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racing

 [reys]   Origin

race

1   [reys] noun, verb, raced, rac·ing.
noun
1.
a contest of speed, as in running, riding, driving, or sailing.
2.
races, a series of races, usually of horses or dogs, run at a set time over a regular course: They spent a day at the races.
3.
any contest or competition, especially to achieve superiority: the arms race; the presidential race.
4.
urgent need, responsibility, effort, etc., as when time is short or a solution is imperative: the race to find an effective vaccine.
5.
onward movement; an onward or regular course.
EXPAND
6.
the course of time.
7.
the course of life or a part of life.
8.
Geology.
a.
a strong or rapid current of water, as in the sea or a river.
b.
the channel or bed of such a current or of any stream.
9.
an artificial channel leading water to or from a place where its energy is utilized.
10.
the current of water in such a channel.
11.
Also called raceway. Machinery. a channel, groove, or the like, for sliding or rolling a part or parts, as the balls of a ball bearing.
12.
Textiles.
a.
the float between adjacent rows of pile.
b.
race plate.
COLLAPSE
verb (used without object)
13.
to engage in a contest of speed; run a race.
14.
to run horses or dogs in races; engage in or practice horse racing or dog racing.
15.
to run, move, or go swiftly.
16.
(of an engine, wheel, etc.) to run with undue or uncontrolled speed when the load is diminished without corresponding diminution of fuel, force, etc.

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Racing is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
verb (used with object)
17.
to run a race against; try to beat in a contest of speed: I'll race you to the water.
18.
to enter (a horse, car, track team, or the like) in a race or races.
19.
to cause to run, move, or go at high speed: to race a motor.
Origin:
1250–1300; (noun) Middle English ras(e) < Old Norse rās a running, race (cognate with Old English rǣs a running); (v.) Middle English rasen, derivative of the noun (compare Old Norse rasa to rush headlong)

Related forms
an·ti·rac·ing, adjective
pre·rac·ing, adjective
pro·rac·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
racing (ˈreɪsɪŋ)
 
—adj
1.  denoting or associated with horse races: the racing fraternity; a racing man
 
—n
2.  the practice of engaging horses (or sometimes greyhounds) in contests of speed

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

race
"people of common descent," c.1500, from M.Fr. razza "race, breed, lineage," possibly from It. razza, of unknown origin (cf. Sp., Port. raza). Original senses in Eng. included "wines with characteristic flavor" (1520), "group of people with common occupation" (c.1500), and "generation" (c.1560). Meaning
EXPAND
"tribe, nation, or people regarded as of common stock" is from c.1600. Modern meaning of "one of the great divisions of mankind based on physical peculiarities" is from 1774 (though even among anthropologists there never has been an accepted classification of these). Klein suggests these derive from Arabic ra's "head, beginning, origin" (cf. Heb. rosh). O.E. þeode meant both "race" and "language;" as a verb, geþeodan, it meant "to unite, to join." Racial is first attested 1862. Race-riot attested from 1890.
"Just being a Negro doesn't qualify you to understand the race situation any more than being sick makes you an expert on medicine." [Dick Gregory, 1964]
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

race (rās)
n.

  1. A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.

  2. A population of organisms differing from others of the same species in the frequency of hereditary traits; a subspecies.

  3. A breed or strain, as of domestic animals.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
race   (rās)  Pronunciation Key 

    1. An interbreeding, usually geographically isolated population of organisms differing from other populations of the same species in the frequency of hereditary traits. A race that has been given formal taxonomic recognition is known as a subspecies.

    2. A breed or strain, as of domestic animals.

  2. Any of several extensive human populations associated with broadly defined regions of the world and distinguished from one another on the basis of inheritable physical characteristics, traditionally conceived as including such traits as pigmentation, hair texture, and facial features. Because the number of genes responsible for such physical variations is tiny in comparison to the size of the human genome and because genetic variation among members of a traditionally recognized racial group is generally as great as between two such groups, most scientists now consider race to be primarily a social rather than a scientific concept.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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