfort. 1853F. W. Thomas J. Randolph 84 Along the devious narrow race-path to the mill-dam.
1951E. Rickman Come racing with Me iii. 23 Some practised *race-readers tend to become ridiculously self-opinionated. 1953P. G. Berg Dict. New Words 133/1 Race reader,..an expert attached to a radio commentator who helps in giving a broadcast of a horse-race. 1955Radio Times 22 Apr. 29/3 Racing at Newmarket... Commentary by Raymond Glendenning, assisted by Tom E. Webster as race-reader. 1968‘J. Welcome’ Hell is where you find It ii. 33 ‘Mountpatrick still well clear,’ came the race-reader's voice. ‘Then Blue Soldier, Mark Twain, Kitchener..all in a group together.’
1963‘J. Prescot’ Case for Hearing iv. 60, I think you can rule out..the gift of *race-reading in advance by looking into a crystal ball. 1976Horse & Hound 10 Dec. 6/3 Michael O'Hehir, whose Telefis Eireann race-reading they [sc. the BBC] have taken in previously.
1893Outing XXII. 101/1 Goldsmith Maid left the turf with a *race record never equalled. 1977N.Z. Herald 5 Jan. 1–11/1 He set a race record for the track when he went 1 m 58·5 s.
1934T. S. Eliot Rock i. 29 Many read nothing but the *race reports.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v. Jockeys..*Race Riders. 1827J. F. Cooper Prairie p. xxiii, She is no great race-rider. 1973Country Life 22 Feb. 457/2 Lester Piggott came from a family of race-riders and trainers.
1840Whyte Hist. Turf II. 580 We will now..describe the ‘science of *race-riding’, or jockeyship. 1863W. P. Lennox Biog. Remin. II. 146, I had an opportunity of carrying on my passion for race-riding.
1647Trapp Comm. Heb. iv. 1 To come lag and late..as lazy *Race-runners.
1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Apr. 375/2 The *race shed was..popular many years ago.
1829P. Egan Boxiana 2nd Ser. II. 30 The *Race-stand, at ten bob per nob, was opened for their reception. 1860H. Ainsworth Ovingdean Grange 174 No modern race-stand towered before the stern soldier of the Commonwealth.
1881J. Grant Cameronians I. i. 10 Indian jars and old silver *race tankards.
1702Lady Verney Let. 25 Aug. in M. M. Verney Verney Lett. (1930) I. vii. 113 We shall have Company at Claydon, it being our *Race-time. 1893W. B. Yeats Celtic Twilight The race-time came round.
1862N.Y. Tribune 6 Mar. 6/6 We don't think that Tennessee is likely to be much of a battle-ground hereafter. There's more probability of her being a *race-track. 1927New Republic 21 Sept. 120/2 No American town is more completely absorbed in race-track gambling. 1945Transit News (Capital Transit Co., Washington, D.C.) 15 June, I picked an early straight on the race track... Translated into plain English, the operator said: ‘I signed up for a day's work on 16th street.’ 1958New Scientist 30 Jan. 18/3 We..began the construction of an aluminium torus of 12-in. bore diameter,..and in it were two straight sections—making the torus into a race-track. 1963Times 24 May 16/6 The problem is best presented in terms of the dimensions of the race-tracks round which nuclear particles..are caused to circle repeatedly while gaining energy at each circuit. 1973D. MacKenzie Postscript to Dead Letter 15 A set of Dufy racetrack prints on the walls.
1938F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xx. 223 The gymer gets out of the *race train and boards the Underground railway. 1977Times 18 June 12/8 The race train from Waterloo to Sandown Park.
1842Carlyle in Cornh. Mag. (1922) Oct. 496 A huge high pier of wood..lowered down upon us a long *race-trough of wood, by the side of which at due distances some four men stationing themselves [etc.].
1973F. Wakefield et al. Track & Field Fundamentals for Girls & Women (ed. 3) 253 Because some people do not want to *race walk, the field of competition is small.
1962Sport of Race Walking (Race Walking Assoc.) 34 Race-Walking can only be as strong as its Judges... To this end they have striven..to select men of integrity, mainly former *race-walkers themselves. 1972Pickering & Harris Olympics 74/2 The difference between the fast, fair race walker and the ordinary person at 3½ miles per hour is the straight leg action.
1954Times 20 Sept. 3/3 Delegates [to the annual meeting of the Road Walking Assoc.] decided to change the name to *Race Walking Association following the Amateur Athletic Association's authority to develop track walking. 1976Cumberland News 26 Nov., The Olympic Games authorities seem hell bent on pushing race walking into the distant background.
1716Lond. Gaz. No. 5436/4 To be fought all the *Race-Week. 1814Sporting Mag. XLIV. 181 In the race⁓week, a long main of cocks was fought. 1894Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life II. 198 We both got back to Newmarket a few days before the race week.
1823Byron Juan xiii. lxxxvii, Sir Henry Silvercup, the great *race-winner.
▪ II. race, n.2|reɪs|
Also 6–7 rase.
[a. F. race, earlier also rasse (1512), a. It. razza = Sp. raza, Pg. raça, of obscure origin.]
I. A group of persons, animals, or plants, connected by common descent or origin.
In the widest sense the term includes all descendants from the original stock, but may also be limited to a single line of descent or to the group as it exists at a particular period.
1. a. The offspring or posterity of a person; a set of children or descendants. Chiefly poet.
1570Foxe A. & M. II. 1841/1 Thus was the outward race & stocke of Abraham after flesh refused. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. xiii. 107 Haue I..Forborne the getting of a lawfull Race, And by a Iem of women. 1667Milton P.L. x. 385 High proof ye now have giv'n to be the Race Of Satan. 1712Pope Messiah 65 Their Vines a shadow to their Race shall yield. 1784Cowper Task iv. 384 Her infant race..sit cow'ring o'er the sparks. 1842Tennyson Locksley Hall 168, I will take some savage woman, she shall rear my dusky race.
transf. and fig.1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. v, Such, as either we must acknowledge for our own forefathers or else disdain the race of Christ. 1728Pope Dunc. i. 70 How Tragedy and Comedy embrace, How Farce and Epic get a jumbled race. 1820Shelley Orpheus 110 Blackthorn bushes with their infant race Of blushing rose blooms.
†b. Breeding, the production of offspring. Obs.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 234 It behooveth therefore that the mares appointed for race be well compacted, of a decent quality. 1653Greaves Seraglio 141 He hath also stables of stallions for race. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 530 Male he created thee, but thy consort Femal for Race.
†c. A generation. Obs. rare.
1549–62Sternhold & H. Ps. cii. 12 Thy remembrance euer doth abide from race to race. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., In several orders of knighthood..the candidates must prove a nobility of four races or descents. [1790Burke Fr. Rev. 51 If the last generations of your country appeared without much lustre in your eyes, you might have..derived your claims from a more early race of ancestors.]
2. a. A limited group of persons descended from a common ancestor; a house, family, kindred.
a1600Wynne Hist. Gwydir Family (1878) 33 Some affirme Jevan ap Meredith to be the elder brother, and soe doth all the race that are of him contend. 1653Holcroft Procopius i. 7 No Government to be conferr'd upon strangers in blood; but such onely to have the place, to whose race it did belong. 1734Mrs. Delany Autobiog. & Corr. (1861) I. 431 Lady Weymouth's person bears away the bell, even from the Marlborough race. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 4 (Calais) The Bourbon is by no means a cruel race. 1833Tennyson Sisters 1 We were two daughters of one race. 1883Green Conq. Eng. 418 [Eadmund Ironside] shared, no doubt, the weak constitution of his race.
b. A tribe, nation, or people, regarded as of common stock.
a1600Wynne Hist. Gwydir Family (1878) 20 Llewelyn ap Gruffith last Prince of Wales of the Brittish race. 1667Milton P.L. i. 780 That Pigmean Race Beyond the Indian Mount. 1715Pope Iliad iv. 51 Troy's whole race thou wouldst confound. 1726–46Thomson Winter 499 A mighty people come! A race of heroes! 1827D. Johnson Ind. Field Sports 140 The worst race of people inhabiting that part. 1863F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 11 The..proscription under which their whole race is placed.
c. A group of several tribes or peoples, regarded as forming a distinct ethnical stock.
1842Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 150 No two races of Men can be more strongly contrasted than were the ancient Egyptian and the Syro-Arabian races. 1868Kingsley Heroes Pref. 10 They were all different tribes and peoples of the one great Hellen race. 1883Green Conq. Eng. 54 Courage..was a heritage of the whole German race.
d. One of the great divisions of mankind, having certain physical peculiarities in common.
The term is often used imprecisely; even among anthropologists there is no generally accepted classification or terminology.
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist., Animals xxxiii, The second great variety in the human species seems to be that of the Tartar race. 1839Penny Cycl. XIV. 361/2 Considerable differences occur in the general stature of the several races of mankind. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon i. v. 27 Blumenbach proposed to establish five races: 1st, the Caucasian; 2nd, the Mongolian; 3rd, the Ethiopian; 4th, the American; 5th, the Malay. 1936Nature 18 Apr. 636/2 The races or types into which the anthropologist groups the varieties of Homo sapiens are ideal types. 1959New Biol. XXIX. 69 From the U.N.E.S.C.O. statement we can define ‘race’ as ‘a division of man, the members of which, though individually varying, are characterized as a group by certain inherited physical features as having a common origin’. 1971R. M. & F. M. Keesing New Perspectives in Cultural Anthropol. 51 It is at this point that the term ‘race’ becomes relevant. Though in popular usage it is emotionally charged and imprecise, it has a straightforward and important meaning in evolutionary biology. A race is a geographically separated, hence genetically somewhat distinctive, population within a species.
3. a. A breed or stock of animals; a particular variety of a species.
1580Blundevil Horsemanship i. iii. B j, Of all the races in Græce, both the Horses and Mares of Thessalia..are most celebrated. 1641Hinde J. Bruen vii. 26, I have seene a Gentleman..very carefull to have his horse of a generous race. 1745Pococke Descr. East II. i. 196 There is a race of sheep in this country with four horns. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. II. 57 The plains..bred a generous race of horses. 1839Penny Cycl. XIV. 362/2 In the most highly domesticated races, as the spaniel, the cranium is more fully developed. 1880Huxley Crayfish 292 In this manner, a variety, or race, is generated within the species.
†b. A stud or herd (of horses). Obs.
1547Privy Council Acts (1890) II. 86 Persons having custodie of a studde or race of mares. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. v. i. 72 Doe but note a wilde and wanton heard Or race of youthful and vnhandled coltes. a1626Fletcher Double Marriage i. i, The rases of our horses he takes from us. 1667Duchess of Newcastle Life Duke of N. (1886) II. 152 All this stock was lost, besides his race of horses.
c. A genus, species, kind of animals.
1605Shakes. Macb. ii. iv. 15 Duncans Horses..Beauteous, and swift, the Minions of their Race. 1687Dryden Hind & P. i. 160 The wolfish race Appear with belly gaunt and famished face. 1727–46Thomson Summer 388 Slow move the harmless race [sheep]. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 190 The generality of mankind regard this formidable race [serpents] with horror. a1822Shelley Hom. Merc. lii, I wish the race of cows were perished.
4. A genus, species, or variety of plants (cf. quot. 1880).
1596Spenser F.Q. v. i. 1 The wicked seede of vice Began to spring..But evermore some of the vertuous race Rose up. 1712Addison Spect. No. 387 ⁋7 The Seeds by which the several Races of Plants are propagated and continued. 1804Knapp Brit. Grasses Pl. 119 The whole race of British grasses now before us. 1880A. Gray Struct. Bot. ix. §1. 320 A race in this technical sense of the term, is a variety which is perpetuated with considerable certainty by sexual propagation.
5. One of the great divisions of living creatures:
a. Mankind. In early use always the human race, the race of men or mankind, etc.
c1580Sidney Ps. xxi. x, From among the humane race [thou shalt] Roote out their generation. 1607Shakes. Timon iv. i. 40 His hate may grow To the whole race of Mankinde. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 348 The happy seat Of som new Race call'd Man. 1727–46Thomson Summer 36 The flux of many thousand years, That oft has swept the toiling race of men..away. 1781Cowper Charity 22 That every tribe..Might feel themselves allied to all the race. 1850Tennyson In Mem. vi, One writes..That ‘Loss is common to the race’. 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 2 It was one of the cardinal liberations of the growing race.
b. A class or kind of beings other than men or animals.
1667Milton P.L. ii. 194 Shall we then live thus vile, the race of Heav'n Thus trampl'd. 1679Dryden Ovid Met. i. 250 There dwells below a Race of Demi-Gods. 1781Cowper Anti-Thelyphthora 199 The Fauns and Satyrs, a lascivious race. 1820Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 244 The voice With which our pallid race hold ghastly talk In darkness.
c. One of the chief classes of animals (as beasts, birds, fishes, insects, etc.).
1726–46Thomson Winter 137 The plumy race, The tenants of the sky. 1728–46― Spring 123 Insect armies..A feeble race. 1819Shelley Cyclops 110 And who possess the land? The race of beasts? Ibid. 244 The sacred waves and all the race of fishes.
6. Without article:
a. Denoting the stock, family, class, etc. to which a person, animal, or plant belongs, chiefly in phr. of (noble, etc.) race.
1559Sackville Induct. Mirr. Mag. vi, Som were Dukes, and came of regall race. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. x. 8 Una..Whom well she knew to spring from hevenly race. Ibid. 60 Thou, faire ymp, sprong out from English race. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 95 [A] bud of Nobler race. 1660Stanley Hist. Philos. ix. (1701) 362/1 Who, in Race, and Honour, and Wealth, excelled all the rest of the Citizens. 1703Pope Thebais i. 685 A fate..unworthy those of race divine! 1754Gray Progr. Poesy 105 Two Coursers of ethereal race. 1873Dixon Two Queens I. i. i. 5 His ablest servants were of Oriental race.
b. The fact or condition of belonging to a particular people or ethnical stock; the qualities, etc. resulting from this.
1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. i. I. 16 In no country has the enmity of race been carried farther than in England. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 21 Race in the negro is of appalling importance. 1890Spectator 25 Jan., They are separated by language, by degree of civilisation, and by the indefinable aggregate of inherent differences which we call ‘race’.
†7. Natural or inherited disposition. Obs. rare.
1603Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. iv. 160 Now I giue my sensuall race, the reine. 1610― Temp. i. ii. 358 Thy vild race..had that in't, which good natures Could not abide to be with.
II. A group or class of persons, animals, or things, having some common feature or features.
8. a. A set or class of persons.
1500–20Dunbar Poems xxvi. 50 Bakbyttaris of sindry racis. a1568R. Ascham Scholem i. (Arb.) 66 His onely example had breed such a rase of worthie learned ientlemen, as this Realme neuer yet did affourde. c1580Sidney Ps. xii. i, Ev'n the race of good men are decai'd. a1611Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. iv. ii, You preserve A race of idle people here about you, Facers and talkers. 1712Budgell Spect. No. 404 ⁋3 To this Affectation the World owes its whole Race of Coxcombs. 1748Thomson Cast. Indol. i. lii, The race of learned men, Still at their books. 1821Lamb Elia Ser. 1, The Two Races of Men, The men who borrow, and the men who lend. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 56 There arose a new race of poets..who made pleasure the only criterion of excellence.
b. One of the sexes. poet.
1590Spenser F.Q. iii. v. 52 In gentle Ladies breste and bounteous race Of woman kind. 1711Steele Spect. No. 113 ⁋4 She is beautiful beyond the Race of Women. 1725Pope Odyss. xi. 349 Three gallant sons..but of the softer race, One nymph alone.
†c. The line or succession of persons holding an office. Obs. rare—1.
1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 306 The whole race of the Bishops succeeding Iustus in this See.
9. a. A set, class, or kind of animals, plants, or things. Chiefly poet.
1590Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 8 Seagulles..And Cormoyraunts, with birds of ravenous race. 1648Herrick Hesper., On Spalt (1869) 226 Of pushes Spalt has such a knottie race. 1715–20Pope Iliad v. 66 Expert..In woods and wilds to wound the savage race. 1783Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 20 Nov., I hope [her disease] is not of the cephalick race. 1823Scott Peveril xxv. (motto), Amidst the faded race of fallen leaves.
†b. One of the three ‘kingdoms’ of nature. Obs. rare.
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 224 Of all the Race of Animals, alone The Bees have common Cities of their own. 1707Curiosities in Husb. & Gard. 184 All the Offsprings that are produc'd in the Race of Vegetables and in the Race of Animals. Ibid. 227 They can..extract from Water Minerals, Vegetables, and Animals, and give new Creatures to these three Races of Nature.
10. a. A particular class of wine, or the characteristic flavour of this, supposed to be due to the soil. (Cf. raciness a, racy 1.) ? Obs.
1520Whitinton Vulg. (1527) 15 This is a cup of good romney, and drynketh well of the rase. 1625Massinger New Way i. iii, A pipe Of rich Canary..Is it of the right race? c1645Howell Lett. (1650) I. 370 One cannot pass a day's journey but he will find a differing race of wine. a1682Sir T. Browne Misc. Tracts (1684) 25 A pure and flosculous race or spirit. 1779–81Johnson L.P., Thomson Wks. 1787 IV. 178 ‘Race’..applied to wines, in its primitive sense, means the flavour of the soil. 1835Tait's Edin. Mag. II. 350/1 Like certain wines and fruits..in removal, much of the race, or peculiar flavour of the soil, is sure to be lost.
b. fig. Of speech, writing, etc.: A peculiar and characteristic style or manner, esp. liveliness, sprightliness, piquancy. (Cf. raciness b, racy 3.)
1680–90Temple Ess., Learning Wks. 1731 I. 166, I think the Epistles of Phalaris to have more Race, more Spirit, more Force of Wit and Genius, than any others I have ever seen, either ancient or modern. 1711P. H. View 2 last Parlts. 185 Mr. Dolben..pursu'd the Charge with a peculiar Race of Spirit. 1779–81Johnson L.P., Thomson Wks. 1787 IV. 178, I know not whether they [Thomson's Poems] have not lost part of what Temple calls their ‘race’. 1831Macaulay Ess., Boswell (1860) I. 369 We know no production of the human mind which has so much of what may be called the race, so much of the peculiar flavour of the soil from which it sprang. 1875McCosh Scot. Philos. xxxi. 247 His conversation had a race and flavour peculiarly its own.
11. a. Now found in almost unlimited attrib. and Comb. uses: caused by, based on, of or pertaining to race, as race-aversion, race-blood, race-brood, race-character, race-characteristic, race-conflict, race culture, race-difference, race discrimination, race-distinction, race division, race equality, race-experience, race-feeling, race-hatred, race-heritage, race-history, race-improvement, race-inheritance, race instinct, race law, race line, race-maintenance, race-mixture, race-name, race-patriarch, race-poem, race-portrait, race prejudice, race pride, race problem, race quarrel, race-question, race relationship, race-skull, race solidarity, race superiority, race-survival, race tension, race-type, race war; race-begotten, race-conscious, race-hating, race-maintaining, race-perpetuating, race-proud, race-wide, adjs.
1897‘Mark Twain’ Following Equat. xxi. 207 It must have been *race-aversion that put upon them a good deal of the low-rate intellectual reputation which they bear.
1878B. Taylor Deukalion ii. ii. 62 The *race-begotten child Is its own father's lord.
1906W. H. Fleming Slavery 37 The one is based on a supposed duty to God; the other on a supposed duty to one's *race⁓blood.
1583Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 93 Agragas..steeds courrageous with *racebrood plentiful offred.
1866Pall Mall G. 3 Jan. 5/2 It was absurd to ignore all distinctions of *race-character in governing them [negroes].
1875Whitney Life Lang. ii. 8 The theory of a language as a *race-characteristic.
1880A. W. Tourgée Invis. Empire xii. 513 Any one who asked the support of colored men as against a Democratic nominee was precipitating a *race-conflict. 1949Caribbean Q. I. ii. 28 Countless little stories..about..present life, in country and town..in race-conflict, and class-conflict.
1927Observer 5 June 5/3 Frenchmen are not so *race-conscious as either Englishmen or Americans. 1977P. Johnson Enemies of Society viii. 106 Nigger..is now frequently employed by the more race-conscious blacks, but only among themselves.
1909C. W. Saleeby (title) Parenthood and *race culture. An outline of eugenics.
1875Whitney Life Lang. i. 4 Far greater *race-differences are met with among the speakers of one language.
1917Cases Argued U.S. Supreme Court: Lawyers' Ed. (1918) 155/2 Plaintiff is not in a position to raise the issue of *race discrimination, not being himself a negro.
1883Green Conq. Eng. 117 *Race distinctions perpetuated themselves in the group of little townships.
1906Westm. Gaz. 21 Feb. 2/3 That simple principle [of One Vote One Value]..at once supplies a strong motive for those who once had everything to gain from the *race-division to talk about ‘bringing both races together’. 1974Race XV. 462 The present race divisions are projected into the past as though they were always a feature of South African society.
1911G. Spiller Papers on Inter-Racial Problems i. 31 It becomes a vital matter to grapple with the problem of *race equality.
1890O. Wilde in 19th Cent. Sept. 443 The imagination is the result of heredity. It is simply concentrated *race-experience.
1888Kipling City Dreadf. Nt. (1891) 18 A casual reference to Hindus and Mahometans... There is *race-feeling, to be explained away. 1944J. S. Huxley On Living in Revolution 169 The actual physical kinship, which is frequently claimed as ‘race feeling’, must be fictitious.
1941Auden New Year Let. iii. 68 Self-respect drives negroes from The one-crop and *race-hating delta.
1882Times 15 Mar., The furious *race-hatred that has been raging over the South. 1901Times 5 Aug. 7/2 The object of these documents has usually been..to fan the race-hatred of the Dutch in South Africa. 1935Economist 27 July 175/2 The new excesses are confined to the special domains of class hatred, race hatred and hatred of religion. 1976Birmingham Post 16 Dec. 5/2 Intent to stir up race hatred.
1911W. James Some Probl. Philos. i. 4 Philosophy, thus become a *race-heritage, forms in its totality a monstrously unwieldy mass of learning.
1894Psychol. Rev. Nov. 651 The one criticism which I would venture to make upon this paper..is that it neglects the phylogenetic point of view, the considerations from *race-history. 1907W. James Pragmatism v. 169 The most primitive ways of thinking..may remain as indelible tokens of events in our race-history.
1903Daily Chron. 29 July 4/5 We have a great deal yet to learn on matters bearing upon *race-improvement.
1909W. James Meaning of Truth viii. 214 Dr. Schiller has shown that all our truths, even the most elemental, are affected by *race-inheritance with a human co-efficient.
1901― Let. 3 Mar. (1920) II. 141 Empire anyhow is half crime by necessity of Nature, and to see a country like the United States..perversely rushing to wallow in the mire of it, shows how strong these ancient *race instincts be.
1942‘G. Orwell’ War-time Diary 22 Mar. in Coll. Ess. (1968) II. 412 German propaganda is..offering..emancipation to the Kaffirs and stricter *race laws to the Boers. 1960Twentieth Century Nov. 407 Race-laws make camps almost impossible within the Union. 1978G. Greene Human Factor ii. i. 62 ‘I fell in love.’ ‘Yes. So I see. With an African girl... You broke their race laws.’
1883G. W. Williams Hist. Negro Race II. xxviii. 543 *Race lines must be obliterated. 1891Congress Rec. App. 17 Jan. 101/1 At Marion, Ind.,..when the Democrats were attempting to have a rally,..they were attacked by the colored people, the race line being distinctly drawn by that race.
1879H. Spencer Data of Ethics ii. §5. 15 *Race-maintaining conduct, like self-maintaining conduct, arises gradually out of that which cannot be called conduct.
Ibid. 16 This conduct which furthers *race-maintenance.
1905O. Jespersen Growth & Structure Eng. Lang. iii. 47 There we had a real *race-mixture, where people speaking two different languages were living in actual contact in the same country. 1935Huxley & Haddon We Europeans ix. 278 From what has been said, it will be clear that ‘race⁓mixture’ has in the past been beneficial.
1924*Race-name [see Atestine a. and n.]. 1950Partridge Here, There & Everywhere 17 The other self-confident Asiatic race⁓names are fully qualified.
1859R. B. Anderson tr. Rydberg's Teut. Mythol. 106 The songs learned by Saxo in regard to the northern *race-patriarch.
1915R. Lankester Diversions of Naturalist xxi. 194 Natural automatically-growing mechanisms of life-saving or *race-perpetuating importance.
1888Literary World (Boston) 29 Sept. 314/3 The Kalevala..a *race-poem whose enduring charm is its artlessness and spontaneity.
1875Tylor in Encycl. Brit. II. 111/1 The coloured *race-portraits of ancient Egypt.
1890O. Wilde in 19th Cent. Sept. 457 Criticism will annihilate *race-prejudices, by insisting upon the unity of the human mind in the variety of its forms. 1913J. London Let. 25 Aug. (1966) 395 First of all..by stopping the stupid news⁓paper from fomenting race prejudice. 1920H. Crane Let. 6 Mar. (1965) 35, I am as anti-Semitic as they make 'em, but Frank's comments cannot afford to be ignored merely because of race prejudice. 1942E. Paul Narrow St. xii. 91 Guy delivered a concise impassioned talk against race prejudice. 1956L. Kuper Passive Resistance in S. Afr. 18 Then Dr. Naicker commented on..the United Party's pandering to race-prejudice to catch votes.
1905W. Baucke Where White Man Treads 276 On our side race prejudice, *race pride, preaching honesty, yet unblushingly swindling him and each other. 1973A. Dundes Mother Wit 2/1 The relationship between folklore and race pride..corresponds to the relationship between folklore and nationalism in the nineteenth century.
1890A. W. Tourgée Pactolus Prime xi. 141 If every one could do as much, the *race-problem would soon be solved. 1923O. Schreiner Thoughts on S. Afr. vii. 296 To..attempt to comprehend or deal rationally with race-problems. 1980Bananas Aug. 7/1 Talking about Korea, Chicago, war, the race problem.
1937E. Muir Coll. Poems (1960) 72 Now I am shackled to a Grecian dolt, Pragmatic, *race-proud as a pampered colt.
1931F. L. Allen Only Yesterday iii. 68 If a white man stood up for a Negro in a *race quarrel, he might be kidnapped and beaten up.
1889Boston Jrnl. 26 Dec. 2/4 Time only can solve the *race-question in the South. 1920L. Stoddard Rising Tide of Color xi. 293 She [sc. Japan] should not allow her immigration to be treated as a race-question.
1908R. S. Baker Following Colour Line x. 217, I have found a sharper feeling and a bitterer discussion of *race relationships among the Negroes of the North than among those of the South.
1864J. Hunt tr. Vogt's Lect. Man vii. 194 More of the Simian type than any other known *race-skull.
1942Z. N. Hurston in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 25/1 ‘*Race Solidarity’ looked like something solid in my childhood, but like all other mirages, it faded as I came close enough to look. As soon as I could think, I saw that there is no such thing as Race Solidarity in America with any group.
1901E. A. Ross in Ann. Amer. Acad. Pol. Sci. XVIII. 67 (title) The causes of *race superiority. 1951J. Masters Nightrunners of Bengal v. 58 She was goading herself to wipe out a sense of race superiority she presumed him to have... She wanted..him to acknowledge beauty in an Indian woman.
1933A. N. Whitehead Adventures of Ideas vi. 97 We can observe insects performing elaborate routine actions..which yet are essential either for their own individual survival or for *race-survival.
1954P. Mason Ess. Racial Tension iii. 45 One would expect *race tensions to be most acute..in the country where there is a temperate climate. 1974Allendale (S. Carolina) County Citizen 24 Apr. 6/3 We found ourselves discussion-slanted toward race tension and struggles.
1864W. D. Whitney in Ann. Rep. Board of Regents Smithsonian Inst. 1863 113 The kind and amount of modification which external circumstances can introduce into a *race-type is as yet undetermined. 1892Kipling Lett. of Travel (1920) 30 Seven million negroes..their race-type unevolved. 1927Peake & Fleure Priests & Kings 181 ‘Race-type’ in a general sense is a very difficult matter to define.
1897Chicago Tribune 28 July 3/7 This gave the negroes an excellent chance to start a ‘*race’ war. 1977P. Johnson Enemies of Society xix. 247 He realized he was taking part in a race-war, as well as a class-war.
1893J. H. Barrows World's Parlt. Relig. I. 72 An event of *race-wide and perpetual significance.
b. Of, pertaining to, or designating a style of music, originating among Blacks of the Southern U.S. (cf. race n.2 6 b), freq. in a twelve-bar sequence (see also quot. 1938).
1926H. Niles in W. C. Handy Blues 31 Listen to the ‘race records’, for this craft is sui generis. 1927Jrnl. Abnormal & Social Psychol. Apr.–June 12 ‘Race blues’..are not always what they seem. 1935Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Nov. 71/3 Negro bands play ‘race music’ (a curious euphemism spread by phonograph companies). 1938Collier's 30 Apr. 24/4 We were afraid to advertise Negro records. So I listed them in the catalogue as ‘race’ records and they are still known as that. 1942Partridge Usage & Abusage 208/2 ‘Race (phonograph) recordings’ for recordings made by Negroes. 1946R. Blesh Shining Trumpets (1949) vi. 145 It was considered authentic enough for the uncritical Victor Company to issue in its race catalogue. 1946Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues (1957) ix. 161 Preaching blues was strictly race music. 1952B. Ulanov Hist. Jazz in Amer. (1958) iv. 32 Their masterpieces appeared on the so-called ‘race’ labels of the record companies. 1968P. Oliver Screening Blues 5 In the ensuing months more stores carried Race records, specially pressed for the Negro market... Race records from jazz to vaudeville to rural blues reached the remotest districts. 1976A. Murray Stomping Blues iv. 50 The period of the race catalogs was also the decade of the so-called revolution in race consciousness known as the Harlem Renaissance. 1977Times 17 Aug. 14/4 Negro styles traditionally stigmatized as ‘race’ music.
c. Special combs., as race consciousness, emotionally based awareness of those differences between people or social groups that can be ascribed to racial factors; the supposed intuitive awareness of a common heritage shared by members of a race or culture; race-gap, a difference between racial groups; race man U.S. colloq., a Black, esp. one who advocates the rights of Blacks; race memory, (a) subconscious memory of events in the history of one's race or of the human race which, it is suggested, is transmitted genetically; race relations, a term for such social contacts between racial groups living within a particular area as arise from or are affected by differences in cultural origin or skin colour; freq. attrib. or as adj.; race riot, a riot that results from racial hostility; hence race rioting; race suicide, the self-extinction of a racial group through failure to reproduce itself sufficiently, esp. of one with high cultural standards and a low birth-rate in competition with a racial group having lower standards and a high birth-rate; the self-destruction of a race; also attrib.; race theory, a hypothetical assertion that some racial groups are endowed with specific ‘superior’ qualities; hence race theorist, an advocate of a race theory; race-thinking (see quot. 1937); also race-thinker.
1905*Race consciousness [see amalgamation 2]. 1926G. Callaway Native Probl. in S. Afr. 2 It is conceivable that the Native people of South Africa might have lived along⁓side of the Europeans without developing a strong race consciousness. 1968Internat. Encycl. Social Sci. XIII. 269 Relationships which are capable of producing race conflict and race consciousness.
1890W. James Will to Believe (1897) 260 We here..catch the only glimpse it is allotted to us to attain of the working units themselves, of whose differentiating action the *race-gaps form but the stagnant sum.
1936R. L. Abbot in Chicago Defender 13 June 16/5 One *Race man, finding out this outrage, fired on the officers. 1942Z. N. Hurston in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 25/1 A ‘Race Man’ was somebody who always kept the glory and honor of his race before him... It was a mark of shame if somebody accused: ‘Why, you are not a Race Man (or woman).’ People made whole careers of being ‘Race’ men and women. They were champions of the race. 1969Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. li. 29 Names used..by both Negroes and Whites [for Negroes who demand equal status with whites]..civil rights man, mau mau, race man. 1974Yi-Fu Tuan Topophilia xiii. 209 The upper shadies can identify emotionally with the ghetto poor; they are recognized by the poor as Race Men, that is, supporters of black causes.
1904Folk-Lore XV. 349, I have heard this belief referred to a ‘*race-memory’ of antediluvian reptiles. 1912A. Conan Doyle Lost World i. 10 That race-memory which we call instinct. 1934R. Knox Still Dead xi. 138 A cave has, for all of us, an atmosphere of..terrifying mystery. The anthropologists would tell us..that it is due to race-memory. 1950[see oldest a. 3]. 1972C. Fremlin Appointment with Yesterday xiv. 110 A race-memory of the days when servants weren't quite real, and so it didn't matter what they heard.
1911Pol. Sci. Q. XXVI. 193 (title) *Race relations in the Eastern Piedmont region of Georgia. 1925Scribner's Mag. July 12/2 On two occasions great intercollegiate conventions of students have dealt with race-relations,..and war itself. 1934Race Relations I. 32/1 We have to deal in this country not only with relations between English and Dutch but also between Jews and Gentiles, and between Whites and Coloured, Whites and Indians, as well as between Whites and Bantu... Hence, we decided to invite certain men..to give us their views on how race relations problems strike them. 1965Act 13 & 14 Eliz. II c. 73 (heading) Race Relations Act 1965... An Act to prohibit discrimination on racial grounds in places of public resort; to prevent the enforcement or imposition on racial grounds of restrictions on the transfer of tenancies; to penalize incitement to racial hatred. Ibid. §2 For the purposes of securing compliance with the provisions of..this Act..there shall be constituted a board to be known as the Race Relations Board, consisting of a chairman and two other members appointed by the Secretary of State. 1970Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 30 Apr. Suppl. 14 During the course of the year two visiting Fellows in Race Relations were appointed in collaboration with St. Antony's College. 1977Whitaker's Almanack 1978 348/2 A Lords amendment to the Race Relations Bill..was reversed in the Commons on Oct. 27.
1890Our Day May 406 *Race Riots in the South. 1921Palestine Weekly 2 Dec. 779/2 With regard to the actual question as to which side initiated the race riot, the Commission speaks with definiteness and precision. 1928F. Hurst President is Born xxiv. 250 Race-riots out in Chicago. 1958Daily Mail 3 Sept. 6/6 After three nights of race-riots in their streets the people who live in Notting Hill have been asked to put themselves under a voluntary curfew. 1979Dædalus Spring 103 Race riots broke out in Marseilles in 1973 that left six Algerians dead.
1968Economist 20 July 43/1 The second problem is the emergence of *race rioting as a regular, not to say an annual, occurrence.
1901E. A. Ross in Ann. Amer. Acad. Pol. & Social Sci. July 88 The American farm hand, mechanic and operative might wither away before the heavy influx of a prolific race from the Orient... For a case like this I can find no words so apt as ‘*race suicide’. 1904Daily Chron. 9 June 3/2 I'm with the President on this race-suicide question. 1936M. Plowman Faith called Pacifism 14 If war has become race suicide by a perfectly natural process of evolution, why should we continue to call it ‘war’? 1945C. F. McCleary (title) Race suicide.
1921Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Aug. 543/1 In defiance of the German *race-theorists, and similar superficial or prejudiced observers, Dr. Curtius insists that French culture..cannot be dismissed with the formulae ‘esprit’ and ‘décadence’. 1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment 334 With the exception of the ‘race-theorists’ nearly all modern authorities hold that Jewish characteristics are a product of sustained environmental pressure.
1895W. D. Babington (title) Fallacies of *race theories. 1945Koestler Yogi & Commissar ii. ii. 192 Within a century or two..race-theory and Jew-baiting would have shrunk to episodes of the past.
1937J. Barzun Race: Study in Mod. Superstition x. 263 Then came the ‘biological revolution’ and *race-thinkers pinned their hopes on anatomy.
Ibid. i. 17 We must..see what men who have thought and written about race think it is. Their ideas form, not a definition of race, for they all disagree among themselves, but a type of thinking, which I shall call *race-thinking. 1965Listener 11 Nov. 740/2 This kind of thinking involves what are, in fact, vague figures. It has been described as ‘race thinking’. People who think this way..are becoming racists.
▪ III. race, n.3|reɪs|
[var. of rase n. (q.v.). Cf. race v.3]
A cut, slit, mark, scratch. Now only techn. (see quot. 1819).
c1500Robt. Devyll in Thoms Prose Rom. (1858) I. 40 Robert had a race in his face. 1587L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Oxen (1627) 19 Yee must launce his feete gently round on the edge of his hoofes, with small races not deepe. 1601Holland Pliny (1634) II. 572 That sand cutteth smooth and cleane as it goeth, and leaues no race at all in the work. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xiii. ⁋4 He, with the Tooth of the Gage makes a Mark or Race on the side of the Face. 1819Rees Cycl. XXIX. Race, the mark made on timber, &c. by a tool called a racing-knife.
attrib.1705Lond. Gaz. No. 4145 She hath had a little Race Sore upon one of her hind Gambrels.
▪ IV. race, n.4 Obs. exc. dial.|reɪs|
[f. race v.4: cf. pluck n.]
The heart, liver, and lungs, esp. of a calf.
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 25 The destilled water of the race [of a calf]..helpeth cold. c1818Yng. Woman's Companion 1–2 The head and inwards are called the pluck; in some places they are called the calf's race. 1825Britton Beauties Wiltsh. III. (E.D.S.). 1879–In dial. glossaries (Shropsh., Leic., Wilts, etc.).
▪ V. † race, n.5 Obs.
Also 6–7 rase, 7 raice.
[Of obscure origin; cf. rache n.2]
A (white) mark down the face of a horse (or dog).
1523Fitzherb. Husb. §73 A whyte rase or a ball in the foreheed. 1674Lond. Gaz. No. 841 A young black..Dog, with..a little rase of white down his Face and Nose. 1679Ibid. No. 1423 A sorrel Stonehorse..with a white Star and raice down his face. 1707Ibid. No. 4304 A Pair of..black Coach-Mares, with Races in their Foreheads.
▪ VI. race, n.6|reɪs|
Also 6 rase, raze.
[ad. OF. rais, raiz = Sp. raiz:—L. rādīc-em: see radish, radix.]
A root (of ginger).
1547Boorde Brev. Health §16. 324. 105 Take and eate a race of grene ginger. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xv. 75 A few stewed Prunes, a race of greene Ginger. 1665Sir T. Roe's Voy. E. Ind. in J. Havers P. della Valle's Trav. E. India 361 Ginger..the large races whereof, are there very excellently well preserved. 1750G. Hughes Barbadoes 233 Its roots are those flattish digitated Races called Ginger. c1825Houlston Tracts II. xlvii. 8 A race of ginger you shall surely have. 1879in Cassell's Techn. Educ. ii. 91/2 The ginger of commerce is the dry, wrinkled rhizomes of the plant, which are called ‘races’.
attrib.1832Webster, s.v. Race-ginger.
▪ VII. race, n.7|reɪs|
[Origin unknown.]
A calcareous concretion found in nodules in brick-clay.
1728Woodward Fossils 16 There's one sort of this found commonly among the clay us'd for making Tyles and Bricks; which the Workmen call Race or Rance. 1798Middleton View Agric. 311 The calcarious matter is chalk..in very small pieces..which the brickmakers about town call race. 1824Ann. Reg. 238* By contact with these bones the clay is converted into nodules of a blueish white substance, called by the workmen race. 1885Proc. R. Soc. XXXIX. 213 What were at first supposed to be pebbles..prove on examination to be calcareous concretions (‘race’ or ‘kunkur’).
▪ VIII. † race, a. Obs. rare.
[a. F. ras shaven, bare, etc., ad. L. rās-us, pa. pple. of rādĕre to scrape, shave; cf. rase v. and razee.]
1. Of ships: Lying low in the water. Hence race-building, race-built.
There is app. no authority for Kingsley's explanation.
1622Sir R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 199 Whether the race or loftie built shippe bee best for the merchant. Ibid. 220 This race building, first came in by overmuch homing in of our shippes. [1855Kingsley Westw. Ho. II. xii. 322 The Spanish fashion..was..to build their men-of-war flush-decked, or, as it was called, race.]
2. Of measure: Bare, without addition.
1736Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Full measure is 21 to the score, as of corn, coals, &c.; and race measure is but 20... When the bushel is upheap'd 'tis full; when struck with the strickle and even'd, 'tis race measure.
▪ IX. race, v.1|reɪs|
[f. race n.1]
1. a. intr. To run a race (with), to compete (with) in speed.
1680,1741–3[see racing vbl. n.]. 1818Keats Endym. i. 534, I who..would race With my own steed from Araby. 1830Tennyson Confess. Sensit. Mind 158 The lamb..raceth freely with his fere. 1855Browning Love among Ruins iv, A burning ring..the chariots traced As they raced.
b. To practise or engage in horse-racing.
1827Lytton Pelham lvii, ‘And young A―?’.. ‘Has an expensive mistress, and races’. 1881H. Smart Race for Wife iii, I've been racing now getting on fifty years.
2. a. intr. To run, ride, sail, etc. swiftly. (In some examples perh. with suggestion of sense 1.)
1757Dyer Fleece i. (1761) 81 Those snow-white lambs..Skip on the green, and race in little troops. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 133 Scampering beetles rac'd away. 1847Tennyson Princ. v. 107 Inward raced the scouts With rumour of Prince Arac hard at hand. 1879Browning Pheidippides 12 Run, Pheidippides, run and race, reach Sparta for aid! 1887Bowen Virg. æneid iii. 191 [We] Spread to the gale our canvas, and race on the waves once more.
transf. or fig.1874Blackie Self-Cult. 46 There is a class of people who do not walk through life, but race.
b. Of inanimate things.
1808Scott Marm. iii. Introd., Like streamlet..racing forth. 1845De Quincey Afflict. Childhood Wks. 1897 I. 51 April, that sometimes cares little for racing across both frontiers of May. 1883Ouida Wanda I. 31 The north wind is racing in from the Polish steppes.
c. Of a steam engine, screw propeller, wheel, etc.: To run or revolve with uncontrolled speed, when resistance is diminished while the driving power continues the same. Also of an electric motor, car engine, etc.
1862Illustr. Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xii. 2/1 The ‘governor’ prevents the engines from racing in heavy weather. 1893R. Kipling Many Invent. 158 The Rathmines stood poised, her screw racing and drumming. 1893S. R. Bottone How to manage Dynamo ii. 29 The dynamo..if shunt-wound..will race and go much faster than usual. 1900Daily News 5 Nov. 7/2 The loss of the propeller caused the engines to ‘race’ so fiercely that the shaft broke. 1907C. W. Brown Petrol Engine i. 3 Neglect of this matter will cause the engine to develop a knocking sound, especially..when ‘racing’ with the governor out of action. 1980Sci. Amer. Jan. 118/3 If the load on the turbine was suddenly removed, then unless the turbine was shut down promptly it would pick up speed and race, conceivably until it flew to pieces.
3. a. trans. To race with; to try to beat in running. Also refl.
1809W. Irving Knickerb. iv. (1820) 187 Fought cocks, and raced their neighbours' horses. 1832R. H. Froude in Rem. (1838) I. 291 She had two servants a-head, who..raced him, and..contrived to keep a head. 1847Tennyson Princ. ii. 230, I..Flung ball, flew kite, and raced the purple fly. 1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 203 If he [a dog] lacks speed in racing a sheep [etc.]. 1963Daily Tel. 17 July 1/4 He said he got the impression that America was ‘racing herself’ in this quest [to the Moon].
b. To hold, ‘bring off’ (a race).
1897Westm. Gaz. 31 Aug. 7/2 A match open to the fourteen feet boats..will be raced off.
4. a. To cause to move swiftly or to make rapid progress; to cause to run a race or races.
c1860Miriam May xv, Whilst he will race horses, it is as well that he should..separate himself from holy things. 1862H. Kingsley Ravenshoe III. ii. 24 That quiet looking commander of hers was going to race her out under steam the whole way. 1896Daily News 9 June 7/4 No attempt would be made by the Government to race the Bill through. 1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands ii. 17 She raced her work. 1945ABC of Cookery (Ministry of Food) vii. 22 Take care not to race the boiling or the eggs may crack.
b. to race away: to lose by racing.
1856Leisure Hour V. 818/1 He raced all his money away. 1887Ruskin in Pall Mall G. 8 June 1 It is of infinite importance..that the ancient Lords of England should..not gamble and race their estates away.
c. To convey swiftly. rare.
1896R. Kipling Song of the English iv, The clippers..that race the Southern Wool.
d. To cause (an engine) to race; to ‘rev’.
1932New Yorker 23 July 14/3 The cop got on his machine, raced his engine,..and throttled down. 1973W. McCarthy Detail ii. 117 He started the car and raced the engine noisily.
e. to race off, to seduce (a woman); to hurry (a woman) away in order to seduce her. Austral. slang.
1965W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags xii. 185 Three of Knuckles's boys had raced Sharon off to the park to see if they could do any good for themselves. 1967M. Wilding Coast to Coast 1965–6 250 Perhaps Peter thought he would try to race her..off. He relished the phrase, race off. He had not heard it in England. 1969W. Moxham Apprentice vii. 87 ‘That's one bird you won't race off,’ Rufe said. ‘I know her and the bloke she's with.’ 1978TV Week (Austral.) 24 June 46/4 Luckinbill blabs to his wife Cannon that he raced off most of her best friends.
5. To suspend (a wheel, grindstone, etc.) in the proper position for running.
1870Reade Put yourself in his place II. 40 The master provides the stone, but the grinder hangs and races it.
Add:[2.] d. Of the heart or pulse: to beat fast.
1948Wodehouse Uncle Dynamite ii. v. 68 As Lady Bostock made her way to the study, her heart was racing painfully. 1955D. Eden Darling Clementine xvi. 156 There was a taut look of excitement that she had never seen before in his face. Her own pulses began to race. 1988M. Forster Elizabeth Barrett Browning iv. 64 Delight as well as dread made her heart race. 1989Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 26 Aug. 51/1 In her [sc. Jane Austen's] writing we can still hear the pulse-beats of Awful Lydia and Silly Kitty racing at the prospects of beaux and conquests.
▪ X. † race, v.2 Obs. rare—1.
[a. F. racer, f. race race n.2]
intr. Of a parent-bird: To impart its nature to its offspring.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Race [n.], D'Hervieux observes, that..the male usually races more than the female, i.e. the young ones take more after the male.
▪ XI. race, v.3|reɪs|
[var. of rase (raze) v.1, in common use c 1400–c 1650, now only techn. in sense 1.]
1. trans. To scratch or tear with something sharp; to cut or slash. Now techn.
c1440J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. iv. 907 Lete hem take vengeavnce now vp-on me,..lete hem my body race. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 108 Buckles and agglettes at vnwares, shall race hys bowe. 1588Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 327 Al the men and women haue their faces raced, and their legs and armes. 1617Markham Caval. vii. 54 The cure is, with a sharpe knife to race him alongst his gummes. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 24 Drawing, or racing with a Point of hardned Steel, a bright Line by the side of the Ruler. 1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 20 Every butt must be..raced across from side to side. 1819[see racer2]. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 557 To Race, applies to marking timber with the race-tool.
†b. spec. To cut or slash (shoes or clothes) in an ornamental fashion. Obs.
1430–40Lydg. Bochas ix. ix. 24 b, Their shone were raced freshly to the tone. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. (1877) 58 [Shoes] raced, carued, cut, and stitched all ouer with silk. 1613Wither Abuses, Vanity 696 Apparel..shall be gathered, stitcht, or lac't, Else plated, printed, iag'd, or cut and rac't. 1653Greaves Seraglio 128 His shoes..are raced, and painted like childrens shoes.
†c. To force (a way) by tearing or cutting.
c1611Chapman Iliad xi. 287 As when two chaced Bores Turne head gainst kennels of bold hounds, and race way through their gores.
†2. intr.
a. To cut a way; to pierce, penetrate.
c1403Lydg. Temple Glas 756 A world of beaute compassid in hir face, Whose persant loke doþ þuruȝ myn hert[e] race. 1412–20― Chron. Troy iii. xxii, The head of stele..Through plate and mayle mightly gan to glace But to the skinne for nothing might it race. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 31 So depe they dede in race Tyl at the laste a chest they founde.
†b. Of boars: ? To slash with the tusks. Obs.
1470–85Malory Arthur vii. xvii, They yede to bataille ageyne tracyng racyng foynyng as two bores.
†3. trans. To scrape out, erase. Obs. (Now written rase or raze.)
c1403Lydg. Temple Glas 1238 Wiþoute merci, shal falle þe vengeaunce Forto be raced clene out of my bokes. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 96 They ordeynyd hys name..From noumbyr of popys racyd to be. a1541Wyatt in Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 72 The wound alas happe in some other place: From whence no toole away the skar can race. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. ix. 26 Bon, that once had written bin, Was raced out, and Mal was now put in. 1704Providence Records (1894) V. 220 The three words..Raced out in the thirty fift line.
†b. transf. and fig. (cf. erase and rase). Obs.
It is difficult to decide whether some instances of race out belong here or to race v.4
1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 215/2 The remembraunce..shoulde bee vtterly raced out of the worlde. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 451 To massacre them all, And race their faction, and their familie. 1630Lord Banians & Persees 89 The Lord utterly raced out all of the Tribe or Cast of the Cutteryes. 1705Stanhope Paraphrase II. 596 It had made little Impression upon their Minds, or if it had, Grief and Disorder had quite raced them out.
†4. To alter (a writing) by erasure. Obs.
c1440Promp. Parv. 421/2 Racyng bokys, or oþer lyke, rado, abrado. 1530Palsgr. 678/1 This indenture is raced, all the worlde may se it. 1577Harrison England ii. viii. (1877) I. 176 The instrument is still wholie or in part raced or reformed. 1614in Bury Wills (1850) 165 The last will and testament of..William Cooke, beinge in noe part therof raced or interlyned.
†5. To level with the ground; to raze. Obs.
c1565Abp. Parker Psalter lxxix, Thy holy house they haue defylde, Hierusalem is raced. 1594Plat Jewell-house i. 16 Hee had sentence giuen him to haue his house raced. 1637Raleigh Mahomet 50 Such Castles and strengths as hee was jealous of were raced. 1679G. R. tr. Boaystuau's Theatre World 112 Destroyed Cities, raced Fortresses.
▪ XII. † race, v.4 Obs.
See also rase v.2
[Aphetic form of arace: cf. OF. racher, -ier for arrachier arrache.]
1. trans. To tear, snatch, pluck off, away, from, out, down, up; to root out.
c1350St. Agatha 148 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 47 When hir pappes war raced hir fro. a1400Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. iv. 219 Þay..racede of all þe skyne þat tyde. c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 91 He þat racys it vp by þe rote, and etys þe flour. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 162 Lat every man doon his besy cure, To race out pride. c1470Henry Wallace x. 670 Sone to ground the baner doun he race [pa. tense]. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 89 As wild horses at a brunte doth race and pluck in pieces many a stronge carte. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. v. 11 Thinking at once both head and helmet to have raced.
2. intr. To tear, go in pieces. rare—1.
a1375Lay Folks Mass Bk. App. iv. 137 So radli he gon hit Rogge Þat al þe Rolle gon race. |