Word of the Day: Race

race/rās noun (sense 1)

1. a contest of speed

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races after the other. Walter Elliott, 1842-1928  

2. plural, a series of speed-based contests, usually of horses

It were not best that we should all thing alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races. Mark Twain, 1835-1910  

3. any competition

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.

1. G. Wells, 1866-1946

 

4. urgent need, usually when a solution is imperative

The race to find answers for cancer is not a sprint, but a marathon. www.nasa.gov  

5. an onward course

Each time I find myself flat on my face I pick myself up and get back in the race. from ‘That’s Life’ by Dean Kay, ?- and Kelly Gordon, 1932-1981  

6. the current of water in an artificial channel

Spring, of all seasons most gratuitous, Is fold of untaught flower, is race of water, Is earth’s most multiple, excited daughter[.] from ‘Spring’ by Philip Larkin, 1922-1985  

7. the course of life

If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. Marcus Garvey, 1887-1940   verb

1. to engage in a contest of speed

Racing is a matter of spirit not strength. Janet Guthrie, 1938-  

2. to move or go swiftly

A woman may race to get a man a gift but it always ends in a tie. Earl Wilson, 1934-2005  

3. to run horses or dogs in a contest of speed

The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business. John Steinbeck, 1902-1968  

4. to cause to move at a high speed

To let the brain work without sufficient material is like racing an engine. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930   noun (sense 2)

1. a group of people related by common descent

To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.

1. E. B. Du Bois, 1868-1963

 

2. a group of people formed by ethnic lineage

Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all. Walt Whitman, 1819-1892  

3. humankind as a whole

Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race. William E. Gladstone, 1809-1898   adjective

1. of or relating to various groups of people

I think that, ultimately, the only thing that affects race relations is fair treatment. Ras Baraka, 1970-  

2. of or relating to an object, vehicle, etc. used in contests of speed

Riding a race bike is an art – a thing that you do because you feel something inside. Valentino Rossi, 1979-