race

plural races

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

   The race to cure cancer

   5 more examples

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

   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.

   I returned, and saw vnder the Sunne, That the race is not to the swift, nor the battell to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of vnderstanding, nor yet fauour to men of skil; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 9:11

   "Behold that rival here! / "The race by vigour, not by vaunts is won; / "So take the hindmost, Hell."—He said, and run.

   1743, Alexander Pope, The Dunciad, London: M. Cooper, book 2, page 82, lines 58–60

2. countableuncountableSwift 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.

   1631, Francis [Bacon], “VII. Century. [Experiments Solitary touching the Quicknesse of Motion in Birds.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, page 166

   2 more examples

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

   1805, Good, John Mason, transl., The Nature of Things, volume 2, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, translation of De rerum natura by Titus Lucretius Carus, book 4, page 33, lines 190–191

   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.

   1847 December, “The Literature of Humbug”, in The Young American's Magazine, volume 1, page 318

   Synonyms: dash, running, rush

3. countableuncountablebusinessA 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.

   1989, R. Raghuram, Computer Simulation of Electronic Circuits, New Delhi: Wiley Eastern, →ISBN, page 181

   2 more examples

   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.

   1999, Max Hailperin, Barbara Kaiser, Karl Knight, “Java, Applets, and Concurrency”, in Concrete Abstractions, Brooks/Cole Publishing, →ISBN, page 622

   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.

   2012, Charles P. Pfleeger, Shari Lawrence Pfleeger, Analyzing Computer Security, Prentice Hall, page 79

   Synonyms: race condition, race hazard

4. countableuncountableA 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[.]

   1603, Ben Jonson, Sejanus His Fall, act 2, scene 2

   1 more example

   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?

   1624, Francis Bacon, “Considerations Touching a War with Spain”, in Basil Montagu, editor, The Works of Francis Bacon, volume 5, William Pickering, published 1826, page 240

   Synonyms: course, procedure, process, train, array, chain, procession, consecution

5. countableuncountableA fast-moving current of water.

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

   1893, “Remarks upon the Way from Abingdon to Southamption, and other Places”, in The Manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Portland, volume 2, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, page 288

   2 more examples

   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.

   1980, Pauline H. Gurewitz, Hydraulic Research in the United States and Canada, 1978, page 120

   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.

   2003 December, Jonathan Raban, “Julia and the Whirlpools”, in Cruising World, volume 29, number 12, page 40

   Synonyms: rip

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

   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 […]

   1888, “Water Rights”, in Gold Mining Regulations, 1888, Parliament of South Australia, section 48, page 4

   2 more examples

   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.

   1885, James Leal Greenleaf, “Report on the Water-Powers of the Drainage Basins of Lakes Huron and Erie, in the United States”, in Reports on the Water-Power of the United States, Washington: Department of the Interior, part 1, pages 504–505

   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.

   1957 December 16, A. H. Mouat, R. C. Stuart, G. Mason, “Farming in Ida Valley, Central Otago”, in The New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, volume 95, number 6, page 587

7. countableuncountableA path that something or someone moves along.

   My race of glory run, and race of ſhame,

   1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 40, line 598

   2 more examples

   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.

   1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, volume 2, Boston: John P. Jewett & Company, page 242

   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!

   2008, Chad Taylor, The Cry of the Harvest, page 115

   Synonyms: career, course, progress

8. A guide or channel that a component of a machine moves along:
   1. countableuncountablebusinessA 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.

      1860, Charles Cole, The Sewing Machine, and its Capabilities, page 53

      1 more example

      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.

      1872 November 29, “Improved Loom for Weaving Fabrics of Any Width”, in The English Mechanic and Word of Science, volume 16, number 401, page 259

      Synonyms: shuttle race

   2. countableuncountableengineeringA 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

      3 more examples

      These bearings do not employ a loading groove or filling slot but utilize an uninterrupted race groove containing the maximum number of balls that can be introduced by eccentric displacement of the races. Due to the relatively large size of the balls and the fact that the ball curvature is only slightly less than the race curvature, the bearings have comparatively high load carrying capacity in both axial and radial directions.

      1965 August 15, Maintenance of Aeronautical Antifriction Bearings, NAVWEPS 01-1A-503, United States Bureau of Naval Weapons, section 2, page 5

      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.

      1999, Steve Goldman, Vibration Spectrum Analysis, 2nd edition, New York: Industrial Press, →ISBN, page 90

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

      2017, Tian Ran Lin, Kun Yu, Jiwen Tan, “Condition Monitoring and Fault Diagnosis of Roller Element Bearing”, in Pranav H. Darji, editor, Bearing Technology, Rijeka, Croatia: InTech, →DOI, →ISBN, page 40

      Synonyms: ballrace

9. countableuncountablegamblingA 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.

   2022, Kevin Blackwood, Swain Scheps, “Striking the Mother Lode: Keno and Bingo”, in Casino Gambling For Dummies, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons

present singular third person races · participle present racing · participle past raced · past raced

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

   The drivers were racing around the track.

   2 more examples

   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.

   1875, “Lichfield Open Meeting”, in John Henry Walsh, editor, Coursing Calendar for the Autumn Season 1874, page 187

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

   2023 May 10, “Athletics: Dina Asher-Smith set to race at London Stadium in July”, in BBC News

2. transitiveTo compete against in a race (contest).

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

   2 more examples

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

   1871 March, “Our Van”, in Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, volume 21, page 306

   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.

   1928 November, Paschal N. Strong, “Signals”, in Boys' Life, volume 18, number 11, page 61

3. intransitiveTo move or drive at high speed; to hurry or speed.

   The horse raced past the barn fell.

   5 more examples

   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.

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

   1988, Lee Mavers, “There She Goes”, in Sixpence None the Richer, performed by Sixpence None the Richer, published 1997

   Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."

   2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30

   Racing on, we parallel the M5 doing 95mph, according to the app on my smartphone.

   2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 66

   Synonyms: rush, shift, zip, zoom

4. intransitiveTo 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."

   1891 December, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, in The Strand

   1 more example

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

   2005 June, James Faucett, “Snowbirds”, in Atlanta Magazine, volume 45, number 2, page 79

plural races

1. A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics (see Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race):
   1. countableuncountableA 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.

      3 more examples

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

      c. 1500–1510, “Hycke-Scorner. A Morality.”, in Thomas Hawkins, editor, The Origin of the English Drama, […], volume I, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon-Press, for S. Leacroft, […]; [a]nd sold by D[aniel] Prince […], and J[ohn] Woodyer […], published 1773, →OCLC, page 89

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

      1895 November 11, Joseph Chamberlain, Speech given to the Imperial Institute

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

      1917 February, Will Irwin, “War and the Race”, in The Advocate of Peace, volume 79, number 2, page 50

      Synonyms: breed, strain, kind, lineage, people, variety, clan, ethnicity

   2. countableuncountableA 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.

      4 more examples

      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.

      1881 July, Edward Burnett Tylor, “The Races of Mankind”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 19, page 309

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

      1958, Burgess, Alan; Lennart, Isobel, 1:41:15 from the start, in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, spoken by Curd Jürgens as Colonel Lin Nan and Ingrid Bergman as Gladys Aylward, 20th Century Fox, →OCLC

      Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?

      2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 05 Sep 2015, page 164

      Synonyms: breed, strain, kind, lineage, people, variety

   3. countableuncountableA 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.

      4 more examples

      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.

      1838, Abraham Lincoln, Young Men's Lyceum address

      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.

      1872 October 5, Prof. G[eorge] C[linton] Swallow, quotee, “Table-Talk”, in Appletons' Journal, volume 8, number 184, page 386

      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.

      1911, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Men That Don't Fit In”, in The Spell of the Yukon

      Indeed, all of us are called to join the race of faith. Our identity as Christians is not a burden or an obstacle for our lives, but is rather a gift, […]

      2009, Eunjoo M. Kim, edited by David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, page 249

      Synonyms: breed, strain, kind, lineage, people, variety

   4. countableuncountablefantasyA 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.

      3 more examples

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

      1898, Herman Isidore Stern, The gods of our fathers: a study of Saxon mythology, page 15

      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.

      1999, Clifford A. Pickover, The Science of Aliens, page 47

      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.

      2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1

      Synonyms: breed, strain, kind, lineage, people, variety

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

   1 more example

   [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.

   1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], “The Nynth Booke of the Seconde Decade, of the Supposed Continent”, in Rycharde [i.e., Richard] Eden, transl., The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC, 2nd decade, folio 83, recto

   Synonyms: kind, strain, variety

3. A group of organisms distinguished by common characteristics; often an informal infraspecific rank in taxonomy, below species:
   1. countableuncountablebiologyA 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.

      1968 December, Dale W. Rice, Victor B. Scheffer, A List of the Marine Mammals of the World, Special Scientific Report—Fisheries number 579, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Phoca vitulina, page 6

      1 more example

      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.

      2000, Edward O[sborne] Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, 25th anniversary edition, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 9

      Synonyms: kind, strain, variety, ecospecies, ecotype, subspecies

   2. countableuncountablebiologyA strain of plant with characteristics causing it to differ from other plants of the same species.

      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.

      1995 September 11–14, Loreen Allphin, Michael D[ennis] Windham, Kimball T[aylor] Harper, “A Genetic Evaluation of Three Potential Races of the Rare Kachina Daisy”, in Southwestern Rare and Endangered Plants: Proceedings of the Second Conference, Flagstaff, Arizona, page 75

      2 more examples

      Nevertheless, as our varieties certainly do occasionally revert in some of their characters to ancestral forms, it seems to me not improbable, that if we could succeed in naturalising, or were to cultivate, during many generations, the several races, for instance, of the cabbage, in very poor soil (in which case, however, some effect would have to be attributed to the direct action of the poor soil), that they would to a large extent, or even wholly, revert to the wild aboriginal stock.

      1859, Charles Darwin, “Variation under Domestication”, in On the Origin of 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.

      1948 June, “Development of Races”, in Woody-Plant Seed Manual, Miscellaneous Publication no. 654, Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture, page 15

      Synonyms: kind, strain, variety

   3. countableuncountableanimal husbandryA 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.

      c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act 5, scene 1

      2 more examples

      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.

      1799, Joshua Rowlin, The Complete Cow-Doctor; Or, Farmer's Companion, 2nd edition, London, page 42

      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.

      1875, Augustus C. L. Arnold, The Living World, volume 1, Boston: Samuel Walker & Co, page 88

      Synonyms: kind, strain, variety

   4. countableuncountablebacteriologyA strain of microorganism, fungi, etc.

      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.

      2018 December, Anna Kolobaeva, Olga Kotik, “Technological Approaches to Cider Quality”, in Advances in Engineering Research, volume 151, Atlantis Press, →DOI

      1 more example

      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.

      1977 March 24, “Why is cereal fungus so resistant?”, in New Scientist, volume 73, number 1044, page 697

      Synonyms: kind, strain, variety, pathotype, pathovar

4. broadlycountableuncountableA category or kind of thing distinguished by common characteristics.

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

   1786, Robert Burns, Address to the Haggis

   2 more examples

   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.

   1783 November 20, Samuel Johnson, “From the Letters of Dr. Samuel Johnson”, in Vicesimus Knox, editor, Elegant Epistles, Dublin: Messrs H. Chamberlaine and Rice, published 1790, section 3, letter 79, Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale, page 785

   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.

   1887 March, Anna Barrows, “Rhubarb Pies”, in The Cottage Hearth, volume 13, number 3, page 69

   Synonyms: class, type, category, class, description, stripe, department, fashion

5. countableobsoleteuncountablePeculiar 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?

   c. 1625, Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts, act 1, scene 3

   2 more examples

   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.

   1827, Christian Isobel Johnstone, “A Country Sunday Evening”, in Elizabeth de Bruce, volume 1, New York: W. Blackwood, page 130

   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,—

   1875, Sebastian Evans, “The Eve of Morte Arthur”, in In the Studio, London: Macmillan & Co, pages 164–165

   Synonyms: typicity

6. countableobsoleteuncountableCharacteristic quality or disposition.

   And now I give my sensual race the rein.

   c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, act 2, scene 4

   2 more examples

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

   1685, Sir William Temple, Upon the Gardens of Epicurus; or, Of Gardening

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

   1807, Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Honourable Henry Home of Kames, volume 1, book 2, chapter 1, Edinburgh: William Creech, page 181

   Synonyms: attribute, idiosyncrasy, quirk, trait, attribute, characteristic, designation, vein

7. countableobsoleteuncountableThe sexual activity of conceiving and bearing biological offspring.

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

   1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, book 7

   1 more example

   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.

   1658, Edward Topsell, “Of the horse”, in The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents, page 234

   Synonyms: breeding, procreation, progenation, propagation, reproduction

8. archaicuncountableAncestry, lineage.

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

   1844 January–December, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “My Pedigree and Family.—Undergo the Influence of the Tender Passion.”, in “The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. [The Luck of Barry Lyndon.]”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume III, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1856, →OCLC

   2 more examples

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

   1609, Ben Jonson, Epicœne, or The Silent Woman, act 3, scene 2

   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.

   1785, Nathaniel William Wraxall, “Henry the Second”, in The History of France Under the Kings of the Race of Valois, 2nd edition, volume 2, London: C. Dilly, pages 52–53

   Synonyms: extraction, family, house, line, pedigree, stirp

9. countableobsoleteuncountableA 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.

   1738 [1728], Ephraim Chambers, “Race”, in Cyclopaedia: Or, An Universal Dictionary Of Arts and Sciences, 2nd edition, London: D. Midwinter

   3 more examples

   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.

   1838, Abraham Lincoln, Young Men's Lyceum address

   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.

   1870, Charles Dickens, “The Nun's House”, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood

   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.

   1929 December, Johnny Burke, “No Short Skirts To Their Knees”, in Burke's Popular Songs, St. John's, Newfoundland: Long Brothers

   Synonyms: age group, cohort

10. obsoleteuncountableProgeny, 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?

    c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, act 3, scene 13

    2 more examples

    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?[']

    1737, Richard Glover, Leonidas, book 2, Baltimore: Neal, Wills & Cole, published 1814, page 35

    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[.]

    1842, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Locksley Hall”, in Poems, volume 2, London: Edward Moxon, page 109

    Synonyms: get, issue, seed

present singular third person races · participle present racing · participle past raced · past raced

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

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

   2020 March 24, Sophie Lewis, “The coronavirus crisis shows it's time to abolish the family”, in opendemocracy.net

   3 more examples

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

   1996, Philosophical Studies in Education, page 151

   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.

   2006, Athena D. Mutua, Progressive Black Masculinities?, Routledge, →ISBN, page 30

   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.

   2008, George Yancy, Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 46

2. obsoleteTo pass down certain phenotypic traits to offspring.

   1 more example

   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.

   1738 [1728], Ephraim Chambers, “Race”, in Cyclopaedia: Or, An Universal Dictionary Of Arts and Sciences, 2nd edition, London: D. Midwinter

   Synonyms: come true, breed true

plural races

1. biologyA rhizome or root, especially of ginger.

   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.

   1842, Gibbons Merle, The Domestic Dictionary and Housekeeper's Manual, page 433

   2 more examples

   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.

   1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, act IV, scene III, line 45

   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.

   1777, Edward Terry, A Voyage to East-India, page 62

   Synonyms: rhizome, rootstalk

present singular third person races · participle present racing · participle past raced · past raced · first person past singular raced · archaic present second person singular racest · past second person singular raced · archaic past second person singular racedst · present singular third person races · archaic present singular third person raceth · past singular third person raced · past plural raced · past subjunctive raced · participle present racing · participle past raced

1. archaictransitiveTo sharpen (a grindstone) by scraping its surface.

   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.

   [1932, “No. 343. Metal Grinding Industries (Silicosis) Scheme”, in Statutory Rules and Orders, London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, page 707

   2 more examples

   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.

   1889 April 20, John T[homas] Arlidge, “Abstract of the Milroy Lectures on Occupation and Trade in Relation to Public Health”, in The Lancet, page 774

   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.

   1898, Mr. Parkes, “Report Upon the Work of the Factory Department During the Year 1897”, in Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors and Others, volume 14, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, page 20

2. Alternative spelling of raze.
   1. West CountrytransitiveTo 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.

      1545, Roger Ascham, “The Seconde Booke”, in Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions of Shooting […], [new] edition, London: […] Thomas Marshe, published 1571, →OCLC, folio 38, recto

      2 more examples

      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, […]

      1607, Gervase Markham, “Of Paine in the Teeth, and of the Woolfes”, in Cauelarice, or The English Horseman: […], London: […] [Edward Allde and W[illiam] Jaggard] for Edward White, […], →OCLC, 7th book, page 54

      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: […]

      1678 January 11 – February 11 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Moxon, “Numb[er] II. Applied to the Making of Hinges, Locks, Keys, Screws and Nuts Small and Great. Of Locks and Keys.”, in Mechanick Exercises, or The Doctrine of Handy-Works, […], volume I, London: […] Joseph Moxon, published 1683, →OCLC, page 19

      Synonyms: carve, incise, snithe, carve, chive, cut, gash, incide

   2. obsoletetransitiveTo 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, […]

      a. 1619 (date written), Walter Raleigh, The Life and Death of Mahomet, the Conquest of Spaine together with the Rysing and Ruine of the Sarazen Empire, London: […] R[alph] H[odgkinson] for Daniel Frere, […], published 1637, →OCLC, page 50

      2 more examples

      […] 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; […]

      1701 (date written), [Jonathan Swift], “[A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome, with the Consequences They Had upon Both Those States.] Chapter Of the Dissensions in Athens, between the Few and the Many.”, in Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, volume I, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, →OCLC, page 29

      [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; […]

      1774, Francis Grose, “Leeds Castle, Kent”, in The Antiquities of England and Wales, volume II, London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC

      Synonyms: annihilate, eradicate, destroy, annihilate, aerosolize, atomize, benothing, bewreck

   3. obsoleteraretransitiveTo make (a path or way) through something by cutting or tearing.

      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[…]

      1797 [1778], Thomas Mawe, John Abercrombie, The Universal Gardener and Botanist: Or, A General Dictionary of Gardening and Botany, 2nd edition, London: G. G. & J. Robinson; T. Cadell Jun. & W. Davies, page RAC-RAD

      1 more example

      [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: […]

      [1611?], Homer, “The Eleventh Booke of Homers Iliads”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC, page 148

      Synonyms: annihilate, eradicate, destroy, annihilate, aerosolize, atomize, benothing, bewreck

   4. obsoletetransitivefootwearbusinessTo 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

      1614 June 15, An Inventory of the late Lo. Privy Seale his Jewels and Plate with their severall waightes and valuations taken the XVIth daie of June, 1614, together with an Inventory of the Goodes and Howsholdestuffe of the said Lo. Privy Seale as well in Northampton Howse as att Grenewiche; republished as “XVI.—An Inventory of the Effects of Henry Howard, K.G., Earl of Northampton, taken on his death in 1614 together with a transcript of his Will.”, in Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, volume 42, London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 1869, page 367

      Synonyms: annihilate, eradicate, destroy, annihilate, aerosolize, atomize, benothing, bewreck

   5. obsoletetransitiveTo alter (a document) by erasing parts of it.

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

      1594, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nash[e], The Tragedie of Dido Queene of Carthage: […], London: […] Widdowe Orwin, for Thomas Woodcocke, […], →OCLC, Act III, signature A3, recto

      1 more example

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

      1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio cccxxxii, recto, column 1; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC

      Synonyms: efface, expunct, expunge, oblivionize

   6. alsofigurativelyobsoletetransitiveTo 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.

      c. 1528–1541 (date written), Thomas Wyatt, “[Sonnets] Sonnet 31”, in A[gnes] K[ate] Foxwell, editor, The Poems of Sir Thomas Wiat […], volume I, London: Hodder and Stoughton [for the] University of London Press, published 1913, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 43, lines 13–14

      2 more examples

      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.

      1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 26, page 303

      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.

      c. 1597–1603 (date written), Thomas Heywood, The Fair Maid of the West. Or, A Girle Worth Gold. The First Part. […], London: […] [Miles Flesher] for Richard Royston, […], published 1631, →OCLC, Act III, page 38

      Synonyms: efface, expunct, expunge, oblivionize

   7. figurativelyobsoletetransitiveTo completely remove (someone or something), especially from a place, a situation, etc.; also, to remove from existence; to destroy, to obliterate.

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

      c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], signature C2, recto

      1 more example

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

      c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act IIII, scene i

      Synonyms: efface, expunct, expunge, oblivionize

present singular third person races · participle present racing · participle past raced · past raced · alternative rase

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

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

   c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], signatures G2, recto – G2, verso

   4 more examples

   [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; […]

   [H]e [Merlin] beheld toward the fire, and saw the flesh that the knave had roasted that was though [?] enough, and snatched it off with his hands madly, and rent it asunder in pieces, and wet it in milk, and after in the honey, and ate as a woodman, that nought [was] there left of the flesh; […]

   [c. 1450–1460 (date written), “The Dream of the Wife of King Ban; the Dream of Julius Cæsar, Emperor of Rome”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, Merlin or The Early History of King Arthur: A Prose Romance […] (Early English Text Society; 112), volume I (in Middle English), London: [F]or the Early English Text Society by Kegal Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., published 1899, →OCLC, page 424

   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.

   1545, Roger Ascham, “The First Booke”, in Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions of Shooting […], [new] edition, London: […] Thomas Marshe, published 1571, →OCLC, folio 30, recto

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

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 11, page 242

   Thus erring Rome hath, doth, & vvill our chriſtian VVorld vnqueate: / May therefore Princes ioyne to race that Monſter from his Seate.

   1602, William Warner, “The Twel[f]th Booke. Chapter LXXIII.”, in Albions England. A Continued Historie of the Same Kingdome, from the Originals of the First Inhabitants thereof: […], 5th edition, London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant for George Potter, […], →OCLC, page 304

plural Races

1. A surname.