Range | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Rănge, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. RANGED; p. pr. & vb. n. RANGING.] [Fr. ranger, Pr. rengar, fr. Fr. rang, O. Fr. & Pr. renc, a row; Eng. rank, q. v.]

Sense 1. To set in a row or in rows; to place in a regular line, lines, or ranks; to dispose in the proper order; to rank; as, to range troops in a body.

It would be absurd in me to range myself on the side of the Duke of Bedford and the corresponding society. Burke.

Sense 2. To separate into parts; to sift. [Obs.] Holland.

Sense 3. To dispose in a classified or in systematic order; to arrange regularly; as, to range plants and animals in genera and species.

Sense 4. To rove over; to pass over.

Teach him to range the ditch and force the brake. Guy.

Sense 5. To sail or pass in a direction parallel to or near; as, to range the coast.

☞ Compare the last two senses with the French ranger une côte.

Range, v. i.

verbintransitive

Sense 1. To rove at large; to wander without restraint or direction; to roam.

Like a ranging spaniel that barks at every bird he sees. Burton.

Sense 2. To have range; to be capable of projecting, or to admit of being projected, especially as to horizontal distance; as, the gun ranges three miles; the shot ranges four miles.

Sense 3. To be placed in order; to be ranked; to admit of arrangement or classification; to rank.

'Tis better to be lowly born, And range with humble livers in content, Than to be perked up in a glistering grief, And wear a golden sorrow. Shak.

Sense 4. To have a particular direction; to bend; to correspond in direction; to be in a line with; as, the front of a house ranges with the street. “Which way thy forests range.” Dryden.

Sense 5. To sail or pass near or in the direction of; as, to range along the coast.

Synonyms—To rove; roam; ramble; wander; stroll.

Rānge, n.

noun

n. [Fr. rangée, Pr. rengua. See supra.]

Sense 1. A series of things in a line; a row; a rank; as, a range of buildings; a range of mountains.

Sense 2. An aggregate of individuals of like rank or degree; an order; a class.

The next range of beings above him are [is] the immaterial intelligences. Hale.

Sense 3. The step of a ladder; a rung. Clarendon.

Sense 4. A kitchen grate; especially, in modern usage, an extended cooking apparatus of cast iron, set in brick work, and containing pots, oven, &c.

Sense 5. A bolting sieve to sift meal.

Sense 6. A wandering or roving; a going to and fro; an excursion; a ramble; an expedition.

He may take a range all the world over. South.

Sense 7. Compass or extent of excursion; ability or leave to go abroad, visit, or travel; hence, natural or acquired power to comprehend or master a greater or less variety of knowledge; also, the variety of truth or compass of knowledge in possession; control or reach; discursive power; command; scope. “Far as creation’s ample range extends.” Pope.

The range and compass of Hammond’s knowledge filled the whole circle of the arts. Fell.

A man has not enough range of thought. Addison.

Sense 8. (Gun.) The horizontal distance to which a shot or other projectile is carried; sometimes, though less properly, the path of a shot or projectile, or the line it describes from the mouth of the piece to the point where it lodges.

Sense 9. That which may be traversed or ranged over; place or room for excursion; especially, a region of country in which cattle may wander and pasture.

Sense 10. In the land system of the United States, a row or line of townships lying between two successive meridian lines six miles apart, and numbered in order east and west from the “principal meridian” of each great survey, the townships in the range being numbered north and south from the “base line,” which runs east and west; as, township No. 6, N., range 7, W., from the fifth principal meridian.