| rule (ruːl) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | an authoritative regulation or direction concerning method or procedure, as for a court of law, legislative body, game, or other human institution or activity: judges' rules; play according to the rules |
| 2. | the exercise of governmental authority or control: the rule of Caesar |
| 3. | the period of time in which a monarch or government has power: his rule lasted 100 days |
| 4. | a customary form or procedure; regular course of action: he made a morning swim his rule |
| 5. | the rule the common order of things; normal condition: violence was the rule rather than the exception |
| 6. | a prescribed method or procedure for solving a mathematical problem, or one constituting part of a computer program, usually expressed in an appropriate formalism |
| 7. | a formal expression of a grammatical regularity in a linguistic description of a language |
| 8. | any of various devices with a straight edge for guiding or measuring; ruler: a carpenter's rule |
| 9. | a. a printed or drawn character in the form of a long thin line |
| b. another name for dash : en rule; em rule | |
| c. a strip of brass or other metal used to print such a line | |
| 10. | Christianity a systematic body of prescriptions defining the way of life to be followed by members of a religious order |
| 11. | law an order by a court or judge |
| 12. | as a rule normally or ordinarily |
| —vb | |
| 13. | to exercise governing or controlling authority over (a people, political unit, individual, etc): he ruled for 20 years; his passion for her ruled his life |
| 14. | ( |
| 15. | (tr) to mark with straight parallel lines or make one straight line, as with a ruler: to rule a margin |
| 16. | (tr) to restrain or control: to rule one's temper |
| 17. | (intr) to be customary or prevalent: chaos rules in this school |
| 18. | (intr) to be pre-eminent or superior: football rules in the field of sport |
| 19. | (tr) astrology (of a planet) to have a strong affinity with certain human attributes, activities, etc, associated with (one or sometimes two signs of the zodiac): Mars rules Aries |
| 20. | rule the roost, rule the roast to be pre-eminent; be in charge |
| [C13: from Old French riule, from Latin rēgula a straight edge; see | |
| 'rulable | |
| —adj | |
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| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |