rule

plural rules

1. countableuncountableA regulation, law, guideline.

   All participants must adhere to the rules.

   3 more examples

   You have to follow the rules to enter the qualifiers for the football tournament.

   We profess to have embraced a religion which contains the most exact rules for the government of our lives.

   a. 1694, John Tillotson, Of The Obligations of Christians to a Holy Life

   The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them[…]is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.[…]current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate[…]“stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.

   2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68

2. countableuncountableA regulating principle.

   There's little can be said in 't; 'Tis against the rule of nature.

   c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

3. uncountableThe act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control.

   Obey them that have the rule over you.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 13:17

   1 more example

   His stern rule the groaning land obeyed.

   1725, Homer, “Book III”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC

4. countableuncountableA normal condition or state of affairs.

   My rule is to rise at six o'clock.

   1 more example

   As a rule, our senior editors are serious-minded.

5. countableobsoleteuncountableConduct; behaviour.

   This uncivil rule; she shall know of it.

   c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]

6. countableuncountablelawAn order regulating the practice of the courts, or an order made between parties to an action or a suit.
7. countableuncountablemathematicsA determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result.

   a rule for extracting the cube root

8. countableuncountableA ruler; device for measuring, a straightedge, a measure.

   As we may observe in the Works of Art, a Judicious Artist will indeed use his Eye, but he will trust only to his Rule.

   a. 1716, Robert South, Sermons

   1 more example

   It is not right to pervert the judge by moving him to anger or envy or pity—one might as well warp a carpenter's rule before using it.

   1981, Aristotle, “Rhetoric, the Counterpart of Dialectic”, in W. Rhys Roberts, Ingram Bywater, transl., Rhetoric and On Poetics, Pennsylvania: The Franklin Library, →OL

9. countableuncountableA straight line (continuous mark, as made by a pen or the like), especially one lying across a paper as a guide for writing.
10. countabledateduncountablemediaA thin plate of brass or other metal, of the same height as the type, and used for printing lines, as between columns on the same page, or in tabular work.

present singular third person rules · participle present ruling · participle past ruled · past ruled · first person past singular ruled · archaic present second person singular rulest · past second person singular ruled · archaic past second person singular ruledst · present singular third person rules · archaic present singular third person ruleth · past singular third person ruled · past plural ruled · past subjunctive ruled · participle present ruling · participle past ruled

1. stativetransitiveTo regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over.

   1 more example

   And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms: r.

2. intransitiveslangstativeTo excel.

   This game rules!

   Synonyms: rock, bang, devour, eat, eat and leave no crumbs, excel, go hard, kick · Antonyms: stink, suck

3. intransitiveTo decide judicially.

   The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.

   2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10

   Synonyms: hold

4. transitiveTo establish or settle by, or as by, a rule; to fix by universal or general consent, or by common practice.

   That's a ruled case with the school-men.

   1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation; […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Sheldonian] Theater, →OCLC

5. transitiveTo mark (paper or the like) with rules (lines).

1. obsoleteRevelry.

present singular third person rules · participle present ruling · participle past ruled · past ruled

1. intransitiveobsoleteTo revel.

plural Rules

1. countableuncountableA surname.
2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States.
3. countableuncountableA town in Haskell County, Texas, United States.