rand

plural rands

1. The border of an area of land, now especially marshland.

   at the wald's rand; the rand of the marsh

   3 more examples

   Outside the rand or steep edge of this dome the bog is permanently ringed around by a zone liable to base-rich flooding, and this zone, the lagg, carries a persistent fen or carr vegetation.

   1963, Field Studies [Council of Great Britain], volume 1, page 132

   Lagg (1) Marginal zone outside the rand containing fen vegetation and representing the transition between raised bog peat and mineral soils.

   1984, Herman W. Gabriel, Glossary of Landscape & Vegetation Ecology for Alaska, page 64, entry "lagg"

   […] the rands, especially near the Teifi river, are very steep.

   2013, Peter D. Moore, European Mires, page 288

2. dialectalobsoleteA strip of meat; a long fleshy piece of beef, cut from the flank or leg; a sort of steak.

   They came with chopping-knives / To cut me into rands and sirloins

   1621 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Wild-Goose Chase; a Comedy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

3. UKdialectalrareA border, edge or rim; a strip, as of cloth.

   They quarrelled an' fought 'mang the clippin's an' rands, / The tailor insistin' the colour was blue.

   1867, Anderson, Rhymes, page 44

4. A strip of leather used to fit the heels of a shoe.
5. basket-makingA single rod woven in and out of the stakes.

plural rands

1. A rocky slope, especially the area over a river valley; specifically, the Rand
2. The currency of South Africa, divided into 100 cents.

present singular third person rands · participle present randing · participle past randed · past randed

1. intransitiveobsoleteTo rant; to storm.

   1 more example

   […] I ſmelt out my noble ſtincker Greenſheild in his Chamber, and as tho my heart ſtringes had bin crackt, I vvept, & thumpd, and thumpd, and rau'd and randed, and raild, and told him hovv my vvife vvas novv grovvne as common as baibery, and that ſhee had hierd her Taylor to ride vvith her to VVare, to meete a Gentleman of the Court.

   c. 1601 (date written), Thomas Decker [i.e., Thomas Dekker]; Iohn Webster [i.e., John Webster], North-ward Hoe. […], London: […] G[eorge] Eld, published 1607, →OCLC, Act IV, signatures F, verso – F2, recto

plural rands

1. computingA random number.

1. Alternative letter-case form of rand (the currency of south Africa)

1. South AfricaThe Witwatersrand, a gold-mining geographic area also known as the Reef in the province of Gauteng, South Africa, of which the principal city is Johannesburg.

1. A surname.
2. A diminutive of the male given names Randall and Randolph.

   In a Fox Business interview on Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) alluded to the distinction between private and government responses to offensive speech, but his comments were ambiguous enough that an uncharitable viewer could easily interpret them as approval of the latter.

   2025 September 16, Jacob Sullum, “Brendan Carr and Ted Cruz Don't Think Charlie Kirk's Murder Justifies Speech Restrictions”, in Reason

3. A number of places, other than in South Africa:
   1. A village and civil parish in West Lindsey district, Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref TF1078).
   2. A small town in Federation council area, southern New South Wales, Australia.
   3. An unincorporated community in Jackson County, Colorado, United States.
   4. An unincorporated community in Kaufman County, Texas, United States.
   5. A census-designated place in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States.

1. abbreviationinitialismnot comparablelawInitialism of reasonable and nondiscriminatory: a standard used with respect to licensing.

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Research and Development: a nonprofit global policy think tank.