Rail

I use the term RAIL as an acronym for my favorite method of dealing with any requirement for a 99% available, cheap, fairly low-cycle middle-secure web server farm or other distributed application. It stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Linux boxes.

The edges of a surfboard are called rails. The shape
of the rails affects the manoeuverability of the
surfboard. Square rails with sharp edges
make the board more "edgy". Rounded rails make the
surfboard more stable. Other parts of surfboards are
fins, the deck, the nose, and the tail. The shapes
of these components all affect how the surfboard
moves through the water, how easily it is to catch a wave, and the size and shapes of waves they are
most suited to riding. Common accessories used
with surfboards are legropes (also known as leashes),
and wax.

Slang term used to describe a line of cocaine.

Rail refers to a freestyle skateboarding stance, that involves standing on the board while it is sideways. Your feet are supported by the wheels and deck. The primo grind is done a la rail. Many beginners get hurt while trying to go from regular or goofy to rail, and back. Serious pros can do 360s and walking style footwork involving rail stance.

A rail is a kind of dragster. This particular type is built on a long pipe frame, and only has body panels around the cockpit. Rails are very narrow and only have a minimum capacity for steering. They are designed only for massive acceleration, (and nothing more).

Rail is also skateboarding and snowboarding slang for any type of handrail or other such grindable object that has no conceivable flat top. If said object has a flat top, it is referred to as a ledge

Lines that supply various voltages for an electronic circuit are referred to as rails. Typically, each rail is designed to provide a specific voltage at currents ranging up to a maximum number of amperes (milliamps, et cetera).

Every modern electronic system will include a ground rail -- this is the "0 volts" point from which all other voltages in the system are based. A system will almost always include a +5 volt rail and/or a +3.3 volt rail, as these voltages are commonly used for logic -- although lower voltages such as 1.8v are also becoming common for newer logic gates. It may also have a +12 or +15 volt rail to drive speakers, motors, et cetera; and one or more negative rails (-5 or -12 volts are common), also often used for speakers when rail to rail operation is desired. In addition, there may be one or more rails specifically designed to handle high current loads, or rails for analog circuitry that should be shielded from digital noise (including a separate analog ground line).

Often you will see the main positive voltage rail for a system designated as "Vcc" or "Vdd". This has to do with the labeling of BJT and FET transistors: "Vcc" would connect to a BJT collector, and "Vdd" to a FET drain. Older datasheets may also use "Vee" and "Vss" to represent the negative rails, being connected to a BJT emitter and FET source, respectively. Nowadays, "Vcc" is still commonly used for the positive power rail and "GND" for the ground line, although you will sometimes see "Vdd"/"Vss" in datasheets for components such as operational amplifiers.

Rail (rAl), n. [OE. reil, re&yogh;el, AS. hrægel, hrægl, a garment; akin to OHG. hregil, OFries. hreil.]

An outer cloak or covering; a neckerchief for women. Fairholt.

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Rail, v. i. [Etymol. uncertain.]

To flow forth; to roll out; to course. [Obs.]

Streams of tears from her fair eyes forth railing.
Spenser.

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Rail, n. [Akin to LG. & Sw. regel bar, bolt, G. riegel a rail, bar, or bolt, OHG. rigil, rigel, bar, bolt, and possibly to E. row a line.]

1.

A bar of timber or metal, usually horizontal or nearly so, extending from one post or support to another, as in fences, balustrades, staircases, etc.

2. (Arch.)

A horizontal piece in a frame or paneling. See Illust. of Style.

3. (Railroad)

A bar of steel or iron, forming part of the track on which the wheels roll. It is usually shaped with reference to vertical strength, and is held in place by chairs, splices, etc.

4. (Naut.)

(a)

The stout, narrow plank that forms the top of the bulwarks.

(b)

The light, fencelike structures of wood or metal at the break of the deck, and elsewhere where such protection is needed.

Rail fence. See under Fence. --
Rail guard.
(a) A device attached to the front of a locomotive on each side for clearing the rail of obstructions.
(b) A guard rail. See under Guard. --
Rail joint (Railroad), a splice connecting the adjacent ends of rails, in distinction from a chair, which is merely a seat. The two devices are sometimes united. Among several hundred varieties, the fish joint is standard. See Fish joint, under Fish. --
Rail train (Iron & Steel Manuf.), a train of rolls in a rolling mill, for making rails for railroads from blooms or billets.

© Webster 1913

Rail, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Railed (rAld); p. pr. & vb. n. Railing.]

1.

To inclose with rails or a railing.

It ought to be fenced in and railed.
Ayliffe.

2.

To range in a line. [Obs.]

They were brought to London all railed in ropes, like a team of horses in a cart.
Bacon.

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Rail, n. [F. rale, fr. raler to have a rattling in the throat; of German origin, and akin to E. rattle. See Rattle, v.] (Zoöl.)

Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds of the family Rallidæ, especially those of the genus Rallus, and of closely allied genera. They are prized as game birds.

⇒ The common European water rail (Rallus aquaticus) is called also bilcock, skitty coot, and brook runner. The best known American species are the clapper rail, or salt-marsh hen (Rallus longirostris, var. crepitans); the king, or red-breasted, rail (R. elegans) (called also fresh-water marsh-hen); the lesser clapper, or Virginia, rail (R. Virginianus); and the Carolina, or sora, rail (Porzana Carolina). See Sora.

Land rail (Zoöl.), the corncrake.

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Rail, v. i. [F. railler; cf. Sp. rallar to grate, scrape, molest; perhaps fr. (assumed) LL. radiculare, fr. L. radere to scrape, grate. Cf. Rally to banter, Rase.]

To use insolent and reproachful language; to utter reproaches; to scoff; -- followed by at or against, formerly by on. Shak.

And rail at arts he did not understand.
Dryden.

Lesbia forever on me rails.
Swift.

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Rail (rAl), v. t.

1.

To rail at. [Obs.] Feltham.

2.

To move or influence by railing. [R.]

Rail the seal from off my bond.
Shak.

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Rail, n.

A railroad as a means of transportation; as, to go by rail; a place not accesible by rail.

© Webster 1913