What's the difference between hail and rail?

Hail


Definition:

  • (n.) Small roundish masses of ice precipitated from the clouds, where they are formed by the congelation of vapor. The separate masses or grains are called hailstones.
  • (v. i.) To pour down particles of ice, or frozen vapors.
  • (v. t.) To pour forcibly down, as hail.
  • (a.) Healthy. See Hale (the preferable spelling).
  • (v. t.) To call loudly to, or after; to accost; to salute; to address.
  • (v. t.) To name; to designate; to call.
  • (v. i.) To declare, by hailing, the port from which a vessel sails or where she is registered; hence, to sail; to come; -- used with from; as, the steamer hails from New York.
  • (v. i.) To report as one's home or the place from whence one comes; to come; -- with from.
  • (v. t.) An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.
  • (n.) A wish of health; a salutation; a loud call.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The agreement, hailed as a "landmark" deal and a breakthrough by politicians and the green lobby alike, came before a crucial EU summit opening in Brussels tomorrow at which 27 prime ministers and presidents are supposed to finalise an ambitious package to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020.
  • (2) "It's very clear now that the administration agrees with us," said Wyden, hailing a switch from both the Bush and Obama administration stance that "collecting these records is vital to western civilisation".
  • (3) Many other innovations are also being hailed as the future of food, from fake chicken to 3D printing and from algae to lab-grown meat.
  • (4) Three million of us are behind our team!” trumpets La Republica, who hail “the national team's exemplary behaviour so far, both individually and collectively.” Naturally they were saying exactly the same thing after the defeat to Costa Rica.
  • (5) The win reduced Chelsea’s lead over them to six points and Pellegrini hailed a first clean sheet in five matches.
  • (6) Chancellor George Osborne hailed today's GDP data as a sign that the UK is recovering ( see his statement here ).
  • (7) Read more The agreement earned a mixed initial reception, with the UN hailing a “bold” and “groundbreaking” outcome even as other delegates complained of “a terrible precedent” and lack of moral leadership.
  • (8) Didi Chuxing also claims it accounts for 87% of China’s ride-hailing market, in which US-based Uber is trying to break through.
  • (9) Scotland's Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said: "Scotland is rightly hailed as a land of food and drink, which is underpinned by the record exports achieved in both areas in 2011.
  • (10) The draft released last Monday had been hailed by some church observers and gay rights groups as “a stunning change” in how the Catholic hierarchy talked about gay people.
  • (11) Yet victory at Wembley will be hailed as vindication of the decision to change manager.
  • (12) This finding has been hailed as a landmark in cell physiology which may reveal new mechanisms of viral pathogenesis.
  • (13) While the 1998 World Cup victory by a multicultural “black, blanc, beur” French football team led by Zinedine Zidane was hailed as a new beginning for a mixed nation, it did not stop the race rows and monkey chants in French football.
  • (14) He hailed the party's commitment to lift low and average earners out of tax, and rounded on those who criticised the Lib Dems' proposed "mansion tax" – a tax on properties worth over £2m – as an attack on "ordinary middle-class owners", saying: "You wonder what part of the solar system they live in."
  • (15) He hailed the decision to award the Games to London, saying: "This is just the most fantastic opportunity to do everything we ever dreamed of in British sport."
  • (16) Amid reports that the Treasury is concerned about the escalating costs of the project, which have now reached £42.6bn, the chancellor hailed the chance to change the "economic geography" of Britain.
  • (17) In what is being hailed as one of the first tangible signs in a change of outlook for Greece, the European Investment Bank has also agreed to inject up to €750m into the cashed-starved Greek economy with immediate effect.
  • (18) The US Department of Justice hailed a “landmark achievement”.
  • (19) Cameron also did not know about Ashcroft's status as recently as 8 February – by which time Hague knew – when the Tory leader hailed the change in the law in a speech on new politics.
  • (20) Taxis will still accept customers hailing them from the street.

Rail


Definition:

  • (n.) An outer cloak or covering; a neckerchief for women.
  • (v. i.) To flow forth; to roll out; to course.
  • (n.) A bar of timber or metal, usually horizontal or nearly so, extending from one post or support to another, as in fences, balustrades, staircases, etc.
  • (n.) A horizontal piece in a frame or paneling. See Illust. of Style.
  • (n.) A bar of steel or iron, forming part of the track on which the wheels roll. It is usually shaped with reference to vertical strength, and is held in place by chairs, splices, etc.
  • (n.) The stout, narrow plank that forms the top of the bulwarks.
  • (n.) The light, fencelike structures of wood or metal at the break of the deck, and elsewhere where such protection is needed.
  • (v. t.) To inclose with rails or a railing.
  • (v. t.) To range in a line.
  • (v.) Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds of the family Rallidae, especially those of the genus Rallus, and of closely allied genera. They are prized as game birds.
  • (v. i.) To use insolent and reproachful language; to utter reproaches; to scoff; -- followed by at or against, formerly by on.
  • (v. t.) To rail at.
  • (v. t.) To move or influence by railing.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) One man has died in storms sweeping across the UK that have brought 100-mile-an-hour winds and led to more than 50 flood warnings being issued with widespread disruption on the road and rail networks in much of southern England and Scotland.
  • (2) Liu was a driving force behind the modernisation of China's rail system, a project that included building 10,000 miles of high-speed rail track by 2020 – with a budget of £170bn, one of the most expensive engineering feats in recent history.
  • (3) Roger Madelin, the chief executive of the developers Argent, which consulted the prince's aides on the £2bn plan to regenerate 27 hectares (67 acres) of disused rail land at Kings Cross in London, said the prince now has a similar stature as a consultee as statutory bodies including English Heritage, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and professional bodies including Riba and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
  • (4) Publishing the government's low-carbon transport strategy, transport secretary Lord Adonis said the measures would save an additional 85m tonnes of CO2 over the period 2018-22, adding that the government would shortly announce plans for further electrification of the rail network.
  • (5) Senior executives at Network Rail are likely to be summoned to Westminster to explain the engineering overruns that caused chaos for Christmas travellers over the weekend.
  • (6) Rail campaigners claim that the convoluted carriage-ordering system contributes to overcrowding.
  • (7) Yu Xiangzhen, former Red Guard Photograph: Dan Chung for the Guardian Almost half a century on, it floods back: the hope, the zeal, the carefree autumn days riding the rails with fellow teenagers.
  • (8) He railed against the left’s lack of interest in tackling entrenched poverty.
  • (9) Maintaining air links between cities as far apart as Inverness and London makes sense, but at the same time we must invest in improvements to our rail network and make it easy to use technology to do business from anywhere in Scotland.
  • (10) Patronage at the airport in the early years would not justify a dedicated rail link.
  • (11) Refusing either to acquiesce in, or to rail at, Eliot's contempt for Jews, one strives to do justice to the many injustices Eliot does to Jews.
  • (12) It is true that rail travel has seen a boom over the past 10 years.
  • (13) Well, news from the commuters and the rail users is that we don't like it, and we want a cheaper more equitable service.
  • (14) Martin Frobisher, the area director for Network Rail, said: "The Northern Hub and electrification programme is the biggest investment in the railway in the north of England for a generation and will transform rail travel for millions of passengers every year."
  • (15) Japanese company Hitachi Rail is planning to invest £82m and create hundreds of jobs at a new train factory in Newton Aycliffe, Darlington, where it will build hundreds of carriages.
  • (16) Concluding an inquiry into the experience of rail passengers that became dominated by the events at Southern , the transport select committee said commuters had been badly let down.
  • (17) Rail travel cost the BBC £29,847 in the three months to the end of June 2010, rising to £47,358 in the same period the following year, during which corporation departments began moving from London to Salford, according to the corporation's latest quarterly travel and expenses figures released this week .
  • (18) In this inexplicable world of Roscos (rolling stock companies), TOCs (train operating companies) and the ORR (Office of Rail Regulation), some private firms are allowed to walk away from contracts rather than face losses – as First Group did on the Great Western last week, while others, such as Stagecoach, demand £100m extra just to keep their promises.
  • (19) "The soaring cost of air travel will ultimately be a small factor in increased rail fares, as the ONS said plane tickets pushed the inflation index higher.
  • (20) The transport secretary, Philip Hammond, indicated that the government had no appetite for the kind of structural tinkering that broke up British Rail and rushed the system into private ownership in the 1990s.

Words possibly related to "hail"