Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Middle French range, variant of renge row, rank, file (12th cent. in Old French and Anglo-Norman of soldiers, etc., and of objects), related to (and probably a feminine derivative formation from) rang rank n.¹, itself ultimately of Germanic origin. (Compare also Anglo-Norman raunge , Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French renge sword or dagger belt, cross-belt, which may show the same word, or may show a borrowing of a morphological variant of the same Germanic base.) Compare post-classical Latin ranga , rangea , raingia range, row (from 13th cent. in British sources; compare also forms cited at renge n.¹), Old Occitan renga . The French word was borrowed into English earlier as renge n.¹ Compare also rank n.¹, range v.¹It is notable that only senses A. 1 and A. 2 and probably also A. 6a and A. 6b follow the senses of the French word (with sense A. 6a and A. 6b compare specific use in Middle French of a row of posts). With sense A. 3 compare rank n.¹ Sense A. 5a is attested in the Middle English period only as a vernacular word in a Latin context (although compare quot. 1469 at sense A. 5b for an extended use in an English context), and in all three examples it occurs with the French article le , although there is apparently no evidence for contextual use in Anglo-Norman. In early use in sense A. 5a occasionally in plural form with singular meaning and grammatical agreement (see e.g. quot. c1520). On the γ. forms see discussion at range v.¹

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Compare earlier renge n.², and also range v.², ranger n.², ranch-sieve n., ranging sieve n. Perhaps a specific sense development of range n.¹, with the earlier form renge n.² corresponding to renge n.¹ (or perhaps range v.² shows a specific sense development of range v.¹), but if so the nature of the development is unclear. Compare also ree v.¹ and discussion at that entry. Eng. Dial. Dict. (at cited word) records the word as still in use in the Isle of Wight in 1903.

Etymology: Perhaps a variant of ratch n.¹ Compare reach n.¹ 3.

Etymology: < Middle French ranger (French ranger ) to arrange (soldiers) in ranks (13th cent. in Old French; 12th cent. as rengier ), to travel, traverse (12th cent. as renger ), to put oneself in rank or order (14th cent., also as rengier ), to classify, arrange (1581 in the passage translated in quot. 1587 at sense 11), (reflexively) to put (oneself) in (a specified) order or position (15th cent.; 12th cent. as rengier ), to put in order (a1544; 14th cent. as rengier ), to sail along (a coast, etc.) (1559 as renger ), (reflexively with à , sur , avec ) to ally (oneself with) (16th cent.), (with à ) to bring someone (to a particular condition) (16th cent.; 15th cent. as renger ), (with sous ) to cause (someone) to submit (to something) (1636), (reflexively) to settle down, to become sensible and serious (1787), to bring (someone) to a more regular mode of life (1811) < rang rank v.³ Compare Old Occitan rengar . Earlier currency (apparently in sense 1a) is apparently implied by ranger n.¹ Compare earlier renge v. and range n.¹, and also rank v.³, arrange v.On the phonological developments shown by the γ. forms see discussion in A. J. Aitken Older Scots Vowels (2002) 57, 61. It is possible that the form reenge could instead show a continuation of renge v.