race
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: rās
ipa: /ɹeɪs/
rhymes: -eɪs
Forms: form: races
form: racing
form: raced
form: raced
Etymology: From Middle English race, partially from Old English rǣs (“a race, swift or violent running, rush, onset”), from Proto-West Germanic *rās; and partially from Old Norse rás (“a running, race”); both from Proto-Germanic *rēsō (“a course”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s- (“to flow, rush”). Cognate with Middle Low German râs ("a strong current"; whence German Low German Raas (“mad rush, rage, fury”)), Dutch ras (“a strong whirling current”), Danish ræs, Norwegian and Swedish ras, Norwegian rås.
Senses: examples: text: The drivers were racing around the track.
text: Honesty raced up six lengths in front of Wandering Minstrel, turned, then raced past for the second, and lost his place at the hedge; some work followed to the plantation, but Honesty was always the faster in the racing stretches, and won easily.
ref: 1875, “Lichfield Open Meeting”, in John Henry Walsh, editor, Coursing Calendar for the Autumn Season 1874, page 187:
text: "I cannot wait to race in front of the amazing home crowd," she added.
ref: 2023 May 10, “Athletics: Dina Asher-Smith set to race at London Stadium in July”, in BBC News:
glosses: To take part in a race (in the sense of a contest).
examples: text: I raced him to the car, but he was there first, so he got to ride shotgun.
text: […]a fresh fox popped out of a pit, and they raced him to Cherrington, where hounds were stopped at dark[…]
ref: 1871 March, “Our Van”, in Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, volume 21, page 306:
text: He pulled it down and saw Tech's full-back closing in. Counting on his own fresh condition, Jimmy raced him toward the sidelines, and got around him just in time to prevent being forced out. The goal was waiting for him twenty yards away, and to the accompaniment of a deafening shout from the stands he placed the pigskin across the goal line.
ref: 1928 November, Paschal N. Strong, “Signals”, in Boys' Life, volume 18, number 11, page 61:
glosses: To compete against in a race (contest).
examples: text: As soon as it was time to go home, he raced for the door.
text: Her heart was racing as she peered into the dimly lit room.
text: The horse raced past the barn fell.
text: There she goes / There she goes again / Racing through my brain / And I just can't contain / This feeling that remains
ref: 1988, Lee Mavers, “There She Goes”, in Sixpence None the Richer, performed by Sixpence None the Richer, published 1997:
text: Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."
ref: 2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:
text: Racing on, we parallel the M5 doing 95mph, according to the app on my smartphone.
ref: 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 66:
synonyms: rush
shift
zip
zoom
glosses: To move or drive at high speed; to hurry or speed.
examples: text: "My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built."
ref: 1891 December, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, in The Strand:
text: He put the transmission into drive and pressed the gas. The engine raced and the motor home rocked, gently, but did not move forward.
ref: 2005 June, James Faucett, “Snowbirds”, in Atlanta Magazine, volume 45, number 2, page 79:
glosses: To run rapidly when not engaged to a transmission.
raw_tags: of a motor
Derived terms: race off