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Rank   /ræŋk/   Listen
noun
Rank  n.  
1.
A row or line; a range; an order; a tier; as, a rank of osiers. "Many a mountain nigh Rising in lofty ranks, and loftier still."
2.
(Mil.) A line of soldiers ranged side by side; opposed to file. See 1st File, 1 (a). "Fierce, fiery warriors fought upon the clouds, In ranks and squadrons and right form of war."
3.
Grade of official standing, as in the army, navy, or nobility; as, the rank of general; the rank of admiral.
4.
An aggregate of individuals classed together; a permanent social class; an order; a division; as, ranks and orders of men; the highest and the lowest ranks of men, or of other intelligent beings.
5.
Degree of dignity, eminence, or excellence; position in civil or social life; station; degree; grade; as, a writer of the first rank; a lawyer of high rank. "These all are virtues of a meaner rank."
6.
Elevated grade or standing; high degree; high social position; distinction; eminence; as, a man of rank.
Rank and file.
(a)
(Mil.) The whole body of common soldiers, including also corporals. In a more extended sense, it includes sergeants also, excepting the noncommissioned staff.
(b)
See under 1st File.
The ranks, the order or grade of common soldiers; as, to reduce a noncommissioned officer to the ranks.
To fill the ranks, to supply the whole number, or a competent number.
To take rank of, to have precedence over, or to have the right of taking a higher place than.


verb
Rank  v. t.  (past & past part. ranked; pres. part. ranking)  
1.
To place abreast, or in a line.
2.
To range in a particular class, order, or division; to class; also, to dispose methodically; to place in suitable classes or order; to classify. "Ranking all things under general and special heads." "Poets were ranked in the class of philosophers." "Heresy is ranked with idolatry and witchcraft."
3.
To take rank of; to outrank. (U.S.)


Rank  v. i.  
1.
To be ranged; to be set or disposed, as in a particular degree, class, order, or division. "Let that one article rank with the rest."
2.
To have a certain grade or degree of elevation in the orders of civil or military life; to have a certain degree of esteem or consideration; as, he ranks with the first class of poets; he ranks high in public estimation.


adjective
Rank  adj.  (compar. ranker; superl. rankest)  
1.
Luxuriant in growth; of vigorous growth; exuberant; grown to immoderate height; as, rank grass; rank weeds. "And, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good."
2.
Raised to a high degree; violent; extreme; gross; utter; as, rank heresy. "Rank nonsense." "I do forgive thy rankest fault."
3.
Causing vigorous growth; producing luxuriantly; very rich and fertile; as, rank land.
4.
Strong-scented; rancid; musty; as, oil of a rank smell; rank-smelling rue.
5.
Strong to the taste. "Divers sea fowls taste rank of the fish on which they feed."
6.
Inflamed with venereal appetite. (Obs.)
Rank modus (Law), an excessive and unreasonable modus. See Modus, 3.
To set (the iron of a plane, etc.) rank, to set so as to take off a thick shaving.


adverb
Rank  adv.  Rankly; stoutly; violently. (Obs.) "That rides so rank and bends his lance so fell."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Rank" Quotes from Famous Books



... beauty may, sometimes, have its original in universal beauty carried to extravagance. Instead of commending him for being able to give merriment to the most refined nation of those days, we shall proceed to place that people, with all their atticism, in the rank of savages, whom we take upon us to degrade, because they have no other qualifications but innocence, and plain understanding. But have not we, likewise, amidst our more polished manners, beauties merely fashionable, which ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume V: Miscellaneous Pieces • Samuel Johnson
... side; the majority of King William's bishops were inclined to latitudinarianism. A dispute arose between the two parties touching the extent of the powers of the Lower House of Convocation. Atterbury thrust himself eagerly into the front rank of the high-churchmen. Those who take a comprehensive and impartial view of his whole career will not be disposed to give him credit for religious zeal. But it was his nature to be vehement and pugnacious in the cause of every fraternity of which ...
— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 3. (of 4) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... to know exactly what in their view it really means. Fortunately on this point we have some data of indisputable authority. They are furnished in the speeches of an "advanced" leader, who does not rank amongst the revolutionary extremists, though his refusal to give evidence in the trial of a seditious newspaper with which he had been connected brought him in 1907 within the scope of the Indian Criminal Code. Mr. Bepin Chandra Pal, a high-caste Hindu and a man of great intellectual ...
— Indian Unrest • Valentine Chirol
... that in the Army, lieutenants are called "Mister" always, but all other officers must be addressed by their rank. At least that is what they tell me. But in Faye's company, the captain is called general, and the first lieutenant is called major, and as this is most confusing, I get things mixed sometimes. Most girls would. A soldier in uniform waited ...
— Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871-1888 • Frances M.A. Roe
... a deferential air which confirmed my belief in the pea-green young man's aristocratic origin. It was such deference as the British flunkey pays only to blue blood; for he has gradations of flunkeydom. He is respectful to wealth; polite to acquired rank; but servile only to hereditary nobility. Indeed, you can make a rough guess at the social status of the person he addresses by observing which one of his twenty-seven nicely graduated manners ...
— Miss Cayley's Adventures • Grant Allen


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