race

noun

1. 1

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

   Several horses ran in a horse race: the first one to reach the finishing post won.

   The race to cure cancer

   The race around the park was won by Johnny, who ran faster than the others.

   We had a race to see who could finish the book the quickest.

2. 2

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

   The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beasts.

   Hence the rapid race / Of light, and lustre from th' effusive sun

   And above all, it is an age of activity and enterprise, an age of new discoveries and new deviltries, an age of magnetic telegraphs and Mississippi bonds, and it would be indeed odd if, in the swift race of progress, the rogue did not keep his natural station in the van of the movement.

3. 3

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

   Many problems of oscillations and races are solved by this arrangement.

   Because a race by definition depends on the timing being just wrong, you could test your program any number of times, never observe any misbehavior, and still have a user run into the problem.¶ This occurrence is not just a theoretical possibility: Real programs have race bugs and real users have encountered them, sometimes with consequences that have literally been fatal.

   As the name implies, a race condition means that two processes are competing within the same time interval, and the race affects the integrity or correctness of the computing tasks.

4. 4

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

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

   An offensive war is made, which is unjust in the aggressor; the prosecution and race of the war carrieth the defendant to invade the ancient patrimony of the first aggressor, who is now turned defendant; shall he sit down, and not put himself in defence?

5. 5

   A fast-moving current of water.

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

   The existing analysis and program for the propeller-rudder interaction has been updated incorporating all the improvements concerned with the propeller loading distribution, including that associated with the fact that the rudder is immersed in the race of the propeller.

   This is an area of spectacular tidal races, rips, swirls, boils, whirlpools, overfalls, currents, and countercurrents. Scylla and Charybdis pale by comparison with the great maelstroms where the sea is trapped between Vancouver Island and the Canadian mainland.

6. 6

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

   Evidently the future manufacturing development depends upon the hydraulic canal, so far as existing works are concerned, rather than upon the two races, which can never be enlarged to embrace a comprehensive improvement of the river, while the capabilities at the hydraulic basin are unrivaled. So far as can be learned there is no expectation of ever increasing materially the capacity of the races.

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

   Water for irrigation is stored in the high country behind the Upper Manorburn Dam. Two parallel races at different levels run along the west side of the valley and one race flowing along the east side is supplemented by water stored at the Poolburn Dam.

7. 7

   A path that something or someone moves along.

   My race of glory run, and race of ſhame,

   There were all the marked passages, which had thrilled his soul so often,—words of patriarchs and seers, poets and sages, who from early time had spoken courage to man,—voices from the great cloud of witnesses who ever surround us in the race of life.

   Don't let fear be a factor for you as the finish line of harvest calls out to you to join the race of eternity. Clear the table of excuses and go!

8. 8

   A guide or channel that a component of a machine moves along: A groove on a sewing machine or a loom along which the shuttle moves.

   I have lately seen a shuttle machine of Messrs. Grover Baker's construction, in which the shuttle worked in a semi-circular race and produced two stitches at each revolution of the wheel.

   Meanwhile another lug on the shuttle-band engages another carrier at the other end of the loom, and the belt, continuing to move in the same direction, conveys the carrier across the race in a similar manner as above described.

9. 9

   A guide or channel that a component of a machine moves along: A ring with a groove in which rolling elements (such as balls) ride, forming part of a rolling-element bearing (for example, a ball bearing).

   inner/outer race

   The chances of picking up an inner race fault are small unless the load direction of the bearing coincides with the location of the accelerometer.

   The bearing comprises four mechanical components: an outer race, an inner race, rollers (balls), and a cage that holds the rollers (balls) in place.

10. 10

    A keno gambling session.

    Your odds are sometimes significantly better with video keno […] But because video keno plays so much faster, you're likely to lose more money over a given period. Live keno races start every 10 minutes, but you can make 100 bets on a video version in the same amount of time.

verb

1. 1

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

   The drivers were racing around the track.

   Honesty raced up six lengths in front of Wandering Minstrel, turned, then raced past for the second, and lost his place at the hedge; some work followed to the plantation, but Honesty was always the faster in the racing stretches, and won easily.

   "I cannot wait to race in front of the amazing home crowd," she added.

2. 2

   To compete against in a race (contest).

   I raced him to the car, but he was there first, so he got to ride shotgun.

   […]a fresh fox popped out of a pit, and they raced him to Cherrington, where hounds were stopped at dark[…]

   He pulled it down and saw Tech's full-back closing in. Counting on his own fresh condition, Jimmy raced him toward the sidelines, and got around him just in time to prevent being forced out. The goal was waiting for him twenty yards away, and to the accompaniment of a deafening shout from the stands he placed the pigskin across the goal line.

3. 3

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

   As soon as it was time to go home, he raced for the door.

   Her heart was racing as she peered into the dimly lit room.

   The horse raced past the barn fell.

   There she goes / There she goes again / Racing through my brain / And I just can't contain / This feeling that remains

4. 4

   To run rapidly when not engaged to a transmission.

   "My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built."

   He put the transmission into drive and pressed the gas. The engine raced and the motor home rocked, gently, but did not move forward.

noun

1. 1

   A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics (see Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race): A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage.

   The Canadian race is one of the most vigorous on the globe.

   Felovves, they ſhall never more us vvithſtonde, / For I ſe them all drovvned in the raſe of Irlonde.

   I believe that the British race is the greatest of the governing races that the world has ever seen.

   What is to become of the French race and the British race—yes, and the German race—if this thing keeps up?

2. 2

   A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics (see Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race): A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of common physical characteristics, such as skin color or hair type.

   Race was a significant issue during apartheid in South Africa.

   The Native Americans colonized the New World in several waves from Asia, and thus they are considered part of the same Mongoloid race.

   The race to which most anthropologists refer the native Americans is the Mongoloid of Eastern Asia, who are capable of accommodating themselves to the extremest climates, and who by the form of skull, the light brown skin, straight black hair, and black eyes, show considerable agreement with the American tribes.

   Colonel Lin Nan: Would it offend you to be loved by a man of another race? Gladys Aylward: It would honor me.

3. 3

   A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics (see Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race): A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of shared characteristics or qualities, for example social qualities.

   The advent of the Internet has brought about a new race of entrepreneur.

   We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them—they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors.

   His opinion is founded on the alleged fact that there are scarely any drunkards in the wine-producing regions, where people drink wine with their food as freely as we do tea or coffee. "Give us what good wine we need," says the professor, "and the temperance crusade will be wellnigh ended when the present race of drunkards have passed away.

   There's a race of men that don't fit in, / A race that can't stay still; / So they break the hearts of kith and kin, / And they roam the world at will.

4. 4

   A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics (see Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race): A large group of nonhumans distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage.

   A treaty was concluded between the race of elves and the race of men.

   There are two distinct races of gods known to Norse mythology[.]

   Imagine a race of aliens that develops on a dimly lit world perpetually shrouded in clouds so that vision would be less useful for survival than on Earth.

   Tali: My father is responsible for the lives of seventeen million people—our entire race is in his hands. And I'm his only child.

5. 5

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

   [I]nnumerable popingayes of ſundry kindes are found chattering in the groues of thoſe fenny places. […] For in the raſe of this large lande, Colonus [Christopher Columbus] him ſelfe brought and ſent to the courte a greate number of euery kynde, the which it was lawfull for all the people to beholde, and are yet dayly browght in like manner.

6. 6

   A group of organisms distinguished by common characteristics; often an informal infraspecific rank in taxonomy, below species: A population geographically separated from others of its species that develops significantly different characteristics; a mating group.

   Two races are certainly valid. The Atlantic race (P. v. vitulina) is distinguishable from the Pacific race (P. v. richardi Gray, 1864) by skull characters.

   A population that differs signicatly from other populations belonging to the same species is referred to as a geographic race or subspecies. Subspecies are separated from other subspecies by distance and geographic barriers that prevent the exchange of individuals, as opposed to the genetically based "intrinsic isolating mechanisms" that hold species apart.

7. 7

   A group of organisms distinguished by common characteristics; often an informal infraspecific rank in taxonomy, below species: A strain of plant with characteristics causing it to differ from other plants of the same species.

   Tree races develop not only in different latitudes, but also at different altitudes and within mountainous regions. Since climate changes markedly with altitude as well as latitude, both kinds of development are included in the term climatic races. In addition, soil or site races may develop in areas similar climatically but characterized by different soil or site conditions.

   Our genetic evaluation suggests that the morphologically distinct race (Dolores River) is more closely related to the type materials than the ecologically distinct, high-elevation race.

8. 8

   A group of organisms distinguished by common characteristics; often an informal infraspecific rank in taxonomy, below species: A breed or strain of domesticated animal.

   For do but note a wild and wanton herd, / Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, / Fetching mad bounds.

   They have another breed, called the Dunlop cows, which are allowed to be the best race for yielding milk in Great Britain or Ireland, not only for large quantities, but also for richness in quality.

   Great St. Bernard Dog—This race is nearly allied to the Newfoundland Dog in form, stature, hair, and colors; but the head and ears are like that of a Water Spaniel.

9. 9

   A group of organisms distinguished by common characteristics; often an informal infraspecific rank in taxonomy, below species: A strain of microorganism, fungi, etc.

   Now Mary MacDonald of the Plant Breeding Institute at Maris Lane, Cambridge, has made an interesting study which has duplicated the conditions under which new races arise. And she has produced at least one new fungal race.

   The type of microorganisms is a very important factor influencing the quality of cider. Yeast of various producers and races result in different taste and flavor.

10. 10

    A category or kind of thing distinguished by common characteristics.

    You do not tell me her diſeaſe; and perhaps have not been able yourself fully to underſtand it. I hope it is not of the cephalic race.

    Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, / Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!

    Who does not like rhubarb pies? Not sour, soggy articles, such as have brought reproach upon the whole race of pies, but sweet, juicy pies, with light, flaky crust, a compound that has no rival.

11. 11

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

    Is it [the wine] of the right race?

    On the day following Elizabeth's interview with Gideon, this innocent relish—the olives which gave zest, or the walnuts which gave race and richness, to Monkshaugh's moderate hebdomadal glass of old claret—was not forgotten.

    So sang the poet in his pride of place, / And Arthur bade the pages plenish well / The cups of all the kings with wine of race, / Osaye or Algarde, Rhenish or Rochell, / Vernage of Venice, Rhodes or Famagust, / Sweet Malvoisie or Cretan Muscadel,—

12. 12

    obsoleteCharacteristic quality or disposition.

    And now I give my sensual race the rein.

    […]some great race of fancy or judgment in the contrivance[…]

    His conversation, too, had a race and flavour peculiarly its own: it was nervous, sententious, and tinctured with genuine wit.

13. 13

    obsoleteThe sexual activity of conceiving and bearing biological offspring.

    It behooveth therefore that the Mares appointed for race, be well compacted, of a decent quality, being fair and beautiful to look upon, the belly and loins being great, in age not under three nor above ten years old.

    Male he created thee, but thy consort / Femal for Race; then bless’d Mankinde, and said, / Be fruitful, multiplie, and fill the Earth[.]

14. 14

    archaicAncestry, lineage.

    Yes, madam, believe it, she is a gentlewoman of very absolute behaviour, and of a good race.

    Wars of religion, more sanguinary, cruel, and ruinous than even those of Henry the fifth and Edward the third, rise in succession under the three last princes of the race of Valois.

    That very estate which the Lyndons now possess in Ireland was once the property of my race.

15. 15

    obsoleteA step in a lineage or succession; a generation.

    In ſeveral orders of knighthood, as in that of Malta, &c. the candidates muſt prove a nobility of four races or deſcents.

    We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them—they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors.

    Perhaps this is the reason why it is an article of faith with the servants, handed down from race to race, that the departed Tisher was a hairdresser.

    For the old stock is fast dying out, Jennie, / And a young race is taking their place, / In our grandmothers' day they had sense, Jennie, / No powder or paints on their face.

16. 16

    obsoleteProgeny, offspring, descendants.

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

    The good man besought him. Let the king / Propitious hear a parent. In thy train / I have five sons. Ah! leave my eldest born, / Thy future vassal, to sustain my age!' / The tyrant fell reply'd. 'Presumptuous man, / Who art my slave, in this tremendous war, / Is not my person hazarded, my race, / My consort?[']

    There the passions cramp’d no longer shall have scope and breathing-space; / I will take some savage woman, she shall rear my dusky race. / Iron-jointed, supple-sinew’d, they shall dive, and they shall run, / Catch the wild goat by the hair, and hurl their lances in the sun[.]

verb

1. 1

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

   To be raced as black in the U.S. translates symbolically into being considered inferior to whites, lazy, immoral, boisterous, violent, and sexually promiscuous.

   From this perspective, the project of progressive blackness entails the edification of black people and the elimination of all forms of domination that limit this edification for all those raced as black.

   By avoiding being raced as white, whites are able to maintain the illusion that they have always been individuals, that they have always accomplished their achievements through merit alone.

   [T]he private family qua mode of social reproduction still, frankly, sucks. It genders, nationalizes and races us. It norms us for productive work.

2. 2

   obsoleteTo pass down certain phenotypic traits to offspring.

   D'Hervieux obſerves that it is uſual to put the female canary bird to the male goldfinch, linnet, or the like, to breed; but for his part, he ſhould chuſe to put the male canary-bird to the female goldfinch, linnet, &c. becauſe the male uſually races more than the female, i. e. the young ones take more after the male than after the female.

noun

1. 1

   A rhizome or root, especially of ginger.

   I must have saffron to color the warden pies; mace; dates, none—that's out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pounds of prunes, and as many of raisins o' th' sun.

   They have onions and garlick, and some herbs and small roots for sallads; and in the southernmoft parts, ginger growing almost in every place; the large races whereof are there very excellently well preserved, as we may know by our tasting them in England.

   On the third day after this second boiling, pour all the syrup into a pan, put the races of ginger with it, and boil it up until the syrup adheres to the spoon.

verb

1. 1

   archaicTo sharpen (a grindstone) by scraping its surface.

   Another source of dust arises from the "hanging" and "racing" of the grindstones. […] This is effected by holding a bar of steel against it whilst it is slowly turned, and is known as "racing" the stone.

   The cracks, owing to the custom of sending the stones with rough surfaces from the quarry, are not so clearly visible until the grinders have 'raced' the stones, or, in other words, smoothed the sides and grinding faces.

   Racing means the turning up, cutting or dressing of a revolving grindstone at the factory before the grindstone is brought into use for the first time.

2. 2

   Alternative spelling of raze. To cut, scratch, or tear (someone or something) with a sharp object; to lacerate, to slash; specifically (nautical), to make marks on (something, such as a piece of wood) using a race knife.

   Buckles and agglettes at vnwares, ſhall race his bowe, a thinge both euill for the fight, ⁊ perillous for freatinge.

   Paine in a horſſes teeth commeth either from pride and corruption of blood, or els from cold rhums, […] the cure is, vvith a ſharp knife to race him alongſt his gummes, cloſe vnder his teeth, both of the inſide and outſide: and then to rubbe them all ouer, either vvith pepper & ſalt vvel mingled together, or vvith claret vvine and pepper heated vpon the fire, […]

   Then File one edge very ſtraight by laying a ſtraight Ruler juſt vvithin the edge of it, and dravving or raceing vvith a point of hardned Steel a bright line by the ſide of the Ruler: […]

3. 3

   obsoleteAlternative spelling of raze. To physically destroy; to obliterate: To level or tear down (a building, a town, etc.) to the ground; to demolish.

   For his further ſecuritie he [Don Roderigo] diſarmed his ſubjects; ſuch Caſtles and ſtrengths as hee vvas jealous of vvere raced, […]

   […] Lyſander the General of the Lacedemonians, […] novv reduces all the Dominions of the Athenians, takes the City, races their VValls, ruins their VVorks, and changes the Form of their Government; […]

   [Edward I of England] cauſed Henry Cobham, […] to race the caſtle that Robert de Crevequer had erected, becauſe Crevequer (that vvas the ovvner of it, and heire to Robert) vvas of the number of the nobles that moved and mainteined vvare againſt him; […]

4. 4

   obsoleteAlternative spelling of raze. To physically destroy; to obliterate: To make (a path or way) through something by cutting or tearing.

   [T]he king purſude / And furrovved through the thickned troopes. As vvhen tvvo chaced Bores / Turne head gainſt kennels of bold hounds, and race vvay through their gores: […]

   RACER, or ſward-cutter, a cutting implement uſed in racing out or cutting through the ſurface of graſs ſward, dividing it into proper widths, lengths, and thickneſs[…]

5. 5

   obsoleteAlternative spelling of raze. To physically destroy; to obliterate: To make a cut or slash in (an item of clothing or footwear) as a decoration.

   Item an old white sattin dublett laced all over with a small silver lace in a worke raced and cutt betweene

6. 6

   obsoleteAlternative spelling of raze. To erase; to delete; to edit: To alter (a document) by erasing parts of it.

   This indenture is raced all the worlde may ſe it: Ceſte indenture eſt faulcée tout le monde le peult veoyr.

   But I vvill take another order novv, / And race th'eternall Regiſter of time: […]

7. 7

   figurativeAlternative spelling of raze. To erase; to delete; to edit: To erase (a record, text, etc.), originally by scraping; to rub out, to scratch out.

   The wound alas happe in some other place, / From whence no toole away the skar can race.

   Thus there he ſtood, vvhyleſt high ouer his head, / There vvritten vvas the purport of his ſin, / In cyphers ſtrange, that fevv could rightly read, / BON FONS: but bon that once had vvritten bin, / VVas raced out, and Mal vvas novv put in.

   Goodl[ack]. My name is Captaine Thomas Good—— / Beſſ[e Bridges]. I can ſee no good in thee, Race that ſyllable / Out of thy name.

8. 8

   figurativeAlternative spelling of raze. To erase; to delete; to edit: To completely remove (someone or something), especially from a place, a situation, etc.; also, to remove from existence; to destroy, to obliterate.

   VVithout reſpect of ſex, degree or age. / He raceth all his foes vvith fire and ſvvord.

   Ile find a day to maſſacre them all, / And race their faction and their familie, […]

verb

1. 1

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

   [H]e be-heilde towarde the fier, and saugh the flesshe that the knaue hadde rosted that was tho I-nough, and raced it of with his hondes madly, and rente it a-sonder in peces, and wette it in mylke, and after in the hony, and ete as a wood man that nought ther lefte of the flessh; […]

   But nowe a ſtronge man not vſed to ſhoote, at a girde, can heue vp ⁊ plucke in ſunder many a good bowe, as wilde horſes at a brunt doth race and plucke in peeces many a ſtronge carte.

   Stanley did dreame the boare did race his helme, / But I diſdaind it, and did ſcorne to flie, […]

   He to her lept vvith deadly dreadfull looke, / And her ſunſhynie helmet ſoon vnlaced, / Thinking at once both head and helmet to haue raced.

Forms

plural

races

past tense

raced

past participle

raced

present participle

racing

third person singular

races