RAILING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does railing mean? 

• RAILING (noun)
  The noun RAILING has 2 senses:

1. a barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports

2. material for making rails or rails collectively

  Familiarity information: RAILING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RAILING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

rail; railing

Hypernyms ("railing" is a kind of...):

barrier (a structure or object that impedes free movement)

Meronyms (parts of "railing"):

ledger board (top rail of a fence or balustrade)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "railing"):

bar ((law) a railing that encloses the part of the courtroom where the judges and lawyers sit and the case is tried)

fife rail (the railing surrounding the mast of a sailing vessel)

guardrail; safety rail (a railing placed alongside a stairway or road for safety)

taffrail (the railing around the stern of a ship)

Holonyms ("railing" is a part of...):

balusters; balustrade; banister; bannister; handrail (a railing at the side of a staircase or balcony to prevent people from falling)

Derivation:

rail (separate with a railing)

rail (provide with rails)

rail (enclose with rails)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Material for making rails or rails collectively

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("railing" is a kind of...):

material (things needed for doing or making something)

 Context examples 

The house was separated from the street by a low wall and railing, the whole not more than five feet high.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If you examine the roofs you will find that they are slightly rounded, and there is no railing round them.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Lord Loring hath given his proofs; but we know nothing of his squires, save that one of them hath a railing tongue.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This man, however, was leaning against the railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I walked across to the Savage Club, but instead of turning into it I leaned upon the railings of Adelphi Terrace and gazed thoughtfully for a long time at the brown, oily river.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The square, when they got there, was full of wind and dust, and the thin trees in the garden were lashing themselves along the railing.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He avoided them and passed down the porch, but they cornered him against a rocking-chair and the railing.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The new plastic surface—a treated form of conventional transparent wrap—can be shrink-wrapped onto door handles, railings, IV stands and other surfaces that can be magnets for bacteria such as MRSA and C. difficile.

(Scientists Create Superbug-Resistant Self-Cleaning Surface, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In attempting to recover himself, he reached for the iron railing which surrounded the stove and kept the pots from sliding off; but he missed the railing, and his hand, with his weight behind it, landed squarely on the hot surface.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It would do for me and Dora admirably: with a little front garden for Jip to run about in, and bark at the tradespeople through the railings, and a capital room upstairs for my aunt.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)